Title: The Burning Pages
Author: Paige Shelton
Genre: Mystery
Rating: 4 out of 5
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…
This is the second Scottish Bookshop Mystery I’ve read, and it was a lot of fun. Not too light and fluffy, as some cozy mysteries are, but definitely an engaging read. I loved all the characters, and it makes me want to run away to Scotland right now. I don’t know anything about Robert Burns, so finding out more about him and the traditions associated with him was very interesting. This is a solid read!
Paige Shelton lives in Arizona. The Burning Pages is her newest novel.
(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)
Tomorrow Is Another Day 