I had to DNF this about halfway through because all of the characters were just AWFUL, acting like children and too dramatic for me (I know this was probably the point, but it was making me so mad).

Murder in a Scottish Shire is the first book in a new series by Traci Hall. It follows Paisley who is trying to juggle being a single mom to her son Brody and running her specialty sweater shop Cashmere Crush. Her shop hosts a regular Knit and Sip every week where devote crafters gather.

It seems in this small Scottish town when it rains it pours for Paisley. Shortly after finding out she and her son will soon be evicted, her estranged grandfather makes a sudden reappearance in her life after being found on the streets. Paisley takes him in until they can find his Son who is missing. I wish we could have dived a bit more into what happened to Craig but I'm assuming we will hear more about him as the series goes on.

Then in the middle of dealing with this sudden intrusion into her life she discovers that one of her former employees and friend has died. Suspecting there was more than meets the eye to the woman's death Paisley begins to investigate.

I really enjoyed this start to a new cozy series. The Scottish town and the references really helped me get into the town and imagine what these wacky characters would look like. There were some hints fairly early on in the mystery that I picked up on but I think Traci Hall does a good job and making you second guess that assumption all the way until the end.

I'm interested in seeing where this story will go from here. 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Cute cozy mystery set in Scotland with an adorable dog who stole the book. I'm a sucker for cozies with dogs in them.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Kensington Books for my copy of Murder in a Scottish Shire by Traci Hall in exchange for an honest review. It published June 30, 2020.
This is an excellent debut in a new cozy mystery series! I really enjoyed the characters and their relationships to each other. I did NOT see the ending coming, in fact, every prediction I had kept getting proved wrong, it was almost frustrating, in the way that I want a mystery to be! I want to be stumped, and I was!
The one thing I will mention that made it difficult for me was the Scottish words. It made it hard to get started, but once I translated what certain words meant, I was able to read it without issue.

I enjoyed this first in a new series cozy mystery. It is set in a small town in Scotland with a yarn shop as its main focus. The main character is a single mom just trying to get through the day. I like the view into a different culture that the author gave. I look forward to the second book.

This was such a fun cozy! I loved the mystery, the Scottish seaside setting, and the yarn crafts theme. I loved the family dynamics explored in this book, and I read this entire book in a day. Highly recommend!

From Amazon:

"For a twenty-eight-year-old single mum, Paislee has knit together a sensible life for herself, her ten-year-old son Brody, and Wallace, their black Scottish terrier. Having inherited a knack for knitting from her dear departed grandmother, Paislee also owns a specialty sweater shop called Cashmere Crush, where devoted local crafters gather weekly for her Knit and Sip.

Lately, though, Paislee feels as if her life is unraveling. She’s been served an eviction notice, and her estranged and homeless grandfather has just been brought to her door by a disconcertingly handsome detective named Mack Zeffer. As if all that wasn't enough, Paislee discovers a young woman who she recently rehired to help in the shop dead in her flat, possibly from an overdose of her heart medicine. But as details of the death and the woman’s life begin to raise suspicions for Detective Inspector Zeffer, it’s Paislee who must untangle a murderous yarn . . ."

A new Scottish Cozy, does life get any better? Yes, because book two is set to be released next spring. Swoon. I loved the accents, the setting, the plotline...you get the picture, I loved it all. This will be on my top ten list of books for 2020.

This was one of my favorites. We’re well written and I love the dog. It kept me hooked until the lady page.

An interesting cozy mystery with an adorable Scotty dog what's not to live. I recommend this for any mystery lover

This is the first book I have read by this author, It was wonderful! The setting, the characters, were all superb. I cannot to read more by this author.

"Murder in a Scottish Shire" is a cozy mystery featuring yarn, lots of Scottish accents, and a Scottie dog, who is clearly the star of any show. (More on Wallace, please.)

The set-up is this: Paislee, a single mom, owns a yarn store. Her life is very complicated--she has to get her son to school (and often runs late), her landlord has sold management of her store building so she'll have to move, a mysterious relative has shown up....and, oh, yeah--she just found one of her former employees dead.

What's good: This is a quick-paced mystery with lots of quick sparks of humor. The mixture of some of the characters is particularly amusing--a certain crusty senior making himself at home in a cozy ladies' crocheting circle, for example.

What's not so good: You do have to get past the heavy use of Scottish accent in the text. While I get this captures the Scottish "flavor" for an American English audience, I kept getting caught on why it doesn't make sense, since accent in text is primarily to convey that that the speaker's voice is different from the protagonist's expected language. (For example, something would send French to an American character might have a French accent.) In this case, all of the characters are Scottish, so I'm not seeing a reason for it.

(You do ultimately get past it, for the record, and I do realize it is there to keep up the Scottish charm of the story.)

What's great: Wallace the Scottie dog. I adore him!

This book was a treat! Lovely characters with crafting and mystery- which I enjoy both! My favorite thing is that the book is set in Scotland. I adore Scotland!

Once I got into the rhythm of an Outlander like devotion to the Scottish dialect, I was hooked. Paislee is a mom and owner of a small business, curating a lot of locally sourced yarns in Nairn. Her young son Brody came to life on the page, as did the trials of getting him to and from school on time. While you can tell how much she misses her Granny, the reappearance of gruff Grandpa Angus was an interesting twist. I hope his storyline will continue, with the mystery of his missing son Craigh still unsolved.

