Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Rip Through Time (Book 4)
Publication: Minotaur Books (May 20, 2025)
Description: Death at a Highland Wedding is the fourth installment in New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's gripping Rip Through Time Novels.
After slipping 150 years into the past, modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson has embraced her new life in Victorian Scotland as housemaid Catriona Mitchel. Although it isn’t what she expected, she's developed real, meaningful relationships with the people around her and has come to love her role as assistant to undertaker Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie.
Mallory, Gray, and McCreadie are on their way to the Scottish Highlands for McCreadie's younger sister's wedding. The McCreadies and the groom’s family, the Cranstons, have a complicated history which has made the weekend quite uncomfortable. But the Cranston estate is beautiful so Gray and Mallory decide to escape the stifling company and set off to explore the castle and surrounding wilderness. They discover that the groom, Archie Cranston, a slightly pompous and prickly man, has set up deadly traps in the woods for the endangered Scottish wildcats, and they soon come across a cat who's been caught and severely injured. Oddly, Mallory notices the cat's injuries don't match up with the intricacies of the trap. These strange irregularities, combined with the secretive and erratic behavior of the groom, put Mallory and Duncan on edge. And then when one of the guests is murdered, they must work fast to uncover the murderer before another life is lost.
New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong’s unique time travel mystery series continues to entertain as Mallory adjusts to life in the 1870s.
My Thoughts: In the fourth Rip Through Time historical mystery, Mallory, Gray, Isla and High McCreadie travel to Scotland for the wedding of Hugh's younger sister. They arrive at quite a fraught situation since Hugh's sister is marrying the brother of the woman Hugh jilted when they were younger.
Archie Cranston was a school friend of Hugh's. The bridal party also includes a number of other school friends. Mallory feels out of her depth because she doesn't know all the in-jokes and references to past exploits that are flying by. The groom is also constantly picking at Gray which Archie considers good-natured teasing.
However, when a body is found, it first looks like it is Archie. It turns out to be Archie's best friend and groomsman Ezra Sinclair. Someone has bashed him in the back of his head with a shillelagh from Cranston's collection.
Though Gray, Mallory and Hugh have extensive experience solving murder, this case falls on the shoulders of the local constable who is woefully unprepared, inexperienced and too stubborn to use their expertise. In fact, he soon arrests Cranston for the crime.
However, Mallory, Gray and Hugh are giving up their own investigation and soon discover that Sinclair had a secret and seedy life which leads to lots more suspects for the murder including a number of the houseguests and staff.
This was an entertaining mystery. I liked the subtle romances going on in the story as Hugh and Isla are conducting a very slow courtship and Mallory isn't at all certain about her own relationship with Gray. I also enjoyed the investigation and Mallory's frustrations for the lack of tools she had available as a cop in Vancouver 150 years later in time.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.
Very nice mystery
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