Early Review – Death at a Highland Wedding (A Rip Through Time, Book 4) by Kelley Armstrong (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction/Time Travel
Length: 336 pages
Publisher:‎ Minotaur Books
Release Date: May 20, 2025
ASIN: B0D89278JQ
Stand Alone or Series: 4th book in A Rip Through Time series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley for Review
Rating: 5/5 stars

“After slipping 150 years into the past, modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson has embraced her new life in Victorian Scotland as housemaid Catriona Mitchel. Although it isn’t what she expected, she’s developed real, meaningful relationships with the people around her and has come to love her role as assistant to undertaker Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie.

Mallory, Gray, and McCreadie are on their way to the Scottish Highlands for McCreadie’s younger sister’s wedding. The McCreadies and the groom’s family, the Cranstons, have a complicated history which has made the weekend quite uncomfortable. But the Cranston estate is beautiful so Gray and Mallory decide to escape the stifling company and set off to explore the castle and surrounding wilderness. They discover that the groom, Archie Cranston, a slightly pompous and prickly man, has set up deadly traps in the woods for the endangered Scottish wildcats, and they soon come across a cat who’s been caught and severely injured. Oddly, Mallory notices the cat’s injuries don’t match up with the intricacies of the trap. These strange irregularities, combined with the secretive and erratic behavior of the groom, put Mallory and Duncan on edge. And then when one of the guests is murdered, they must work fast to uncover the murderer before another life is lost.”

Series Info/Source: This is the second book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series. I got a copy of this on ebook from NetGalley for review.

Thoughts: This is the latest book in A Rip Through Time series. I greatly enjoy the characters in this series and loved that this book takes us away from the city and out to the Scottish countryside. This was very well done, engaging, and had both an excellent mystery and the start of a sweet little romance. I am a huge Armstrong fan and have really loved all of her books (although I wasn’t a huge fan of the Women of the Otherworld series). I am currently also reading her Haven’s Rock series and her A Stitch in Time series.

Mallory and crew are heading out to McCreadie’s sister’s wedding. They are a bit bored, despite some of the personal tensions between McCreadie and the groom’s family. Things get a bit more interesting when they find out there is some trouble with the locals and when a wildcat turns up dead in a trap, but it is discoverd the wildcat was poisoned (rather than the trap killing it). Things really ramp up when one of the guests is found dead. Now Mallory, Duncan, and McCreadie will have to use all of their wits to figure out who the real murderer is before the murder is blamed on the wrong person.

There was a lot to love in this story. I have really grown to love all of the characters here. All of them have grown and changed throughout the series. This book has some slow burn romance progress between Mallory and Gray as well as between Isla and McCreadie. I love that the relationships here are moving slowly and born out of mutual respect. I also really loved the mystery; there are a ton of twists and turns that keep you guessing. The pace is decent, and the setting and plot intriguing.

I believe this is the first book in this series that I have given 5 stars to. I think it took me a bit of time to warm up to these characters, and I think taking them out of their city setting really let some of their investigative abilities shine. I also like that we have a better understanding of how the time travel element to Mallory’s appearance in Victorian times works.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I really loved this book. The characters have really grown on me, and I have enjoyed watching them grow and learn as characters and also enjoyed watching these slow burn romances progress. I love that we have a better understanding of the time travel aspects here and really enjoy the way the mystery is woven and resolved. I think this was the strongest book of the series yet.