THE STOLEN LETTER by Paige Shelton

Delaney Nichols has just returned from her glorious European honeymoon with her husband Tom when things immediately start unraveling. On her way to work at the Cracked Spine in Edinburgh, the Scottish bookstore where she works, she literally runs into Mary Stewart and the books fly. After the shock of the incident wears off, they soon find themselves looking at their very own doppelganger, give or take twenty years. Mary has come to the Cracked Spine to sell some books and the pair immediately spark a friendship. Mary confides to Delaney that she believes she was once Mary Queen of Scots in a past life. While Delaney neither believes nor denies this is possible, it’s intriguing enough to want to join Mary, her husband Henry, and a few other guests for supper. Meanwhile, Delaney is processing the news that the Cracked Spine is in danger of being closed due to a failed inspection. Trying to get to the bottom of that mystery would seem to be enough, but things then escalate when Mary’s husband Tom is killed in a car bombing. Are the two connected? Only time and some clever sleuthing will tell.

THE STOLEN LETTER is going to the number one spot on my favorite books of the year list. This is book five of her Scottish Bookshop Mystery series but can absolutely be read as a stand-alone. The dual plotlines, the murder mystery and Mary’s determination that she was Mary Queen of Scots, will have readers riveted. The royal history alone in this installment is captivating; fans of Reign, The Crown, and Victoria will want to add this book to their collections of royal memorabilia. The only downside I can see with this book is in some of the conversations are written with a Scottish brogue which can be hard to decipher at times, but once you get it down it’s fun to play along and practice your Scottish accent. THE STOLEN LETTER was a pure delight to read and I can’t wait to see where Paige Shelton takes us on our next Scottish Bookshop adventure.

New York Times bestselling author Paige Shelton returns with the next installment of The Scottish Bookshop Mystery series, The Stolen Letter

Delaney Nichols is confident she’s doing what she loves—case in point, just one day after returning from her fabulous European honeymoon, she’s eager to get back to the Cracked Spine, the bookstore where she works. But as she disembarks her bus and hurries toward the shop she and another woman collide, sending a stack of books the woman is carrying to the ground.

Delaney’s hapless victim’s name is Mary, and the two women can’t help but notice that they bear an uncanny resemblance to one another. According to Mary, they both also look like the long-beheaded Mary Queen of Scots. Even stranger, Mary believes she is the reincarnation of the Scottish queen. But peculiar as Delaney’s doppelganger is, she doesn’t have time to dwell on it: on her arrival to the bookshop, she learns the Edinburgh city council wants to close the Cracked Spine, citing code violations, and she’s determined to stop them.

But when Mary’s husband dies in a car explosion—and Delaney learns he was the very member of city council who proposed that the city take a closer look at the bookshop’s construction—she starts to wonder if her meeting with Mary wasn’t an accident. Edinburgh has become as filled with intrigue and deception as any European court, and Delaney is determined to get to the bottom of this royal mystery.