Kaitlyn Dunnett. Kilt at the Highland Games. Kensington, 2016.
As one can probably guess from the title, Kilt at the Highland Games is a cozy mystery. It actually is mysterious and suspenseful, even if the actual murder does not take place at the annual Highland Games in Moosetookalook, Maine.
Two personal notes. Such as name as Moosetookalook would not be out of place in Maine. Your reviewer has camped at Mooselookmaguntic, Maine. We also were attracted to the title because we enjoy Highland games, a kind of Scottish festival, and have visited a few when they come to our state.
Two things about the book, then. There really is very little about the Highland Games themselves in the book. They provide a backdrop to the story. Liss Ruskin operates a Scottish specialty store in town, and she and her Aunt Margaret help organize the games locally. By the way, if it sounds impossible that such a specialized emporium could survive in rural Maine, we are assured that most of the store’s sales are online.
The actual killing does not take place until about halfway through the story. By then the reader can sort of guess who will probably get killed. Victims in such stories are either someone whom everyone likes and could not possibly have an enemy or someone whom no one likes. Let us just say, we find someone whom no one likes, and, yes, he becomes our victim.
The real mystery, though, is not about the murder. The real mystery is that a week before the murder, the independent bookstore in town is burned down. The state fire marshal says it looks like arson. The family that owns the store lives in an apartment above the store. Since the fire began around three in the morning, it looks like the arsonist may have wanted to kill Angie Hogencamp and her two kids, teen Beth and pre-teen Bradley.
But the Hogencamps have decamped. There is no sign of them in the remains of the store. Their car is gone. No one knows where they are. Liss considers herself one of Angie’s good friends, but realizes how little she knows about her. When Chief of Police Sherri Campbell tries to do a background check on Ms. Hogencamp, she comes up empty. Angie moved to town twelve years ago, but said very little about her past. Her kids were little when she came to town. Apparently, she may have been running from something in her past. Had it caught up with her?
Normally, people in town might suspect some out-of-towners, but with the Western Maine Highland Games coming up, the hotel is booked up, and Moosetookalook has many visitors.
There is an interesting cast of characters in town. Patsy, who runs the coffee shop, knows nearly everyone in town, but keeps things to herself. Librarian Dolores, on the other hand, also knows most people in town and likes to talk about them. Her husband Moose—few people know his real name—is reminiscent of Moose from the Archie comics, but maybe with a little twist.
One of the out-of-towners visiting for the games gives Liss a hard time about not being authentic with some of her products. No, she confesses she sometimes does not use the Gaelic spelling because no English speaker would pronounce the words remotely correctly. When she tells him she is a MacCrimmon, he informs her that she is not really Scottish. The MacCrimmons, he claims, got their name because they immigrated from Cremona, Italy. Of course, one could argue that all the Scots’ clans as we know them today originally came from Ireland or Norway.
The author spins the tale well. Mysteries pile up. More people disappear. Obviously from the title, someone is “kilt.” Liss herself gets an anniversary card from Angie, but it is not mailed. Someone drops it off perhaps because the post office has been vandalized. Mail delivery has been off until the incident is investigated.
The story ends with an exciting and uncontrived climax. We can see what is coming. Can Liss and Chief Campbell pull it off? Hey, it’s a cozy. We know it will probably turn out OK, but we still want to see how and how all the mysteries will be revealed. Have fun.