Murder at a Scottish Social - Traci Hall

 

Murder at a Scottish Social - Traci Hall - 2.5 Stars - Not For Me, Disappointing

This is book 3 in the Scottish Shire series and while some parts were good, most of this I didn’t love. The story kicks off when a shortbread cookie kills the “Queen Bee” of a “competitive mom clique” and Paislee Shaw, owner of Cashmere Crush Sweater Shop becomes the sleuth to figure out who added peanut butter to a cookie to kill Kristen – who was deathly allergic to peanuts – and who hid her epi pen in the process.

Set in Scotland, I do like the setting and narrator with the Scottish accent. I also do like the main character of Paislee, her son Brody and her gramps with their Scottish terrier dog Wallace. What I couldn’t stand in this story was the circle of “mean girls” – which I guess is the point, but they got on my nerves so bad. They were spoiled mean girls who had everything and still were not happy. We have them continuously saying the woman that died, Kristen, was a “b” word and they were so nasty that it reminded me of high school girls. The mystery would have been ok, but I am just not connected with most of these characters like I am in other cozy mysteries.

The good parts of this show how important it is to appreciate the small things in life, money isn’t everything, wealth can ruin you and how the author stressed the need for food banks to help others in need. We also see Paislee dealing with issues with her son in school so more of the family aspect is shown and I did like that.

I also didn’t love this content --- we have a couple who are participating in an open relationship (WHYYY), another that had cheating going on, another that was “friends with benefits”. Also didn’t love the language – it wasn’t a ton but, them calling the woman that died names the whole time bothered me. At least it was talked about as being bad, but I didn’t love these things in the story. This book is just one that wasn’t for me, personally.

Other content warnings: 1 character with bulimia, 1 character with a drinking problem, 1 character who was seeing her psychiatrist as her now husband but started when she was 16 many years ago, it was mentioned it was inappropriate but wanted to mention it.

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5281755436

YouTube Chat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNfiPar0nxE

Murder in a Scottish Garden by Traci Hall

 

Murder in a Scottish Garden - Traci Hall - 3.5 Stars - Enjoyed a bit more than book 1! (Book 2 in A Scottish Shire Mystery Series)

Book 2 in the Scottish Shire Mystery Series, Paislee, owner of her specialty sweater and yarn shop, Cashmere Crush, is a chaperone on her son's field trip. She hears a gun shot and sees a man fall through the hedges. Throughout the book they are trying to figure out who killed this man, who was the cousin to her landlord that's been trying to evict her, Shawn Marcus. Shawn is afraid someone is trying to kill him and his mother so Paislee starts trying to investigate the murder and everything gets crazy from there.

I liked this one a little more than book 1, we have more of a focus on the mystery here then their family dynamics, but I still want a romance for Paislee! I will continue on listening to these audiobooks because they are very bingeable :) Love the Scottish vibes and accents, as always. Looking forward to see what happens next with our characters. I did like the family aspect of Paislee, her son and grandfather. We get pretty attached to our main characters more in this story as we grow to know them and their backgrounds. Paislee is a very realistic character trying to balance being a single mom, small business owner and taking care of her family.

Overall, enjoyed this and plan to continue on.

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5281755393
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Df24xk
YouTube Review Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuFKv2eeju0

Murder in a Scottish Shire by Traci Hall

 

Murder in a Scottish Shire - Traci Hall - 3 Stars 

This is the first book in A Scottish Shire Mystery series. This is set in Scotland and follows Paislee, a 28 year old single mother, who owns a knitting shop called Cashmere Crush. She makes specialty sweaters, socks and more. Everything in her life seems like it’s going wrong – she receives an eviction notice, her estranged, homeless grandfather shows up after his son Craigh’s disappearance so he moves in with her and her 10 year old son, Brody and their dog, Wallace. Things get even worse for Paislee when she finds Isla, an employee of hers, dead. The story kicks off here as Paislee tries to solve the case.

This cozy was a lot of fun because of the Scotland setting and Scottish narrator. I liked the mystery but found myself bored at times and even though this was just 300 or so pages, it felt too long on the audio at times because the mystery wasn’t progressing a whole lot and we were following some other side stories and characters. I did like our characters though, especially her little boy Brody! So sweet. As usual, I loved the Scottish references and dialogue.

One thing missing was romance and sometimes the story got a bit dry at times, but it wasn’t bad. I think this series is off to a good start and look forward to reading more. I hope for some romance with our main character in the next books! Love her.

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5281534397
Amazon: https://amzn.to/44G9Mft
YouTube Review Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmUXgZGhqm4&t=64s