Scot Mist

Set in March 2020, Agatha winner McPherson’s fine fourth Last Ditch mystery (after 2021’s Scot on the Rocks) uses the restrictions and free-floating anxiety of the early Covid period—school closures, toilet paper hoarding, lockdowns—to good and often comic effect. Kathi, owner of the Last Ditch Motel in Cuento, Calif., and “a serious, clinical, lifelong germaphobe,” is afraid that the government may commandeer the place and fill it with potentially infected people. As a preemptive strike, Kathi lets her motel regulars convince her to occupy the empty rooms with vulnerable seniors, dependents of first responders, and people in danger of domestic abuse, “in case the governor issues a Don’t Budge order.” When one of the newcomers vanishes, leaving her room awash with blood, Scot transplant Lexy Campbell notes, “How were we to know how long we’d all be banged up together in the Last Ditch like some sitcom slash commune slash cult? And how could we have guessed that one of us wouldn’t make it out alive?” The ragtag collection of motel guests pitch in, each in their own way, to uncover the truth while trying not to break Covid protocol. Clever turns of phrase and witty observations fuel this fast and funny novel. Hopefully, Lexy will be back soon. Agent: Lisa Moylett, CMM Literary. (Feb.)