Hop Scot (Last Ditch Mystery)

by Catriona McPherson

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Hop Scot is the sixth cozy(ish) Last Ditch mystery by Catriona McPherson. Released 5th Dec 2023 by Severn House, it's 240 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links throughout.

This is such an exuberantly fun "closed" setting for a murder mystery. It's holiday themed, with the group of misfit friends jetting off to Scotland to visit Lexy's parents and experience the dubious joys of Scotland in the wintertime. They couldn't possibly be more disparate; plucked from different cultures, socioeconomic strata, backgrounds, orientations, and family makeups, they're knitted together by circumstances and their apparently genuine fondness for one another. And now they're on the loose in Scotland.

Faced with a skeleton in a previously bricked up room in Lexy's parents' new manor home, a la Cask of Amontillado , they are determined to sleuth out the guilty party and set about investigating in their own inimitable way. The "whodunit" and "how" is an impressively funny comedy of errors which reads like a cross between I Love Lucy, Scooby-Doo, and Queer Eye, with a little comedic Lost in Translation for good measure.

Despite being the 6th book in the series, it worked quite well as a standalone and readers won't have much trouble keeping the principal characters straight. All the disparate subplots wind together quickly into a satisfying (and exciting) denouement and resolution. The author has quite a talent with comedic timing and characterization and her comparisons of American and Scottish culture are spot on and very funny.

Five stars. Definitely a good one for fans of comedic light murder cozies, and this series continues to move from strength to strength.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.