X Marks the Scot

September 15, 2017
A mysterious dark-haired stranger, a treasure map, and a murder present yet another case for a durable amateur sleuth.Liss Ruskin (The Scottie Barked at Midnight, 2015, etc.) can't resist buying a copy of the painting Piper to the Laird of Grant at the auction of the Chadwick mansion's contents. As Liss, who owns the Scottish Emporium of Moosetookalook, Maine, and her friend Sherri, the town's chief of police, carry the picture to the car, they drop it, and Liss finds what looks like a treasure map hidden inside. The Chadwick family had a reputation as bootleggers, and Liss' Aunt Margaret discovers evidence that they had family in Canada. So what could be more natural than combining treasure hunting with a chance to buy items for the Scottish Emporium while on a journey to Nova Scotia? The trip turns deadly when they find the body of Orson Bailey, the historian for the town named after the Chadwick family, who had been researching that family's history for the women. When their hotel room is trashed and several items stolen, they wonder if the disturbance has anything to do with the map. Even after their return to Moosetookalook, Liss can't let the puzzle go, especially after someone apparently searches her house and store. Even after the clues on the map lead them to an empty hiding place, Liss, convinced the murder and the map are connected, soldiers on with help from her friends. Plenty of small-town atmosphere and deliciously dubious suspects lift this entry above the series average.

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October 9, 2017
At the outset of Dunnett’s well-paced 11th Scottish mystery (after 2016’s Kilt at the Highland Games), Liss Ruskin (née MacCrimmon), the owner of the Scottish Emporium in Moosetookalook, Maine, successfully bids for an 18th-century portrait of a bagpiper at an auction held at the Chadwick mansion. When Liss drops the painting while loading it into her car, the wooden backing breaks, revealing what appears to be a treasure map behind the canvas. Research reveals that the map has a link to the Chadwick family in Canada, where Liss and her indomitable aunt, Margaret, soon travel to hunt for Scottish items for the emporium and for possible treasure. The stakes rise when the women call on the town historian of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, at the Chadwick Historical and Genealogical Society and find him murdered. Those expecting local maritime-province color will be disappointed; on the other hand, Dunnett plays fair with the reader, dropping clues to the killer’s identity along the way to the surprising denouement. Agent: Christina Hogrebe, Jane Rotrosen Agency.