If Books Could Kill (A Bibliophile Mystery #2) by Kate Carlisle Review
Plot
Book restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright is happy to be attending the world-renowned Edinburgh Book Fair. But then her ex, Kyle McVee, shows up with a bombshell. He has an original copy of a scandalous text that could change history—and humiliate the beloved British monarchy.
Trying to get Kyle’s story out of her mind, Brooklyn takes a nighttime tour of the city. Unfortunately, the first landmark contains a real dead body—Kyle’s. The police are convinced Brooklyn’s the culprit, but with an entire convention of suspects, Brooklyn’s conducting her own investigation. Before she can crack the case, she’ll have to find out if the motive for murder was a 200-year-old secret—or something much more personal...
Discussion
Did anyone else think that Brooklyn was replaced by Stephanie Plum? While there were some moments where it was perfectly reasonable to be hysterical (i.e., finding your ex-boyfriend's body), she just...girl. You acted like a 10 year old rather than a 30-something year old. The hyper fixation on the colon stuff...yeesh! That put me off of the book for a while.
Brooklyn Wainwright makes a living restoring old books. When she appears on This Old Attic and appraises a copy of The Secret Garden, the turmoil begins. A man comes from nowhere saying that the book is really *his* and that he wants it back. Then Vera, who had Brooklyn appraise the book on the show, turns up dead.
Now Brooklyn must solve the mystery. Who killed Vera? Was the book hers? Or did it belong to the angry man who says Vera found the book at his garage sale? If he wanted to keep it, why did he sell it?
While this book explains the process of restoring older books to a readable condition a bit too in-depth for me, I find that the characters are (mostly) well-developed and hold my interest. The plot has enough mystery and drama to keep me turning the pages and the pacing is done pretty well. All in all, it’s worth reading.
Kate Carlisle – Homicide in Hardcover (Bibliophile Mystery #1)
The streets of San Francisco would be lined with hardcovers if rare book expert Brooklyn Wainwright had her way. And her mentor wouldn't be lying in a pool of his own blood on the eve of a celebration for his latest book restoration.
With his final breath he leaves Brooklyn a cryptic message, and gives her a priceless and supposedly cursed copy of Goethe's Faust for safekeeping.
Brooklyn suddenly finds herself accused of murder and theft, thanks to the humorless, but attractive, British security officer who finds her kneeling over the body. Now she has to read the clues left behind by her mentor if she is going to restore justice .
Brooklyn restores books for a living and as an art. She has a New Age mother who is an excellent cook, the vineyard-owning father who is so laid back and cool and her equally accomplished siblings who she visits on a regular basis. She also has a gorgeous best friend with good sense and quirky yet friendly neighbors. She’s living the good life, until her mentor and friend gets murdered. She gets assigned to take on his project: the restoration of a copy of Faust that belonged to an upper-crust family and was rumored to be cursed because of the deaths of previous owners. And to make matters worse, her archenemy tries to steal the restoration away from her and she also becomes the Number One suspect in Derek “James Bond” Stone’s list.
I am amazed at how the book restoration came alive in this novel. I am very partial to cozy mysteries that can skillfully illustrate the theme and weave it together with the story, giving the reader both an educational and literary experience. Also, Brooklyn has a strong bond with her family and friends, and I love that they support her, especially her mother, when she gets into really deep trouble. I had two candidates for the villain, and I turned out to be wrong in the end. I had Book Restoration for Dummies, all loose ends were tied up, there was playful bantering and humor to keep me entertained, and yet there was enough mystery and suspense to still keep me on my toes and guessing until the end. I really did enjoy the book, and I look forward to more Brooklyn Wainwright in the future.
And can I just say that I really fell in love with Derek Stone? I have a penchant for mysterious, charming and sinfully handsome men with whom the protagonist falls in love with at first hate (and then makes up at the end).
This cozy mystery is a continuation of the life of Brooklyn Wainwright, who has such an awesome job of book repair and happens to stumble upon murdered bodies every now and then. If I had paid attention in college to different career paths available, I might have gone into book repair instead of librarianship, but I’m not complaining.
