Tuesday, October 16, 2018

The Cracked Spine

Title: The Cracked Spine
Author: Paige Shelton
Published: March 29th 2016 by Minotaur Books
Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Scottish Bookshop Mystery #1

I am still on the fence with this book and not sure if the series will fully hold my attention.

Edwin MacAlister is looking for a new archivist for his eccentric bookshop in Edinburgh, Scotland. Kansan, Delaney Nichols is currently without a job so why not take a 4,000-mile leap of faith and accept a job where she is literally a fish out of water.

The big question in this book, for me at least, is why would a man trust his drug-addicted sister with a priceless first folio? Yet, that is what Edwin MacAlister did when he handed his sister Jenny a rare object in hopes of bolstering her self-esteem. The rest of the book has Delany, who is taken in by a ragtag group of fellow employees and the cabdriver that delivered her to the bookshop on her first day in Edinburgh, searching all over the village and surrounding area looking for this missing folio following the death of Jenny. Now add in Delaney’s ability to hear voices from books and a local pub owner that has taken a sudden liking to Delaney and you have an over stretched attempt at a first in a series cozy mystery.

I want to believe that this series will get better over time, but I am weary. The writing is middling, the mystery is not so mysterious, the love interest is typical, yet the accompanying characters add a missing charm. Will I come back? In time, I might try one more before I make my final decision.

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