DEADLY EDITIONS

An unusual treasure hunt has criminally unintended consequences.

When American Delaney Nichols landed a job organizing a warehouse full of collector’s items at the Cracked Spine bookstore, she never thought she’d marry a Scot, make Edinburgh her home, and begin solving murders. Delaney is one of a few candidates wealthy Shelagh O’Conner has selected as the possible recipient of the vast collection of books she plans to give away. Determined to send them to a good home, Shelagh sets up a treasure hunt in which the person who finds her valuable copy of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde gets the books and a large sum of money to boot. The other candidates are Delaney’s friend Birk Blackburn, librarian Tricia Lawson, and Shelagh’s kissing cousin, Jacques Underwood. Back when she was an imaginative teen, Shelagh dressed in rags and roamed the streets pretending to be Hyde until she was accused of murder. No one was ever prosecuted for the crime. Delaney and Tom Shannon, her pub-owner husband, have an unpleasant encounter with Findlay Sweet, who works for Shelagh and still holds a grudge against Tom for an incident in his past. Teaming up, Delaney and Birk find clues that lead them to several noted Edinburgh pubs. A copycat Mr. Hyde steals and kills, but it’s only when Shelagh is kidnapped that Delaney and her friends begin sleuthing in earnest.

The amusing treasure hunt is filled with literary references that will tickle bibliophiles.