MacLaren Yarbrough's eighth case, appeared in bookstores at the end of January, earlier than expected, was on a couple of bestseller lists that month, and was rated 4.5 stars by the Romantic Times Book Club. In this story, Mac and her friend Laura MacDonald take a bus tour of Scotland to explore their family roots and find not skeletons in the closet, but corpses in the chapel. Who put two bodies in coffins that should never have been there? It's a romp through the Highlands with a crusty old bus driver and several oddly-assorted tour members. 

Quote:    What was it my husband had said just before I left home? Wanting him to come along, I’d reminded him, "You promised to go everywhere with me."
       He’d replied, "I didn’t promise I’d go everywhere with you, Little Bit. That was a threat, and it only applies around here. I figure you can’t get into too much trouble in a country where you don’t know a soul. Presumably you won’t feel obligated to endanger your life trying to solve the problems of everybody in Scotland, and you aren’t likely to be stumbling over dead bodies on a bus tour."
       And now here I stood, in a chilly church in the heart of the eastern Highlands, with a member of our tour group lying dead at my feet.

Reviewers say about this book:

Romantic Times Book Club, March 2006: "An intricate web of suspense and intrigue lead to an enthralling mystery. In true Agatha Christie style, Sprinkle fully develops each character, providing readers with an interesting array of suspects and a multitude of red herrings." TOP PICK and 4.5 stars

Fresh Fiction: "This cozy mystery was a totally enjoyable reading experience. Not only are all the characters well-developed, but vivid descriptions had me feeling like I was in the Highlands on that old bus along with everyone else. Great addition to this charming series." www.freshfiction.com/review

 Author praise for the series:

"Patricia Sprinkle gives her Thoroughly Southern Myster a charming Scottish accent this time, but everything is delightfully the same . . . the warm, gentle sense of humor, the impeccable classic plotting, and the smart, nice woman at the heart of it who loves her husband and can, apparently, solve anything!" Nancy Pickard

"Like spending an afternoon in the porch swing on Aunt Dixie's veranda." Joanna Carl

"As Southern as Sunday fried chicken and sweet tea. Patricia Sprinkle's Hopemore is as captivating as Jan Karon's Mitford. Come for one visit and you'll always return."
                                                                                                   Carolyn Hart

" An heirloom quilt. Each piece of patchwork is unique and with its own history, yet they are deftly stitched together with threads of family love and loyalty, simmering passion, deception and wickeness, but always with optimism imbued with down-home Southern traditions. A novel to be savored while sitting on a creaky swing on the front porch, a pitcher of lemonade nearby, a dog slumbering in the sunlight."                          Joan Hess

"Authentic and convincing. This series is a winner."                            Tamar Myers