Paislee Shaw had no idea how bad things are for some local families and gladly participates in a food drive event as both a donor and a vendor, When a woman in the baking contest goes into anaphylactic shock and dies after Paislee kept her alive with CPR until the EMTs could arrive, she finds more than just hunger is rampant in the area. Given that the woman was the queen bee of the top clique at a private school, no one expected her to be so cruel and mean to others.

With the dead woman’s private chef as the main suspect, Paislee doesn’t believe the man is guilty and vows to find out who did poison the woman. She just has to hope she doesn’t end up with the same ending as the woman…because that’s how the cookie crumbles when a murderer is involved.

This is a great series based in Scotland, as you can tell from the title. From the knitting to the tea and the Scottish Terrier Wallace, there’s nothing I don’t like about this series. My two Scotties say four paws up!

I have a thing for Scottish mysteries, and this one did not disappoint. The characters are fun, although there are A LOT of them and I admit I did have trouble keeping them straight, especially at the beginning. The main character, Paislee, is cute, funny, and smart - all the things needed to move the story forward. The Scottish dialect is a little overdone, but doesn’t get in the way of the story. Fans of cozy mysteries will enjoy.

I found the phonetic spelling of the Scottish accent to be very distracting. Example: "Kirsten is oot for bluid. My bluid." I've read a lot of books set in Scotland and/or written by Scottish authors and while there may be some words or expressions thrown in they don't overwhelm the story like they did in this book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Kensington Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, Kensington Books.

Murder at a Scottish Social by Traci Hall is an excellent cozy mystery that is the third book in the wonderful series: A Scottish Shire Mystery.

I have read all the books thus far in this series, and it just keeps getting better and better. I love the adorable and quaint town of Nairn, Scotland. The author has created a vivid picture of a personal, quintessential village that has both charm, an array of unique inhabitants, and a feel of history to it as well.

Paislee Shaw is just adorable. Trying to balance running her Cashmere Crush shop, being a single mom to her son, taking care of (and reigning in) her Grandfather, and her adorable doggy, Wallace, all takes balance and a nice talent in juggling.

What she doesn’t need is to add amateur sleuth to her daily to-do list, however that is exactly what she ends up doing in attempting to find the culprit of the murder of the town “Queen Bee” Kristin so as to take the blame away from her friend. All hands on deck as she attempts to add another issue onto her plate.

I again enjoyed the murder/mystery component, the storyline, and I enjoyed visiting with Paislee again. She is just such a great character.

I am looking forward to the next book in this charming series.

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Kensington for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication.