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Book Review
Reviewed: 19 June 2025

Written in Stone

by: Paige Shelton

Scottish Bookshop Mystery - Book 10

  • Rating: full starfull starfull starfull starstar outline (4.0/5)

Bones are bones...aren't they?

The crew at The Crooked Spine are drawn into the death of a visiting paleontogist who happens to be from Delaney's alma mater. That connection is daunting enough without them also being connected to Delaney's father-in-law, friend and more. This story was good at intertwining the latest techonology (3-D printing) with historical intrigue.  Maybe that's overstating it a bit as I express my enjoyment of this story. 

The cozy mystery added a history lesson without the feeling of a lecture and kept pace with the investigation. One downside was that the culprit was pretty obvious. In a nod to the author's writing skill, I didn't care and kept reading. 

Not sure if it was just me, but the wrap up left me with the impression that this was end. I hope I am wrong and get a chance to read another adventure of Delaney and crew at The Crooked Spine bookshop all the way in Edinburgh.

Happy Reading!

Release Date: 01-April-2025
Cozy Mystery, Audiobook, Book Shop Mystery, Female-Led, Scottish

Plot Summary

The tenth installment in the cozy mystery series featuring amateur sleuth Delaney Nichols, set in a specialty bookshop in Edinburgh called The Cracked Spine
When Delaney wins a special Hidden Door Festival invitation to artist Ryory Bennigan's studio, she isn’t sure quite what to expect. What she finds is an elusive fellow obsessed with the Picts—complete with his own versions of their blue tattoos and vibrant red hair—recreating the stones they left behind. She also meets a visiting paleontologist, Dr. Adam Pace, from the University of Kansas attempting to sell an artifact that might just explain what the Picts' language really sounded like.
Or at least that’s what he claimed the artifact was for. Before the deal can close and Ryory can get a closer look at it, Dr. Pace is found dead.
With the police dragging their feet in the investigation, Delaney takes it upon herself to dig into Dr. Pace's past. Her research goes murky as she quickly discovers Pace’s shady background—selling fake dinosaur bones and running into some 3D-printing trouble back in Kansas. Could his past have come back to bite him in Edinburgh? And what does his questionable background mean for the mysterious Pictish artifact he was trying to sell to Ryory? Delaney will have to dust off her magnifying glass to uncover the truth behind this case… or risk becoming a pile of bones herself.