Scot on the Rocks: 3 (A Last Ditch mystery)

Lexy Campbell's ex-husband begs for her help finding his current wife, whose disappearance mirrors that of a number of statues around California - menacing ransom note and all.

A community is devastated when the bronze statue of local legend Mama Cuento is stolen on Valentine's Day. When Lexy Campbell arrives on the scene, a big bronze toe is found along with a ransom note - "Listen to our demands or you will never see her again. There are nine more where this came from".

Then, Lexy's ex-husband Bran turns up begging for help to find his wife, Brandee, who has disappeared. Lexy agrees to pitch in, but when she shows up at Bran's house he has just discovered one of Brandee's false nails and another ransom note with the same grisly message.

Are the two cases linked or is a copycat on the loose? Who would want to kidnap a bronze statue or, come to that, Brandee? And can Lexy put aside her hatred for Bran long enough to find out?

Born and raised in Edinburgh, Catriona McPherson left Edinburgh University with a PhD in Linguistics and worked in academia, as well as banking and public libraries, before taking up full-time writing in 2001. For the last ten years she has lived in Northern California with a black cat and a scientist. In 2020 she has been shortlisted for a third Mary Higgins Clark Award, for Strangers at the Gate, and won a Left Coast Crime 2020 Lefty Award for the Best Humorous Mystery for Scot and Soda.