Lost Books and Old Bones

Deceit and misdirection abound in Shelton’s diverting third Scottish Bookshop Mystery (after 2017’s Of Books and Bagpipes). Kansan Delaney Nichols is finally feeling at home in Edinburgh, thanks largely to her job at the Cracked Spine, a mysterious bookstore specializing in rare manuscripts and historical objects. Delaney is fascinated when medical student friends tell her of their “wee bit odd” professor who’s obsessed with Burke and Hare, 19th-century killers who sold the corpses of their victims to Dr. Robert Knox for dissection in his anatomy classes at Edinburgh University. But when one of the students is found dead in the alley behind the bookstore with a human skull placed next to her body, Delaney vows to discover who did it. Could the murder have to do with artifacts in the bookstore that may have belonged to Dr. Knox? Impulsive Delaney rushes thoughtlessly into danger, and the intricate plot becomes confusing in places. But Shelton’s lovely depictions of Edinburgh, its denizens, and its bookshops will enchant lovers of cozies with a Scottish setting. Agent: Jessica Faust, BookEnds Literary Agency. (Apr.)