Format: Novella, 176 pages
Release Date: October 1, 2024
Publisher: Subterranean Pr
Source: Publisher
Genre: Historical / Mystery / Time Travel
It’s Mallory Atkinson’s first Christmas in Scotland. Victorian Scotland, that is. Also, as the twenty-first-century detective learns, Christmas really isn’t a thing in Victorian Scotland. It’s all about Hogmanay. But her boss, Dr. Duncan Gray, treats her to an early gift of tickets to the event of the season: a Charles Dickens reading. There, they bump into Lady Inglis—the lovely widow who has sent Gray sexy letters trying to entice him back to her bed.
Lady Inglis introduces Mallory to Dickens—the meeting of a lifetime—but in return she wants their help. She’s being blackmailed. Someone stole letters she wrote to another lover and is threatening to publish them.
Mallory isn’t sure what to make of Lady Inglis, but no woman deserves that, so she insists on taking the case with or without Gray’s help. Growing tension between them soon tells Mallory that Gray is hiding a secret of his own. She has until Hogmanay to uncover the blackmailer…and, hopefully, to put things right with Gray so they can enjoy the holiday together.
Lady Inglis introduces Mallory to Dickens—the meeting of a lifetime—but in return she wants their help. She’s being blackmailed. Someone stole letters she wrote to another lover and is threatening to publish them.
Mallory isn’t sure what to make of Lady Inglis, but no woman deserves that, so she insists on taking the case with or without Gray’s help. Growing tension between them soon tells Mallory that Gray is hiding a secret of his own. She has until Hogmanay to uncover the blackmailer…and, hopefully, to put things right with Gray so they can enjoy the holiday together.
Schemes & Scandals, by Kelley Armstrong, takes place between books # 3 and # 4 releasing next year. The year is 1869 Edinburgh, Scotland. Mallory Atkinson, a Detective from the present, is adjusting to her new life in Victorian Scotland. Her employers know she’s not housemaid Catriona Mitchell―even though Mallory is in Catriona’s body―and Mallory is now officially an undertaker’s assistant. She has spent the past 7 months in the past and has grown accustomed to being in the body of a younger woman.
This story takes place before and after Christmas and Hogmanay which is the last day of the year. Apparently, Christmas was once banned in Scotland. In 1640, the Scottish Parliament passed a law making Christmas celebrations illegal and punishable by imprisonment. The law was part of the Scottish Reformation, which began when Scotland split from the Catholic papacy. However, Christmas celebrations began to ease back in from the 18th century but remained rare in public until December 25th became a public holiday in Scotland in 1958.
Boxing Day and New Year's Day became public holidays in 1974. I digress! So, Dr. Duncan Gray and his sister Isla decide to give Mallory a present. The present is tickets to see Charles Dickens's farewell tour. Mallory, raised by a teacher and grew up on Dicken's work, is eager to meet the man and even brings a book for him to sign. However, during this time, a woman named Lady Inglis approaches Mallory and Duncan to help her with a sticky situation. The situation is that someone took some intimate letters she shared with one of her possible suitors.
With a bit of help from Jack, who is now working for Duncan while also writing a series about Mallory and Duncan's exploits, investigate who could have motives and means to cause damage to Inglis's reputation. The most interesting thing about this story is that Mallory gets to meet and talk to a man who will likely die shortly after she meets him. Can you imagine? Being able to go back in time for a day, or two, and meeting the author that you grew up with, and have him or her sign a book for you that makes the book priceless? For me, the mystery was solved when the author introduced several characters.
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