Death at a Highland Wedding (A Rip Through Time 4) by Kelley Armstrong-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 20, 2205

After slipping 150 years into the past, modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson has embraced her new life in Victorian Scotland as housemaid Catriona Mitchel. Although it isn’t what she expected, she’s developed real, meaningful relationships with the people around her and has come to love her role as assistant to undertaker Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie.

Mallory, Gray, and McCreadie are on their way to the Scottish Highlands for McCreadie’s younger sister’s wedding. The McCreadies and the groom’s family, the Cranstons, have a complicated history which has made the weekend quite uncomfortable. But the Cranston estate is beautiful so Gray and Mallory decide to escape the stifling company and set off to explore the castle and surrounding wilderness. They discover that the groom, Archie Cranston, a slightly pompous and prickly man, has set up deadly traps in the woods for the endangered Scottish wildcats, and they soon come across a cat who’s been caught and severely injured. Oddly, Mallory notices the cat’s injuries don’t match up with the intricacies of the trap. These strange irregularities, combined with the secretive and erratic behavior of the groom, put Mallory and Duncan on edge. And then when one of the guests is murdered, they must work fast to uncover the murderer before another life is lost.

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REVIEW:DEATH AT A HIGHLAND WEDDING is the fourth full-length instalment in Kelley Armstrong’s adult A RIP THROUGH TIME historical, time-travel mystery series focusing on thirty year old Vancouver Detective Mallory Atkinson, and undertaker / investigator Dr. Duncan Gray. DEATH AT A HIGHLAND WEDDING can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lies is revealed where necessary but I recommend reading book one A RIP THROUGH TIME for backstory and cohesion regarding the events that lead Mallory back in time.

SOME BACKGROUND: In the spring of 2019 while visiting her ailing grandmother in Edinburgh Scotland,a then thirty year old, Vancouver British Columbia, Canada police detective Mallory Atkinson is attacked in an alley only to wake up as a nineteen year old housemaid in Scotland, the year 1869, a housemaid who was also attacked and left for dead in the same alley where Mallory was found. Not only has our heroine time travelled back one-hundred and fifty years but she is no longer physically the same woman she was just minutes before. Working as a housemaid for Dr. Duncan Gray and his sister Isla, realizing life as she knew it was no longer under her control, Mallory must assume the position of nineteen year old Catriona Mitchell, a young woman whose history is questionable and dark. Working alongside Dr. Gray and Detective McCreadie, Mallory uses her abilities as a detective to help.

Told from first person perspective (Mallory) DEATH AT A HIGHLAND WEDDING follows Mallory, Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie as they embark on a journey towards Hugh’s sister’s wedding but within hours of their arrival, one of the guests goes missing, later found murdered, and everyone becomes suspect including family, friends, neighbors and the former residents of the estate. Without the 21st century tools to use in her investigation, Mallory and Duncan must improvise in the wake of a questionable probe and inspection by an inexperienced police officer, with only months on the job, a police officer who is too quick to arrest the soon-to-be groom.

The world building follows Mallory, Duncan and Hugh McCreadie as they begin an investigation into the murder of one of the guests but the deeper the trio digs, the clues reveal a dark secret that goes back more than a decade.

The relationship between Duncan and Mallory is slowly progressing to something more. Duncan, Hugh and Isla are aware of Mallory’s true identity, and her outward appearance remains that of a twenty-year old house maid from Victorian England but the morals of the time may force our couple to take their friendship to the next level-here’s hoping the author has plans for something more.

There is a large ensemble of questionable secondary and supporting characters including the return of Dr. Duncan Gray, his sister Isla, Detective Hugh McCreadie, and parlor-maid Alice. We are introduced to Hugh’s former fiancé Violet, and his sister (the bride) Fiona McCreadie, and her fiancé Archie Cranston; best man Cranston, as well as several former school mates, extended family and questionable neighbors.

DEATH AT A HIGHLAND WEDDING is a story of secrets and lies, betrayal and vengeance,power and control, family and friendships, relationships and love. The premise is enchanting and engaging;the characters are dynamic and determined.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
A Rip Through Time
The Poisoner’s Ring
2.5 Cocktails & Chloroform
Disturbing the Dead
3.5 Schemes and Scandals

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

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Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers’ dismay. All efforts to make her produce “normal” stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She’s the author of the NYT-bestselling “Women of the Otherworld” paranormal suspense series and “Darkest Powers” young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.