A Rip Through Time Novels

 

Death At A Highland Wedding (Rip Through Time Novel #4) by Kelley Armstrong. Minotaur Books, 2025. 336 pages. **** UPDATED

In this Fourth book in the series, Mallory has adjusted to her life as a housemaid and Dr. Gray's Assistant. She accompanies Gray, Isla, and McCreadie to the Scottish Highlands for McCreadie's sister's wedding. While exploring the castle and surrounding land, Duncan  and Mallory discover that the groom, Archie Cranston, has set deadly traps for the endangered Scottish wildcats. They come across an injured cat caught in one of the traps and Mallory finds his injuries suspicious. Outraged over the fact that the traps are a danger to humans as well as animals, Mallory is determined to have them removed. When one of the wedding guests is murdered, the actions and attitude of the groom places him under suspicion. 

I loved this book when I read it. Homicide detective, Mallory Atkinson, travels 150 years into the past and emerges as housemaid, Catriona Mitchel. Catriona is a complex, unlikeable, character and adopting her lifestyle and place in the Gray household is very challenging for Mallory. At the same time, she is trying to find a way to return to her own life. When I received a copy for review,  I didn't realize that it was the 4th book in the series, so I immediately began reading the previous 3 books. I have completed the first three - A Rip Through Time, The Poisoner's Ring, and Disturbing the Dead. I strongly suggest that you read the books in order. The first book sets the stage and each book builds on the murders and the characters. The plot gets stronger with each book as more people in the household find out who Mallory is. # 3 and 4 are my favorites. Will Mallory change the future by providing modern tools and techniques for solving crimes or by having theories as to who the murderer is? 

Kelley Armstrong graduated with a degree in psychology and then studies computer programming. Now she is a full-time writer and parent and lives with her husband and three children in rural Ontario, Canada. For more information about Armstrong and her books, click here. 

Follow me on Instagram at flamazing_books. 

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An Ordinary Sort of Evil

 

An Ordinary Sort of Evil: A Rip Through Time Novel (Rip Through Time Novels Book 5) by Kelley Armstrong. Minotaur Books, 320 pages. 2026. ****

From Amazon - "Late one night, Gray and Mallory are summoned urgently to the home of Lady Adler, a patron of Gray’s undertaking business, and they assume there's been a death in the household. But instead, they arrive in the midst of a seance with a ghost demanding Gray's presence. The ghost is Lady Adler's former maid, who had gone missing but now requests that Gray investigate her murder. Although Gray and Mallory are skeptical, they agree to look into the matter, whether she's dead or alive. But unsure if there's been a murder or not, unable to call out the medium as a fraud, and concerned for the fate of the young maid, Gray and Mallory are once again drawn into a mystery much more puzzling--and more dangerous--than it first seems."

I love this series-- mystery, time travel, romance, ghosts, it has it all! Armstrong is a master at setting the scene, Victorian Scotland. Seances and summoning the dead was popular during that time and skepticism was rampant as to how mediums were able to do so. Mallory and Gray are becoming close and how they are going to manage a romance across time remains to be seen. I am fascinated by the norms of society and the research her novels require. Thoroughly enjoyable, I look forward to the next one!

From her website - Kelley Armstrong believes experience is the best teacher, though she’s been told this shouldn’t apply to writing her murder scenes. To craft her books, she has studied aikido, archery and fencing. She sucks at all of them. She has also crawled through very shallow cave systems and climbed half a mountain before chickening out. She is however an expert coffee drinker and a true connoisseur of chocolate-chip cookies. For more info, click here. 

A Rip Through Time Novels

Death At A Highland Wedding 

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