Delaney Nichols is delighted with her life in Edinburgh, working at The Cracked Spine - a shop that specialises in hard-to-find books and artifacts. With a job she loves, and her fast approaching marriage to devastatingly handsome Scottish pub-owner Tom Shannon, Delaney's life could be straight out of a fairy tale - at least it would be, if the pastor meant to perform the wedding ceremony hadn't recently passed away. Outside the church where Delaney is searching for another reverend, she stumbles across Norval Fraser: an elderly man obsessed with the Loch Ness monster. Always attracted to the interesting and unusual, Delaney befriends Norval. But when his nephew is found dead, the police decide Norval's obsession has moved from monsters to murder.
With a wedding to plan, her family arriving soon from Kansas, and the arrival of an over-the-top Texan with a wildly valuable book, Delaney's plate is full to bursting, but she can't abandon her new friend. Determined to help Norval, she sets out to learn the truth. The Loch Ness buries its secrets deeply, but Delaney is determined to dig them up - whether Nessie likes it or not.
I'm not really sure why I always put off books that are part of a series. I've had The Loch Ness Papers by Paige Shelton on my TBR Pile for quite awhile now. I really enjoy the series so there was no reason to NOT read it. Now they've released the next book in the series and I'm behind again.
In this book we get to meet Delaney's family. Shelton also touches on famous Scottish lore: the Loch Ness monster. I don't know that I believe specifically in Nessie but I do 100% believe there are things out there that we know nothing about. Greenland sharks have an estimated life span between 272 and 512 years. That's bananas in terms of human/societal evolution. So yes, I do believe that there could be things that we know not about.
I liked this book but it was a bit off for me in the mystery department. It was pretty obvious right off the bat who was involved. I felt like the storyline was rushed between the mystery, the side story of the wedding, introducing a few new characters, and all about Norval's past. I really would have liked to have had more information about Norval in his younger years.
Despite feeling like the story was rushed, I did enjoy it. I liked having the chance to spend more time in Edinburgh. I'll continue the series and hopefully this time I won't wait a whole year to read the next in the series!
