A review by peggyemi
Murder in a Scottish Shire by Traci Hall, Traci E. Hall

4.0

I thought this was a solid start to a new cozy mystery series by author Traci Hall. This is the first I have read by her and I found the book to be very enjoyable. Paislee Shaw is a single mother with a lot on her plate, but she is the type of protagonist that I think cozy readers will find relatable. She is down to earth and compassionate. She is surrounded by a diverse group of customers at her yarn shop. I like the relationship between her and her Grandfather Angus - even though he comes as a surprise to her. The way Paislee described the yarns in her shop and their colors almost made me want to learn to crochet again (there is no way I am coordinated enough for knitting).

The mystery was solid. The victim turns out to be someone that worked for Paislee. As she begins to ask questions, she discovers that she didn't really know this person at all - it turns out she was not the nice person Paislee thought she was. As a result, Paislee is the only one who really wants to find justice for her former employee. There were several good suspects and the author did a nice job of laying out clues that would support a number of them as the killer. I was surprised by the identity of the killer and did not see this person as a suspect at all.

As I said, this is a solid start to a new series and one that I can see myself reading the next book in the series.

I voluntarily read a digital advanced reader copy provided to me by the publisher through Netgalley.