Vampires, Bones, and Treacle Scones

In the spooky seventh Liss MacCrimmon Scottish mystery (after 2012’s Bagpipes, Brides, and Homicides) from Dunnett (the pseudonym of Kathy Lynn Emerson), Liss, the owner of the Scottish Emporium in Moosetookalook, Maine, is delighted to be participating in the preparations for the town’s All Hallows Festival. But the day before Halloween, when she and her new husband, Dan Ruskin, inspect the deserted old Chadwick mansion (the venue selected as the festival’s haunted house attraction), they’re shocked to find the bloody body of her troubled cousin, Ned Boyd, who she thought was in jail. As a favor to her distraught Aunt Margaret, Ned’s mother, Liss becomes involved in the murder investigation. Puncture marks in the victim’s neck suggest a vampire is at work, but Liss soon digs up more than one ordinary human suspect. Cozy fans are in for a Halloween treat. Agent: Christina Hogrebe, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Aug.)