Review: A Wee Murder in My Shop by Fran Stewart

A Wee Murder in My Shop
Author:  Fran Stewart
Series:  A ScotShop Mystery 1
Publisher:  Berkley, March 3, 2015
Format:  Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 304 pages
List Price:  $7.99 (print)
ISBN:  9780425270318 (print)
Review Copy:  Provided by the Publisher

FIRST IN A NEW SERIES!
 
Hamelin, Vermont, isn’t the most likely place for bagpipes and tartan, but at Peggy Winn’s ScotShop, business is booming…
 
While on a transatlantic hunt for some authentic wares to sell at her shop, Peggy is looking to forget her troubles by digging through the hidden treasures of the Scottish Highlands. With so many enchanting items on sale, Peggy can’t resist buying a beautiful old tartan shawl. But once she wraps it around her shoulders, she discovers that her purchase comes with a hidden fee: the specter of a fourteenth-century Scotsman.

Unsure if her Highland fling was real or a product of an overactive imagination, Peggy returns home to Vermont—only to find the dead body of her ex-boyfriend on the floor of her shop. When the police chief arrests Peggy’s cousin based on some incriminating evidence, Peggy decides to ask her haunting Scottish companion to help figure out who really committed the crime—before anyone else gets kilt…

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Jennifer's Review

A Wee Murder in my Shop by Fran Stewart is the first in the new ScotShop Mystery Series. This series follows Peggy Winn, who runs a shop in her hometown that specializes in authentic Scottish merchandise. Peggy is attempting to bounce back from the discovery that her now ex-boyfriend has been having a fling with one of her friends, and is hoping that a buying trip to Scotland will help her do just that. Before she returns home to Vermont, she purchases an ancient tartan shawl that comes complete with the ghost of a fourteenth century Scotsman. Upon her return, with the ghost in tow, she discovers the murdered body of her ex right in her own shop, and must try to find out who committed the crime before she or one of her many friends and relatives become the next victim.

This novel has good bones, the characters, and there are a lot of supporting characters to choose from, are interesting, but can be flat at times. The plot has potential, unfortunately, the execution is slightly flawed. The pace of the storyline is choppy in parts, making the story flow less than smoothly. The side plot involving the crusty old ghost is not given enough attention, and Peggy is very nonchalant about the concept of having a ghost attached to her, but these are issues that can be remedied in subsequent installments. The mystery is cleared up by the end of the novel, but there are many loose ends in the story that are left hanging, and the cliff hanger ending just didn’t satisfy. The ending, however, does leave a great deal that can be picked up on in the next book, so there is more that can be learned about the characters, especially the brawny ghost. Hopefully the author will weave some of the loose ends into her next novel that can build upon the foundation that was placed in the first book and give more depth and realism to the series.

You may see a Guest Blog by Fran Stewart here and enter to win a copy of A Wee Murder in My Shop. The Giveaway is included here again for your convenience. Please note that if you've already entered you will not be able to enter again at this post.


The Giveaway

What:  One entrant will win a Mass Market Paperback copy of A Wee Murder in My Shop by Fran Stewart from the publisher. US ONLY

How:  Log into and follow the directions in the Rafflecopter below.

Who and When:  The contest is open to all humans on the planet earth with a US mailing address. Contest ends at 11:59 PM US Eastern Time on March 23, 2015. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 years old or older to enter.

*Giveaway rules and duration are subject to change.*

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Guest Blog by Fran Stewart - Where Do You Get Your Ideas? - February 2, 2015

Please welcome Fran Stewart to The Qwillery. A Wee Murder in My Shop, the 1st ScotShop Mystery, will be published on March 3rd by Berkley.

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

Where do you get your ideas? Did you ever ask that of an author at a book signing? It’s one of the hardest questions to answer—because there are so many possible answers. There’s often a pregnant pause before I answer that particular question. My mind churns through the myriad possibilities, discarding most of the answers I come up with, because where I get my ideas depends very much on what I’m considering writing. Or where I find myself in a story at the moment.

The truth—for me at least—is that the ideas simply pop up at all times of the day or night and in every situation I find myself in. At meals or parties, with friends or alone, strolling, jogging, dancing, standing still, in the shower or on the couch, in an ice storm or the middle of the night. Anywhere. Any time. Unfortunately, most of those ideas aren’t useable.

