Scottish murder!

A Cold Highland Wind (Lady Emily Mysteries #17) by Tasha Alexander      

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It’s 1905, Lady Emily and Colin Hargreaves are holidaying at Castle Cairnfarn in the Scottish Highlands along with their gorgeous and wickedly precocious sons, twins Henry and Richard, and their beloved adopted son Tom. They’re guests of Emily’s childhood friend, Jeremy Sheffield, the Duke of Bainbridge. Jeremy is a bumbling delight with two madcap great aunties who keeps every one on their toes. The boys particularly enjoy the aunties, for reasons that become quite clear. Mind you the boys do insist on walking Cedric the crocodile. I would not be so blasé. Crocodiles as pets! Hmmm! Recipe for disaster!

As always there’s another story running in tandem, set in Cairnfarn in 1676. The tale of Tansy, a young moorish girl sold into slavery and eventually passed on to Rossalyn, Lady MacAllister, mistress of Castle Cairnfarn. Rosalyn frees her, but as Tansy often soliloquises, what good will that do her if she can’t return to her family and homeland in Tunisia. This part of the story turns into a tale of women dispossessed, of women accused of witchcraft, and of artefacts from that date.

Meanwhile back in 1905 the boys upsettingly discover the body of the gamekeeper, murdered rather nastily. Emily and Colin, find themselves pressed into investigating. What follows is a rather convoluted exploration of who kew what when.

I laughed at how the boys kept interrupting their parents at inappropriate moments! 

The boys are just so earnest and funny in their moves to do their own thing. As we close Jeremy is trying to talk one of them (any one!) into being pronounced his heir. The Duke can’t be bothered with marriage.

Another winning and solid addition to the Lady Emily Mysteries.

(I do love the cover BTW)

A St Martins Press ARC via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.