Sunday, January 15, 2012

One Book In The Grave-Kate Carlisle

One Book In The Grave


Kate Carlisle

Obsidian, Feb 7 21012, $7.99

ISBN: 9780451236128



San Francisco resident bookbinder and restorer Brooklyn Wainwright gave to Max Adams and his fiancée Emily a rare first edition of Beauty and the Beast; one month later Max died in a car accident and the book was stolen from Emily’s home. Three years later Covington Library head curator Ian McCullough asks Brooklyn to repair a rare first edition of Beauty and the Beast; she declines as she knows the book is the one she gave to Max.



Brooklyn visits the bookseller who Ian bought the classic from. She enters the bookstore only to find the proprietor Joe a murder victim. Tired of tripping over corpses, Brooklyn confesses her feelings to her friend Guru Bob, who confides in the bibliophile that Max faked his death to prevent an unknown assassin from killing him and Emily. He believes the killer is either Max’s former boss Solomon or his possessive ex-girlfriend. Brooklyn investigates with her boyfriend Derek Stone trying to protect her; only she is shot at, has the body of one of her suspects delivered to her house by courier and her friends kidnapped.



The latest Bibliophile mystery (see The Lies That Bind and Murder under Cover) is an engaging twisting roller coaster ride as Brooklyn’s detecting is fuelled by her tweener crush on Max and her love of rare books. Part of the excitement is Brooklyn’s reactions to the abductions of people connected to her for apparently no logical reason except somehow a cause and effect of her investigation. Fans will enjoy this amateur sleuth as an anonymous assassin plays hardball Sal “The Barber” Maglie’s pitching style, which shaves the batter even more than Chris Matthews does.



Harriet Klausner

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