When Delaney gets put in charge of Edwin’s literacy tour around Edinburgh after his last minute disappearance, she is determined to make the tour a success. But when things begin to happen to the tour members Delaney needs all the help she can get. What are the participants really up to? There seems to be a dangerous undercurrent to the tour and Delaney is going to find out what!

This was such a fun cozy mystery, making me want to travel to Scotland even more than I already do! The locations were written with lots of description and you felt like you were in Scotland with all the characters!

This series just gets better. We have a very special bookstore, friends that love and support each other, a budding romance and you have the beginning of such a wonderful book. I find that I really get to know the characters more with each book and they have become friends. The literary talk and the bookstore make me want to visit. This book was a welcome escape to a town I would like to live in.

3.5 stars rounded up. I’ve read one other book in the series and I found this one to be more interesting than the other. I particularly liked the tour of Edinburgh as it’s on my list of places to visit. The mystery itself was interesting and had plenty of characters to be the potential culprit.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the arc.

Princess Fuzzypants here; I do enjoy this series that takes the reader around Edinburgh. I was surprised to read the author had been to the city only once. There is a real love that shines through especially in the eyes of Delaney, the American transplant who has found her love and her life in that beautiful city.

She gets to play tour guide to a small and select group of tourists whom her boss, Edwin, has hand selected. He normally is the guide but is called away on urgent business. Delaney doesn’t think she is up to the task but slips into this new role effortlessly. Her husband Tom is able to be her wingman which is just as well. Not only are there nefarious deeds that affect Edwin but there are some very strange goings on at the hotel where the group is staying, including the death of the manager and the assaults on two others associated with the Inn.

I like that everything Delaney learns she shares with her friend who is in charge of the investigations. It drives me crazy when a heroine balks at sharing but then is foolhardy to the extreme to try and validate the information. It does not mean that Delaney avoids getting caught in pickles. By the end, the villain is revealed and justice is served. It all amounts to a satisfying read. Five purrs and two paws up.

Paige Shelton brings us another Scottish bookshop mystery in Fateful Words. Edwin, owner of The Cracked Spine bookstore, is missing and his worker Delaney has to take charge of the yearly Edinburgh literary tour of visitors from around the world. Then the inn manager where they are staying falls or is pushed off the roof. Edwin's finances are questioned, and the identity of a tour participant is questioned. Who is pulling the strings and where is Edwin?

This one was just so so for me. It was my first book by this author and thus the only one I’ve read in the series. That possibly played into it. Thanks to NetGalley for the privilege to read and review this book.

Fateful Words Earns 5/5 Book Lovers … Clever & Engaging Gem!

A boss is MIA, and his annual gathering is now in Delaney’s hands. The four invitees, diverse in age, gender, and background, start out disappointed, but Delaney provides them an entertaining adventure with books, Edinburgh, and … murder!

I am a late bloomer to Paige Shelton’s Scottish Bookshop Mystery series starting with the eighth book, but no need to worry, it isn’t a prerequisite to read the other books, although they’re at the top of my “must read” list. Enough background was provided to grab my immediate attention, and with the Scottish setting, Delaney’s “bookish voices” illustrating her intuition, and enough dubious behaviors, clever twists, eavesdropping curiosities, and someone going missing, I couldn’t read fast enough. Delaney is clever, tests her boundaries, assimilated well with the highlands, and a must for me, responds and interacts realistically to the various obstacles and characters. Shelton did well to put readers, like me, in the middle of the beauty, culture, and history of Edinburgh, provide a diverse, multigenerational cast, and challenge my skill as an arm-chair detective. Lots of fun!

The atmospheric Edinburgh streets form the setting for this mystery novel. When four literary tour attendees arrive at the Cracked Spine bookshop, Delaney takes charge of leading the tour since Edwin, the bookshop owner, is absent. What starts out as an exciting adventure into the famous local sights and scenes turns into a mysterious time of mayhem. The hotel where the guests are staying seems to be the hub of illegal activities, and Delaney ends up in the middle of trying to solve the mysteries that seem to be growing and growing. Identity theft, a suspected suicide, and people who are not what they appear abound in this cozy mystery.

Although part of a series, enough background information is provided to introduce readers new to the series to the characters and settings. Readers familiar with The Cracked Spine series will revisit old friends here.The addition of tour guide facts for each of the visited tour sites adds authenticity to the story, although these might seem extraneous to some readers.

This is a clean novel without swear words, overt or descriptive violence, or intimacy scenes. I received this novel from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

What an enjoyable book! Reading this one made me feel like I was in Scotland! I also really enjoyed the mystery and the overall plot of it..

Oh this is a good one! Edwin has an emergency and he could not handle his tour he had set up for 4 people. So he asked Delaney to take is place. Each stop on the tour is connected to a book reference. The four people on the tour are from different places and different stories. And the twists and turns begin. What a story! Totally enjoyed it.

When Delaney is tasked with leading a literary tour around Edinburgh, she has no idea death is on the itinerary. Was it an accident? Or murder?

What a fun and well-written cozy mystery. I enjoyed the interesting characters and the intriguing storyline. Really made me want to visit Edinburgh. Ummm...but without the murders.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

Every time I read one of the A Scottish Bookshop mystery novels I wish I could visit this store and these characters. The characters all compliment each other well and they are all welcoming and friendly. I love how Delaney finds herself in the middle of all of these mysteries each and every time. There were a lot of twists in this novel, with the tour group, the murder, the disappearances, and the money. I am glad the group was able to solve the mystery and I hope we see some of the tour group characters again in a future book.

