"While on their honeymoon in Scotland, Key Zest food critic Hayley Snow and police detective Nathan Bransford investigate when a man falls from the famous Falkirk Wheel, in the eleventh novel of the series following The Key Lime Crime"--
Read More
"While on their honeymoon in Scotland, Key Zest food critic Hayley Snow and police detective Nathan Bransford investigate when a man falls from the famous Falkirk Wheel, in the eleventh novel of the series following The Key Lime Crime"--
Read Less
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fine. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 336 p. Key West Food Critic Mystery. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. Gently used with minimal wear on the corners and cover. A few pages may contain light highlighting or writing but the text remains fully legible. Dust jacket may be missing and supplemental materials like CDs or codes may not be included. Could have library markings. Ships promptly!
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good. Size: 5x1x8; Very Good Condition and Unread! Text is clean and unmarked! Light shelf wear to cover from storage. Has a small black line or red dot on bottom/exterior edge of pages.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good. Very Good condition. Very Good dust jacket. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Police detective Nathan Bransford is taking his bride, food critic Hayley Snow to Scotland to meet his sister and for a much-awaited honeymoon. Unlike a normal honeymoon, they will be joined by their friend Miss Gloria and his mother. His sister has big plans for the ladies to check out some fantastic Scotland sights while her husband will be spending the days with Nathan on the golf course. Vera especially wants the show off some mystic places that will be featured in her upcoming book.
Sadly the honeymoon gets off to a horrible start when a guest at a dinner party gets ill and says she was poisoned. Then while visiting the famous Falkirk Wheel, high above the Forth & Clyde canal they witness a man fall to his death. A man Hayley thinks is connected to Vera and her friends although they deny it.
Hayley feels something is really off with Vera and her friends but she really doesn't know the players in the mystery opening up before her. While she would just like to enjoy Scotland with her husband her sister-in-law and her inner amateur sleuth have other plans.
I am always a little leery when authors take their characters away from their usual locales but Lucy Burdette does a good job of it in A Scone for Contention. Scotland is a well-traveled place for cozy characters but she takes us to some unique places that Vera wants to include in her book. I would have liked a little more in-depth description of some of these places to visualize what Vera was trying to convey. Other times when we visited new towns and hotels, the story drifted into travelogue territory, but the author did her best to find a good balance of location and mystery.
We meet several new characters once we touch down in Scotland. A dinner party is a perfect venue for these introductions but Hayley's seat is next to a man with a vested interest in the book Vera is writing with her college friends but he has a totally different vision for the book than Vera. Then his wife appears to be poisoned ending the evening in a bit of chaos. In addition to the college chums, we meet the chef who was responsible for the fateful meal.
There was some tension on this trip and surprisingly it was not because the octogenarian or Hayley's mother-in-law came along on a honeymoon. No, Vera and her mother's relationship is severely strained. The college friendships seem to be strained as well and an overbearing spouse of one of them really fans the flames.
Then you have two mysteries to solve and they have to be connected. Hayley does her best to work through the clues but her a-ha moment may be too late. I will say my heart rate picked up as the reveal played out. Ms. Burdette plotted everything out wonderfully and kept me drawn to a certain character. I just couldn't figure out the motive until the very end.
I did appreciate that the story began and ended in Key West. It gave the book a firm foundation and allowed us to check in with some favorite characters that we would have missed if the book started right out in Scotland.
A Scone of Contention takes readers on a nice little vacay with some unique characters. I do hope Hayley and Nathan do get to take a trip all by themselves someday soon and have a real honeymoon.
