Homicide in Hardcover: A Bibliophile Mystery [マスマーケット]

Brooklyn Wainwright is a skilled surgeon who uses her expertise with a scalpel to save the lives of her patients - patients with life threatening ailments of cracked, brittle leather, moldy paper and dried-up glue. The daughter of quirky, offbeat members of Guru Bob's Fellowship for Spiritual Enlightenment and Higher Artistic Consciousness, this very likeable heroine is passionate about her books but pretty much oblivious to everything else, including her hair, clothes and shoes, much to the frustration of her sexy, stylish best friend, Robin.

As the story opens, Brooklyn is at a museum reception enjoying a happy reconciliation with her life-long mentor, Abraham Karastovsky but her happiness ends abruptly later that evening when she discovers her mentor in an isolated workroom, dying from a gunshot wound. With his final breath Abraham presses the supposedly cursed copy of Goethe's Faust that he has been restoring into her hands and pleads with her to "Remember the devil." Suddenly, Brooklyn finds herself neck deep in the mystery surrounding Abraham's murder and the curse of Faust. Derek Stone, the handsome, all-business British security agent (think James Bond with attitude) assigned to protect the priceless copy of Faust initially believes her guilty of the murder but there are suspects aplenty and, when Brooklyn is asked to finish the restoration that was begun by Abraham, they start coming out of the woodwork. There's Ian, her former fiancée who is in charge of the museum exhibit that contains the Faust, Minka LaBoeuf, the thieving, conniving she-witch who has hated Brooklyn since college, Enrico Baldacchio, the sleazy book restorer who is always just this side of the law and, sometimes, on the other side. Even Brooklyn's mother isn't above suspicion. As Brooklyn works to restore the Faust she also turns amateur detective to ferret out the truth of Abraham's murder, trying to stay one step ahead of the delicious Derek and well out of range of the killer who now appears intent on eliminating her.

I always assumed that book-binding and restoration would be a dull, dry subject but the historical facts and bits of trivia sprinkled throughout this book were so fascinating that instead of being bored I found myself wanting to know more. The sexual tension between Brooklyn and Derek is palpable, growing stronger with each encounter but actual sexual interaction between the two is mild and, in fact, limited to a kiss. The potential for a deeper romance between Brooklyn and Derek is firmly established before the end of the book but Carlisle also tosses in a delicious twist that has me eagerly anticipating the next book in what I hope will be a long-running series.

It was with trepidation that Brooklyn Wainwright attended the showing of the rare book collection at the Covington Library. The guest of honor, Abraham Karastovsky, was responsible for the collection's restoration and was also Brooklyn's friend and mentor up until 6 months ago, when she told him that she was leaving to start up her own business. However, all seemed to be forgiven, so it's heartbreaking when Brooklyn discovered Abraham dying, leaving Brooklyn with a priceless edition of Faust and last words a strange clue. Brooklyn, now responsible for completing his last assignment to restore the priceless - and reportedly cursed - volume of Goethe's Faust has to discover who murdered Abraham in order to save herself from both the killer and the British detective in charge of protecting the Library's collection. The frustratingly attractive Commander Derek Stone delights in taunting and tantalizing Brooklyn, so she believes that it's up to her to solve the mystery that may be hidden in Abraham's books. Plagued by a psychotic stalker and former rival for Brooklyn's boyfriend, Brooklyn has to dodge attempts on her life, a break-in, visits with her commune family, and Gabriel, mysterious man in black who's definitely no angel.
Fans of Janet Evanovich will enjoy this surprisingly (for a bibliophile mystery) spirited and sexy novel. While I've never been fond of mysteries that have the heroine lusting for the detective while he suspects her of being a murderer, Carlisle makes this work as Brooklyn is just as irritated with herself for her feelings. Booklovers will enjoy the minutiae of book mending and lovingly detailed descriptions of the beautiful edition of Faust, and mystery readers will revel in the plethora of quirky, hilarious characters. My one complaint is that the novel ended too quickly, leaving me wanting to know more about her five commune-raised siblings and new age Deadhead mother. Thankfully, the series looks to continue with Brooklyn leaving for Edinburgh for a new job, so here's to the hope that Brooklyn's hilarious adventures with her family continue. Pick up Homicide in Hardcover in paperback as soon as you can.

The attractive cover caught me, and I'm a booklover so a "Bibliophile Mystery" sounded nice. This is a pleasant enough book but it just didn't do much for me. First, I'd have expected more about books and that they'd be more important to the plot: theft, faked editions, something more involving. While book restoration (nicely described)is the heroine's job it wasn't really a big part of the plot to me. She really didn't do much investigation, things just happened until the murderer shows up just after our heroine has found crucial evidence. I don't think I'll be searching for more books in the series.