When Gemma’s friend Hazel invites her on a weekend trip to Scotland, Gemma didn’t know she’d be witness to a reunion between Hazel and an old flame. However, when that old flames turn up dead, shot in the chest, Gemma worries that Hazel might be in trouble. She calls on Duncan for help, but they also have to navigate turmoil at home as their custody of Duncan’s son Kit is being challenged.
This one has an interesting role reversal. Normally, Hazel has the been the one giving the common sense advice to Gemma, not the other way around. Gemma has often been holding herself up to the standard of Hazel and seeing her as kind of the perfect person, so this kind of levels out their relationship. It was also nice to see Duncan and Gemma working together both as a couple dealing with their personal issues as well as solving a mystery. However, this was one of the books where the weaving in of a past narrative doesn’t work as well. Yes, it informs the overall story, but it feels like a distraction from the events in the present a lot of the time. This is another installment of the series where the it’s the interpersonal relationships that really hold the reader’s attention rather than the mystery itself. Three out of five stars.