ARC Review: Murder at the Scottish Games by Traci Hall

Murder at the Scottish Games is book 7 in Traci Hall’s A Scottish Shire Mystery cozy mystery series.

This is my first book in the series, and I found the town of Nairn, and the people living there interesting I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Despite being a fairly long series, Murder at the Scottish Games is easily read as a standalone.

The story opens just as the Scottish Games are opening in the small town of Nairn where Paislee Shaw, a single mom and owner of a small yarn shop, is part of the committee running the games. While pretty much everyone has a good time, there are several incidents involving one man, Joseph Whittle. When he is found murdered the next day, and his son Artie is found with a headwound nearby, Artie is assumed by many to be the killer, but Paislee thinks otherwise.

I really liked the townspeople of Nairn, they had complex relationships with each other, and seemed to have a good sense of community. And as usual in a cozy mystery, some of them had contentious relationships with the victim, which made for an interesting array of suspects and possible motives.

The secondary mystery involving the death of Artie’s older brother years before also made the mystery of Joseph’s death interesting, as the police, and Paislee, tried to determine if there was a link between his death and that of his father.

It did take me a while to get used to the dialogue written in the Scottish dialect, but it only took a chapter or two to adjust.

The one thing I did find unrealistic was Paislee’s reaction to another character in one scene of the book. I felt like it was way over the top for what he did in that scene, regardless of how she felt about the subject. I don’t want to spoil it but I think if you read it, you’ll know the scene I mean when you get to it.

Overall, I enjoyed Murder at the Scottish Games and wouldn’t mind reading more stories set in this world.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Murder at the Scottish Games will be available on November 25 2025.