Murder, She Wrote: The Highland Fling Murders

Good rendition of the characters. Jessica "sounds" like herself, as does Dr. Seth Hazlitt and Sheriff Mort Metzger.
Early on there's an unlikely event at the Tower of London with an absurd resolution that has nothing to do with anything.
The story then moves to a castle in Scotland where the plot involves a 20-year old murder done in the manner of a witch-killing hundreds of years ago, and rumors of a ghost. Is it a real ghost, or someone trying to spook people for their own gain?
The mystery is stolen from Scooby Doo (and they would have gotten away with it if it weren't for that meddling mystery writer!). There are several murders (counting the "off-screen" ancient witch and the 20-year-old copycat) but Jessica only gets around to show more solving the most recent without shedding any light on the historical killings. The ghost is handled inconsistently and has a somehow less-satisfying explanation than the Scooby Gang provides.
So, this is fun for someone who wants a slightly spooky tale and some more time with Jessica Fletcher and friends, but don't expect a satisfying mystery this time around. show less

Jessica Fletcher and a group of her friends from Cabot Cove, Maine, take off for the British Isles and end up at a castle in Scotland. It would be a great vacation—except for the ghost. And the murders.
Scotland's most celebrated witch, executed long ago with a pitchfork through her heart, is said to haunt Inspector George Sutherland's family castle in the village of Wick, It's an intriguing tale and after a British book tour, Jessica accepts Sutherland's invitation to bring her Cabot Cove friends to the heather—covered Highlands. Indeed, after "roamin' in the gloamin'" with the handsome inspector, she spots a spectral woman in white in the gloomy castle. But Jessica's blood runs cold when she later finds a local lass executed in the show more same way as the legendary witch. Something is very vile in Wick. It's a case of evil, greed, and murder that pits Jessica Fletcher against a killer from this world—or maybe the next. show less

This was my first and probably last book in this series. I love the Monk & Diagnosis:Murder books, but this didn't compare. It reads too much like the type of potboiler mysteries turned out by the hundreds each year by Signet & other paperback companies nowadays. "Take something poular and run it into the ground" marketing. I couldn't even finish it and swapped it out for a Dorothy Sayers.

This book is good to read around Halloween. It is scary enough without being a horror book for those out there, like me, who don't like horror stories.