Book 86, 2021

[chez_jae]

Kilt Dead by Kaitlyn Dunnett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Finished my "work" book at lunch today. It was Kilt Dead by Kaitlyn Dunnett, and it's the first book in the "Liss MacCrimmon" cozy mystery series. The main character is Liss MacCrimmon, who's recently been forced to give up her career as a professional Scottish dancer. Story is in third-person pov, and it was told from the perspective of several characters, although Liss was the most prevalent.

While recuperating from career-ending knee surgery, Liss agrees to return to her small hometown of Moosetookalook, Maine, to take over her Aunt Margaret's shop, the Scottish Emporium, while Margaret is out of town. The day after Margaret departs, Liss finds herself manning the shop's booth at the Highland Games festival. When she returns to the shop that evening, she stumbles upon the body of Margaret's nosy neighbor, Mrs Norris. As if that weren't distressing enough, the hotshot detective called in to work the case immediately zeroes in on Liss as the primary suspect in the woman's murder. Not content to sit idly by, Liss begins asking some questions on her own. She's helped by former friends/classmates Dan and Sherri. When Liss' investigation hits too close to home, her own life ends up in danger. Will she be able to solve the mystery before she becomes another victim?

*yawns*

I am very "meh" about this story. The characters did not resonate with me, although that may be because so much of what I read these days is in first-person pov. The premise was okay, but I felt the execution of it fell flat. Aside from that, the following things did not set well with me:

1. Within 20 minutes of arriving at the scene, the lead detective is grilling Liss. Mrs Norris died when she fell and hit her head, but the detective, without a medical examination, is already declaring that she could not possibly have fallen and hit her head that hard; ergo, she was pushed. Excuse me? People fall, strike their heads, and die every day. It happens. Not only that, but wouldn't the body still be limp and warm if Liss had just killed her? Maybe we need to pin down time of death before we start throwing around accusations.
2. Detective Jackass came across as too lazy to bother looking into the situation further, arrogantly convinced that he was correct in his initial assumptions.
3. Um, did Liss and Dan sleep together? The author was very vague with their "pleasant interlude", leaving me to wonder if it was just a hot and heavy make-out session, or did they actually bump fuzzies?
4. Once again, I found the sheer number of povs to be distracting and detracting.
5. I'm sorry, but as a Harry Potter fan, I could not read about "Mrs Norris" without picturing Filch's mangy old cat. Guh.

On a bright note, Liss did NOT swoon over Detective Jackass. In fact, she thought he was a jackass. Good for you, Liss! Also, good for me, figuring out that Mrs Norris was writing fanfic in her spare time. Hah!

Favorite lines:
♦ "Remember when she had five felines in residence, along with a dog she named Not-a-cat?"
♦ "I can't even predict what I'll do half the time."

The story had its good points, but the rest of it was far too aggravating for enjoyment. I do not plan on reading any more books in this series. Giving it an average score, and I think that's being generous.