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I have very fond memories of Scotland. The people were not at all dour but charming and welcoming -- except for an elderly fellow who knocked me over on Prince Street while trying to convert me to his religion. But I digress. The Spruces Hotel in Moosetookalook, Maine, is hosting the annual convention of the Scottish Heritage Association convention. an organization devoted to the preservation of all things Scottish. Liss MacCrimmon is a sort of troubleshooter for the hotel, which is managed by her lover Dan Ruskin and owned by his father. Her first task is moderating a feud between two men about a bagpipe; next is a fuss in the kitchen over the proper preparation of haggis. The biggest challenge for Liss -- and then the local constabulary -- is the theft of a valuable brooch from the room of one of the identical twins, Phil MacMillan (It's had to tell whether Phil or his identical twin Phineas is more loathsome.) Phil throws a tantrum that would do Joan Crawford proud in her tirade about wire coathangers. He insists that every guest and staff member be interrogated and that every inch of the hotel be searched. The search is in the hands of local police chief Sherri Willett, with the assistance of her fiancé Pete Campbell, who speculates at one point that the theft may be a fraud. However, no one pays any attention and the quest goes on. Phineas, who is the keynote speaker at the Robert Burns dinner gives a speech so inflammatory and so insulting to many of the guests that he alienates every one. On an illicit cigarette break in the cellar, a housekeeper discovers the corpse of Phil -- or could it be Phineas -- in the cellar. Many complications ensue, quite a few caused by the fact that a violent storm has caused the hotel to be cut off from the outside world, stranding guests and staff with no communications. Even cell phones don't work. It's difficult to say whether Dunnett's strength is plot or character. The plot is seamless; the reader avidly awaits each development, often as befuddled as Liss as to which twin was actually the victim. The depiction of the characters is wonderful - the hateful twins, the increasingly cranky guests (somewhat mollified by the fact that there is a free open bar - the police officer who worries that she is in over her head, and Liss herself, intelligent, perseverant, and humorous. § Mary Elizabeth Devine taught English Literature for 35 years, is co-author of five books about customs and manners around the world and lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts.
Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Devine, January 2011
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