Friday Focus: Bookish Memes To Start the Weekend

 

 

 

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an eBook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.
• First Line Friday hosted by Reading Is My SuperPower
  

Today I'm featuring a recent read, An American in Scotland by Lucy Connelly, the first book in the Scottish Isle mystery series. The excerpts shared are from a hardcover version I borrowed from the library.

 

 

Book Beginning/First Line:  Scotland was gorgeous--even more than I'd imagined. Any last-minute doubts I'd had about moving across the pond, leaving everything and everyone behind at home in Seattle, were gone.

********************  

Page 56:  "It's terrible, but I don't think there's a soul that lives here who will miss him."

********************  

My thoughts:  Sea Isle, Scotland is half a world away from Seattle--and this is how much distance former ER doctor Emilia (Em) McRoy feels she must put between herself and her former life. Reeling from a traumatic personal experience, Em believes the picturesque coastal town will afford her a new start. Yet life as the only doctor in town is off to a bumpy beginning when Em finds the lifeless body of a local man just hours after she had words with him in one of the town's pubs.

Constable Ewan Campbell is eager to write the death off as accidental--the result of a drunken fall. Based on the injuries, however, Em suspects foul play. The victim is the most ornery soul in town, with more enemies than friends--begging the question, who killed Smithy and why? Moreover, will Em find the killer or become the next victim before she gets her chance at a new life?

An American in Scotland is a charming cozy mystery centered around a competent and likable protagonist in search of a fresh start and the eclectic mix of residents who welcome the much-needed doctor to their rugged locale. While the murder mystery propels the story forward, more engaging are the personal relationships that develop along the way.

********************  

From GoodReads:  The small idyllic town of Sea Isle, Scotland, harbors some dark secrets, and Dr. Emilia McRoy is determined to uncover all of them—no matter what the diagnosis in this charming cozy, sure to enchant fans of Sheila Connolly and Charlene O’Connor.

Sea Isle was supposed to be the fresh start Dr. Emilia McRoy dreamed of. Far from the busy emergency room across the Atlantic in Seattle, she hoped to settle down and begin this new chapter as a small-town doctor to the quirky residents who immediately welcomed her. When she stumbles across a dead body, she starts to think that she may not be as Scot free of the drama and intrigue as she initially thought.

Emilia soon learns she has bigger issues at hand. It starts with realizing she’ll work closely with the less than helpful local constable, Laird Ewan Campbell. Her luck continues when she discovers that part of her new responsibilities includes being the coroner for the very body she found. Finally, when the body goes missing before she can even begin the autopsy, Emilia must convince the townspeople that a crime did, in fact, occur. The deeper she digs into the picturesque town, the more suspicious she becomes. And then there are her sleep issues. It may be due to the ever-growing list of suspects, a number of threatening letters, or the surprise visitor who breaks into her house at night. But she’s never backed down before, and she doesn’t intend to start now.

Someone doesn’t want this doctor to treat the ailments of Sea Isle, but Emilia McRoy is determined to find the murderer before they kilt again.

 

 

 

 

*******************

This Friday Focus: Bookish Memes to Start the Weekend post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the blog, bookclublibrarian.com. It cannot be republished without attribution.