I volunteered to read this book, through netgalley in exchange, for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. I absolutely enjoy all books, with crafting and mystery so this book, is right up my alley. I enjoyed all the characters in the story . This book is the first in this series. Wow didn't expect that character. I can't wait to read more books by this author in the future. I enjoyed how this book is set in Scotland. This book is in stores now for $15.95.

I am not a knitter but I adore knitter cozies and this boo was no exception. I fell in love with the protagonist and her son. The story was well crafted and the mystery was very will plotted.

This book this simply swept me off to to the seaside, and I simply didn't want to return to reality. Once again, the talented Traci Hall had my full attention in this lovely cozy mystery set in Scotland...perfectly written so that I could envision a future Hallmark movie? Love, love, love the characters, setting, dialogue, and plot.

Paislee is a single mum trying to give herself and her son the best life that she can...but sometimes it feels like the world is coming apart at the seams....she's been served an eviction notice, had her long estranged grandfather delivered to her front door by a wickedly handsome detective, and one of her employees is found dead in her sweater shop. If this isn't the British version of a Jessica Fletcher cozy mystery in the making, I don't know what is!

Can't wait for more! Excellent read. I loved it.

Paislee Shaw has had some ups and downs in her life. An unwed mother at eighteen, she moved in with her grandmother who taught her to knit. Now she’s inherited the yarn shop and sells Scottish yarns and finished goods to visiting tourists as well as customers online. Her son, Brody, now ten, sometimes acts like he’s the grownup. Their Scottish terrier, Wallace, rounds out the family.

A yarn delivery is scheduled for nine o’clock, so the plan is to unlock the shop, race to get Brody to school on time, go back to the shop to unpack the yarn, and at half past, meet with Ilsa, a former employee who wants to be rehired. Of course, that went kaput. Two people are at the shop’s front door. One is her grandfather who she hasn’t seen for five years. The other is a handsome police detective who says her grandfather’s now homeless, so she wouldn’t mind taking him in, right?

The day just gets worse. Needed yarn won’t come until the next day, grandfather makes sure she knows he doesn’t want her help in spite of having nowhere else to go, Brody’s late for school, and Ilsa is a no-show. Grandfather is homeless because he lived with his son who has now disappeared. Paislee feels like life as she knew is gone, too. As if things couldn’t get worse, her landlord drops by to tell her he’s sold the building, and she has thirty days to relocate.

When Paislee checks on Ilsa, she finds Ilsa’s body instead. In trying to find out who would harm the girl, Paislee discovers Ilsa isn’t the nice girl she appeared to be. Paislee may have been the only one who liked her.

This is the first in a new series that shows a lot of promise. Everyone speaks with a Scottish accent which is easy to decipher and adds to the story. Paislee is someone you’d like to know and who could show you how to knit or just sell you a handmade sweater instead. Roby shows a lot of maturity for a ten-year-old and has a great sense of humor. Wallace, the Scottie, is the perfect addition to the story. Grandfather starts as a real pain, but soon enough, a working relationship is in place.

The mystery is a good one with plenty of clues, motives and suspects to choose from. The subplot of grandfather’s missing son is not solved so readers will look forward to book two to find out what happened there.

Under the name Traci Wilton, she also writes seaside romances and the Salem B&B series.

My rating: 2 of 5 stars, it was just okay.

Book 1 in a new series.

Sadly, this book just wasn't for me. The setting and storyline had potential, but I found it hard to get into. In was slow moving, and I really had a hard time connecting with any of the characters, which was too bad. I put it down to read other things for a bit and then I ended up skipping to the end about halfway through.

I'm not sure if I would give book 2 a try.

Cute cozy mystery set in a Scottish small town. Some of the language was a little silly--it seems like the author, who I think isn't a native Scotswoman, doesn't really reflect the way Scottish people speak but uses stereotypes, and also uses a couple of racist references to Roma in a way that was very cringey. Overall there are some things I liked about this book, but there's room for improvement as the series continues.

The new "A Scottish Shire Mystery" series from Kensington Books, written by Traci Hall, aka. Traci Wilton is out now. Murder In A Scottish Shire will have readers traveling to the beautiful land of the brave and delving into the art of knitting.

Paislee is a character that has a past, one not as bad as she seems to think, but one she has spent the last ten years trying to fix. This character is immature. The idea that she can't date someone until her son is off to college is not realistic. Taking her son to school late every day, irresponsible. Unfortunately, she uses her knitting shop and her son to keep from making an emotional connection to any would-be suitor.

Other characters are interesting, and hopefully, like Paislee will mature and grow. Angus, in particular, is very entertaining. He cares about his granddaughter and grandson but in a gruff way that can be detrimental. There are far too many unanswered questions in this book. One of which is Angus' missing son. Who is Brody's father? Will we meet Paislee's mother? Even the fate of the knitting shop is left up in the air. This can be frustrating in any book, but cozies should never leave so many issues open-ended.

The mystery of the murder was good; if readers are paying attention, they will guess the killer's identity reasonably soon. The evidence is there. It just takes a bit to figure out how it all applies to the motive and investigation. it seems like the knitting shop should have played a more significant role overall but it is set up for future books in a way that readers will enjoy. The book was well written and flowed smoothly. The Scottish village sounds adorable, but I could do without the attempt at creating the dialect in the written word, it makes it difficult at times to understand the conversations and slows down the pacing. Overall, Murder In A Scottish Shire was a good beginning yet left room for improvement in future volumes