Deadly Editions: A Scottish Bookshop Mystery

In bestseller Shelton’s captivating sixth Scottish Bookshop mystery (after 2020’s The Stolen Letter), eccentric book collector Shelagh O’Connor invites American Delaney Nichols, who works at the Cracked Spine, an Edinburgh bookstore, and three others to take part in a treasure hunt for her first edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The person who finds this valuable book will also get the entire contents of Shelagh’s library. Before Delaney and company accept, one of them asks Shelagh about rumors of her once having been in trouble, and she admits she was suspected of murdering a friend decades earlier. Soon after the hunt gets under way, Shelagh goes missing. Delaney and the others wonder whether she’s faking her disappearance and possibly responsible for a recent rash of burglaries as well as a local bartender’s murder. Ghostly pubs and blustery winter scenes help create a suitably sinister atmosphere, while distinctive characters and judicious use of Scottish dialect add to the story’s appeal. Fans of literary cozies will be rewarded. Agent: Jessica Faust, BookEnds Literary. (Apr.)