Thistles and Thieves: The Highland Bookshop Mystery Series: Book 3
Jan 2020 · Simon and Schuster
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About this ebook
The latest entry in the charming Highland Bookshop mystery series finds the women of Yon Bonnie Books embroiled in the death of a local doctor, which sets off a chain of other curious—and deadly—events.
Out for a bicycle ride in the hills beyond Inversgail, Janet Marsh discovers the body of Dr. Malcolm Murray. The elderly Murray and his own bicycle went off the road and down a steep slope—he’s sprawled in the burn at the bottom, his damaged bike in a patch of thistles on the bank. Janet calls the Police Scotland emergency number. Tire tracks at the side of the narrow road suggest a vehicle might have been involved. But if it was an accident, the driver hasn’t come forward. And if it wasn’t an accident. . . . But who would want the well-loved, retired doctor dead?
A few days after the death, a box of vintage first editions is left on the doorstep of Yon Bonnie Books with a note: “Please look after these books. Thank you.” Janet and her crew at the shop are at first delighted, and then mystified—what exactly does “look after” mean? Are they free to sell them? And what are the odd notes penciled in the margins? With a little digging, the women decide the books might belong to Malcolm Murray or his reclusive brother, Gerald. When Janet and Christine call at Malcolm’s house, they find his confused, angry sister and evidence of a burglary. When they go to Gerald’s modest croft house, they find the door ajar and Gerald dead inside, stabbed with a regimental dagger.
While the police try to determine if the Murray brothers’ deaths are connected and who’s responsible, Janet and the bookshop owners try to find out how and why the box of books ended up on their doorstep. The police are interested in those questions, too, and they’re more than a little suspicious. Are the Yon Bonnie women as good with burglar tools as they are with books—and at finding bodies?
Out for a bicycle ride in the hills beyond Inversgail, Janet Marsh discovers the body of Dr. Malcolm Murray. The elderly Murray and his own bicycle went off the road and down a steep slope—he’s sprawled in the burn at the bottom, his damaged bike in a patch of thistles on the bank. Janet calls the Police Scotland emergency number. Tire tracks at the side of the narrow road suggest a vehicle might have been involved. But if it was an accident, the driver hasn’t come forward. And if it wasn’t an accident. . . . But who would want the well-loved, retired doctor dead?
A few days after the death, a box of vintage first editions is left on the doorstep of Yon Bonnie Books with a note: “Please look after these books. Thank you.” Janet and her crew at the shop are at first delighted, and then mystified—what exactly does “look after” mean? Are they free to sell them? And what are the odd notes penciled in the margins? With a little digging, the women decide the books might belong to Malcolm Murray or his reclusive brother, Gerald. When Janet and Christine call at Malcolm’s house, they find his confused, angry sister and evidence of a burglary. When they go to Gerald’s modest croft house, they find the door ajar and Gerald dead inside, stabbed with a regimental dagger.
While the police try to determine if the Murray brothers’ deaths are connected and who’s responsible, Janet and the bookshop owners try to find out how and why the box of books ended up on their doorstep. The police are interested in those questions, too, and they’re more than a little suspicious. Are the Yon Bonnie women as good with burglar tools as they are with books—and at finding bodies?
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brf1948
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January 7, 2020
I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Molly MacRae, and publisher Pegasus Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this cozy mystery of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am pleased to refer this author to friends and family. Her work is delightful. Taking place in Inversgail, a small town on the northwestern coast of Scotland, Thistles and Thieves is the third book of the Highland Bookshop Mysteries, which is the second mystery series written by Molly MacRae, the first being the Haunted Yarn Shop mystery series. All seem to be stand-alone reads. Thank you Netgalley for exposing me to the delightful cozy novels of Molly MacRae. She writes a tight compelling story with warm, interesting characters and touches of Scotland round every corner. Janet Marsh and her daughter Tallie are Americans living in a small town in central Illinois, next door to the Richardson family, comprised of Christine and her daughter Summer, both transplants from Scotland many years ago. The daughters were childhood friends and college roommates back in the day, beginning a friendship between mothers and daughters that only deepened with time. When Christine needs to return to Scotland to care for her aging parents, daughter Summer and best friends Janet and Tallie sell up shop and go with her. Together this foursome and their delightful critters make quite an interesting team. These crime stoppers laughingly call themselves the S.C.O.N.E.S ( the Shadow Constabulary of Nosey Eavesdropping Snoops). They have a very good relationship with a couple of the local police, and a good record of solving cases. In their professional life, the ladies run several businesses under one roof in downtown Inversgail - a bookstore titled 'Yon Bonnie Books', a tearoom and cafe titled 'Cakes and Tales', and a bed and breakfast on the upper story known as 'Bedtime Tales'. And things are going along swimmingly until Janet decides to get a new bicycle - everyone bikes in Scotland. Today is the annual Haggis Half Hundred Challange. Janet is using the impetus of this year's ride to work herself into shape - it's been thirty years since she last rode a bicycle - for next year's Haggis Half Hundred. No one is really surprised when she finds a dead body alongside Beaton Bridge. That is, after all, what she does. Then another dead body... and between this body and the next is the mysterious whiskey box of old, treasured books left on the doorstep of Yon Bonnie Books...
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About the author
Molly MacRae is the national bestselling author of Plaid and Plagiarism, Scones and Scoundrels, Thistles and Thieves, and Heather and Homicide, all available from Pegasus Crime. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine for more than twenty years, and she has won the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Molly lives with her family in Champaign, Illinois.
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