I was drawn to this book because of its Scottish setting and the whole winter wedding vibe. At first, I found the gothic atmosphere enticing and intriguing, but quickly I realised that the plot wasn't compelling enough to keep me engaged. Even though I really enjoyed my previous Crooked Lane book, for this one, I'd say I have mixed feelings.

Emily and her Scooby doo gang are at it again. NOPE, you better read the first book in the series before getting to this one to understand the relationship dynamics between Em and her friends. A fun and quirky take on the classic locked room mystery with a raging snowstorm adding to the thrill, Lucy Connelly has worked wonders with this latest series addition to A Scottish Isle Mystery.

Book # 1, An American In Scotland had established who, what, and how the team had joined hands together, and moving into book #2, we see Dr. Emily and Mara with the local constable and Laird Ewan driving to his castle for the wedding of Angie who is also a member of this set of scooby doo. As the wedding festivities tumble down into a bang that none of them expected complete with a dead body in the turret, along with being poisoned and other shenanigans, Em has her hands full unearthing the murderer amongst them in addition to being the coroner and the resident medic.

The story moves along with enough suspicious characters adding to the drama, I really did have gala time trying to differentiate between the stepmoms, imagine the riot having all of them under one roof, and then, of course, disgruntled exes of both groom and the bride in the party, there is something or the other always happening during this one of a kind wedding.

Ewan and Em have a spark, and their witty quips against each other prove it beyond doubt. Still, we don’t get to see much development from book #1 with regards to the romantic aspect of the story but the thing that warmed the cockles of my heart is the lovely friendship between Em, Mara, Angie, and Abigail. Three cheers for the women's team who always have each other backs and I can see many more books in the series with the lot of them involved in one way or another.

The suspense gets revealed without much ado and wraps up quite nicely making it an easy cozy read. OK, my one grouse, the castle on the cover image could have been more eye catching. Well, Scotland and snow, and the image should have been of something more massive and attractive.

Many thanks to Net Galley, Crooked Lane Books, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

This review is published on my blog https://rainnbooks.com/, Goodreads, Amazon India, Book Bub, Medium.com, Facebook, and Twitter.

The second installment of the Sea Isle Mystery series, Death at a Scottish Wedding, centers around a murder at a three-day wedding celebration. The main character, Dr. Emilia McRoy is an American who relocated to Sea Isle Scotland, after the death of her husband to become the local doctor and coroner. During her short time there, Emilia created a new family and amazing friendships for herself, with Mara, Angie, and Abigail. Then there is her somewhat prickly relationship with the very wealthy Ewan Campbell who is the laird and constable of the small town.

This book takes place a few months after the first book. Emilia attends Angie’s wedding at Morrigan’s Castle, Ewan’s family home, along with the rest of the crew including Jasper and Abigail’s brother Tommy. Sadly, the wedding festivities become a murder scene, possible poisoning, and attacks on Emilia at the event. The victim is Angie’s ex-boyfriend who was not invited to the wedding. Adding more tension to the situation, the guests are snowed in by a blizzard and avalanche; so, no-one can come or go. Then Emilia, Ewan, and the gang jump into action to investigate and solve the murder.

This was a delightful story and I enjoyed learning about Scottish wedding traditions. The author keeps the suspense going right up until the end. I love the female relationships and strong bonds and I can’t wait to see what new adventure await Emilia and her friends. I do hope the next installment will delve more into the relationship between Emilia and Ewan much more. There is a sense that there could be more to their relationship. This was an excellent read and I would recommend reading the series in order.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The gangs all back for another installment about this wacky group of people in a small Scottish town. There’s Emilia the American doctor who fled the US after the death of her husband (that’s a whole other story from the first installment) along with newly formed best friends Mara, Angie, and Abigail. There’s also Constable Ewan, who is also a very wealthy laird. I just want to say that I don’t think this would make a very good standalone. Without reading the first installment, I don’t believe one will be able to fully understand and appreciate the relationships between many of the MC’s like the ones between Em, Mara, Angie and Abigail. There is also the prickly interactions between Ewan and Em that began in the first installment that the second installment doesn’t really explain too much. Anyway, I strongly suggest reading the first installment before this one.

The book summary lays out the primary storyline: a big, old, creepy castle – check, a punk rock/gothic wedding – check, a boatload of wedding guests that includes jealous bridesmaids and a handful of stepmothers to the bride (aka “the steps”) - check, a dead body in a castle turret – check and a horrific blizzard that closes down the roads and strands everyone for three days - check. What the book summary doesn’t mention is that the dead body was the bride’s ex-boyfriend, that wasn’t invited to the wedding and no one liked so no one knows how he got there or, in this case, they aren’t saying! It also isn’t obvious that it really was a murder or an accident of some kind. Anyway, this presents a whole bunch of people as possible culprits and/or accomplices.

