Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carlisle
A book summary is below the review.
A cozy murder mystery. When you pick one up, you generally know what you are in for: a main character who, either while trying to find the killer or not, keeps stumbling upon dead bodies and is regularly in danger or experiences near-death numerous times; a savior, usually police or PI; and hopefully a good mystery.
This first book by Kate Carlisle hit all the highlights. And it did so while introducing the reader to book conservation. Not an easy subject to include enough of to be interesting, but not too much to prevent boredom. And yet, she walked that line well.
Brooklyn is a realistic character and manages to stumble her way through the circumstances around her reasonably and in an understandable way. Derek is your typical scowling security guy and fulfills the role of savior well. Carlisle definitely sets them up for future books in the series, but doesn’t make it obvious that it will end up the way you think.
All-in-all a cute, quick, cozy read if you like a simple murder mystery.
Book summary (per Goodreads):
Book expert Brooklyn Wainwright discovers that murder is always a bestseller in the first novel in the New York Times bestselling Bibliophile Mystery series.
Brooklyn Wainwright is a skilled surgeon. Sure, her patients might smell like mold and have spines made of leather, but no ailing book is going to die on her watch. The same can’t be said of Abraham Karastovsky, Brooklyn’s friend and former employer.
On the eve of a celebration for his latest book restoration, Brooklyn finds her mentor lying in a pool of his own blood. With his final breath Abraham leaves Brooklyn with a cryptic message, “Remember the Devil,” and gives her a priceless—and supposedly cursed—copy of Goethe’s Faust for safe-keeping.
Brooklyn suddenly finds herself accused of murder and theft, thanks to Derek Stone, the humorless—and annoyingly attractive—British security officer who found her kneeling over the body. Now she has to read the clues left behind by her mentor if she is going to restore justice
Everyday Sisters 