A. D. Scott

For some reasons, I just couldn't get into this story or even care that much for the characters. It wasn't that I had any problems getting into this book because I hadn't read any previous book in the Joanne Ross series, it was just that the mystery suicide of the alleged witch Alice Ramsay just never really got that interesting to read about. I mean it was quite weird that a woman in the late 1950s could be accused of witchcraft and even that it would go to trial. That should be interesting to read about, and it was in the beginning, but at the same time a bit slow to really get into.

And, around half way through the book the story just started to really drag on, I felt that not much happened and I had to force myself to read, taking a break now and then do something else and force myself to continue. The worse part of the book was Calum and his mother. He's a young journalist and a mamma's boy and in the beginning was it kind of funny reading about his problems with her always calling, checking up on him and being a pain in the ass. But towards the end was it just too much and every mention of her was just plain annoying.

On the plus side, I never felt lost when it came to the characters and their past history, the ending was good and I found the mentions of the Cambridge spies in the book interesting. Would I read more in this series, I'm not sure. I didn't find Joanne Ross and the rest of the character interesting enough that I would want to read more about them. Unless someone could guaranty that any other book in this series is better than this one.

Thanks to Atria and Edelweiss for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!… (meer)

Joanne Ross works in the office of a small town newspaper in the Highlands of Scotland. In the mid 1950's good jobs for women are hard to find so when given the opprtunity to help with the investigation of 2 murders, Joanne wavers but eventually decides to give it try, even though she has a friend close to the murders.

Overall this is an average book but the setting is great and the descriptions of the culture in this remote area of Scotland in the 1950s is as well. I also liked the men characters and the atmosphere at the newspaper but the women were too sterotypcal. I would read the next in the series if I ran across it (this is the second and I haven't read the first).… (meer)