OK, I think I'm done with Elizabeth. I remember loving this series many years ago, but I am not feeling any depth of character in the rereading.The good: The Highland Games setting. She describes the weirdness and conversation of the "role-playing" people who seem to be obsessed with such events. That makes for interesting opportunities for the reluctant participants (there are at least 3) to be able to respond in a witty fashion to the oddities of behavior they encounter in the overly enthusiastic attendees. This is one step above the "ugly American" tourist behavior (who can be just as ugly when a domestic tourist as reputed to be internationally). No mysticism or gratuitous descriptions of violence, but there is reference (very vague and left entirely to the imagination) to an instance of gratuitous sex. Cousin Geoffrey appears again (he was my favorite in book one, but only mentioned offhandedly in book two) with his sardonic wit and his Shakespearean interjections. This book adds a little to his character development.Disappointments: I'm tired of Elizabeth's man hunger. She starts the book referring to the absent Milo as her fiance, but then spends most of the book drooling over (and pursuing) a different man just because she is aroused by his accent. How shallow can she get?? This is not the smart, capable female lead that I enjoy. Geoffrey seems to be apologizing for her simpleness and naivete at the end by saying she is innocent, and he likes that about her. Innocence may be appealing, but a lack of integrity is not the same thing. The characters came across as flat and poorly developed. As before, the murderer was pretty obvious before the climax occurred.
