Series: The Scottish Ladies Detective Agency #1
Publication Date: 27th April 2023
Genre: Historical Cozy Mystery
3.2 Stars
One Liner: A mixed read; decent but needs work
Edinburgh, 1911
Maud McIntyre and her lady’s maid, Daisy, start a detective agency. They are surprised and excited when the Duchess of Duddingston offers them their first case- to prevent a robbery at her house party or find the jewel thief looting the elite at parties.
The duo attends the house party undercover to end up with a dead body. The case is now of a murder! Though Maud solves the case, she isn’t sure about the culprit. Back in town, Maud and Daisy take up other cases which may or may not be connected to the Duddingston mystery. But Maud gets another call from the Duchess and knows things are far from over. Can she and Daisy find the real culprit this time?
The story comes in the third-person POV of Maud.
My Thoughts:
As a fan of historical cozy mysteries, I knew I had to read this book. The cover is cute too. The results are mixed, though.
Since it is the first book in the series, it takes time to introduce the characters and set the stage. I went in prepared to handle this.
The book is more of a three-in-one package as Maud and Daisy handle different cases one after another. The cases are connected in some way, so the common thread keeps things together (almost). I like this aspect as we get to see them try different methods to solve the cases.
Maud is quite capable though prone to coming up with not-so-good ideas in her excitement. Daisy seems more balanced, and I’d have liked to read her POV as well. It would have been better than Daisy relaying her conversations with others by voice-acting them. It’s fun the first time, but not much afterward. Gets too clunky and long-winded.
Lord Urquhart seems like a good guy (or as much good as he can be as a famous rake). His character arc is definitely better than the MC’s. There isn’t much about Daisy yet, so maybe that’s for the next books.
While I expected the book to highlight the limitations on women in those days, I didn’t guess the extent of space the suffrage movement occupied as much space. I wouldn’t have minded if it played an integral part in the mystery (Example: Death at Crookham Hall), but here it seems more like a foundation for the coming book. However, it gets a little excessive and takes the focus away from the central plot.
The book also has references to other novels and people, which at times, feel a little excessive. Let’s keep our focus on the characters instead. Trust me, you don’t want me to think of Sherlock (ahem) when reading another book. ;)
The climax was decent, nothing spectacular, but I don’t think the author was aiming for it, either. It’s shorter than the multi-page reveal in most cozy mysteries, so that’s a definite plus.
To summarize, The Scottish Ladies' Detective Agency is a decent start to the series but could do better with some tightening and another round of editing. The extras weigh down the book and distract readers from the cases.
Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture, for the eARC.
#NetGalley #TheScottishLadiesDetectiveAgency
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