The Cracked Spine cover art

The Cracked Spine

Scottish Bookshop Mystery, Book 1

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The Cracked Spine

By: Paige Shelton
Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
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About this listen

In need of a good adventure, Delaney Nichols takes the leap and moves to Edinburgh, Scotland, to start a job at The Cracked Spine. She doesn't know much about what she's gotten herself into other than that the work sounds exciting and that her new boss, Edwin MacAlister, has given her the opportunity of a lifetime.

When she arrives, she meets her new Scottish family; also working at The Cracked Spine are Rosie, perpetually wrapped in scarves, who always has tiny dog Hector in tow; Hamlet, a 19-year-old thespian with a colored past and a bright future; and Edwin, who is just as enigmatic and mysterious as Delaney expected.

But before she can settle in to her new life, a precious artifact - a previously undiscovered first folio of Shakespeare's plays - goes missing, and Edwin's sister is murdered, seemingly in connection to the missing folio. Delaney decides to do some sleuthing of her own to find out just what the real story is behind the priceless folio and how it's connected to the tragic death - all without getting harmed herself.

©2016 Paige Shelton-Ferrell (P)2016 Tantor Cosy Detective Fiction International Mystery & Crime Mystery Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Scotland

Critic Reviews

"As warm and inviting as a cup of tea and a serving of fresh-from-the-oven shortbread." (Ellery Adams, author of Writing All Wrongs)
All stars
Most relevant
I can’t wait to keep reading this series! I hope there is more! This was so good, I could not stop. If you love books and collect vintage books (I do) then this will be right down your alley! 11/10 highly recommend!!

Adored this

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Took forever to get momentum....not exciting at all...doubt I’ll bother with another title

Slow

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Said said said! This word is so overused! There are so many worlds that are better. Spoils what could be a good story. Simple editing would fix this! Such a shame.
Voice artist is good though.

Sweet story but poor writing

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The story started well, with an American protagonist breaking the stereotype by trying to learn about life in Edinburgh, try the food and use the language of the locals, rather than trying to Americanise her new surroundings. However, her duties in the shop are never explained, though it doesn't really matter because she's too busy sleuthing to do much more than show up every now and then and have a gossip with the other staff. Most of the time she's out and about, being a typical bumptious American and prying into people's lives. I think we're supposed to see her outrageous questioning as cute and refreshing, but the fact is, it wouldn't work. They'd dismiss her enquiries as rude and out of order. She has no authority, so it's unclear why any of her interviewees put up with her intrusive curiosity. It's also unclear why she so doggedly pursues her sleuthing, considering she has a new city and a new job to navigate. Her only motivation seems to be an overwhelming curiosity - she doesn't actually care about the crime, the victim, or her boss's interests. And what on earth is this "bookish conversation" stuff? It seems the author can't decide if it's some kind of supernatural phenomenon or just a good memory. I don't mind a light, cosy mystery, but this one was sloppy and incredible even within the sub-genre.

Started well, but quickly deteriorated

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I gave it an hour but wasn't intrigued enough to put up with the not-great Scottish accent.

didn't capture me

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