by Kelley Armstrong
Release Date: May 20, 2025
2025 Minotaur Books
Softcover Edition; 336 Pages
ISBN: 978-1250321312
ASIN: B0D89278JQ
Audiobook: B0DG99K68D
Genre: Fiction / Mystery / Historical
Source: Review copy from publisher
4 / 5 Stars
Summary
Mallory, Gray, and McCreadie are on their way to
the Scottish Highlands for McCreadie's younger sister's wedding. The
McCreadies and the groom’s family, the Cranstons, have a complicated
history which has made the weekend quite uncomfortable. But the Cranston
estate is beautiful so Gray and Mallory decide to escape the stifling
company and set off to explore the castle and surrounding wilderness.
They discover that the groom, Archie Cranston, a slightly pompous and
prickly man, has set up deadly traps in the woods for the endangered
Scottish wildcats, and they soon come across a cat who's been caught and
severely injured. Oddly, Mallory notices the cat's injuries don't match
up with the intricacies of the trap. These strange irregularities,
combined with the secretive and erratic behavior of the groom, put
Mallory and Duncan on edge. And then when one of the guests is murdered,
they must work fast to uncover the murderer before another life is
lost.
My Thoughts
Death at a Highland Wedding is the fourth book in the Rip Through Time series and while I had some issues with the third book in the series, I thoroughly enjoyed this latest addition to Mallory's story. Mallory continues to embrace her role as assistant to Dr. Duncan Gray and is learning a lot more about the time period in which she has now decided will remain her home. I enjoyed learning more about Hugh McCreadie, his past, and his family, and thought the mystery was quite interesting.
The author continues to explore the lives of the characters in these books and in this one we learn a lot more about Hugh McCreadie, his sister Fiona as well as about his former relationship with his ex-fiancee Violet. I thought the author did a great job bringing women's roles to the forefront during this time period as well as the difficulties they faced through both Violet and Fiona, women bound by their status who fought to be more independent but are stifled by societal rules and what is expected of them. We also tend to see this a lot through Isla, but it is definitely more apparent in this book, especially with Violet and I felt so much empathy for this character. Mallory herself is a character that is full of depth and complexity and we see this through her relationship with Duncan as well as with Isla, but with the addition of Fiona and Violet, we got to see how these women can manipulate and use what they have to their advantage as well and I found this aspect to be quite interesting. The way they voice their opinions is true dialogue gold.
The plot itself was interesting, and there were quite a few twists and turns, some of which caught me off guard. It certainly went in a darker direction than I thought it would, and this was an area I thought the author could have explored a bit more. While there are certainly hints that Isla's former marriage was abusive, it is just hints and not really discussed, but this book brings out that aspect of her marriage and hints at the much darker side of a woman's plight when things go badly wrong and there is nobody to protect them. The author's writing style in these books is very fluid, and while the pace doesn't quite move along as quickly as in previous books, there is a reason for that and it works very well. I was still captivated by the story line as well as the darker themes of this book.
Verdict
Death at a Highland Wedding certainly went in a direction I wasn't expecting, but the overall tension was good and the character development continues to be top notch. There is certainly a lot to explore in this book with regards to thematic elements, everything from women's roles and rights, sexual abuse, societal expectations, marriage, loyalty, honesty, deceit, betrayal, secrets, and so much more. I enjoyed the world-building and admire Mallory's ability to keep quiet about the future and what she knows as I don't know if I could. Looking forward to reading the next installment of this series, An Ordinary Sort of Evil, which releases in May.
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