Occupation: Owner of Dalhousie Lodge and Spa, Loch Ness

Murder at the Lodge!

Today is not a good day. I get into my car, hardly noticing the gorgeous views around the Loch, on my way to see the only person whose opinion I trust, my sister. She won’t answer the phone. I think she’s avoiding me merely because I offer the odd piece of life advice. Well, The Tattie Scone Café may be picturesque, I can see it directly across the Loch, along with the white cottages below of the village where we were born, Inverdoody. But to start a business so close to home shows a sad lack of ambition. And as for her clothes, really. . .

My husband Mungo can see to things at the lodge while I’m gone. Or rather, our receptionist Katrina can. Mungo is handsome and sensitive and affable, but I must trust to Katrina to stop him actually doing anything until I get back.

No, I need to talk to Effie. She’ll complain at being parted from her café. It has a certain rustic charm, I suppose, with its wooden terrace overlooking the water, and Effie is an excellent cook (my excitable French chef Francois might learn something from her), but I need her now. When she knows what has happened, she’ll use that sharp intellect of hers and help. She may be small and blonde while I am a tall brunette; but we are still twins.

When I’m at the café I shall look out for Granny McTruckle’s Recipe Book, which I am sure my sister is trying to keep from me. My Francois is a wonderful chef, but guests do really want some Scottish fare when they visit the loch and he is sadly out of his depth . . .

I seldom venture to the other side of the Loch, though it is my childhood home. My name is Hélène, but some Inverdoody residents are still apt to call me Nellie! It is not to be supported. Effie is, of course, on chatting terms with all our old neighbours; she was always rather better with people than I. She employs a blue-haired teenager who seems somewhat efficient. She can look after the place while I talk to Effie. The teenager bears the ridiculous name Elvisina, which I blame on her lumbering hulk of a father, Elvis — a local tiler who wears a navy blue quiff and leather trousers. Is it any wonder I stay away?

As I drive around the Loch, I see Dores beach, where Gus Soutar and I used to meet before he disappeared and left me so many years ago. I was young and trusting and I thought he loved me. I hope never to set eyes on the man again, and that is why I take exception to the reappearance of his brother Jamie, a Celtic man mountain who has started hanging around my sister. No doubt for the food.

However, one could not wish for a more beautiful spot in this world than Loch Ness, and I appreciate coming back to the mysterious depths and the wooded hillsides surrounding, after my long years away. It is my home, and I will not let it be spoiled by the murder of that old ne’er-do-well Sir Donald Menzies. Though goodness knows enough people wanted to kill him.

Free Scottish Recipe Book: Download your free copy of the The Tattie Scone Café Recipes HERE.

You can read more about Hélène in The Curious Kilt, the first book in the NEW “Loch Ness” cozy mystery series, released December 2018.

Beautiful Loch Ness — And Murder’s Afoot!

As Effie McCall happily serves her customers in the Tattie Scone Café on the beautiful shores of Loch Ness, her bossy twin Nell from Dalhousie Lodge has a problem: a dead laird in the heather and the ruination of her business looming as a result.

An accident would suggest negligence on the part of Nell’s business, but Nell does not ‘do’ negligence. And she has spotted a curious thing about the laird’s kilt. One that, to her, suggests murder.

Since the police rule accidental death, there are only the two sisters left to investigate. All the while, helpfully hindered by Nell’s hapless husband Mungo, Effie’s boyfriend Jamie, and the gossiping regulars in the Tattie Scone Café.

When Nell’s old love interest suddenly reappears, will she be diverted or will she find he is more deeply involved in this mystery than she can guess?

Colourful characters, silliness and delicious recipes make for a Loch Ness treat to die for.

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Meet the author
Jemima Wallace is an international woman of mystery whose hobbies include skydiving, sailing, jewel theft and spying. Or she might be Scottish aunt and niece team Gerry Cameron and Germaine Stafford. Gerry lives in Scotland and France and writes crime (as GM Cameron) and Regency Romances (as Alicia Cameron) and used to live near Loch Ness. Germaine (hardly any younger at all), lives in Italy, above the breathtaking Amalfi coast and is a food writer and crime writer who has been shortlisted twice for CWA’s Debut Dagger. (Divine Furore is coming soon.)

All comments are welcomed.