Bookseller and amateur sleuth Delaney Nichols finds a dead body in a castle outside Edinburgh and must investigate how this murder is connected to a rare manuscript.
Wanted: A bold adventurer who wants to travel the world from a comfortable and safe spot behind a desk that has seen the likes of kings and queens, paupers and princes. A humble book and rare manuscript shop seeks a keenly intelligent investigator to assist us in our search for things thought lost, and in our quest to return lost items to their rightful owners. Never an adventurer, no one was more surprised than Delaney Nichols when she packed her bags and moved halfway across the world to Edinburgh, Scotland to start a job at The Cracked Spine, a bookshop located in the heart of the city. Her new boss, Edwin MacAlister, has given her the opportunity of a lifetime, albeit a cryptic one, and Delaney can’t wait to take her spot behind the desk. The Cracked Spine is filled with everything a book lover could want, each item as eclectic as the people who work there; the spirited and lovable Rosie, who always has tiny dog Hector in tow; Hamlet, a nineteen-year-old thespian with a colored past and bright future; and Edwin, who is just as enigmatic and mysterious as Delaney expected. An extra bonus is Tom the bartender from across the street, with his cobalt eyes, and a gentle brogue—and it doesn’t hurt that he looks awfully good in a kilt. But before she can settle into her new life, a precious artifact goes missing, and Edwin’s sister is brutally murdered. Never did Delaney think that searching for things lost could mean a killer, but if she’s to keep her job, and protect her new friends, she’ll need to learn the truth behind this Scottish tragedy.
What country is made up of 95 islands, invented the game of golf, and raised a warrior worthy of the name "Braveheart"? Welcome to Scotland! In B is for Bagpipes: A Scotland Alphabet, Scottish native Eve Begley Kiehm gives an A-Z tour of the country that may be small in size but a giant in history and rich in tradition. Kick up your heels at a Highland dance, visit the statue of Greyfriar's Bobby as he stands guard near his master's grave, and finally dig into a dish of haggis with a side helping of "tatties and neeps." From the splendors of capital city Edinburgh to the stories of Robert Louis Stevenson to the gloomy waters of Loch Ness and its lonely "Nessie," the treasures of Scotland are revealed. Colorful artwork captures the proud spirit of its landscape and culture.Eve Begley Kiehm was born in Bridge of Allan, Scotland. She has a master's degree in Scottish History and Literature from Glasgow University and an early childhood education certification from the University of Toronto. Her books about Scotland include a YA historical adventure novel. Eve lives in the San Diego area. Alexa Rutherford lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. She has illustrated many books for UK publishers and a handful of US publishers, as well as US children's magazines.
Delaney Nichols, originally of Kansas but settling happily into her new life as a bookseller in Edinburgh, works at the Cracked Spine in the heart of town... When her new friends, also students at the medical school, come to the shop to sell a collection of antique medical books, Delaney knows she's stumbled across a rare and important find indeed. Her boss, Edwin MacAlister, agrees to buy the multivolume set, perhaps even to keep for his own collection. But not long after the sale, one of Delaney's new friends is found murdered in the alley behind the Cracked Spine.
Warnings not to go to Scotland can’t stop Nancy Drew from setting out on a thrill-packed mystery adventure. Undaunted by the vicious threats, the young detective – with her father and her two close friends – goes to visit her great-grandmother at an imposing estate in the Scottish Highlands, and to solve the mystery of a missing family heirloom. And there is another mystery to be solved: the fate of flocks of stolen sheep. Baffling clues challenge Nancy’s powers of deduction: a note written in the ancient Gaelic language, a deserted houseboat on Loch Lomond, a sinister red-bearded stranger in Edinburgh, eerie whistling noises in the Highlands. Startling discoveries in an old castle and in the ruins of a prehistoric fortress, lead Nancy closer to finding the solution to both mysteries.
Following on from the 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attacks, the author covers the ordeal of the massive number of funerals, the importance of recovering bodies in Irish American culture and the bagpiping ritual, both traditional and modern.
Bookseller and amateur sleuth Delaney Nichols returns in Paige Shelton's second Scottish Bookshop Mystery, Of Books and Bagpipes Delaney Nichols has settled so comfortably into her new life in Edinburgh that she truly feels it’s become more home than her once beloved Kansas. Her job at the Cracked Spine, a bookshop that specializes in rare manuscripts as well as other sundry valuable historical objects, is everything she had dreamed, with her new boss, Edwin MacAlister, entrusting her more and more with bigger jobs. Her latest task includes a trip to Castle Doune, a castle not far out of Edinburgh, to retrieve a hard-to-find edition of an old Scottish comic, an “Oor Wullie,” in a cloak and dagger transaction that Edwin has orchestrated. While taking in the sights of the distant Highlands from the castle’s ramparts, Delaney is startled when she spots a sandal-clad foot at the other end of the roof. Unfortunately, the foot’s owner is very much dead and, based on the William Wallace costume he’s wearing, perfectly matches the description of the man who was supposed to bring the Oor Wullie. As Delaney rushes to call off some approaching tourists and find the police, she comes across the Oor Wullie, its pages torn and fluttering around a side wall of the castle. Instinct tells her to take the pages and hide them under her jacket. It’s not until she returns to the Cracked Spine that she realizes just how complicated this story is and endeavors to untangle the tricky plot of why someone wanted this man dead, all before getting herself booked for murder.
Like so many people who live south of the border in England, Helen thought that she knew all about Scotland. It was a part of Britain after all, a place that was surely more the same than it was different. But then she actually went there – and everything changed...
Meet Charlie McCandlewick, who sweeps the bogle creatures of the night out from under your bed, in this charming and humorous Scottish picture book. Charlie McCandlewick is a nightsweep. But he doesn't sweep chimneys - oh no. While children are tucked up safely in their beds, Charlie takes care of the bogle creatures of the night: the Nippers and Nabbers who hide under your bed, the Croakies who flap about in closets and the Whigmaleeries who wail at windows. But once they've been safely captured in his thistle-cloth bag, what does Charlie do with all the beasties? This brilliant story from author-illustrator Tim Archbold will become a firm favorite with children and parents alike. Narrated in a hilarious, quirky style, with wonderfully illustrated beasties and bogles waiting to jump off each page, it will captivate readers until the final surprise twist.