I just finished "Skylar in Yankeeland" and wasn't overly  impressed. Certainly, it was better than "Skylar", but that's  like saying Cheez in a Can is better than those Cracker Barrel fake cheddar  sticks. Neither one really takes the blue ribbon, but at least you can  squeeze Cheez in a Can directly into your mouth, without having to waste  time cutting it. In "Skylar", yankee cousin Jonathan  Whitfield is a fish out of water when he comes south for a visit. In this  installment, MacDonald turns the tables and has good ol' boy Skylar venture  north to visit the very rich Whitfields, where he is, yes, a fish out of  water. The family jewels are heisted, a young lady is murdered and general  hilarity ensues. Or doesn't. As a reader, I never like easy jokes. I  figure the reason I'm paying to read an author's book is because he or she  is much cleverer than I and will say things that I haven't already thought  or write things that aren't cliches and because of this, I am increasingly  saddened by Gregory MacDonald's descent into mediocrity. None of the  characters here are much better than stereotypes and the situations they  encounter are downright unlikely. Add to that the fact that one of the  characters, a Boston blue blood since before the revolution, makes a  personality change likely to cause a whiplash in anyone paying even the  most casual attention and you have a book that is unlikely to win MacDonald  any new fans
In "Skylar", yankee cousin Jonathan  Whitfield is a fish out of water when he comes south for a visit