The Burning Pages: A Scottish Bookshop Mystery (A Scottish Bookshop Mystery, #7)

by Paige Shelton

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...

• ISBN10: 1250789486
• ISBN13: 9781250789488
• Publish Date: 5 April 2022
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 2 January 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

The Burning Pages is the 7th Scottish Bookshop cozy mystery by Paige Shelton. Released 5th April 2022 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Mass market paperback due out second quarter 2023. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats.

All of the Scottish Bookshop mysteries are self contained and as such work well enough as standalones. The characters' interrelationships have developed over the course of the books, so there will be some missing backstory, but the author is adept at giving the necessary information, so readers who choose to pick up this one first won't likely experience any problems with keeping the story straight.

For lovers of very light bookstore cozies, these are engaging and fun. This outing sees Delaney and her boss, Edwin, are involved in a Burns' night dinner fiasco which sees the Burns House itself up in flames and this time there's a body in the ruins. 
 

All in all, it's a diverting, very light, readable cozy mystery with an eccentric ensemble cast. Some of the plot setups and developments are a bit much, and the dialogue is occasionally unpolished. A strong suspension of disbelief is required. The language and content are squeaky clean and perfectly safe for commute or work reading. 

Four stars. The author is a talented and capable storyteller, and bookstore cozies are very popular.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.