The Cracked Spine by Paige Shelton



In The Cracked Spine by Paige Shelton, Delaney Nichols begins a new life at The Cracked Spine Bookstore. She has come from Kansas and traveled all the way to Edinburgh, Scotland. The Cracked Spine sells rare books. They also have manuscripts for trade. Almost as soon as Delaney Nichols begins work there a murder happens which involves the owner of the store, Edwin McAllister. Edwin's sister, Jenny, is "brutally" murdered in her flat. Delaney is no shrinking violet. She wants to figure out what happened and why and did someone steal a Folio from her flat.

This Scottish cozy involves the writings of Shakespeare and the disappearance of a book, a classic, titled The Adventures of Roderick Random by Smollett. I really enjoyed reading about specifically titled books and just simple anecdotes about books. Delaney is passionate about books and Scottish History. She has experience in the museum and library work.

I also liked how quickly Edwin, Hamlet and the staff took to Delaney. They treated her like family immediately which gave Delaney the chance to investigate the brutal death of Edwin McAllister's sister, Jenny. Edwin McAllister is the owner of The Cracked Spine. Jenny is murdered in her flat. She had led a chaotic lifestyle because she was addicted to drugs.

I liked Delaney, but she seemed too snoopy. She goes to Jenny's flat before Edwin can really get in there and look around. Then, she goes back to the flat with Edwin. She keeps it secret about going there earlier which comes across as a lie. It didn't make sense to me that she should want to know so much about this woman so quickly.

While I cooled down about Delaney's aggressive and odd behavior, I enjoyed the scenery with her. Paige Shelton's words made me want to visit Scotland. She mentions The Royal Mile where a traveler can find Holyrood castle and The Writers Museum.  There, Delaney finds such writers as Sir Walter, Robert Louis Stevenson and Robert Burns. My book copy didn't have the name Scott as a surname. Not knowing much about Scottish authors I didn't know whether Sir Walter was the correct name.

This is a fun, fun cozy. It made me realize why I love books so much. It almost seemed like a book about books. I am excited to see the next book in the series.
 paigeshelton.com/#!scottishbookshop
netgalley.com

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