Fateful Words by Paige Shelton
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This is an installment in a cozy mystery series set in Scotland. Delaney works in a bookstore in Edinburgh. During a tour she is giving a local inn manager jumps off the roof to his death. Or was he pushed?
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This was a fun cozy mystery where I didn’t need to read the previos books to keep up.

The highlights for me were firstly, Scotland. I have been wanting to go to Scotland for years and reading this book I could imagine touring Edinburgh in awe.
They mystery was good and not too easy to figure out but also not too complicated to cause confusion. It was balanced nicely.

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 This was fun to read but I didn’t enjoy it as much as the author’s Alaska Wild series.

It is always wonderful to discover a new series, and when I know there are seven finished books I can still read I'm especially excited.

In this story, Delaney is asked at the last minute to take over a literary tour of Edinburgh. I too enjoyed the tour, and I liked how it fit into the mystery. I also love how the books mentioned fit so well into the story! I just wish the tour actually existed - I'd so want to do it.

The mystery was pretty good, but as with most cozies the enjoyment is more from the setting and characters. Delaney and her husband Tom are great, and I also liked the Australian who did not see the point of books. But my favorite part was the city itself - I loved learning more about Edinburgh.

I absolutely love this series and this latest installment was perfect. It had everything I've come to love with this series, a little mystery, a little intrigue, and a lot of Scotland. This series makes me want to fly to Edinburgh immediately and search out my own little bookstore to work in and my own Scottish bar owner to marry. I will definitely keep reading the next books in this series.

This book is worth reading for the fun, engaging literally tour of Edinburgh alone. The addition of a multi-layer mystery, a murder, local food, charismatic characters ( making for plenty of suspects), a cute miniature Yorkie, and a charming bookstore makes for the perfect, satisfying cozy. This is the the first book in the series that I've read and it was fine as a stand alone. However, I loved Delaney, Tom, Edwin and the others so much that I will look forward to reading the rest in the series and hope there are more to come. I highly recommend this book to all my cozy lover friends. .I was provided a free e-ARC of Fateful Words St Martin’s Press, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. . #Netgalley #StMartinsPress #PaigeShelton #FatefulWords

Delaney has been tasked with being a guide for her bosses yearly literary tour this year while he is out of town. She is happy to do so but the first evening of the tour the manager at the inn where the group.is staying is killed. Things go from bad to worse when one of the tour members disappears soon after.the death. Delaney knows she has a very short time to figure out who the killer is because the tour must go on. Follow along as she delves into the mystery, can she solve the crime before something worse happens or will she bring a killer to justice.

Delaney Nichols loves her job at The Cracked Spine Bookshop in Edinburgh, Scotland. Currently her boss Edwin is off on some secret business. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, Rosie and Delaney can handle the bookstore, but this is the week of Edwin's yearly literary tour around Edinburgh and his invited guests have already arrived. Delaney has to take over. Edwin's tours are legendary and while Delaney can't measure up she will give it her all to give them a great time in Edinburgh.

The first day of the tour went pretty well but after dinner trouble breaks out at the inn where the group is staying. The manager has fallen or was pushed off the roof, an employee has been attacked and one of the members of the group has disappeared.

Delaney has another real-life mystery on her hands and she and her husband Tom team up to do their best to solve it. As usual, a typical Delaney mystery with many twists and turned. Enjoys this as much as her previous books.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This is one of the best books in the Scottish Bookshop Mysteries series! Delaney and her friends are back, she’s giving Edinburgh literary tours as well as solving a murder. Was he pushed or did he jump?. The whodunnit was cleverly written! I’d love to take the tour Delaney gave. 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

**I need to preface this review with this - the narrator for this series is just awful and I so wish they could find someone who could, you know, actually speak with a Scottish accent [that isn't stilted and awkward and at times, very unconvincing]. Listening to two books in this series back-to-back has been just awful [not the stories, those have been wonderful and more on that later] and it DOES affect the whole book overall, no matter how you try to turn that off. But when you have crappy eyes and have no choice but to listen to an audiobook, you often have to take what you get, but I will tell you now, I certainly DO NOT have to be happy about it. Thankfully, the story was good enough to almost cancel out the horrible narration. Almost.**

This was a really good addition to the series and I am so glad I got to read it so close to reading the previous book. There is a lot going on in this one, but it never felt confusing to me [I really enjoyed the tour group characters - each bring something to the story and they were a fun, if brief, addition] and it certainly covers a topic that is in the news so much these days. I knew who the killer was early on, but it didn't take away from the whole story for me and there were aspects of the overall story that I just didn't get until the reveal [though some of that is still confusing to me]. I absolutely loved Delaney's ability to think on her feet and it comes in handy during the reveal. The tour was very cool and I loved the stuff that we learned along the way and I REALLY loved how Tom was a big part of this story - it was nice to see him and Delaney together, working and sleuthing. I do think that anything I disliked about the book came simply from the horrible narrator and not really worth mentioning [well, the clunkyness of the reveal and how it is a touch confusing is worth mentioning, even briefly] and I am already looking forward to the next one.

WELL DONE!!!! ♥

Thank you to NetGalley, Paige Shelton, and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.