4.5 out of 5 stars rounded up.

A Christmas Tartan is a novella that comes in between The Cracked Spine and Of Books and Bagpipes in the Scottish Bookshop Mystery series by Paige Shelton. It's a wonderful holiday story and a cozy mystery to boot!

This novella is a little bit different from the other two full-length novels in this series (I can't really state how it is different though, as that would give some of the plot away). However, that being said, I really enjoyed this story!

This story deals mostly with Delaney herself. Our other usual cast of characters have very little role in this mystery, but we do see them a little. This story has our heroine checking out the provenance of this mystery box of items. In doing so, she comes across an old, unsolved mystery of a missing young woman.

This is just a fast-paced, fun little mystery to whet the appetite for the second book in the series. It's definitely fun and a page-turner, but there's not a lot of character development or personal relationship development in this book. Nothing that really seems important to the overall arc to the series. Yet, it's still a delightful read.

There's not much else I can say without spoilers, so I'll just end with saying pick it up - you'll enjoy it!!
( )

4.5 out of 5 stars rounded up.

A Christmas Tartan is a novella that comes in between The Cracked Spine and Of Books and Bagpipes in the Scottish Bookshop Mystery series by Paige Shelton. It's a wonderful holiday story and a cozy mystery to boot!

This novella is a little bit different from the other two full-length novels in this series (I can't really state how it is different though, as that would give some of the plot away). However, that being said, I really enjoyed this story!

This story deals mostly with Delaney herself. Our other usual cast of characters have very little role in this mystery, but we do see them a little. This story has our heroine checking out the provenance of this mystery box of items. In doing so, she comes across an old, unsolved mystery of a missing young woman.

This is just a fast-paced, fun little mystery to whet the appetite for the second book in the series. It's definitely fun and a page-turner, but there's not a lot of character development or personal relationship development in this book. Nothing that really seems important to the overall arc to the series. Yet, it's still a delightful read.

There's not much else I can say without spoilers, so I'll just end with saying pick it up - you'll enjoy it!!
( )

I am new to the Scottish Bookshop Mysteries but this novella has peaked my interest. Delaney is a long way from Kansas, working at the Cracked Spine bookstore in Scotland. Apparently, books sometimes "speak" to her but not when a copy of A Christmas Carol is found in a box of other objects left at the door of the bookstore owner who wants Delaney to determine their origins. The Scottish setting at Christmastime is lovely and the mystery involves an unexpected paranormal element. Scottish dialect is written well but, if I pick up this series at the beginning, I think I'd like to hear it on audio. ( )

It is almost Christmas in Edinburgh, Scotland. Delaney's boss, Edwin MacAlister, stopped to give Delaney a box left at his home without identification of the sender before traveling to his cousin's home in the country for the holiday. The contents of the box include an old stainless serving spoon, a slightly frayed woolen plaid red and green tartan scarf, a tarnished silver platter etched Christmas trees, a brown button, and an edition from the 1950s or 1960s of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. Delaney's excited to investigate a new puzzle of the past. Delaney couldn't have anticipated that questions about this investigation might always linger in her mind.

My opening delight of this mini mystery is how closely the book cover design captured the contents of the mysterious box. I also appreciate the cover designer and illustrator Crystal Ben receiving credit on the copyright page. It seemed Delaney would quickly solve the mystery of who had left the box for Edwin. As that is the planned illusion, the twists continue with red herrings that bring a fantasy to life.

Very clever writing! The storyline fits Delaney's character and uses all the box's contents to add to the twists and turns. ( )

Always on the lookout for a short cozy read for times when I don’t want to get into anything too substantive, or need a lighter story to offset something draining I’m either reading or writing, I came across this supplement to a series and couldn’t be happier to have discovered it. If this short story is any indication of the series, and there is no reason to believe that it isn’t, I’ll definitely be picking up the earlier full-length entry in this cozy mystery series very soon.

Delaney Nichols is a former museum archivist from Kansas who now works at The Cracked Spine Bookshop in Grassmarket, Scotland. It seems she has a special bond with books, which occasionally give her impressions. This element is handled matter-of-factly, and with such aplomb that it is refreshingly devoid of chick-lit silliness. Set in the days preceding Christmas, which we learn is a rather relatively recent addition to Scottish culture in importance, Paige Shelton scatters touches of the season throughout the short story so we never forget that it’s a holiday offering. Here again, the author is not heavy-handed in any way.

The mystery itself is engrossing, threatening to turn into fantasy at one point, when it is unclear if what’s happening with Delaney is real or imagined. The author deftly makes certain the story, and Delaney remain grounded, however, by incorporating an involving mystery surrounding a missing girl named Moira. The present is linked with the past here, and there is a wonderful ending at Christmas in a graveyard that makes it all worthwhile. The supporting characters seem as real as Delaney, and it was especially nice to see her turn to Officer Winters for help, countering the unrealistic and quite silly sleuthing so often found in cozy reads nowadays.

Those who like their cozy reads filled with real characters, a light but real mystery, and genuine warmth devoid of silliness would do well to check out A Christmas Tartan as I did. ( )