Review: Excellent
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 25, 2012
This is another wonderful episode in the saga of Murray of Letho, but it can perfectly well be read as a story in its own right. If you have followed the books from Murray's University days in St Andrews though, you will have fleshed out the character of the main protagonist to your benefit. There is a young, unknown woman found murdered in Letho and another, one of Murray's own kitchenmaids, is attacked. This is a murder mystery enshrouded in the social history of Scotland in the early 1800s. Lexie Conyngham is like a Scottish Jane Austen! We follow the attempts of Murray to repair the chronic dampness of his servants' quarters, the problems of damp exacerbating the asthma of the young daughter of the manse and the mystery enshrouding two new arrivals to the area. There are several strands carefully woven together to bring us to an exciting and to me, unexpected climax. In fact it's rather a double climax.Lexie Conyngham's writing is never less than clear and elegant and contains the lovely lilt of the Scottish voices, particularly in the case of the servants, who haven't had the vernacular schooled out of them. Blair, friend of Murray's late father and frequent guest at Letho is another delightful creation who brings a great deal of wisdom and creative oddity to the book. The style of writing here is absolutely fitting to the age in which the book is set and it all reads beautifully. An excellent story and very well told.