Title:	Murder at a Scottish Wedding
	Author:	Traci Hall
	Published:	January 24, 2023, Kensington
	No. of Pages:	317
	Cover Price:	$1.99 Kindle

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The fourth installment of the Scottish Shire Mystery Series, Murder at a Scottish Wedding by bestselling author, Traci Hall, finds protagonist Paislee Shaw serving as matron of honor at her best friend, Lydia’s wedding. Lydia is marrying Corbin Smythe, who comes from a very wealthy Scottish family, and the family, especially Corbin’s stepmother, Mary, hates Lydia and doesn’t think she is suitable to be part of them. While the family includes cousins, as well as Mary’s stepdaughters, they are very pompous and consider themselves Scottish royalty; they are not about to welcome a commoner like Lydia into the clan. One of the young cousins gets something in her eyes and falls down the stairs (holding on to a stolen brooch) to her death just before the wedding begins; obviously the wedding is called off, and when the police rule the death as a murder, readers will wonder if it is the Mother-in-Law (and hope it is because she is so awful) to be that desperate to stop the wedding. Lydia is even blamed for the murder, and family is so strong, Lydia and Corbin call off their relationship.

While the writing style is quite difficult to follow since it is in a quasi-Scottish prose, it certainly captures the Scottish culture. Readers will feel they are in Scotland. They will probably want to visit, too. However, the novel is a bit slow moving and has way too many characters to keep track of. In addition, there is a subplot regarding Paislee’s Uncle Craigh, who is a criminal and missing under suspicious circumstances; that part is a bit boring, as well as implausible. The characters are quite well-developed, and seem to fit with the Scottish backdrop.

All told, this cozy mystery isn’t a favorite; it may be that readers will want to read the previous books in the series to become more familiar and that may make the novel more readable and relatable.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.