A Scone of Contention (Key West Food Critic Mystery #11) by Lucy Burdette

A murderer's out to spoil Hayley's honeymoon in national bestselling author Lucy Burdette's eleventh Key West Food Critic Mystery. 

Key Zest food critic Hayley Snow and her groom, police detective Nathan Bransford, thought Scotland was the ideal destination for two newlyweds. That was before they learned they'd be sharing their trip with Nathan's crotchety mother, his sister, and his brother in law, who seem to have conspired to keep the couple apart. Worse, the trip takes a deadly Tartan turn when Hayley watches a man falls to his death from the famous Falkirk Wheel.

No one in Vera's party claims to know the victim, Joseph Booth--but Hayley suspects otherwise. She is troubled to add to the suspect list her mother-in-law's elderly pal, Gloria, who insisted she'd been poisoned when she doubled over with pain after the salad course at the previous night's dinner. The next day, she felt well enough to join her colleagues and Hayley for a boat ride on the Wheel, high above the Forth and Clyde canals.

To clear Miss Gloria's name, Hayley visits the dead man's home, hunting for clues while enjoying Booth's mother's prize-winning cinnamon scones. What she finds troubles her more than ever--the killer may be someone very close to her heart.

Can Hayley, her mother-in-law, and Miss Gloria solve the mystery, or will the killer get away Scot free?  (Summary via Goodreads)

No matter which book in the Key West Food Critic Mystery series by Lucy Burdette you pick up there are two things that you can be guaranteed.....you are going to fall in love with the series and you are going to be hungry the whole time you are reading.

In the Key West Food Critic Mystery series main character Hayley Snow lives on a houseboat on Houseboat Row in Key West in Florida.  Until recently she lived with Miss Gloria but after she married Detective Nathan Bransford they renovated and moved into the houseboat next door.  Hayley works for Key Zest Magazine as a food critic tasting foods and checking out restaurants and writing about them.  She has a pretty good life with all that as well as her mother and her husband Sam live nearby and they are all close.  The only downside of Lucy's life is that she always seems to get involved in a murder case....or maybe that is more on the downside of Nathan's life.

In the eleventh book in the series, A Scone of Contention Hayley and Nathan are going on a sort of honeymoon to visit Nathan's sister Vera in Scotland.  I say sort of honeymoon because Miss Gloria and Nathan's mother, Helen, are also going on the trip.

Unfortunately a lot is going to happen.....right before they leave on their trip Hayley's close friend and another houseboat neighbor Ray has a mishap and gets arrested.  His wife Connie who Hayley has know forever is beside herself and Ray isn't talking.  Then when Hayley and crew get to Scotland they find out that Vera is working on a book with a few people and there is a lot of tension surrounding their work.  On their first night there while attending a dinner party with the group that is working on the book, one of the attendees falls ill and it is believed to be from the food.  There are more mishaps while the group goes touring Scotland and the group try to finalize parts of their book.....

Readers will enjoy reading about Hayley and friends traveling to Scotland and getting to know Nathan's family more.  You will also love reading about the food that they are served and will be thankful when you get to the back of the book to the recipe section.  Burdette has such a knack of drawing you into the story so that you will feel like you are right there along side Hayley as she enjoys her honeymoon....and you don't even have to pack, get your passport ready or leave the comfort of your living room.  You will be a fan of this series and will enjoy watching Hayley grow and experience and embrace life.

Review by Missi M.