A Scone of Contention - A Review & Giveaway

 Review

A SCONE OF CONTENTION by Lucy Burdette
The Eleventh Key West Food Critic Mystery

 

Hayley and Nathan's honeymoon is not quite the intimate getaway they planned. Staying with Nathan's sister, Vera, and brother in law is only part of it. Not only is Miss Gloria accompanying them, but Nathan's mother has decided to join their visit to Scotland as well. While William has commandeered Nathan into a golfing tournament, Hayley and Miss Gloria are accompanying Vera to some of the more haunting places of Scotland as Vera attempts to finish the book she and her partners are writing. But something's rotten in the state of Scotland. First, one of the partners gets ill during a dinner party, with her spouse yelling "poison!", then the group witness a man fall to his death. It soon becomes obvious something more than artistic differences is driving these people apart. Will Hayley be able to sort out the truth? Will Hayley and Nathan have any romantic time together on their honeymoon? Or will a killer ruin it all?

A SCONE OF CONTENTION had me hankering for a scone from page one. And I still want one. A cinnamon scone or just a simple cheese scone, for which the author does provide a recipe, although I'd prefer a real one, warm from the oven and handed to me. While food definitely plays a part I was also intrigued by the thin places, where the veil between heaven and earth have lifted. I loved learning about them and would like to learn more.

While I wouldn't count SCONE OF CONTENTION as a great honeymoon, I certainly would rate it as a great mystery! A literary versus media conflict, most of the characters hiding things, and a determination to bring the truth out make this eleventh Key West Mystery a knock out. A feisty Miss Gloria who becomes vulnerable pulls at the heart strings and an ongoing mystery back home kept me engrossed.

Although the majority of the novel takes place in Scotland and not Key West, we still get to enjoy plenty of good food and the antics of the feisty Miss Gloria, and while we may not have the Key West pets, we do get the company of a few Scottish felines. We also get to visit some of the highlights of Scotland vicariously.

SCONE OF CONTENTION is a delightful mystery that shows how conflicts of the past can impact the present. I enjoyed this trip to Scotland with a nip of whiskey, a slather of butter on a hot scone, and a devilishly good mystery. My only hope is that Hayley and Nathan get a few days to themselves to celebrate a real honeymoon!

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A Scone of Contention: A Key West Food Critic Mystery by Lucy Burdette

About A Scone of Contention

A Scone of Contention: A Key West Food Critic Mystery
Cozy Mystery 11th in the Series
Publisher ‏: ‎ Crooked Lane Books (August 10, 2021)
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages

A murderer's out to spoil Hayley's honeymoon in national bestselling author Lucy Burdette's eleventh Key West Food Critic Mystery.

Key Zest food critic Hayley Snow and her groom, police detective Nathan Bransford, chose Scotland for their long-delayed honeymoon, hoping to sightsee and enjoy some prize-winning scones. But their romantic duo swells to a crowd when they're joined by Nathan's family as well as octogenarian Miss Gloria.

Nathan's sister Vera takes the women on a whirlwind tour of some of Scotland's iconic mystic places as research for a looming book project. But the trip takes a deadly tartan turn when a dinner party guest falls ill and claims she was poisoned. And then the group watches in horror as a mysterious tourist tumbles to his death from the famous Falkirk Wheel, high above the Forth & Clyde canal.

Vera and her friends deny knowing the dead man, but after observing their reactions to the fall, Hayley is not convinced. With one person dead, a second possibly poisoned, and the tension among Vera's friends as thick as farmhouse cheese, Hayley fears her long-awaited honeymoon might end with another murder.

Far away from home, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, eccentric characters, and a forbiddingly gorgeous setting, Hayley must call on all her savvy to keep a killer from striking again and then escaping Scot free.

About Lucy Burdette

Lucy Burdette (aka Roberta Isleib) is the author of 19 mysteries, including A SCONE OF CONTENTION, the eleventh book in the Key West series featuring food critic Hayley Snow. THE KEY LIME CRIME won the bronze medal for popular fiction in the Florida Book Awards. Lucy’s books and stories have also been short-listed for Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. She's a past president of Sisters in Crime, and currently serving as president of the Friends of the Key West Library.

Author Links: 

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Website - http://lucyburdette.com  

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Twitter: www.twitter.com/lucyburdette  

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/robertaisleib  

Blogs: http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com http://www.jungleredwriters.com  

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