This is a tour for Bookouture and my review is my own opinion.
A dead body and a missing sapphire pendant? Lady Poppy Proudfoot is on the case!
Scotland, 1924: When Lady Poppy Proudfoot is invited to her friend’s hotel on the Isle of Skye, she is looking forward to a holiday. But all thoughts of relaxing vanish when she discovers the body of a strangled woman in a church.
The police believe the widow’s death was a robbery gone wrong, as a pendant was stolen from the scene. But Poppy is sure it’s murder. Ignoring the police’s warnings to keep her nose out, she enlists her friend Inspector MacKenzie, and her loyal Labrador, Major, to unpick the case.
Poppy suspects one of the hotel’s guests knows more about the murder than they are willing to admit. Could it be Miss Buccleugh, the avid button collector? Or the travelling guru, who conveniently disappeared just after the murder? Or was it Mr Henderson, so desperate for money he was driven to murder?
When Poppy sees the victim’s sapphire pendant on the neck of another guest, she is convinced the killer is targeting widows in the hotel, and luring them in with jewelry. But to prove her theory, she will have to offer herself up as bait. It’s risky, but her only way of catching the killer… Can Poppy con a con-man, and make it out alive? Or will she be the next wealthy widow on the killer’s list?
What I thought:
This is the second book in the Poppy Proudfoot series, and I thought it was okay. For some reason I just don't like Poppy that much, but I love her lady's maid. :)
Poppy and her lady's maid Elspeth are on their way to visit Poppy's friend on the Isle of Skye when they have car trouble and have to walk to the nearest town where not long after they get to the hotel they find out a widow woman has gone missing. Poppy thinks of herself as a bit of a sleuth since she helped catch a murderer in the previous book and so she has been teaching her dog to look for people. She decides she wants to use her dog to try and find the missing woman and talks the hotel owner into giving her something of the missing lady to have her dog sniff and they do end up finding the poor woman dead.
Poppy starts telling the Constable all about what she thinks when he gets there and he is not that impressed, but it doesn't stop her from snooping. She wants him to call in Inspector Mackenzie, whom she has worked with on the other case. He doesn't do it so she does and verily gets to chat with him to let him know all that she has figured out before she has to leave because she is on her way to Skye. She is bummed that she can't stay and try and solve the murder, but she knows that Inspector Mackenzie is on the job, so feels better about it.
While on the Isle of Skye Poppy can't quit thinking about what happened and tries to still think of who might have done it while she is there. Then she meets a couple of other ladies and later on a gentleman and they preoccupy her time a little, but she soon finds out some things that make her think about the murder. Inspector Mackenzie who was going on vacation on the Island meets up with her with some ideas and she tells him her thoughts. He is still sort of working the case but also on vacation.
Okay so my thoughts on this series is I am just not a fan of Poppy. I don't know if the author is just trying to make Poppy the smarter one and the Inspector more passive, but I don't like it. I think Poppy thinks she is a better detective which she isn't one, actually her lady's maid Elspeh is a better sleuth. The ending when Poppy had to use the megaphone to explain what happened and how she figured things out was just overkill and made her sound so dumb and the inspector just let her do it.
My favorite character besides the Inspector is Elspeth, the lady's maid. I love how she gives these one-line zingers that annoys Poppy. Also, when she comes up with a better reasoning for something than Poppy when it comes to the sleuthing.
Overall, I thought this one was okay, but I had a hard time getting into it. I think it's more a me thing maybe and how I viewed Poppy. I don't like amateur sleuths who think they are better than the police.
3 stars
Author Bio:
Lydia also writes as Linda Tyler and her first novel under that name, Revenge of the Spanish Princess, won a 2018 Romance Writers of America competition for the beginning of an historical romance. Her second novel The Laird's Secret was Commended in the 2021 Scottish Association of Writers' Pitlochry Quaich competition for the beginning of a romantic novel. Mischief in Midlothian won the 2022 Scottish Association of Writers' Constable Silver Stag trophy. She has had a number of short stories published in magazines, journals and anthologies in the UK, the USA and Australia.
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