Kirkus Review
A family therapist returns home to Scotland for a Christmas trip with her friends and finds a new mystery awaiting her. Lexy Campbell lives on a houseboat behind California's Last Ditch motel, and the motel's residents have become her friends. These include Todd Kroger, a physician sidelined by his fear of bugs, and his husband, Roger Kroger, an exhausted pediatrician, who like the motel because co-owner Kathi Muntz, a partner in Lexy and Todd's detective agency, is a germaphobe who keeps the place spotless. Roger hires a jet to take them, along with a supporting cast--Lexy's fiance, ornithologist Taylor Aaronovitch; Kathi's wife, Noleen Muntz; married couple Della and Devin Muelenbelt and their two very loud children--to visit Lexy's family for the holidays. Much to Lexy's surprise, her parents have purchased Mistletoe Hall in the village of Yule, which they plan to run as a hotel. Lexy has warned her friends about Scottish eccentricities, but they're delighted with the small-town charm and the absence of bugs. Taylor is so entranced with the local birds that when a tree with an owls' nest falls through the cellar door, he goes all out to save the egg. Lexy, puzzled by a bricked-up wall in the cellar, eventually opens it up, revealing a skeleton they decide must be the gardener Billy, who worked for the parents of Crispin Garmont, the former owner. Although Crispin is certain his parents killed Billy, Lexy and her friends are unpersuaded enough to investigate. A rollicking mystery that will leave readers wondering whether the whole gang will relocate to Scotland. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Lexy Campbell, her fiancé Taylor, and their friends, residents of Cuento, California's Last Ditch Motel, travel to Lexy's home in Scotland to celebrate Christmas with her parents. Lexy is disconcerted by the changes in her parents as well as their purchase of Mistletoe Hall, which they intend to run as a small hotel. Christmas preparations take a back seat to solving a mystery for Lexy, Todd, and friend Kathi, principals of the detective agency Trinity for Trouble, when Lexy discovers a skeleton behind a wall in the hall's basement. Not satisfied with the local police department's resolution, they dig deeper, discovering other possible suspects. Lexy's beloved but often quirky friends--some of whom are germaphobes, some quite brusque, and including two precocious children along with her bird-obsessed ornithologist fiancé--are a close-knit group of well-delineated characters populating a delightful, humorous cozy framed by Christmas and its lovingly described Scottish setting, ending with the possibility of an upcoming enormous change for them all.