Most of the story revolves around the MC’s investigation of why the ex-BF is there, who brought him to the castle, who killed him and who is out to kill the bride (there is a few attempts on her life) as well as Em (there are attempts on her life too because she has all the evidence that is collected). By the second half, the team strongly suspects that there is either more than one killer and/or accomplice. It’s well into the second half that I am just as clueless as the team is as to who the killer(s) and/or accomplice(s) are. The end comes pretty quickly after that in a really scary and deadly scene for Em.

I absolutely love the chemistry between Em and her new BFF’s; the humor and snark are very entertaining. I especially like it when they gang up on Ewan to tease him mercilessly. I want to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #CrookedLaneBooks #DeathataScottishWedding

3.5 stars

This is the second installment in a cozy series featuring American doctor Emilia McRoy, who has ended up in a Scottish village as local physician and coroner. There is a nice ensemble of locals, including the Laird, Ewan, who butts heads with Emilia on a regular basis due to their shared stubbornness.

This time out they are all holed up in one of Ewan's family castles for the wedding of their dear friend. From the beginning things begin to go wrong, family dysfunction, bad weather, etc. Then an uninvited guest with links to everyone's past shoes up dead.

Emilia and Ewan and crew start investigating. This is an interesting book with a fun setting and nicely drawn characters. Emilia, as we are reminded very often, has never had such a close group of friends. I only wish all the female characters didn't feel the need to scream so often. That was kind of mystifying since they are all strong independent women. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this DRC.
Dr. Emilia McRoy, an American in Scotland, is snowed in at a wedding in a gothic castle. Someone dies and everyone becomes a suspect.
This book was very readable and I wanted to know who did it, but it does have its glitches. It repeats a lot of information, thoughts and jokes that becomes annoying. Emilia’s being American is so grating that other characters also read as American
#DeathataScottishWedding #NetGalley

Death at a Scottish Wedding by Lucky Connelly is the second book in the Scottish Isle Mysteries that began with An American in Scotland. It is October in Scotland and the good doctor is finding life in Sea Isle, Scotland, quite a bit colder and a lot snowier than her old Seattle neighborhood. It has been three months since she arrived and took over the medical practice. She loves the place and the people. The weather- not so much.

Not only is she the doctor, she is also the coroner. That means she works with the local constable of Sea Isle, Ewan Campbell. He is also the mayor, laird, and her host the next few days at his castle known as Morrigan Castle. It is one of his many family homes. It has at 94 rooms. It has a support staff and generators for power and should be a beautiful place for a wedding.

It was until folks started dying during a major snowstorm.

Cutoff from the world, what-follows is a locked room style cozy mystery read where while the wedding moves forward, it does take a backseat to the deaths. Deaths that are clearly murders. The question is who is killing and why?

Death at a Scottish Wedding is a fun mystery that is a good read, but could have been better. Nearly every chapter has a hook at the end to encourage the reader to move forward and continue reading. Numerous times the hook is having a character or characters hear a noise and then our heroine, or somebody else, screams from the fright. It is done so much, it become laughable. Amazingly, none of the screamers ever need a throat lozenge.

We are also told again and again that Ewan and good doctor don’t mix well with each other. We already very much know that from the first book. Clearly the ongoing annoyance will lead to romance. The only question is when. But, in the meantime, the fact that they clash is pounded ad nauseum in the first half of this book as is other repetitive information.

While the above issues are strong in the first half of the book, they eventually stop in the second half of the book as the pressure of the situation ramps up considerably. The reader is left with a good cozy mystery that easily could have been way better, but is pretty good overall.

As always, one should read the first book in a series. That fact is very true here. If one chooses to start here, understand the previous events are well detailed in the begging chapters of Death at the Scottish Wedding.

My reading copy came by way of the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, through NetGalley with no promise of a review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

2.5 stars rounded down
I liked the first book, and as much as I was disappointed in this one, it won't stop me from continuing the series. However, there was SO MUCH repetition that I kept muttering to myself, yes we get it, move on. If you remove all that, there wasn't much of a story at all. And there were conflicting moments that were also annoying. For instance, at one point Emilia makes a big deal about having to be so steady in the ER and not let loud noises, etc, get to you, yet every time there was a single unexpected sound around her, she screamed and reacted like a child. All of the characters except Ewan seemed much more immature this time.

And now that I've re-read my review, I'm dropping it from 3 stars to 2.5. Can't recommend this one, although if you do read it and haven't read the first, you won't be lost....because everything will be repeated ad nauseam!

The first book in this series, An American in Scotland, was one of my favorite reads this year. The follow up Death at a Scottish Wedding, is definitely continuing in that mode. We have an interesting take on a locked room mystery, with the death of someone in a Scottish castle that is totally closed off due to a major blizzard. Everyone in the castle are family or close friends of the couple getting married, who would want to ruin their special day? When the victim is found to be someone not invited, but someone not unknown to the bride and groom, questions continue to pile up. Why was the victim there, how did they get there, who has it in for the bride and groom? As Em and her posse try to figure out what's going on, they find themselves taking hits and being stalked. Can they figure out what's going on before someone else loses their life? Can the bride and groom make it to the altar? Will it ever stop snowing? You will definitely want to be around for this ride. Thanks to #NetGalley and #CrookedLaneBooks for a chance to read this great tale!

