Scot & Soda: A Last Ditch Mystery

In McPherson’s imaginative, frightfully funny follow-up to 2018’s Scot Free, marriage counselor Lexy Campbell, a Scot who’s settled in Cuento, Calif., must find out who anchored a man’s dead body to her house boat, Creek House, which is moored in the slough right behind the Last Ditch Motel. It certainly puts a damper on her Halloween party and her counseling practice. Lexy and her friends, who reside at the Last Ditch, can’t help sticking their noses in the case, much to the chagrin of Det. Molly “Mike” Rankinson. A series of highly strange events point Lexy to the Scottish poem “Tam O’Shanter,” and an unusual ring provides a vital clue to the dead man’s identity, but Lexy and company must stay out of the perennially cranky Mike’s way or pay the price. Peppered with clever red herrings, the mystery gleefully revels in the absurd, but it’s Lexy’s friendships with the Last Ditch’s unusual residents that give this series its big heart. Those who enjoy the Stephanie Plum mysteries will find plenty to like. [em]Agent: Lisa Moylett, Coombs Moylett Literary. (Apr.) [/em]