I've read all three full-length books in the Scottish Bookshop Mystery series and enjoyed them all. Delaney is someone I would like to be friends with. And the other folks in the bookstore, including the owner are fun to spend time with. The bookstore also has a backroom full of various interesting objects and it's often these that lead to the mysteries.
In A Christmas Tartan, Delaney is given a box of things that includes a copy of A Christmas Carol with a photo inside. She of course is curious and the photo leads her to an elderly woman in town whose granddaughter is missing.
This one is slightly more paranormal than most of the series. The present is connected to the past and to some extent, Delaney sees both, or maybe she doesn't. Either which way, the mystery of what happened to the girl is well-done and the solution made sense. The ending scene made me smile. It's a warm holiday...
A bookshop, Scotland, and a murder - do I really need to say more?
Lost Books and Old Bones is the 3rd in the series, not counting a Christmas novella (which I haven't read yet). I've read all three and definitely enjoy spending time in Edinburgh with Delaney and her crew. I don't often feel like I would actually love to hang out with the characters in books, but I would love to work in the bookshop and drink at the pub across the road, and visit the castle. Lost Books and Old Bones could probably be read as a stand-alone, but I think the first couple of books will give some needed background on Delaney and what makes the bookshop so special. All of the major characters return here, and there is a touch of romance for Delaney, but not enough to take away from the plot.
This time around, Mallory, one of Delaney's new friends, is killed in the alley behind...
I liked Of Books and Bagpipes much more than the first in the series. Delaney has been in Scotland for a while now and has come to care about the people she works with and her friends. I felt like her reason for investigating felt more natural this time around, a combination of natural curiosity and wanting to help.
As a mystery, it worked well. There were plenty of clues and suspects and secrets that went back decades. It takes a lot of unraveling and I was surpised by the whodunnit, although I felt the motive was bit weak. And of course, Delaney gets herself trapped, but I didn't feel like it was because of stupidity on her part, which was nice. Sometimes female amateur detectives annoy me by taking risks that no sane woman would. Delaney didn't do that here. She has someone with her when there's a potential for danger, and always lets someone know where she is going. I...
Even though I had an eARC of The Cracked Spine, I listened to the audio version. I think it was a good choice. I could relax and listen to the words and accents. It was fun to listen to the Scottish lilt in the dialogue. I looked at my digital version, and I think actually reading the accent in print could have been a bit difficult. I would have almost had to read some portion aloud, at least at the beginning, just to get ahold of what was being said.
I love the setting- a bookstore in Scotland, and I enjoyed the plot, unless I think about it too much. Delaney's off on an adventure that most of us can only dream off, and she's a nice lady who I enjoyed spending time with. I didn't quite understand her immediate jump into trying to figure out who killed a woman she had never met, the sister of her new boss who she...
