THE SILENT ONES

Ogilvie's latest homey suspense-adventure switches from her usual setting--Maine's rock-bound coast--to a similar scenic outcrop in Scotland: the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, where stand the Stones, cousins to the ones at Stonehenge. And stone-lore is of immense interest to Alison Barbour, Ph.D., a scholar of folk myths (and a pseudonymous author of gothics) who travels to the island to trace roots; to unravel the mystery about the abrupt departure long ago of her great-grandmother, Christina MacLeod (whom Alison resembles); and to look for the famous, lost Book of St. Neacal. But someone else is also looking for the Book: Elliot Norris, with companion Monique, who follows Alison on the QE II, determinedly flirts, and tells Alison that the man who told her about the Book (a timid bookseller) has died mysteriously. Also apparently trailing Alison: a brace of ugly Americans named Jake and Terry. Meanwhile, however, Alison happily mingles with welcoming Scots, meeting and falling in love with handsome scholar (and mystery writer) Ewen Chisholm. And then Norris is found murdered, Stone-side, so eventually Ewen and Alison will be facing a murderer's gun. But the dangers are soon neatly dusted and tucked away as Ogilvie returns to rosier business: an answer to ancestor Christina's reason for sailing west with undue haste (a tragic love affair), and the happy pairing of Alison and Ewen. Despite a rather feeble mystery--a pleasant diversion with cheery scenery and all that jolly domesticity (tea, animals, children, gaffers, and stout housewives) which brightens Ogilvie's modest family tales.