A Fun Mystery in Scotland in “Off Kilter”

Share

Off KilterIn Off Kilter by Hannah Reed, Eden Elliott has been given a gift of a trip to Glenkillen, Scotland to do research for the romance novel set in Scotland she has started to write. While on the plane, she meets Vicki MacBride, who is moving from London to Glenkillen after having been left her father’s entire estate of an extensive sheep farm. His children by his second wife got nothing. In dismay, after Eden arrives, she discovers that the car rental carries only manual transmissions, and she has never driven such a car, leading her to break down along the way. Fortunately a gorgeous Scottish man stops to help her as she is kicking the car. Leith Cameron and his border collie Kelly take Eden into Glenkillen, and after getting settled into the inn, Eden spots the funeral procession for Vicki’s father, complete with bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace.”

Suddenly deciding to offer her support to Vicki, Eden follows to the cemetery and from there to the pub for the after- funeral reception. After a fight between Vicki and her half- sister, Eden follows to be with Vicki as her new friend storms out. The pair soon ends up at the home of Vicki’s family friend, Gavin Mitchell, the local sheep shearer who was the one to notify Vicki about her father’s death. Every house on the block is lit up except Gavin’s. Then they find the back door wide open, so Eden goes in, only to find the body of Gavin Mitchell covered in blood and stabbed with his sheep shears and sending Vicki into screams.

After being cleared by Inspector Jamison, Eden finds that everyone in Glenkillen seems to think that Vicki is responsible and Eden complicit, especially when someone sets fire to Eden’s hotel room bathroom, forcing Eden to take up residence in the farmhouse Vicki has inherited. The more Vicki seems in trouble, the more Eden determines to fight on behalf of her new friend.

I enjoyed my great trip to Scotland with Eden as she visits Glenkillen. The mystery plot kept me riveted and drawn to the book in anticipation. It had several creative twists to it that I really enjoyed. I found myself changing my guess as to the identity of the killer more than once during the book, and the solution gave me a surprise.

The characters in this book are drawn realistically, making me feel that I could recognize them if I ran into them in the street. Seeing Scotland and the people in it through the eyes of Eden gives us a good look into the country, allowing Reed to teach us words and types of food as Eden learns these for herself.

The countryside of Scotland acts as a main character itself. We get to see the mountains and drive through the windy roads along the seashore in terror with Eden. We also get to experience visiting a sheep farm and meeting a real sheep dog.

I enjoyed the performance of Angela Dawe in the audio edition of this book. She shifts smoothly between the American accent of Eden, the mostly- London accent of Vicki, and the Scottish accents of Leif and other locals. The book refers to certain individuals, such as Vicki’s half- sister and – brother, as having less of a brogue than most other Scottish people. Further, John, married to half- sister Kirsteen, is from North Wales and has his own accent. Through all this, Dawe successfully navigates the complicated world of accents. But that is not all of Dawe’s strengths. She sounds effective in her role of Eden as the American tries to do her own sleuthing and also as she tries to write her own romance novel, getting writer’s block about writing a sex scene yet imagining herself with the handsome and dashing Leith.

I really appreciated getting to listen to Off Kilter and visit Scotland with Eden and her friends. I am looking forward to getting to listen to the next book in the series. I give this book five stars.

To purchase this book for yourself, click here on Amazon.

Share

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.