Murder Takes the High Road by Josh Lanyon

Author: Josh Lanyon
Publisher: Carina Press
Date of publication: April 2018

Librarian Carter Matheson is determined to enjoy himself on a Scottish bus tour for fans of mystery author Dame Vanessa Rayburn. Sure, his ex, Trevor, will also be on the trip with his new boyfriend, leaving Carter to share a room with a stranger, but he can’t pass up a chance to meet his favorite author.

Carter’s roommate turns out to be John Knight, a figure as mysterious as any character from Vanessa’s books. His strange affect and nighttime wanderings make Carter suspicious. When a fellow traveler’s death sparks rumors of foul play, Carter is left wondering if there’s anyone on the tour he can trust.

Drawn into the intrigue, Carter searches for answers, trying to fend off his growing attraction toward John. As unexplained tragedies continue, the whole tour must face the fact that there may be a murderer in their midst—but who?

In the Murder Takes the High Road, Carter is taking part in a tour of Scotland visiting the places his favorite author writes about in her books.  A murder and disappearance takes place and he works to try to solve what is going on.   I'm not sure if I mis-read the synopsis when I got book  For some reason, I was expecting a cozy Scottish mystery.

For me, the book was just OK.  It did start off with that "cozy" mystery vibe and I liked Carter.  However, it ended up turning into a kind of underwhelming romance with a boring mystery.  The "romance" came out of nowhere and was a bit more involved than I was expecting.  I don't mind M/M graphic sex scenes, but it just didn't fit with the atmosphere of the book.  Maybe a fade to black would have been more fitting? It just felt forced and unnecessary.

There were way too many people introduced in the book to keep track of them.  They all blended together after a while. Except Trevor.  He cropped up constantly and was annoying.  Seriously, how many times did he have to approach Carter to discuss him being on the tour and how much he knew Carter wanted him back?  It got old very quickly.   As I said before, the mystery was just OK/  I did find myself skimming more than I would have liked.   This is the fist book by this author that I have read.  I'm not sure if this is his usual style of writing.  I may give him another try in the future.