Margot Wadley

Protagonist: Isabel Garth
Setting: present-day Orkney Islands to the north of Scotland

Young American teacher, Isabel Garth, comes to Stromness in the Orkney
Islands to pay tribute to the memory of her late father, a native of the
island. Straight off the ferry, she encounters the local witch who tells her
there's danger for her on the island--Go Home. Ransacked hotel room, stolen
drawings, sabotaged car brakes and a Viking treasure follow. The book shows
promise (it's Wadley's first), but it's too filled with contrivance and
cliché for me. Its redeeming grace was the setting of the Orkney Islands,
which was lovely. All in all, however, The Gripping Beast wasn't very
gripping.… (mere)