Gwen Moffat, born in Brighton, Sussex in 1924, became the first professional female mountain guide in the UK. Her travels in the field provided settings for her crime novels set in the Alps, the U.S. Rockies, and the Scottish Highlands and Hebrides. Moffat's first-hand experiences with mountain climbing are at put to obvious use in her novel "Miss Pink at the Edge of the World."

On a Scottish stack (i.e., a column of rock isolated from a shore by the action of waves) called the Old Man of Scamadale, two climbers die rather mysteriously. One of them, Trevor Stark, is a famous and much-hated TV celebrity who was scouting the area for a program, complete with boats and helicopters, against the wishes of the local laird (landowner) who avoided publicity and wanted to keep tourists away. The local police believe the deaths were accidents until the laird and his fellow climbers convince the police the two men were murdered—-and promptly become the prime suspects since they alone had the expertise to pull off the crime.

Miss Pink, a middle aged writer-magistrate-sleuth and a woman of "imposing presence" feels drawn to the case and the plight of the falsely-accused men. She uses her keen skills of observation and perceptions of human nature to get to the bottom of the rock-climber mystery, putting her own life in danger in the process. Miss Pink is a fun character, and Moffat does a good job with descriptions of the solitary and atmospheric landscapes. ( )

Gwen Moffat, born in Brighton, Sussex in 1924, became the first professional female mountain guide in the UK. Her travels in the field provided settings for her crime novels set in the Alps, the U.S. Rockies, and the Scottish Highlands and Hebrides. Moffat's first-hand experiences with mountain climbing are at put to obvious use in her novel "Miss Pink at the Edge of the World."

On a Scottish stack (i.e., a column of rock isolated from a shore by the action of waves) called the Old Man of Scamadale, two climbers die rather mysteriously. One of them, Trevor Stark, is a famous and much-hated TV celebrity who was scouting the area for a program, complete with boats and helicopters, against the wishes of the local laird (landowner) who avoided publicity and wanted to keep tourists away. The local police believe the deaths were accidents until the laird and his fellow climbers convince the police the two men were murdered—-and promptly become the prime suspects since they alone had the expertise to pull off the crime.

Miss Pink, a middle aged writer-magistrate-sleuth and a woman of "imposing presence" feels drawn to the case and the plight of the falsely-accused men. She uses her keen skills of observation and perceptions of human nature to get to the bottom of the rock-climber mystery, putting her own life in danger in the process.

Miss Pink is a fun character, and Moffat does a good job with descriptions of the solitary and atmospheric landscapes ("There were skerries and rocky islands, and in that brilliant but silent world the seascape had an air of unreality. It was like the coastline of Valhalla"). ( )