The Blue Hackle (A Jean Fairbairn/Alasdair Cameron mystery) - Softcover

Carl, Lillian Stewart

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1434441229 ISBN 13: 9781434441225

Publisher: Wildside Press, 2012

Synopsis

Alasdair Cameron and Fergus MacDonald were childhood friends. Their fathers’ caps carried a blue hackle, the badge-feather of a distinguished Scottish regiment. Now the feather in Fergie’s cap is the decaying Dunasheen Estate on the Isle of Skye. His desperate schemes to save his home depend on a collection of historic artifacts, a handful of paying guests expecting a traditional Scottish New Year celebration, and the help of Alasdair and Jean Fairbairn. For Jean and Alasdair, the bells of the new year are also wedding bells—their rings are ready, their guests are invited, and the Gothic folly of Fergie’s chapel is waiting. Then a guest is found murdered, lying in blood that’s thicker than the sea that carried generations of Scots to distant shores even as their descendants’ hearts turn homeward. The police crash the party, and Alasdair and Jean find themselves juggling knowledge, belief, and a list of suspects whose secret agendas raise more than a few hackles. Is that the icy winter wind, or the banshee-wail of a long-dead MacDonald chatelaine affirming that only Fergie’s motives are true-blue? Or is he hiding a secret agenda beneath his fool’s cap and bells? Ring out the old, ring in the new. But if Alasdair and Jean can't untangle the threads of the past and net a present-day killer, then they and their wedding rings won't get to the church on time—and more blood will flow for the sake of Auld Lang Syne.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

At the start of Stewart's spirited fifth mystery featuring American travel journalist Jean Fairbairn and her Scottish fiancé, retired detective inspector Alasdair Cameron (after 2009's The Charm Stone), the pair are happily anticipating their New Year's wedding on the Isle of Skye at Dunasheen Castle, owned by their friend Fergus "Fergie" MacDonald. They almost cancel their nuptials after the stabbing murder of Greg MacLeod, an Australian staying at the castle's inn with his wife. Jean later finds the murder weapon, an antique dirk stolen from Fergie's display of family weaponry. Was it wielded by Colin Urquhart, a hermit in love with Diana, Fergie's daughter; Scott Krum, a visiting American antique dealer; or some disgruntled local? Seonaid MacDonald, Fergie's ghostly ancestress (aka "the Green Lady"), interacts with Jean and Krum's young daughter, Dakota, to diverting effect. (Nov.) (c)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Wildside Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1434441229
• ISBN 13: 9781434441225
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 366