I picked up a copy of Kate Carlisle’s first book Homicide in Hardcover because it’s subtitled “A Bibliophile Mystery.” The heroine, Brooklyn Wainwright, is a book restorer in San Francisco. She grew up in a commune in Sonoma (run by Guru Bob) where everyone has improbably become millionaires. As the novel opens, she attends the opening of a local museum’s exhibit featuring her mentor’s latest project, only to find him shot and dying in his workroom. The book he’s been working on, a copy of Goethe’s Faust, is said to be cursed and “caused” more than one death. Brooklyn is asked by the museum to finish the restoration and she agrees thinking it might help her figure out who killed her friend.
The story moves along at a rapid pace, narrated by Brooklyn in a flippant tone. She portrays herself as independent and self-sufficient, but when the mysterious (and very handsome) security agent, Derek Stone, shows up, she turns into a giggling 12 year old with a crush. Book conservation and restoration and the promised bibliophile aspect of the book are unfortunately lacking and disappointing. There are also some odd inconsistencies: her mentor is supposed to be restoring the Faust and has 2 notebooks filled with his notes about it, but when Brooklyn gets the book, no restoration has been done on it…
So it’s really a cross between a romance novel and a crime novel, and a silly one at that. But I was looking for light reading in the evening, especially this week when I’ve been doing a lot of cleanup for winter in my yard and so tired about all I’m good for is propping my feet up and reading a silly book.