Review – Schemes and Scandals (A Rip Through Time, Book 3.5) by Kelley Armstrong (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction/Time Travel
Length: 159 pages
Publisher: K.L.A. Fricke Inc
Release Date: December 3, 2024
ASIN: B0D6P8SJBS
Stand Alone or Series: 3.5th novella in the A Rip Through Time series
Source: Borrowed ebook from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars
“It’s Mallory Atkinson’s first Christmas in Scotland. Victorian Scotland, that is. Also, as the twenty-first-century detective learns, Christmas really isn’t a thing in Victorian Scotland. It’s all about Hogmanay. But her boss, Dr. Duncan Gray, treats her to an early gift of tickets to the event of the season: a Charles Dickens reading. There, they bump into Lady Inglis—the lovely widow who has sent Gray sexy letters trying to entice him back to her bed.
Lady Inglis introduces Mallory to Dickens—the meeting of a lifetime—but in return she wants their help. She’s being blackmailed. Someone stole letters she wrote to another lover and is threatening to publish them.
Mallory isn’t sure what to make of Lady Inglis, but no woman deserves that, so she insists on taking the case with or without Gray’s help. Growing tension between them soon tells Mallory that Gray is hiding a secret of his own. She has until Hogmanay to uncover the blackmailer…and, hopefully, to put things right with Gray so they can enjoy the holiday together.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got a copy of this on ebook from the library.
Thoughts: This was a fun addition to the A Rip Through Time Series. Armstrong has two time travel series she is writing, this one and the “A Stitch in Time series”. I like the “Stitch in Time” series a bit better, but this one has more mystery in it. This is another Christmas novella set in Victorian Scotland. Mallory and Duncan are asked by one of Duncan’s old friends to help with a case of blackmail.
This story delved a bit more into Duncan’s past, which was interesting. The lady being blackmailed, Lady Inglis, is a past lover of Duncan’s. Mallory takes the lead in this case since it involves mostly investigation and no dead bodies. As such, this comes off as more of a police procedural Victorian story than anything else.
Mallory and Duncan continue to dance around each other relationship-wise, which is understandable since Mallory is in a body that isn’t her own. However, it would be fun to see this relationship progress a bit. Rather than focus on their own relationship, they are playing matchmaker between the Inspector and Duncan’s sister which is entertaining.
Armstrong’s writing is easy to read, the characters and mystery are engaging. I do hope at some point we will find out more about the backstory of how and why Mallory was transported to this body in Victorian Scotland.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this it was a fun addition to the A Rip Through Time series. I enjoyed the mystery, the characters, and the setting. I look forward to reading the next full length novel in the series “Death at a Highland Wedding” which comes out in May. I plan to read that shortly since I got a copy to review. If you enjoy historical mysteries I would recommend this whole series.
