A bunch of quirky seniors on tour around historic Scotland
forms the background to this enjoyable mystery, with the
Iowa group discovering that more lurks around Loch Ness
than the monster.
BONNIE OF EVIDENCE brings tour guide Emily Miceli and some
of her family to Edinburgh's military tattoo, escorting a
charmingly curmudgeonly party who are determined to see the
sights, shop and win a team game. The sport of geocaching
has replaced scavenger hunting, with websites giving a GPS
location of a cache and the teams of seniors doing their
best to track the objects down. The city's castle and
narrow closes give the first day's sport, with endless
arguments which drive Emily mad.
Next the group tours the moored Royal Yacht Britannia and
from there moves on to the town of Braemar, with another
cache disputed over in the bar, when a small dagger, or
dirk, has been found by one team who mistakenly thought it
was the prize. Arguments ensue over the sides taken in the
Battle of Glen Coe and some men appear in kilts, very
pleased with themselves. So far, so usual... until the
woman who held the dirk is found dead in bed and the dirk
is missing. Loch Ness nearby could have been atmospheric
enough, but their hotel owner declares that the dirk is
ancient and cursed, having taken the life of a chieftain.
The police allow the group to continue on their journey to
the top of Scotland and a ferry to the Orkney Islands, but
by now Emily is starting to think that not just the dirk
but the whole trip is cursed. Then the dirk reappears -
alongside another dead body....
This lively light tale from Maddy Hunter is part of
her 'Passport to Peril' series, where she recreates all the
things that have gone wrong on her own journeys, though we
can hope she didn't meet quite so many murders. There is
lots of historic background sprinkled in, and perhaps too
much arguing over the relative merits of the Campbells and
the McDonalds three hundred years after an act of
treachery. Read BONNIE OF EVIDENCE for a modern look at
Scotland, and you might even consider taking up geocaching
yourself.
Emily Andrew-Miceli, travel escort extraordinaire, is
leading a group of Iowa seniors on a tour of Scotland. And
to make the trip even more fun, Emily and her foxy husband,
Etienne, have organized a high-tech scavenger hunt. But when
one team’s underhanded strategizing brings a cursed dirk
into their hotel on Loch Ness, Isobel Kronk — a member of
the tour group — ends up dead. Was it the curse of the
dagger, as hotel proprietor Mrs. Dalrymple believes? Was it
an allergic reaction? Or is there a flesh and blood killer
on the loose?
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