"Death at a Scottish Wedding" has a wonderful concept - a winter wedding weekend at a castle in the Scottish countryside where a blizzard strands the attendees and cuts them off from the rest of the world and then someone is murdered. Luckily the castle is owned by the local Captain of Police and in attendance is the town doctor / coroner. Unfortunately, the delivery of this fun and mysterious set up falls short.

The location is so atmospheric but the writing does nothing to create that atmosphere. Saying something is creepy over and over and having the lights periodically go out does not really do much to place me in the world as a reader. Nearly the whole story is told through dialog and lacks the moody descriptions and exposition the location deserves. Also, since the protagonist is an American living in Scotland, her explanations of things being called different names between the two countries feels awkward, as does the seemingly random Scots language words thrown into some dialog.

I appreciate being given the opportunity to read this advanced copy from NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books. I'm hoping it is a very preliminary copy as there are quite a lot of errors from people not being in a scene then suddenly having dialog in the scene, as well as major plot holes. Sadly, the bottom line is that it just isn't very well written. With a dedicated editor (or team of editors) there could be something good in this series.

A fun cozy mystery that I read in one setting, loved the location, as well as the characters themselves.

Loved everything about this novel - the setting, the characters, and mostly the twists and turns that left me guessing until the very end!

In Death at a Scottish Wedding, American doctor Emilia McRoy is delighted when she is invited to a wedding at Morrigan's Castle. Her friends have warned her that it's a three-day party and it's bound to get wild, not to mention the impending snowstorm. Constable Ewan Campbell, owner of the castle, ensures their safety with the blizzard. What he didn’t ensure, is that all of his guests would survive the night alive. When Emilia explores the impressive castle, she finds a dead man in one of the turrets.

Absolutely loved this one! Great read. Loved the characters and the surroundings. The plot was very interesting and kept me reading.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook.
I have read from this series and I really enjoyed this novel. I loved all the characters and this is a perfect cozy mystery weekend read.

Em is a doctor from America who has relocated to a small town in Scotland and has found some wonderful friends there. One of them, Angie, is getting married in a beautiful castle. But then Angie’s ex, who wasn’t invited, is found dead, and it seems that someone is trying to stop the wedding, as several guests, including Em, are hurt. There is a blizzard,so no one can come or go—everyone is on edge because they are trapped with a killer. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I liked this book but I just couldn't get into the story. I didn't like the writing style but overall the story was good.

I really enjoyed “An American in Scotland”, the first book in Lucy Connelly’s Scottish Isle cozy mystery series, and for the most part I really enjoyed the second book “Death at a Scottish Wedding”. It has many things that I love in a cozy mystery – a strong female lead with strong friends, a murder with plenty of suspects, a blizzard trapping everyone with said killer. While some plot points weren’t that difficult to figure out, there were still a few twists and turns that took me by surprise. However, while I enjoyed the book for the most part, there were still a few things that I didn’t like about the book. While the book is full of strong female characters, they spent an awful lot of time screaming – sometimes at the smallest thing. I get that it was meant to add some humor to the book but it got to the point that it was annoying. Finally, for someone who is supposed to be smart, Em did some things that threatened to make her one of those characters who is Too Stupid To Live.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

I adored this cozy mystery! The group of characters were fantastic, and I loved the setting. I enjoyed the plot twists and the mystery. It was well paced and well written!

Death at a Scottish Wedding is the second in the Scottish Isle Mystery series and you should definitely read the first one if you haven't before this one. It helps tremendously to know who all the characters are.

Dr. Emilia McRoy has had some time to settle in to small village Scottish life and make some really good friends. One of the locals from Sea Isle is getting married and everyone in town is invited to the three day party at a nearby castle. As soon as everyone arrives, a snowstorm makes sure they are stuck there. This becomes a problem when a body is found in one of the turrets and is revealed to be an ex of the bride!

This was a fun mystery and I love the trapped in a Scottish castle setting. The wedding events that for some reason keep going on, even after the death do make it a more fun read.

Second book in the Scottish Isle Mystery series
Dr. Emilia McRoy is attending the wedding of her friend Angie to Damien at Morrigan Castle. Some guests are arriving early due to a predicted snow storm. While Angie's family is happy about the upcoming nuptials, the same cannot be said for Damien's family.
The dead body discovered in the turret turns out to be Angie's ex - how did he get into the castle? It is discovered that he was killed by drinking anti-freeze. When Angie and friend Mara also get sick, it turns out that they consumed water tainted with anti-freeze. The storm cuts the wedding guests off from the outside world. When Angie is attacked, it becomes evident that someone wants to stop the wedding - the question is who.
#DeathataScottishWedding #NetGalley