Dead Wives Society:: A Scotia MacKinnon Mystery

by Sharon Duncan

Book Overview

Scotia's latest client was done wrong by her husband, who stole all of her assets. Scotia learns that this handsome devil has a history of scamming wealthy women. When his ex-wives start turning up dead, Scotia must stop this serial groom before her client ends up in the morgue. Original.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451209494
• ISBN13: 9780451209498
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Signet Book
• Length: 273 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.5" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Ex-wives, death and danger.

Scotia MacKinnon is a Private Investigator in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. She doesn't like her new client Dr. Chantel Rousseau. She has asked Scotia to locate her ex-husband Forbes Cameron. He has taken all their money, her mom's wedding dowery , antique tapestries, and her son's college fund. When Forbes' ex-wives start turning up dead, Scotia decides to help find him before Dr. Rousseau can become a victim.Scotia lives on her sailboat The Dragon Spray. She drives a 10 year old Volvo. Her office mate Zelda Jones is a great research assistant and helps Scotia in many ways.Scotia met Dr. Rousseau through her Seattle maritime attorney and significant other Nicholas Anastazi. That's part of the reason she doesn't like her. She kept making eyes at Nick.Michael Farraday is on the island trying to find a former British agent Polo and eliminate him.Scotia finds herself in danger before she can locate Forbes. This is the first book I've read in this series. I truly enjoyed it, look forward to future books, and recommend it. Scotia is such an enjoyable protagonist and Friday Harbor is a beautiful setting. There are many tentacles in this story and she weaves them together in a great fashion.

Murder in the Northwest

Scotia MacKinnon is a fine protagonist. She has wit, a good attitude, a certain insouciance that fits well with her keen awareness of her strengths and limitations.MacKinnon has a hunk for a boyfriend, and a pretty good coterie of friends to help her out when necessary. As real estate salespeople are always saying, location, location, location. And she's got one. MacKinnon lives on a small sloop docked in a marina at Friday Harbor, in the San Juan Islands. They are a group of islands at the confluence of three international waterways, Puget Sound, the Juan de Fuca Strait, and the Georgia Strait. These waterways make up a major international route for commercial and recreational shipping. Friday harbor is also an important immigration site for international travelers, and the islands have long been a prime location for those with money and those who want to retire from their previous careers. Salt water boating communities around the world have special characteristics and the author makes good use of her protagonist's location and atmosphere.Things are pretty good with Scotia, she's paying the bills, her mother is mostly in Southern California, and her attorney-boyfriend who lives in Seattle is very attentive. But then Chantel Rousseau appears on the scene, and on boyfriend Nick's radar. When physician Chantel hires Scotia to find her ex-husband things get complicated. Especially when Scotia discovers the guy may be a repeat offender.Murder is not P.I. MacKinnon's strong suit and while she knows how to use a handgun, the deeper into the mystery she goes, the more dangerous things become. This is a fast, well-thought out mystery. There's plenty of action in interesting locations. The characters are distinctive and individual and the writing is fine. If there are a few too many coincidences to help the plot along, the strengths of the novel more than make up for that. Any mystery fan who likes stories with a nice balance between character, plot and place, will enjoy this book.