What a hoot! The Authors Guide to Murder, a rom-com murder mystery set in Scotland and written by three women will keep you amused and impressed. Three authors, Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White, all real-life, well-published novelists, got together to write a novel about . . . three popular romance novelists who get together to write a book. And take revenge on a common enemy. Fall in love. Solve a murder. And show off their authors’ satirical smarts and admiration for Agatha Christie.
A prologue sets the time and place: December 2022, Kinloch Castle, Scotland. Detective Chief Inspector Euen Macintosh is at the Gothic stone eminence, staring at the bloodied body of Brett Presley, stabbed in the back with an antler. And maybe also poisoned. There are a number of knowledgeable local pharmacology experts on the storm-isolated island of 227 people. Most of them related.
The victim Presley was renting the castle, the setting for a literary conference the three women are attending. The novel is a lot of fun, and as the intrigue deepens on the small, secluded isle the narrative fills with all things Scottish – language, food, dress, history, sheep, sheepdogs, and tartins. Not to mention the famous Highland dance, “KAYlee” – spelled “ceildh.” KAYlee. (I had to look this up.)
The real-life authors, each with her own specialty in writing romance, has brought to The Authors Guide to Murder a wealth of distinct information, transferring to their particular fictional characters. Emma Endicott is a single, know-it-all archivist – were we aware that the main reason men wore powdered wigs in the 17th century was to cover up baldness created by syphilis? She also corrects a reference to Mel Brooks’ “Spaceballs” and points out the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard.
Cassie Pringle a happily married, compassionate mother of six is the warm and fuzzy one, and Kat de Noir, not married and riotously promiscuous, prances around the harsh winter in a bustier and four-inch boot heels, seems to know every word and metaphor for phallus. She claims that the handsome young Laird Archie is gay. Emma says “No way!” What all three women shared before coming to Scotland was an Iowa writing workshop program that was led by the exploitative Brett Saffron Presley, a celebrated American writer honored at Yadoo - a real artist retreat in Saratoga, New York, known for his ego and id. He organized the conference. Now he’s dead.
The women are not “besties” as they claim when they arrive but the reader senses they will be. They’re hardly enemies, but it emerges that they all have a secret that links them to Brett Presley. He’s rented the castle from the unsuspecting young Laird Archie, who believes that the conference will help support his village. Presley, of course, intended to support only himself. In degenerate style. As the women discover he planned to open an s & m sex museum- a shocking abhorrence to the locals and gentry. The conference was a way to give him cover.
The romcom romp bops along with classic crime novel features – a hidden tunnel, dark myths of sacrificial death, mysterious caves, fall-to-your-death cliffs --the women unable to stop comparing these features to those in their own books, and other novels --Jane Austen is a favorite. A prominent author makes a surprising appearance toward the end and it is wild. Over the top? You bet! But would they –or their readers – or we have it any other way? A brief dedication acknowledges the affection that went into writing this book: “To the people of Scotland”: “We’re sorry. And thanks for the plaid.”
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