Plaid and Plagiarism by Molly MacRae is the first book in the NEW “Highland Bookshop” mystery series. Publisher: Pegasus Books, December 2016

A murder in a garden turns the four new owners of Yon Bonnie Books into amateur detectives, in a captivating new cozy mystery novel from Molly MacRae.

Set in the weeks before the annual Inversgail Literature Festival in Scotland, Plaid and Plagiarism begins on a morning shortly after the four women take possession of their bookshop in the Highlands. Unfortunately, the move to Inversgail hasn’t gone as smoothly as they’d planned.

First, Janet Marsh is told she’ll have to wait before moving into her new home. Then she finds out the house has been vandalized. Again. The chief suspect? Una Graham, an advice columnist for the local paper—who’s trying to make a name for herself as an investigative reporter. When Janet and her business partners go looking for clues at the house, they find a body—it’s Una, in the garden shed, with a sickle in her neck. Janet never did like that garden shed.

Who wanted Una dead? After discovering a cache of nasty letters, Janet and her friends are beginning to wonder who didn’t, including Janet’s ex-husband. Surrounded by a cast of characters with whom readers will fall in love, the new owners of Yon Bonnie Books set out to solve Una’s murder so they can get back to business.

A delightful and deadly new novel about recognizing one’s strengths and weakness—while also trying to open a new book shop—Plaid and Plagiarism is the start of an entertaining new Scottish mystery series.

This was an enjoyable drama that kept my interest from beginning to end. It has a comfortable tone and the pacing made it easy to follow all that is happening within the pages. We are introduced to four women starting over with a new business and the action starts when this group of amateur sleuths set out to find a killer. I like how this story was set up with a solid plot, a good mystery was that nicely done, plenty of suspects and some intriguing twists and turns that enhanced the telling of this tale. The author did a great job in giving us some insight into each woman and I like that it was used in how they sought out clues to the murder. With engaging conversation, a good supporting cast with the small town as a backdrop, this was a delightfully charming debut and I can’t wait to read more adventures with Janet and her friends.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.