The Burning Pages
A Scottish Bookshop Mystery
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- £7.49
Publisher Description
Delaney Nichols faces off against an elusive arsonist in the seventh Scottish Bookshop Mystery, The Burning Pages, from beloved author Paige Shelton....
One winter's night, bookseller Delaney Nichols and her coworker Hamlet are invited to a Burns Night dinner, a traditional Scottish celebration of the poet Robert Burns. She's perplexed by the invitation, but intrigued. The dinner takes place at Burns House itself, a tiny cottage not far from the Cracked Spine bookshop but well hidden. There, it becomes clear that Delaney and Hamlet were summoned in an attempt to make amends between Edwin, Delaney's boss, and one of the other invitees, who suspected Edwin for burning down his own bookshop twenty years ago after a professional disagreement.
But after the dinner, there’s another fire. The Burns House itself is burned to the ground, and this time there’s a body among the ruins. When Hamlet is accused of the crime, Delaney rushes to prove his innocence, only to discover that he might actually have a plausible motive...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of bestseller Shelton's engrossing seventh Scottish Bookshop mystery (after 2021's Deadly Editions), solicitor Clarinda Creston invites American Delaney Nichols, who works at the Cracked Spine bookshop, to the annual dinner in honor of Scottish poet Robert Burns held at Edinburgh's House of Burns. When Delaney asks whether she can bring a friend, Clarinda somewhat grudgingly says she can. Wary that Clarinda has a hidden agenda, Delaney asks her coworker Hamlet, who resembles "a young Shakespeare," to accompany her to the event, where their presence seems to unsettle some attendees, one of whom leaves in anger. After dinner, a fire erupts at the House of Burns that leads to the discovery of a dead body. When Hamlet falls under suspicion of arson, Delaney determines to find the truth and clear his name. Readers may have trouble following Delaney's reasoning as she jumps from one extreme conclusion to another, but the alluring Edinburgh setting and the camaraderie Delaney and friends display as they try to solve the crime more than compensate. Cozy fans will be enchanted.
