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Monday 30 September 2019

Last Pen Standing (Stationery Shop Mystery #1) by Vivian Conroy


Last Pen Standing (Stationery Shop Mystery #1)

Will this paper trail run cold?

As the new co-owner of Tundish Montana's stationery shop WANTED, Delta Douglas knows how to organize a killer crafting event. Creativity and cardstock are all she needs to move one step closer to her ultimate dream: developing her own line of crafting products. But on the night of the workshop, at the swanky hotel venue, glitter isn't the only thing found sprawled on the floor. A hotel guest is discovered dead in the bar, and amid the confusion, Delta's best friend is suspected of the crime.

Enlisting the help of her Paper Posse and Spud, her canine sidekick, Delta dives into the investigation. But with many high-powered suspects on the line, Delta soon realizes her sleuthing may come with deadly consequences.   (Summary via Goodreads)



What an interesting imagination Vivian Conroy has.....her new series A Stationery Shop Mysteries is full of creative ideas.

In Last Pen Standing, the first book in the series, you meet Delta Douglas who moves to the hometown of her best friend from college.  Hazel lives in a small town in Montana, a town known for logging and gold mining, where she owns Wanted, a stationery store.  In Last Pen Standing we start off with Delta getting her inheritance from her grandmother, who is still alive, so that Delta can follow her dream and work with and design stationery.

However before Delta can learn everything there is to learn about co-owning the shop, and on the night of their first workshop together, a woman is murdered !!  Delta and Hazel are at The Lodge Hotel hosting the workshop while a big dinner dance is also taking place there that evening.  Right before they are preparing to leave The Lodge, Hazel's brother Finn tells them to call for help and that there is someone hurt in the bar area and he takes off.  Unfortunately the woman is not hurt but dead and Finn is taken away in handcuffs and when Hazel makes a fuss, she is taken into custody as well.

Delta is left to fend for herself but soon learns that in a small town, no one is ever alone.  The Paper Posse, a group of customers from the shop, take to modern technology and help Delta keep track of certain people throughout the small town.....sadly the list of suspects is a lot longer than one would think when living in a small town....

Last Pen Standing is such a treat to read.  Conroy kicks the imagination factor into high gear and her long list of suspects will have the reader puzzled until the end.....which isn't such a bad thing !!


Review by Missi M.



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