Book Review: Murder in the Scottish Highlands

Murder in the Scottish Highlands

• Series: Ally McKinley Mystery (Book 1)

• Written by: Dee MacDonald

• Published by: Bookouture

• Publication date: September 2, 2024

• Mystery type: Scottish cozy mystery

Ally McKinley is a retired television researcher who owns a malthouse turned guesthouse in the Scottish Highlands. When her first guest ends up dead, Ally gets the locals, including an earl at a nearby castle, to spill the tea. She discovers that the dead American tourist had a big secret and more than one enemy.

Murder in the Scottish Highlands is the first book in Dee MacDonald's new Ally McKinley mystery series. The story is set in Locharran, a small village in the Scottish Highlands.

The author, Dee MacDonald, grew up on a small farm in the Scottish Highlands. Like her protagonist, Ally McKinley, she worked in television research and ran a bed and breakfast. This personal connection to the setting makes everything about this book more authentic.

Ally is a 68-year-old widow who has traded in her career in television research for a malthouse in the Scottish Highlands. With the help of an architect, she has lovingly transformed the old malthouse into a bed and breakfast.

The malthouse is rumored to be haunted by a ghost, but that is the least of Ally's problems. She finds her first guest, an American tourist, with a knife in his back. Ally is naturally curious and worried the death will deter potential customers, so she makes a few inquiries to see if she can figure out who killed the guest and why.

Ally chats with several locals, including a flirty earl, at the nearby castle. She quickly discovers that the tourist had a big secret and that multiple people had a reason to get rid of him.

As Ally investigates the murder, a couple of hopeful male suitors attempt to woo her. The light, sweet, barely-there, closed-door romance subplot adds a delightful balance to the suspenseful murder mystery investigation.

This is not Dee MacDonald's first mystery (she also writes the popular Kate Palmer crime series), and it shows. Her genre skills are really on display in this book. Murder in the Scottish Highlands offers a compelling mystery with twists and turns, carefully laid clues and red herrings, and a satisfying, action-packed conclusion.

I plan to continue with this excellent Scottish cozy mystery series. Murder at the Loch, book two in the Ally McKinley Mystery series, was released on March 3, 2025.

Disclosure: I received an advanced reader copy of Murder in the Scottish Highlands from Net Galley and Bookouture. All opinions are my own. This page contains affiliate links. Cozy Crime Reads may earn a commission on qualifying purchases. This does not cost the buyer any extra.