I have thoroughly enjoyed the Last Ditch mystery books I’ve read – see my review of Scot Mist – so was delighted to see this festive offering pop up.
BLURB: It’s all aboard for a Campbell Clan Christmas! Lexy swaps cinnamon lattes for boiled sprouts when the Last Ditch crew travel from California to an idyllic Scottish village for the holidays, but something very unmerry is lurking below the surface . . .
Lexy Campbell is long overdue a trip to Scotland to see her parents, and an unexpected death in the extended Last Ditch Motel family makes Christmas in a bungalow in Dundee with nine others seem almost irresistible.
But when Lexy and the Last Ditch crew hop across the Atlantic, there’s a change of plan and they’re whisked off to Mistletoe Hall in the pretty village of Yule, where the surprises continue. The news that a man disappeared from the crumbling pile sixty years ago, along with an unsettling discovery in the bricked-up basement, means that Todd, Kathi and Lexy – Trinity for Trouble – must solve another murder.
Deadly secrets, snow, berry rustlers, ornithology, skeletons and Christmas Eve in the booze aisle at Tesco: the Last Ditch crew won’t forget their Scottish holiday in a hurry!
REVIEW: This is huge, Christmassy fun. I’ve grown very fond of Lexy and her found family. But I would strongly advise that you don’t plunge straight into this one, if you haven’t had the pleasure of reading at least a couple of the other books in the series – preferably the first one. McPherson jumps into this offering without stopping to introduce the core cast of characters other than in a cursory manner. Which is fine, given this is a murder mystery after all, and the pace needs to be kept up. But there are nine characters in the found family – and that doesn’t include Lexy’s parents. So if you aren’t already acquainted with them, then you’re likely to flounder with the welter of names and passing character traits, designed to jog the memory of Last Ditch fans.
I didn’t have much difficulty, because the moment I opened up the book, my memory of the characters came flooding back. After all, they’re old friends. I just hoped that by the end of this adventure, I would still be as fond of them. And I was. The story had me laughing aloud, to the extent that I was struggling not to wake Himself. I’m aware that humour is highly personal, but I find McPherson’s mix of language misunderstanding – particularly now the gang have pitched up in Scotland – and her version of OTT slapstick enormously enjoyable. It’s not usually my kind of thing, but the delivery is so laconic and clever that it just draws me in.
Of course, I didn’t just pick this one up for the laughs. I like a well-plotted murder mystery and I enjoyed the sheer tongue-in-cheek genre trope of a skeleton in the cellar of a rambling country house. I thought McPherson played with reader expectations in a really enjoyable way and provided some nice twists. The Christmas aspect of the whole tale is very well done – giving us the required snow and fairy lights, which worked well with Lexy’s usual cynicism. There is a huge plot twist regarding the family’s future that comes at the end of this, which leaves me hoping the next book in this charming series isn’t too far in the future. All in all, this entertaining and very funny Christmas whodunit comes very highly recommended. While I obtained an arc of Hop Scot from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
10/10
Brainfluff 