Scot Mist - (Last Ditch Mystery) by Catriona McPherson

About the Book

As the pandemic hits the residents of The Last Ditch Motel put Operation Cocker into action: create a safe community with a select few offered rooms as a safe haven. When ambiguous, threatening signs appear then a gruesome discovery is made, their attempt to form a safe space fails. But is it an outsider responsible, or someone inside?

Book Synopsis

Despite efforts to create a safe environment to see out the pandemic, the residents of the Last Ditch Motel face more dangers than they imagined possible in this hilarious yet claustrophobic mystery.

March 2020 and Operation Cocker is a go! The owners of the Last Ditch Motel, with a little help from their friend Lexy Campbell, are preparing to support one another through the oncoming lockdown, offering the motel's spare rooms to a select few from the local area in need of sanctuary.

While the newbies are settling in, an ambiguous banner appears demanding one of them return home. But who is it for? Lexy and her friends put a plan into action to ward off the perpetrator, but the very next night, a resident disappears and a message scrawled in human blood is found.

As California shuts down, the Last Ditchers make another gruesome discovery. They tried to create a haven but now it seems as if everyone's in danger. Is the motel under attack from someone on the outside? Scary as that is, the alternative is worse by far.

From the Back Cover

CATRIONA McPHERSON
SCOT MIST

March 2020 and Operation Cocker is a go! The owners of the Last Ditch Motel, with a little help from their friend Lexy Campbell, are preparing to support one another through the oncoming lockdown, offering the motel's spare rooms to a select few from the local area in need of sanctuary.

While the newbies are settling in, an ambiguous banner appears demanding one of them return home. But who is it for? Lexy and her friends put a plan into action to ward off the perpetrator, but the very next night, a resident disappears and a message scrawled in human blood is found.

As California shuts down, the Last Ditchers make another gruesome discovery. They tried to create a haven but now it seems as if everyone's in danger. Is the motel under attack from someone on the outside? Scary as that is, the alternative is worse by far.

Review Quotes

A hilarious romp that's dead serious when it comes to the tricky mystery and an unexpected denouement-- "Kirkus Reviews on Scot and Soda"

A laugh-out-loud whodunit on a par with early Janet Evanovich-- "Library Journal Starred Review of Scot Free"

Clever turns of phrase and witty observations fuel this fast and funny novel-- "Publishers Weekly"

Hilarious . A compendium of unusual characters and odd circumstances guaranteed to make you laugh out loud-- "Kirkus Reviews on Scot on the Rocks"

Lexy's unfamiliarity with Americanisms and the geography of her adopted country add humor, and the story is enhanced by its large cast of eccentric characters with their close family-like relationships-- "Booklist on Scot on the Rocks"

McPherson's witty third Last Ditch mystery has a line on every page to provoke a smile. Anyone who appreciates a good mystery told with nimble, sure-footed humor will have a ball-- "Publishers Weekly on Scot on the Rocks"

Plenty of suspects and mordant humor against a background of pandemic paranoia-- "Kirkus Reviews"

The banter among the various characters will draw Janet Evanonvich fans to this engaging, not-quite-a-locked-room mystery-- "Booklist"

About the Author

Born and raised in West Lothian, Catriona McPherson left Edinburgh University with a PhD in Linguistics and worked in academia, as well as banking and public libraries, before taking up full-time writing in 2001. For the last ten years she has lived in Northern California with frequent visits home. In 2020 she was shortlisted for a third Mary Higgins Clark Award, for Strangers at the Gate, and won her second Left Coast Crime Lefty Award in the Best Humorous Mystery category for the Last Ditch series, this time for Scot and Soda.