Clio Gray

1869, Sutherland,and Solveig McCleery wants to re-open the mines on the estate to help improve the lives of the remaining population. She hopes with the help of Brogar Finn and Sholto McKay sent from the Mining Company. But when a mine is re-opened a body of a gold prospector is found. And his will not be the last of the murders. But who and why is doing the killings.
Although there was some likeable characters, at times for me there was too much description, and the use of a couple of modern idioms distracted from the telling. But I will probably read the next in the series.
A NetGalley Book… (mais)

Not so much a murder mystery as a great adventure story.Set in 19th century Scotland , on a remote stretch of western coast , it has the perfect setting.A man is brutally murdered allegedly by smuglers, but there is more to it, nothing is so straightforward. What was he bringing back to his master, who lives as a recluse on a private island surrounded by mysterious structures? And who does the skeleton, accidently found, belongs to? And where did that huge sundial, inscripted with strange languages, came from? Yes, definitely an adventure story!… (mais)

I generally love mysteries set in Scotland, but this is one which failed to engage me from the opening scene set in 1833 Crimea to the main story set in Scotland at a much later date. Characters were not developed. I never could figure out what was going on other than the possibility of smuggling operations with all the caves and holes. I'm not certain if my failure to connect is mostly because I began reading the series with this third installment rather than at the beginning or not. Still a good author will provide enough information that someone picking up at a later point is not completely lost. I finally decided "enough is enough" and abandoned it after about fifty pages. If you read earlier installments and enjoyed them, you might enjoy this one. If you did not read earlier ones, I advise you not to start with this one. This review is based on an advance reader's copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.… (mais)