The Little Shop of Found Things (#967) launches Paula Brackston's latest series with time travel, magic and romance. Xanthe Westlake and her mother are starting a new life for themselves in the ancient English market town of Marlborough during a bitterly contested divorce. Starting an antiques store in this quaint touristy town seems the perfect location, but the store they've bought sight unseen already has a resident; a ghost. A sale at a local estate to acquire stock for their new venture kicks off a chain of events when the Westlakes find an antique silver chatelaine. Xanthe can hear it "singing" to her, and it's not a happy song.
Coupled with the discovery of an overgrown prison built into the garden wall of their new home, Xanthe is catapulted back into the past and the reign of King James I. The malevolent ghost has threatened to harm Flora Westlake if Xanthe does not rescue her daughter from her fate in the past. But will she be able to right an old wrong and save her mother? She must rely on others to help her, including Samuel Appleby, an architect working at the estate where she and her mother found the chatelaine, the key to the mystery.
As improbable as it was, and despite my dislike for Dr. Marten boots, I did find this book entertaining enough. The antique store, christened "The Little Shop of Found Things" is the perfect vehicle for launching future entries in this series of time travel books. The publisher has included a teaser of a chapter for the next installment: Secrets of the Chocolate House. I'll be looking forward to a cozy read with it.
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