Review: HOLY TERROR IN THE HEBRIDES, Jeanne M. Dams

• 
  this edition an e-book on Kindle (Amazon) 
  
• Dorothy Martin Mystery Book 3
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08LHDXC9Y
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Joffe Books crime, thriller and cozy mystery (19 October 2020)
• Originally published 1997
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 276 pages

Synopsis (Amazon) 

ALONE ON A REMOTE SCOTTISH ISLAND WITH A MURDERER ON THE LOOSE

A peaceful stay on the charming Scottish island of Iona sounds perfect to sometime sleuth Dorothy Martin.

But trouble always follows Dorothy. Thrown in with a bickering American church tour, she tries to keep her distance.

Then one of the group, a man everyone disliked, falls to his death from a cliff at the legendary Fingal’s Cave.

Dorothy is the only witness. She notices a small clue that the police dismiss, one that makes her believe the death was murder. 

My Take

Dorothy is offered the opportunity to holiday in a cottage on Iona with friends from London, but at the last minute they are unable to join her and she goes alone. She meets up with a most unusual group of Americans who end up staying at the same hotel as her (after she has discovered that she has left the key to the holiday cottage at home). And then she witnesses the most unpopular of them falling to his death at Fingal's Cave.

And then Iona is hit with a monster storm and they are all stranded.

Dorothy becomes convinced that somehow the death that she witnessed was a murder, and that all the factors point to a Jewish Rabbi as the perpetrator. The problem is that she has become very friendly with him and cannot believe that her judgement can be so wrong. 

This story is largely without the presence of Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt who has gone off to a police conference in Brussels. She is desperate to talk to him.

Unfortunately this plot feels a bit pedestrian. It is a bit of a travelogue. It also focuses on Dorothy's tendency to see murder everywhere.

My rating: 4.2

I've also read

• 4.3, THE BODY IN THE TRANSEPT - #1
• 4.4, TROUBLE IN THE TOWN HALL - #2