Brooklyn’s sister, Savannah, comes to visit as an old chef pal is opening a restaurant in the area. The old chef pal happens to be a massive jerk, but Savannah is too kind-hearted to let that get to her, and Brooklyn is just excited to have the opportunity to eat gourmet food. On opening day Brooklyn and her spy lover, Derek, head to the restaurant where Brooklyn reunites with all of Savannah’s chef pals from France’s Cordon Bleu academy. Brooklyn and Derek go dancing after dinner and return to the restaurant to pick up Savannah, only to see her clutching a bloody knife and the pompous chef pal dead on the floor. Not one to rush to judgment, Brooklyn calls in her two homicide detective pals, and proceeds to do an investigation of her own. As they get closer to figuring out whodunit, more and more deceit is uncovered, leaving Brooklyn to question how any of these guys could have become friends in the first place.
I love Kate Carlisle bibliophile mysteries, and book seven has been such a fun read. I was most grateful that Brooklyn’s damn college nemesis Minka didn’t appear in this novel. I was getting really sick of Carlisle forcing her character into every novel just to have Brooklyn fight with someone. There was never any reason for her after the first incident, and there definitely wasn’t one this time, so I’m very grateful she wasn’t shoved in a chapter just to cause problems. The recipes at the back of the book were also nice, and I do plan on trying out the apple crisp.
I can’t believe I am two behind on this series though, I need to get them stat.
De antiquarische boekenbeurs in Edinburgh is ieder jaar vaste prik voor boekbinder Brooklyn Wainwright. Dit jaar verheugt ze zich op wat afleiding van de moord, nog maar een paar maanden geleden, op haar leermeester en mentor, waarbij Brooklyn zelf verdacht werd en zich dus genoodzaakt zag zelf aan het speuren te gaan. Ze is nog niet bekomen van de jet lag als ze een oude vriend en voormalig geliefde tegen het lijf loopt. Kyle vraagt haar hulp bij het authenticeren van een boek: een zeer zeldzame dichtbundel van Robert Burns, met onbekende gedichten waaruit zou blijken dat de kwajongen aller Schotten een buitenechtelijke relatie heeft gehad met een lid van het Britse Koningshuis. Niet iets waar het koningshuis -- of de Schotten -- mee te koop zouden willen lopen. Of inderdaad de explosieve aard van zijn ontdekking is, of dat er een heel andere reden is, maar Kyle wordt 's avonds vermoord gevonden. Gedood met één van de gereedschappen van Brooklyn, dus de moordenaar heeft er blijkbaar baat bij om haar te impliceren. Brooklyn moet haar reputatie verdedigen, dus ze kan niet anders dan zelf ook wat onderzoek verrichten...
“Can you identify this, please?” he asked as he pulled a blood-splotched hammer out of the envelope and dangled it carefully between two fingers. The look he gave me turned my toes to ice.
“It appears to be a hammer,” I said cautiously, then took a slow breath. “Is that the murder weapon?”
“Why don’t you look at it a little more closely?” he suggested, and moved the hammer so I could see it from several different angles. Icy tendrils slithered from my toes up to my spine and into my neck so quickly, I thought I might freeze and shatter into a thousand pieces.
The hammer was a familiar style. Too familiar. Unlike a typical hammer, this one was lightweight, with a shorter handle, a longer claw with a blunt end, and a smaller, dome-shaped nose.
A bookbinder’s hammer.
There were initials engraved at the base. I didn’t have to look any closer to recognize them.
The initials were BW.
The hammer was mine.
Leuk als genre-mysterie, omdat het speelt in een omgeving die mij aanspreekt. Zoals bij dit type boeken wel vaker het geval is, leidt Brooklyn's speurwerk niet tot enig inzicht bij haar, maar lokt het wel de dader uit zijn schulp, zodat uiteindelijk alles -- op een het verplichte haartje na -- goed afloopt.
