Scotzilla

Lexy Campbell and her colleagues at Trinity Investigations, Todd and licensed PI Kathi, are hired by volunteers at a cemetery to determine who is playing mean-spirited pranks on the grave sites. Since no laws were broken, the police aren't interested. While at the cemetery one night, Lexy is attacked, then, on her wedding day, celebrant and wedding planner Sister Sunshine is murdered, bringing the ceremony to a screeching halt. Lexy, Todd, and Kathi believe the vandalism and the murder are connected and investigate against the orders of the police detective on the case. Complicating matters, in the lead-up to the wedding, Lexy has turned into a complete bridezilla, frustrating her circle of friends who live at the Last Ditch Motel. Plot twists, the large cast of familiar, well-delineated, quirky characters, humor, and the introspective Lexy, who after counseling numerous feuding couples, begins to question whether she and her fiancé, Taylor, are compatible enough for a successful marriage, add up to a successful entry in the series (after Hop Scot, 2023).

A transplanted Scot's approaching nuptials transform her into bridezilla. Marriage therapist Lexy Campbell lives on a houseboat behind the Last Ditch Motel in northern California, home to most of her favorite people. Her business has been called Trinity for Life ever since her friend Todd joined in, bringing his expertise in beauty makeovers. The third member of the team is Kathi, part owner of the Last Ditch, a germaphobe who helps people declutter. To add to their portfolio of services, Kathi is also a licensed private detective who runs Trinity Investigations, which, despite the friends' wild eccentricities, has had some notable success in crime solving. A volunteer group called the Sexton Beetles that maintains the local graveyard hires them to see who's been causing disturbances there that could be said to resemble performance art: Someone decorated one grave with rainbow flags, streamers, and flowers; left dead snakes on another; and spelled out inappropriate words with pebbles. The police aren't interested in these hijinks, leaving Lexy and her crew to figure out what all the grave desecrations mean. Meanwhile, Lexy's been ambivalent about making wedding plans before she and her fiance, Taylor, have a serious talk about money. But that doesn't prevent her from looking at venues. While she's entertaining possible locations, she finds Sister Sunshine, a wedding planner who just happens to have a cancellation. Lexy's friends suffer from her transformation into a bridezilla trying to concoct the perfect wedding alongside her parents, who've come over from Scotland to help. When Sister Sunshine is found on the wedding day strangled with a defective string of decorative lights, Lexy has to revert from bridezilla to detective and solve the crimes with help from her zany cohort. The cemetery caper and the murder play second fiddle to the escapades of Lexy and her lovable but bizarre friends. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.