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| THE BURNING PAGES - Paige Shelton Edinburgh, Scotland - Present Day Delaney Nichols and fellow bookshop employee Hamlet are invited to attend a Burns Night dinner by a local attorney. Curious, because Delaney is not sure why she was invited, and had only met one person in the group so far, she asks Hamlet to go with her. The dinner is being held by a small Burns club in an old building purported to be haunted by the poet. After meeting the other attendees, Delaney admits to working for Edwin MacAlister, the owner of the bookshop where she and Hamlet work, the Cracked Spine. Edwin had told her that one of the club members, Malcolm Campbell, who used to be a good friend, blamed Edwin for burning down his, Malcolm's, bookstore. The party breaks up abruptly, and Delaney and Hamlet leave. However, the next day Delaney learns that the club's building burned down late that night, and one of the attendees was found dead - murdered. A local witness reported seeing the man and another with a ponytail go into the house earlier. Hamlet has a ponytail. Delaney is determined to prove Hamlet's innocence, but she also has another mystery about him to solve. While doing research on the warehouse side of the bookshop, she comes across a birth certificate indicating that Hamlet's mother was a Dora Strangelove, and the father M. Edison. Edwin had told Delaney that Hamlet had been a vagrant when he hired him after the boy had spent some of his time in the Cracked Spine. What happened to his mother? And who was M. Edison? They both must still be alive as Hamlet is only twenty-four. Edinburgh being a smallish city, many people are aware of the issue between Edwin and Malcolm, as well as knowing that the Strangelove women are purported to be witches. How does all of this have anything to do with the murdered man? Just how much does the attorney who invited Delaney to the dinner know about both the burned building and Hamlet's mother? Why was the murdered man, a devoted Burns admirer, friends with a woman calling herself Dora Strangelove, and where is she now? Delaney has her work cut out for her as she tries to piece all of this information together and prove that Hamlet wasn't involved with the murder. But when mysterious fires suddenly start cropping up, are they a warning for Delaney? Book Seven in the Scottish Bookshop series, THE BURNING PAGES is, well, a page turner as readers follow Delaney's first hand account of both the murder mystery, and the birth certificate results. The streets of Edinburgh are the backdrop, and the story of Robert Burns, Scotland's beloved poet, makes for a grand tale. A truly enjoyable story with terrific characters. Jani Brooks |
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