Next in Line by Marion Todd (Detective Claire Mackay No. 5)

Though this was a No 5 in the series, it does well as a stand alone. A murder takes place in an exclusive boutique hotel, in isolated gardens in Scotland. The victim and his family are well known and reporters are all over the place. The family had faced tragedy before when they lost another sibling in the tsunami in Thailand and this murder is resurrecting a lot of old memories. Celebrating his 40th birthday Russel did not expect to be murdered on his birthday. The marksman who shot him was an expert shot and Detective Claire has to whittle down her suspects - the immediate ones are cagey, careful and extremely smart. Further widening her net, Claire discovers many extraneous strands to the initial story and now she is looking at people far beyond her initial line up. Family complications galore in the victims family, treachery amongst friends of decades and keen and slow methodical detection makes this a best seller read. The setting too added a lot of atmosphere to the story. Sent by Canelo for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.