After a bitter divorce, Midwesterner Janet Marsh is thrilled to start a new chapter in a small Scottish town: running a bookshop and tearoom with her daughter Tallie, best friend Christine and Tallie's friend Summer. But as the four women assume ownership of Yon Bonnie Books, they encounter trouble: vandalism at Janet's house, unexplained resentment from a few locals and a nosy newspaper columnist who meets a bad end. Molly MacRae, author of the Haunted Yarn Shop mysteries, begins a charming new series with Plaid and Plagiarism.
Janet and her compatriots are delighted to be in Inversgail, but not sure the former owners are ready to relinquish control of the shop. Meanwhile, Janet is eager to move into her house, but when the property is vandalized, it becomes a crime scene. The prime suspect is journalist Una Graham, who loves to stir up trouble and then write about it. But then Summer finds Una's body in Janet's garden shed--and the women find a series of letters detailing her personal grudges against several people, any one of whom could be the killer.
Determined to unravel the mystery so they can run the bookshop in peace, the four women split up sleuthing duties while adjusting to life in Inversgail. With their combined investigative skills and plenty of pear ginger scones from the local bakery, the women triumph in both their new business venture and their first foray into detective work. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams