If Books Could Kill: A Bibliophile Mystery

I'm in love with cozy mysteries at the moment and I'm glad to be able to get the books inside my budget on this website.

Brooklyn Wainwright, bookbinder, is beginning to get a complex. It seems that everywhere she goes she finds dead bodies, and Edinburgh's Book Fair is no exception. Picking up right where the first in the series (Homicide in Hardcover) left off, Brooklyn is attending the book fair, meeting up with old friends and finding new acquaintances, having a grand old time, when an old flame asks her to authenticate a book of unknown Robert Burns poems, signed by the poet and embroiling the British royal family is a salacious scandal. Before she can even get a decent look at the object, her friend is found dead, appropriately enough, on a ghost tour, and Brooklyn is the number one suspect. Could it be because one of her bookbinding tools is the murder weapon? Carlisle is a fine writer. The dialogue is natural, the narrative voice is a hoot, and the mystery is populated with lots of devious suspects, daunting detectives and a few silly Scots. It's not necessary to have read the first in the series, but it does make the appearance of Wainwright's nutty parents more delicious, and adds depth to her romance with British agent Derek Stone. (No graphic scenes.) This is a fun mystery in an interesting setting with a lively narrator and protagonist.

Bodies, bodies everywhere and guess who keeps finding them. But that doesn't keep Brook down, or from a cat with with here arch enemy the so called "Fat Cow". Nor does it stop her from thing about that 007 agent Stone who doesn't love a british accent. If you've never read this series you have to start; it gives you thrills and laughter to a little romance to hippies from a commune and a couple of disturbed siblings, and some extramartial a fairs. So pick up this book and enjoy I finished it in a couple of hours.

I really enjoyed this book - much better than the previous "Homicide in Hardcover". Brooklyn Wainwright is in Scotland for a very large book fair. While there she discovers a few dead bodies and reacquaints with Derek Stone (a real hunk). Her "hippie" parents and their guide show up as well from Dharma, CA which add to the humor. Contains some good information on bookbinding. The author includes a preview of her next Bibliophile book: The Lies that Bind.

She works at the book arts center in San Francisco and is considered an expert in book restoration. Brooklyn Wainwright is also called upon to authenticate whether a book is genuine or a fake. Currently she heads to the world- renowned Edinburgh Book Fair where she will meet with friends and associates, teach a few sessions, and sit in on lectures. Her plan implodes when she runs into her former boyfriend Kyle McVee who asks her to authenticate a book allegedly created by eighteenth century bookbinder William Cathcart containing never before published poems written by Robert Burns in which the renowned author infers he had an affair with Princess Augusta Sophia, daughter of King George III. Rumors have survived to the present that he got her pregnant, which, if true, would leave the British royalty with a nasty black eye. He also tells her he has received threatening letters and calls. That same day whiles Brooklyn is sightseeing, she finds the body of Kyle killed with one of her bookbinding instruments. The local lead cop suspects Brooklyn so to clear her name she investigates Kyle's murder. As in the first Bibliophile mystery (see Homicide in Hardcover), Brooklyn finds the corpse of someone who was close to her at one time (a sub-genre hazard). The author's second cozy is a breezy fun read due to a taste of the city and false clues with dead end trails. Although in trouble with the law and who knows who else, Brooklyn keeps her sense of humor, mostly self deprecating as she finds even Princess Street dangerous. A terrific romantic subplot enhances her stay in Scotland that she hopes is not a lifetime event as she learns once again Books Could Kill to the delight of cross genre fans. Harriet Klausner

Kate Carlisle's second mystery novel is just as fabulous as the first! I loved it! In If Books Could Kill, rare book expert Brooklyn Wainwright goes to Edinburgh, Scotland to attend the Book Fair. A friend approaches her with an incredible find, what could be a book of heretofore undiscovered poems by Robert Burns and proof of a scandal that will forever shatter the world's view of Scotland's poetic hero. Someone wants to stop Brooklyn from authenticating the find - enough to commit murder. As the last person to see the victim alive, Brooklyn is the prime suspect. Now, in a foreign country, she must evade the police and the killer - and oh yes, the freemasons who have vowed to protect Robert Burns's name at all costs. Janet Evanovich is one of my favorite writers, and Kate Carlisle is right up there with her. She's even given Brooklyn a delicious romantic foil in British detective Derek Stone. (Think a James Bond who wants just one woman. Sigh!)