ARC Review: A Cold Highland Wind by Tasha Alexander

A Cold Highland Wind
Author: Tasha Alexander
Series: Lady Emily Mysteries (Book 17)
Publication: Minotaur Books (October 3, 2023)

Description: In this new installment of Tasha Alexander’s acclaimed Lady Emily series set in the wild Scottish highlands, an ancient story of witchcraft may hold the key to solving a murder centuries later.

Lady Emily, husband Colin Hargreaves, and their three sons eagerly embark on a family vacation at Cairnfarn Castle, the Scottish estate of their dear friend Jeremy, Duke of Bainbridge. But a high-spirited celebration at the beginning of their stay comes to a grisly end when the duke’s gamekeeper is found murdered on the banks of the loch. Handsome Angus Sinclair had a host of enemies: the fiancée he abandoned in Edinburgh, the young woman who had fallen hopelessly in love with him, and the rough farmer who saw him as a rival for her affections. But what is the meaning of the curious runic stone left on Sinclair’s forehead?

Clues may be found in the story of Lady MacAllister, wife of the Laird of Cairnfarn Castle, who in 1676 suddenly found herself widowed and thrown out of her home. Her sole companion was a Moorish slave girl who helped her secretly spirit her most prized possessions―a collection of strange books―out of the castle. When her neighbors, wary of a woman living on her own, found a poppet―a doll used to cast spells―and a daisy wheel in her isolated cottage, Lady MacAllister was accused of witchcraft, a crime punishable by death.

Hundreds of years later, Lady Emily searches for the link between Lady MacAllister’s harrowing witchcraft trial and the brutal death of Sinclair. She must follow a trail of hidden motives, an illicit affair, and a mysterious stranger to reveal the dark side of a seemingly idyllic Highland village.

My Thoughts: This seventeenth book in the Lady Emily Mysteries takes place in Scotland. Emily, her husband and three sons are visiting Emily's friend Jeremy who is the Duke of Bainbridge. When the body of Jeremy's gamekeepers is discovered near the loch after a party, Emily and Colin are on the case.

I enjoyed the Highland setting. I also liked the way the personalities of their three sons are developing and I enjoyed watching Emily and Colin as they interacted with their children and fought for some private time of their own. 

With a variety of suspects including a number of women who were romantically interested in the gamekeeper, there was a lot of investigating to do. Throw in that the gamekeeper wasn't who he said he was, and a nice mystery develops. 

I will admit that I wasn't very happy with the resolution of the mystery but can see that it was appropriate to the time and place. I was a little confused about the flashbacks to 1676 and really don't see how they were relevant to the 1905 story.

Fans of the series and of historical mysteries will enjoy this story.

Favorite Quote:

She shifted in her seat. "Angus Sinclair was not at the ceilidh."

"He most certainly was," I said. "I saw you speaking to him outside."

"You saw me with a man, but he was not Angus Sinclair, the man who fled Cairnfarn for Edinburgh. I was engaged to Angus for two years and can tell you, unequivocally, the duke's gamekeeper was not he."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.