About Crime and Parchment
Crime and Parchment: A Rare Books Cozy Mystery
Cozy Mystery 1st in Series
Setting - Fictional town of Rose Mallow, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay Level Best Books (November 21, 2023)
Print length : 226 pages
Digital ASIN : B0CKVBLPCY
Rare books librarian Juniper Blume knows this much… an ancient Celtic manuscript shouldn’t be in a Maryland cemetery. But that’s exactly what her brother-in-law claims.
Last year, Juniper saw the 1,200-year-old Book of Kells in Ireland. She learned how their bejeweled covers were stolen centuries ago, never to be seen again. So how could they have ended up in Rose Mallow, a small Chesapeake Bay town? Being Jewish, the Book of Kells might not be her sacred text, but as a rare books librarian, the ancient book is still sacred to her, making it important to Juniper to find out the truth.
Rose Mallow is the same place where Juniper used to summer with her sister Azalea and their grandmother Zinnia, known as Nana Z. Ever since Nana Z passed away, Juniper’s avoided returning, but her curiosity is greater than her grief, so she heads down in her vintage convertible with her rescue dog Clover.
Juniper discovers that her sister Azalea has transformed their grandmother’s Queen Anne style mansion into the Wildflower Inn, backing up to the Chesapeake Bay. Although Juniper isn’t much of a cook, Azalea has kept their grandmother’s legacy alive, filling the house with the smells of East European Jewish treats, like sweet kugels and tzimmes cake. Will coming back here feel like returning home or fill Juniper with a deeper sorrow? Can she apologize to her sister for not being there when she was needed most?
My 1965, robin’s egg blue convertible backfired as I parked in front of the Wildflower Inn. The noise set off Clover barking in the backseat. Not exactly the quiet homecoming I’d hoped for. I jumped out of my Karmann-Ghia – or “KG” as I’d nicknamed her – to check under the hood, hoping I wouldn’t need to get the roadster serviced yet again. No idea where that money would come from.
A screaming, ranting madwoman poured out of a neighboring house. Maybe in her late seventies, she brandished a large umbrella. I dropped the hood to find the umbrella pointing at me. Clover – all twenty pounds of him – jumped out and started growling.
“Easy, boy,” I said.
“You shoot something off, Missy? Here to cause trouble? Because I’m on the board of the Friends of the Rose Mallow Police.” the woman said. She wore a perfectly fitted Mamie Eisenhower pink skirt suit with enormous pearls – straight out of the 1950s. Her white bouffant billowed around her head. She reminded me of a researcher I’d helped earlier that day at the Library of Congress. That woman had been a murder mystery author looking for books about early detectives. This woman looked like she wanted to murder someone – namely me.
About Daphne Silver
Daphne Silver is the author of the Rare Books Cozy Mystery series. She’s worked more than twenty years in museums and has the great fortune of being married to a librarian. When she’s not writing, she’s drawing and painting. She lives in Maryland with her family. Although she’s not much of a baker, she won’t ever turn down a sweet lokshen kugel.
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
November 22 – Novels Alive – REVIEW
November 22 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST
November 23 – Thanksgiving U.S.
November 24 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
November 24 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT
November 24 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT
November 25 – Ruff Drafts – RECIPE
November 25 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 26 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT
November 26 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
November 27 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
November 27 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
November 28 – My Reading Journeys – CHARACTER GUEST POST
November 28 – StoreyBook Reviews – AUTHOR GUEST POST
November 28 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 29 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
November 29 – Lady Hawkeye – SPOTLIGHT
November 30 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
November 30 – Diane’s Book Journal – SPOTLIGHT
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Sounds like a good read.
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