Let’s say I’m stuck with trying to make a character more believable. I need an idea and I need it fast. Most writers have their own approach to finding ideas to help us solve such a problem, whether it’s with a sticky character or a sticky plot. I generally walk.

I was on retreat one January on Sapelo Island when I simply could not get a feel for the murderer in my first ScotShop mystery, A WEE MURDER IN MY SHOP. Every scene with that particular character was flat, lifeless. So I bundled up and walked to Nanny Goat Beach. The rain hit and I simply pulled on my hood and kept going. As the surf thundered at my left side, I heard the murderer’s voice. “Listen to me,” the waters roared. “Listen to me.”

“What makes you tick?” I asked. “Why are you so angry?”

The waves pounded out his answer. I heard it as clearly as if he’d been propelled along beside me by the ferocious wind at our backs. My back, I mean.

“What,” I asked next, “could have resolved this problem before you committed the murder?”

When he told me the root of his anger lay a hundred years ago, I was dumbfounded. I also had a big re-writing job ahead of me. One of the problems was that I hadn’t seen him as a real person—he’d simply been the bad guy in my mind. The murderer. I hadn’t even thought of him as my murderer. I hadn’t owned him.

I hadn’t owned up to him, either.

You see, we all have murderous thoughts at one time or another—some more often than others. And every murder has roots somewhere. Sometimes those roots make sense to relatively sane (i.e. non-murderous) people. Sometimes they seem valid to the murderer alone. A good mystery allows writers—and readers—to explore consequences. Just think about it: what would happen if I/you acted out my/your homicidal impulses?

What would happen if … is the source of so many ideas. Let’s say I’m walking past you on the street and I hear you say to a friend, “I could have killed him!” I don’t need to know your backstory. I don’t need to know whether you really mean it. All I need to do is take that phrase and ask the new character sprouting in my mind: “Why?”

That’s where story ideas come from.

So, my question for you is - did you ever ask yourself What would happen ...?

A Wee Murder in My Shop
A ScotShop Mystery 1
Berkley, March 3, 2015
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 304 pages

FIRST IN A NEW SERIES!
 
Hamelin, Vermont, isn’t the most likely place for bagpipes and tartan, but at Peggy Winn’s ScotShop, business is booming…
 
While on a transatlantic hunt for some authentic wares to sell at her shop, Peggy is looking to forget her troubles by digging through the hidden treasures of the Scottish Highlands. With so many enchanting items on sale, Peggy can’t resist buying a beautiful old tartan shawl. But once she wraps it around her shoulders, she discovers that her purchase comes with a hidden fee: the specter of a fourteenth-century Scotsman.

Unsure if her Highland fling was real or a product of an overactive imagination, Peggy returns home to Vermont—only to find the dead body of her ex-boyfriend on the floor of her shop. When the police chief arrests Peggy’s cousin based on some incriminating evidence, Peggy decides to ask her haunting Scottish companion to help figure out who really committed the crime—before anyone else gets kilt…

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound

About Fran

Fran Stewart had to wait a whole bunch of years before writing her first book—mainly because nobody would pay any attention to the other ones she tried to write. But when she finally got to where she had something worth writing about, she started churning out her Biscuit McKee Mystery Series (seven books so far). Her new ScotShop series keeps her equally busy, and equally interested.

She lives with various rescued cats beside a creek on the other side of Hog Mountain, northeast of Atlanta. She sings alto in a community chorus and volunteers at her grandchildren’s school library. Fran is a member of the Atlanta Writers Club, the National League of American Pen Women, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and the “Wish-I-Knew-How-To-Play-a-Tuba Club,” of which she is the only known member.

Website  ~  Facebook

The Giveaway

What:  One entrant will win a Mass Market Paperback copy of A Wee Murder in My Shop by Fran Stewart from the publisher. US ONLY

How:  Log into and follow the directions in the Rafflecopter below.

Who and When:  The contest is open to all humans on the planet earth with a US mailing address. Contest ends at 11:59 PM US Eastern Time on March 23, 2015. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 years old or older to enter.

*Giveaway rules and duration are subject to change.*

a Rafflecopter giveaway