Sweet Soliloquies

Homicide in Hardcover: A Bibliophile Mystery

Author: Kate Carlisle

Publisher: Signet (February 3, 2009)

304 pages

The story:

Brooklyn Wainwright is a book doctor extraordinaire. Faded, brittle leather and crusty, smelly pages are like heaven for Brooklyn. The daughter of two 60’s flower children who moved their family to a California commune, Brooklyn discovers her talent for book restoration under the mentorship of family friend, Abraham Karastovsky.

Brooklyn and Abraham didn’t speak for several months after Brooklyn decided to strike out on her own in the world of book binding but their relationship is restored on the eve of a celebration for Abraham’s latest book restoration. Their reunion is short-lived, however, when later that evening, Brooklyn finds her mentor lying in a pool of blood. With his final words, he gives her a cryptic message, along with a priceless, and cursed, copy of Goethe’s Faust.

She becomes a prime suspect in Abraham’s murder since she was the last person at the scene of the crime. To exonerate herself, Brooklyn must find the real killer. Could Abraham’s final words be a clue or do they refer to something else entirely?

My thoughts:

Brooklyn sorts through a handful of possible suspects while trying not to end up dead herself. With the help of British security officer Derek Stone, she gets the job done. Little help, I should say. One of my few quibbles with this story, is that Mr. Stone seems to just show up in time to get Brooklyn out of trouble (although you’ll find the detective/cop/love interest doing this in other cozy mysteries as well). We really know nothing about him. I hope in future books he does more than just look and sound sexy.

I enjoyed Brooklyn’s fun sense of humor, she had me laughing out loud, and complete love of her craft. Book binding and the book arts are a recently discovered interest of mine and it was fun to read about some of the tools and techniques used in these fields.

Homicide in Hardcover is a fun read with an engaging heroine and some kooky characters, like Brooklyn’s hippie parents, Guru Bob, and and her quirky neighbors. The plot suffers slighty from a measure of predictability but the ending might come as a surprise. This series holds much promise and I look forward to reading Ms. Carlisle’s next book.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦½