Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and Lucy Connelly for the opportunity to read an ARC for Death at a Scottish Christmas. This is my honest and unpaid review of the book. I am thoroughly loving this series. Each time I read one I am transported to this small Scottish village, in the snow and I wish I could actually be there. Except for the murders, it seems quite idyllic! The author always describes food in the books so I recommend having some kind of scottish delicacies on hand, or pub/ tearoom food or else you'll end up hungry. I really like the main character as she is a strong and intelligent woman who is making a new life for herself after some personal setbacks. The other characters in the book are great as they provide some colourful background to a snowy setting.

In just months American doctor Emilia McRoy has become an important part of the Sea Isle, Scotland community. She has developed friendships that have become like family. When she is asked to help transport a band that is scheduled to perform in town after their transport breaks down, it gives her a chance to meet Bram, the lead singer. The morning after their performance she finds him sitting on the cold beach. When she approaches she realizes that he is dead. McRoy is the town’s doctor and also the coroner. An examination reveals an injection site that led to an embolism. An investigator is sent from Edinburgh to take over the case from Ewan Campbell, the local constable. Ewan had a history with Bram and is considered a suspect. McCray, however, is certain that a member of the band was involved. While they were a close group, they had also been involved in arguments and fights. Bram was responsible for writing their songs, but lately he stumbled over words and forgot lyrics. The band also complained about his erratic behavior. When McRoy sends for his medical records they reveal a diagnosis that he kept from his bandmates and their manager. She has been asking questions and now she is being followed by a shadowy figure, her labs have been broken into and Ewan is attacked outside her home. A second murder tied to the band is committed in the same manner as Bram’s putting pressure on McRoy to find answers before anyone else dies.

McRoy has been drafted by one of her friends to assist with holiday celebrations. Lucy Connelly’s descriptions of the week leading up to Christmas is filled with songs, food and holiday lights. While there are threats against McRay’s safety, her friends are there for her and Ewan, who she considers a close friend, leaves her feeling that there may be more between them than friendship. It is a relationship that is developing and I can not wait for their next adventure. With warm friendships and holiday cheer, along with a mystery that keeps you guessing, this is a perfect holiday treat. I would like to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing this book.

Excellent installment in one of my go-to cozy series. I thought the mystery was really good and well paced and definitely kept me guessing. Great read!

I love this series and all the characters, the setting is so cozy and I love Scotland! It's one of my favorite series so I hope it goes for a while and doesn't end to soon!

I really enjoyed the third book in The A Scottish Isle Mysteries series featuring an American ex-pat, Dr. Emilia McRoy, living in Sea Isle, Scotland and working as a local doctor and coroner. The characters are fun and interesting and very colorful, and the mysteries are intriguing with some great red herrings. Also, Sea Isle is a character within itself, and a place I would love to visit.
This book can be read as a standalone, but I recommend reading them all for maximum enjoyment.

Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

This was a well-written cozy mystery with an intriguing plot about a band member who mysteriously dies on the beach. It has a CSI or Diagnosis Murder vibe. It was so good I couldn’t put it down. The characters were very complex; making it hard to pin down the killer. The main character, Doc Em, along with her assistant and the local constable, figure out how the man and his manager were killed and who was behind their demise. This book also touches on the subject of early-onset Alzheimer’s and the devastating effects of the disease in younger patients. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series!

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

3 1/2 stars. A holiday cozy mystery set on a Scottish Isle filled with seasonal cheer and celebrations (and even though it is called a Scottish Christmas there were observations for a number of different seasonal holidays so you probably won't feel left out). There were quirky characters, good friends, the requisite snow storm that stranded people in town and of course a murder. And the female lead, a doctor for the town plus its coroner may be an amateur detective but she actually has a good reason to be investigating murder as its coroner.

On top of that Emilia and Ewan continue their snipping which obviously hid an attraction that neither was willing to acknowledge (hopefully that will change in future books).

