Scot Free (Book 1)

Winner of the 2019 Lefty award for best humorous mystery.

"a laugh-out-loud whodunit" LJ (starred review)

A Dru's Book Musings Pick of the Year Book 2018.
 

How did it come to this? Where did it all go wrong? How did I, Lexy Campbell, strong modern Scottish woman, end up homeless, jobless and broke, thousands of miles from everyone and everything I knew, all my belongings locked in a room with an now-expired keycard, my plane ticket useless because I’d missed my flight, my brilliant attempt at being a witness turning me into a bigger suspect every time I re-opened my mouth, and no one I could call for help except . . . No! No one I could call for help. No exceptions.

Because that – the lack of exceptions, the non-helper, the no one – was where it had all gone wrong.

I had looked across a crowded room, seen his face, and taken the first step towards the California cop shop where I sat right now.

In my defence, I had just boiled my head. I was at Turnberry for the spa. He was at Turnberry for the golf. And he was so . . . American. So very . . . un-Scottish. He was tall, brawny, sun-kissed, and clean! He came off the eighteenth green cleaner than I came out of a  sauna. His teeth were like a double row of little oblong paint samples (if a DIY outlet would ever have two rows of fourteen samples of the same paint shade: American Teeth). His hair was by Abercrombie, his nails by Fitch, his clothes . . . His clothes were god-awful, actually. Elvis wouldn’t have worn them to brunch in his Vegas days, but that’s golf for you. And he was soon out of them anyway . . .

READING GROUP QUESTIONS.  (VERY MINOR SPOILERS)

1. Do you sympathise with Lexy over how her marriage turned out or do you think she deserved her fate?
2. What qualities does Lexy have that make her a good MFT? Anything on the negative side?
3. How much disbelief are readers being asked to suspend, to go along with the plot of SCOT FREE? Is it more than in other crime novels? Does that mattter?
4. Does SCOT FREE celebrate California?
5. Have you ever travelled anywhere where the unspoken norms bamboozled you like this? Did you find it entertaining or unsettling? Was it valuable?
6. Who is your favourite character in SCOT FREE and why? (Inside info from author: "I meant the series to be peopled with transients. That was the whole purpose of a motel setting. But I love them all too much and I ended up I rewriting bits of the book so everyone gets to stay.")
7. What does SCOT FREE have to say about "family"? 
8. Some tourists end up in the Last Ditch Motel because their trip has gone wrong. What's your worst traveller's tale? 
9. Is justice served at the end of SCOT FREE? 

It's no secret that fictional Cuento, CA, is loosely based on actual Davis, CA. Davis Author, Eileen Rendahl. notes that there are a fair few of what she dubbed "Schmavis novels" around.  In SCOT AND SODA there are five little Easter eggs that might mean something to readers who know Davis (and won't be any trouble to readers who don't). Just for fun, I've gathered them together here in . . . 

                                          THE SCHMAVIS QUIZ

1. (Example). The diner in Cuento is called The Red Racoon. The diner in Davis is called The Black Bear. They are both coloured animals.

2. The drive-thru coffeeshop in Cuento is called ...

3. The newspaper in Cuento is called ...

4. The county where you'll find Cuento is called ...

5. The county town of that county is called ...