Author: Dee MacDonald
Published: September 19, 2025 by Bookouture
Format: Paperback, 240 pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Series: Ally McKinley Mystery #3
Blurb: When Ally McKinley hears that well-known novelist Jodi Jones is going to host a writers’ retreat at the hotel just down the road, she’s delighted to offer rooms at her little guesthouse for some of the attendees. Ally is thrilled to join the group for one of their first sessions – but the retreat has barely begun before she finds the famous writer strangled in the ladies' bathroom!
The cake tin and teapot come out at the little guesthouse in the Highlands as Ally begins to question her bookish guests. Accusations of plagiarism and infidelity start flying and it’s clear that more than one of the retreat attendees had a grudge against Jodi. But could any of them have resorted to murder?
When Ally discovers a diary in Jodi’s bedroom at the guesthouse with several pages ripped out of it, she thinks she’s close to cracking the case. But the plot thickens when another of the aspiring writers is found dead, only hours after she said she knew the identity of Jodi’s killer.
Not only is the murderer still in Locharran, they’re desperate to stop Ally getting to the truth. With her faithful puppy Flora by her side, can Ally unravel the clues and solve the mystery before she’s written out of the story for good?
My Opinion: This novel felt like a slog from the start. The writer’s retreat introduces so many women so quickly that they blend into one vague crowd, and by the time the murders happened, I struggled to care who died or who was being questioned.
The Scottish touches should have added charm, but the regional vocabulary often felt forced, almost like someone trying too hard to sound local. A few odd shifts where Ally suddenly refers to herself in third person didn’t help the flow either.
The familiar Locharran cast returns, and the new detective, DI Amir Kandahar, could bring some spark to future books. But here, the retreat storyline dominates. Accusations of plagiarism spiral into tales of affairs and grudges, and the repetition makes the plot feel stuck.
There’s also a lot of filler with clothing descriptions, redundant conversations, and long passages that don’t deepen the mystery. With such a large cast and so much unnecessary detail, staying engaged became a challenge.
Will I keep going with the series? Maybe, but I’m not rushing. It’s still surprising how much I loved the Kate Palmer books, because this series feels like it’s written by someone entirely different.
The cake tin and teapot come out at the little guesthouse in the Highlands as Ally begins to question her bookish guests. Accusations of plagiarism and infidelity start flying and it’s clear that more than one of the retreat attendees had a grudge against Jodi. But could any of them have resorted to murder?
When Ally discovers a diary in Jodi’s bedroom at the guesthouse with several pages ripped out of it, she thinks she’s close to cracking the case. But the plot thickens when another of the aspiring writers is found dead, only hours after she said she knew the identity of Jodi’s killer.
Not only is the murderer still in Locharran, they’re desperate to stop Ally getting to the truth. With her faithful puppy Flora by her side, can Ally unravel the clues and solve the mystery before she’s written out of the story for good?
My Opinion: This novel felt like a slog from the start. The writer’s retreat introduces so many women so quickly that they blend into one vague crowd, and by the time the murders happened, I struggled to care who died or who was being questioned.
The Scottish touches should have added charm, but the regional vocabulary often felt forced, almost like someone trying too hard to sound local. A few odd shifts where Ally suddenly refers to herself in third person didn’t help the flow either.
The familiar Locharran cast returns, and the new detective, DI Amir Kandahar, could bring some spark to future books. But here, the retreat storyline dominates. Accusations of plagiarism spiral into tales of affairs and grudges, and the repetition makes the plot feel stuck.
There’s also a lot of filler with clothing descriptions, redundant conversations, and long passages that don’t deepen the mystery. With such a large cast and so much unnecessary detail, staying engaged became a challenge.
Will I keep going with the series? Maybe, but I’m not rushing. It’s still surprising how much I loved the Kate Palmer books, because this series feels like it’s written by someone entirely different.
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