The “A Rip Through Time” series has quickly become one of my favorites, and I anticipate each installment with relish, wondering what the gang will get up to this time. There’s not a single thing I don’t love about these books, from the plots to the characters to the intelligent, well-crafted prose. A modern woman falling through time in Scotland may sound unoriginal, but make her a whip-smart detective who finds herself solving crimes with her eccentric employers and you’ve got something fresh and special.
Romance is in the air and mystery is afoot when our heroes journey to the Highlands for the wedding of Detective MacReadie’s sister. Mallory is trying to sort out her feelings for Gray while the two of them are also gently nudging Isla and MacReadie together… which is complicated by the presence of MacReadie’s former fiancée, who also happens to be sister of the groom. Throw in a murder, a few bear traps, and an over-eager constable, and the situation quickly spins out of control.
I went into Death at a Highland Wedding with high expectations, and I wasn’t disappointed. By taking our characters out of their usual Edinburgh setting and routines, we get opportunities to explore their dynamics, as well as to see another side of Victorian Scotland. And we encounter the difficulties of solving a crime when you have no jurisdiction and the local police presence is woefully inadequate and uncooperative. Having come to the Highlands for a wedding, they’re also without their usual forensic tools, which requires some creative thinking.
The mysteries in this series are usually the focus, with characters and relationships taking a back sea. But in this book, we slow down a bit to examine where everyone stands before ramping up for adventure. Isla and MacReadie are finally be moving toward… something. But the events of the last book have left Mallory and Gray more unsure than ever, and their communication is suffering as a result. It was frustrating to watch them stumbling around each other when the reader knows exactly how they both feel. But it’s the kind of frustration that’s also kind of satisfying because you know it could be the cracks in the dam before it breaks and things finally happen. This is what slow burn readers live for! And now I’m back to waiting impatiently for the next book because I’m dying to see what happens.
If you haven’t checked out the series yet, now is a great time to catch up. All the promises of book 1 are being fulfilled and the characters and world continue to grow in exciting ways. Plus, they’re just damn good books.
My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
–b
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