The Scottie Barked at Midnight is book 9 in the Liss MacCrimmon Scottish mysteries. Liss is Scottish-American and has a store selling many Scottish items: Moosetookalook Scottish Emporium. Moosetookalook is the name of the tiny Maine village where Liss, her husband, Dan Ruskin, her Aunt Margaret, and his family live.

There are two Scotties in this book: Dandy and Dondi. Dandy is the sister. Because I'm old enough to remember the comic strip about a little orphan named Dondi, I'm not surprised that he's the brother. They belong to Deidre Amendole, who dotes on her dogs. Her grown daughter, Desdemona, doesn't. Miss Amendole is nothing like her mother. I won't go so far as to write that I was rooting for her to be the murder victim, but she's certainly not likeable.

Deirdre and her Dancing Doggies are staying at Five Mountains Ski Resort as part of a contest. Liss gets roped into helping out. (It's March and in-store sales are almost non-existent.) Someone seems to be trying to sabotage the various acts. In fact, dognapping Dandy was one of the attempts. Good thing for Dandy that Liss found her.

The other contestants include a magician and his lovely assistant, an exotic dancer and her python, a singer, an insult comic, and a juggler. Toss in a costume designer, a smarmy master of ceremonies, and an excellent photographer and there are plenty of suspects.

NOTES:

Chapter 1:

a. See book one, Kilt Dead, for the accident that ruined Liss' left knee.

b. Moosetookalook Scottish Emporium is now closed on Mondays and Tuesdays except by chance or appointment, as Liss' new sign says.

c. Sherri Campbell, her husband Pete, her son Adam, and their daughter Amber, moved into a four-bedroom fixer-upper house on the outskirts of Moosetookalook in January (two months ago). Sherri is seven months pregnant.

d. Audrey Greenwood moved to Moosetookalook three years ago.

e. Audrey & Liss are co-chairs of the Moosetookalook Small Business Association's annual March Madness Mud-Season sale on the 31st.

f. Liss has dubbed the 20-pound Scottie she found 'Lucky' after considering other names. (Fala belonged to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. President George W. Bush owned Barney.)

g. Lumpkin, Liss' Maine Coon cat, has slimmed down from nearly 20 pounds to 15.

h. Mention: L. L. Bean

Chapter 2

a. We learn which TV shows Liss watches.

b. Liss reads while Dan watches his two teams' games on TV.

c. Dandy and Dondi are the June photo in the current 'Fabulous Dogs' calendar.

d. Aunt Margaret still lives in the apartment above the Scottish emporium.

e. Look here for a description of the March Madness Mud Season sale in the online version of 'The Daily Scoop' (I agree that the animation should be kept).

f. The paper's editor's daughter, Jerrilyn, is mentioned as the reporter.

g. Liss' phone has three apps (applications) for books.

h. Mentions: 'Dancing With the Stars' TV show, PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), 'Firefly' TV show, the [Boston] Red Sox baseball team, the [New England] Patriots football team, Kindle, NOOK, and iBooks.

Chapter 3 Mention: 'Riverdance'

Chapter 4:

a. The five mountains around the valley in which the ski resort is located are Mount Dennis, Sandy Mountain, Lawrence Peak, Old Tumbledown, and Pious Ridge.

b. a two-lane road connects Five Mountains Ski Resort to Moosetookalook, Fallstown, and places south of them.

c Liss watches a DVD of 'Variety Live' episodes.

d. The singer (not being sllowed to sing opera) contestant, Willetta, has chocolate skin, so there's some diversity.

e. Mentions: Ebenezer Scrooge and Ichabod Crane.

Chapter 5:

a. Liss remembers the kind of costumes her former dance troupe, 'Strathspey', used.

b. Roy Eastmont, the master of ceremonies, owns a big piece of 'Variety Live'.

c. Oscar Yates, the magician, has a room next to the stairs, the opposite end from the elevator. Liss has the corner suite.

d. Liss tells Oscar two superstitions that Scots believe about Scottish terriers: they can see wraiths (ghosts) and a dog howling in the night foretells death. Later, she remembers another Scot belief about dogs.

e. Mention: Catwoman

Chapter 6:

a. We are reminded that State Police Detective Gordon Tandy, an ex-boyfriend of Liss, married Sheriff Penny Lassiter.

b. Look here for an attempt to ruin the exotic dancer's act and a story about what happened to another python owner.

Chapter 7:

a. Look here for which contestants have which rooms.

b. Dan tells Liss why he knows so much about snakes and when he wanted to own a python.

c. Mentions: Nancy Kerrigan the Olympic ice skater, Norfolk, Virginia; Little Buttercup, Savoyard, and 'H.M.S. Pinafore'.

Chapter 8:

a. Liss is named in her Aunt Margaret's living will.

b. Aunt Margaret uses Liss' full name.

c. Look here for Iris the magician's assistant's reaction to seeing Liss' Dan.

d. Mention: macular pucker

Chapter 9:

a. The Amendoles' housekeeper tells Liss how Desdemona feels about her mother's dogs.

b. Willetta drinks a rye whiskey called Old Overholt.

c. Five Mountains Ski Resort is located in the town of Orlin.

Chapter 10:

a. Characters Maude Dennison (retired schoolteacher who runs Dan's Co-op) and Ernie Willett (Sherri's father and Aunt Margaret's high school sweetheart) are mentioned.

b.. Sherri has a friend named George Henderson who is a retired medical examiner.

c. Liss remembers a tap dancing recital she was in when she was a child.

d. Mentions: Salem's Lot (the book), Stephen King

Chapter 11:

a. Liss asks Eastmont's assistant her name.

Mention: [Eleanor Porter's] Pollyanna

Chapter 12 Mention: Tinker Bell

Chapter 13:

a. Liss quotes the original 'Star Wars' movie.

b. : Jean-Luc Picard [of 'Star Trek: Next Generation], Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 14

a. We are reminded that Sherri's husband is a sheriff's deputy as Sherri and Liss talk about the coming baby.

b. The 'Variety Live' trophy is described.

c.: Mentions: the FBI

This is a good cozy mystery. I enjoyed the reality TV shenanigans.

Cat lovers: Liss and Dan's Lumpkin and Glenora have not been left out.

Dog lovers: Besides two adorable Scottish terriers, Dandy and Dondi, there's a cameo by a Doberman named Cujo.

Snake lovers: One of the contestants has a python named Eudora. ( )