Walking Towards Ourselves by Catriona Mitchell

It's not A Rip Through Time's fault that I happened to read a 2016 book with generally the same premise in such close proximity to this one, but it's definitely why my mind veered off course a few times. However, like I said earlier, the rest of it really mirrors what I read in A Murder in Time - an forensics expert who just so happens to crack crimes in present day goes back in time and helps solve a case there too. I haven't read something like that before so that was definitely interesting. As for the person whose body she took over - where did she go? We don't know, but we can assume she went into Mallory's body in the future.

So the interesting thing with this time travel book is that Mallory didn't just travel through time - she was transplanted into a different body with an already established life and background. I think I'm going to go with 3 since I kept zoning out, but I still think I would read the next one so maybe it's more of a 3.5. However, I'm not sure if that's the book's fault or the fact that I happened to read something so incredibly similar earlier this year (A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain). On the other hand, I can't ignore the fact that I flat out zoned out multiple times while reading it. On one hand, it started off with a BANG and I was so pumped to dive into it. I will always read anything written by Kelley Armstrong but for me the time-travel aspect detracted from the mystery. (Maybe if there had been some set up on how her grandmother had always believed in magic or some such.? Otherwise I would have expected more denial/freaking out/whatever). Unfortunately I found the set-up to the time travel to be awkward and Mallory's relatively calm belief that she has indeed gone back in time unconvincing. The interactions between the characters were very enjoyable.

I really like some aspects of the story - the contrast between modern forensics and old-time police work. She must track down the killer (who has also been transported into the past) while trying to maintain her 'cover' and survive without modern amenities. Somehow this catapults her into the body of the previous victim and she comes to in the body of a rather amoral housemaid. Our main character, Mallory, is in present day Scotland when she is attacked in an alley in the exact same place where a similar attack occurred 150 years in the past. A murder mystery set in historical Edinburgh.

Walking Towards Ourselves by Catriona Mitchell