Paige Shelton is the author of two other series: The Farm Fresh mysteries and the Country Cooking School mysteries. Both are good, but just missing the mark with me, either because of the writing or the characters and yet both also have qualities that have so far kept me coming back for more.
To Helvetica and Back is the first book in her third series and I think it's her best one yet. It might be the Utah setting, or the heavenly sounding shop, The Rescued Word, that caters to all facets of the written word, including fixing typewriters and restoring books. It could be the characters; there's a wit and banter here that is absent in her other books and it really adds a spark to the narrative. It's likely a combination of all three; there's still a stiffness in the writing but it's not nearly as prevalent and I thoroughly enjoyed the read.
When a stranger to town demands they turn over an antique Underwood typewriter they’re repairing for a customer, Clare fears she may need to be rescued. A call to the police scares the man off, but later Clare finds his dead body in the back alley. What about a dusty old typewriter could possibly be worth killing for?
I think the murder plot could likely have used a bit of work. It's not that it's bad and it's not that it was obvious; more like it was missing something in the middle, leaving the ending one that no reader could logically predict. The story itself was great - I loved how Shelton hid the clues and I love the very ending of the book, but most of the suspects were at a remove from the story the entire time.
I can't decide if I liked it or if it left me feeling vaguely cheated. Shelton makes up for this though - at least for me - by including interesting moments and facts surrounding the old manual typewriters and a very interesting aside about first editions of Tarzan. I can't think of a cooler sounding store than The Rescued Word and I'm looking forward to seeing what she does with it.