I was disappointed in the culprit. I was really hoping that it would be someone different and a surprise twist at the end. But, oh well, you can't get everything to go the way you want. It was still a good read and I will be back for more.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Sea Isle is a Scottish community that celebrates all the winter holidays in full force. It's also the hometown of several members of Bram and the Stokers, a popular indie folk band, that plays at a local pub to try out some new music in preparation to a US stadium tour. Unfortunately the lead singer is found dead the next morning. Was it suicide or murder?

Having a cozy mystery lead by a doctor/coroner instead of a cupcake baker or a dog walker opens up all kinds of possibilities and complexities. The cause of death was unusual and interesting. I really liked that aspect.

I didn't realize when I requested this book that it was part of a series. main character's full name isn't used until 85% of the book which I guess isn't an issue if you've read the first two. The author does give some backstory information but I am pretty sure the ending of book #2 is spoiled in several places.

There were quite a few repetitive words/phrases and some timeline jumping that I hope were corrected before release date. There were also a few things left unresolved that seemed germane to the plot but were then never addressed. <spoiler>For example, the painting Bram bought in town that no one knew was painted by his father? Was Desiree being poisoned at the B&B? How do people keep breaking into that church/house/hospital and why aren't there security cameras and motion detection lights on the property?</spoiler>

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the advance reader copy. I am required by law to disclose this.

Death at a Scottish Christmas is the third in the Scottish Isle Mystery Series. It can be read as a stand-alone, though.

Dr. Emilia McRoy moved from America to Scotland for a fresh start. She became the small town doctor in Sea Isle. Emilia is thrilled to be experiencing a Scottish Christmas, having not celebrated much while she was in America.

Emilia has a month off work for the holidays, and she's wondering what she's going to do with herself. But, when she finds the lead band member of a local Scottish band dead on the beach, she finds she suddenly doesn't have so much time on her hands anymore, as the local coroner, she finds herself assisting with the investigation.

I enjoy this cozy mystery series, I love the Scottish small town setting and enjoyed learning more about Scottish celebrations.

The mystery was interesting. There were several possible suspects and motives. I had a small inkling as to who might be the culprit but never fully figured it out.

The doctor is a great main character, but the secondary characters are all amazing as well. They all add so much to the warmth and coziness of this story.

I'd definitely recommend this one for fans of cozies.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for the advanced digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own. I paired this one with the audiobook Kimberly M. Wetherell  did a phenomenal job narrating this story.

“Death at a Scottish Christmas” is the nicely done third book in Lucy Connelly’s Scottish Isle cozy mystery series. In this book it is Dr. Emilia McRoy’s first Christmas in Scotland, and she is determined to enjoy it as much as she can – taking part in as many events as possible. She is supposed to have a month of from her duties as doctor and coroner but when a body turns up, she finds herself investigating yet another murder. Connelly does a great job of describing Sea Isle and I felt like I was right there alongside Em, Abigail, Ewan, and others as they investigated the murder. The mystery is well done with just the right amount of suspects, twists, and turns, and the right amount of suspense. Truthfully, I was a bit sad when I found out who the killer was. All of this was well done by Connelly and I was sorry when my visit to Sea Isle ended – I look forward to my next visit there.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

Such a fun cozy mystery series. I love that Emily is intelligent and strong headed. I love Sea Isle and its residents. The mystery of this one was pretty good. I will definitely read/listen to the next book. While you could read this before the other 2 I do feel you’d enjoy it more after reading the first 2 books.

**Thanks to the author and publisher for the e-arc I received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.**

As strong as the others in the series. The setting is still possibly the most captivating part, but the unique balance of cozy /police procedural/medical examiner is very good. The characters are well-done and believable. A good mystery as well.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love this series so much and it just keeps getting better! The tension just keeps building between Emilia and Ewan and I can't wait to see what happens next!

