This is the second book in the Iris Grey series and it was just as enjoyable as the first.

Iris Grey has been invited to Pitfeldy Castle in Scotland to paint Baron Jock MacKinnon’s American fiancee, Kathy Miller, before their New Year wedding. Kathy has been receiving anonymous notes advising her to call off the nuptials and she asks for Iris’ help to discover the culprit. When bones are discovered on the Castle’s property, things take a sinister turn and when Jock presses for the investigation to be shut down, Iris is left wondering what he is hiding. Can she discover who the bones belong to and how they came to be buried on Castle grounds?

An enjoyable murder mystery with good characters which was an entertaining read.

This is the second book in this series by Tilly Bagshaw writing as M B Shaw. I had enjoyed the forst installment very much and was excited to see the follow up book when it came here on Netgalley. It was an enjoyable ride, but a little less so than the first part.

Our painter detective Iris Grey finds a mystery in Highlands when she is invited there by a baron Jock MacKinnon to paint his fiancee Kathy Miller. There is a huge age gap between Kathy and Jock and it is no surprise that none of Jock's children or his ex wife are happy about this upcoming marriage. Even the people of the village seem to hate Kathy who is an outsider and who refuses to do everything that the villagers expect of her. Someone had been leaving her threatening notes and she wants Iris to solve this mystery. But the mystery Iris has to solve is even more sinister than a poison pen - she and Kathy discover remains of human bones long buried in the Baron's property. Iris is adamant that she will get justice for the two murdered women and her journey takes her from Scotland to Italy and back before she can bring the perpetrators to justice.

While the novel was interesting, i felt it could have been a little shorter and wokred better. Also, the angle of Iris's romance with a young fisherman added nothing to the plot and could have been done away with altogether. The references to her strange dressing style also came up more than once and felt repetitive. As a mystery though, it was enjoyable. I liked the character portrayal but did feel that some threads were left loose.

3.5 stars. Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for a copy of the book!