What I loved:
* Christmas in Scotland
* Em doing her job WHICH enables her to also be extra nosy ;-)
* The mystery was very good and kept me guessing [and in the end I. WAS. WRONG. How glorious].
* Em watches ALL of my favorite British crime shows [I LOVE it when they mention them, especially Vera!!].
* I love all of the side characters in these books; how they have accepted Em from day one and how they've become her family and love her [and each other] fiercely. They are the glue that holds these books together.

What didn't work for me:
* This isn't a reflection on the author, but the publisher/proofreader. I expect some mistakes, because we are all human, but this book really suffered from some editing issues [namely mis-naming people, having Em do one thing and then do it again several sentances later etc] which was very glaring when listening to the audiobook [as the excellent narrator READ THEM all as written], and after awhile, got kind of old.
* There was WAY more repetition in this one than there has been in the previous books; sometimes within the same paragraph and it really unnecessary. We are not 5. We do not need to be told the same thing over and over again [this was all super frustrating along with the editing issues].
* The very rushed reveal and the actual reveal itself. It was pretty anticlimactic and didn't have any of the excitement that typically comes with a reveal and so it was disappointing.
* While I will not mind if Em and Ewan get together, it is the getting there that is so juvenile. It all felt so high schol and I'd love to see that handled better.
* That ending!! WHAT???? Ergh.

Even with what didn't work for me, this was still a good read - the positives [mostly] outweighed the negatives and I enjoyed my "visit" to Scotland and being with Em and Co. at Christmastime [even though it was 70+ and October when I was reading LOL] and I am very much looking forward to book 4!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Lucy Connelly, and Crooked Lane Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this story and the wonderful description of the Scottish scenery - made me proud to live here. I do love a good mystery and this was, for me, a wonderful mystery with all its twists and turns.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Lucy Connelly for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Death at a Scottish Christmas coming out October 15, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I really love this series! Emilia has really grown on me as a character. She was a little standoffish in the first book. I’ve always loved the setting in Scotland. Christmastime mysteries are one of my favorite genres. I think this series is really cozy and fun. I love the Scottish characters. Everyone comes together to help each other out. I would definitely read more books by this author!

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Scottish cozy mysteries!

Dr. Emilia Roy is looking forward to a Scottish Christmas and the activities the town will have going on. Things started out well until the lead singer for a very famous band ends up dead. The band was getting ready to go on a world tour but things are a bit iffy at the moment. Emilia decides to start investigating and learns that some music they were working on has disappeared. Does this have something to do with the murder? She soon learns he had quite a few enemies. Then the local constable becomes the main suspect upsetting everyone along with the holiday festivities. Emilia begins.to.look deeper hoping to solve the murder before the whole holiday is ruined. Will she be able to find the culprit before something bad happens to someone else.

In Death at a Scottish Christmas, we are back in Sea Isle with Emilia and the gang. I love how Emilia as the town doctor/coroner, can't help herself in trying to figure out "whodunit". This is a fun cozy mystery and it takes place at Christmas so that makes it even better! I think this could be read as a stand-alone but it's a little richer if you've read books 1 and 2 first.

I read/listened to the audio version and love Kimberly M. Wetherell as narrator.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Publication date: 15 October 2024

This is a fun, entertaining read. Emilia is an interesting, complex, complicated, intriguing, relatable, entertaining characters. I enjoyed the mystery and that the amateur sleuth played an active role in solving the crime. The secondary characters added to the fabric of the story and my enjoyment. The story is easy to read and get into.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"Death at a Scottish Christmas" by Lucy Connelly is a delight and my new favorite series! The vivid descriptions are so immersive that you can almost feel yourself waking up in the heart of Scotland. Connelly’s relatable characters are wonderfully crafted, making you wish you could be friends with them as they navigate this festive mystery. The blend of charm and suspense creates a captivating read that keeps you hooked until the very end. (I reviewed an advance reader copy and all opinions are my own.) I can’t wait to dive into the next adventure in this enchanting series!