The death of her mentor has Brooklyn searching for a murderer. ( )

Light and funny and full of some interesting details about bookbinding and restoration. The mystery was not sophisticated, but this was an enjoyable cozy read. ( )

Character List

Brooklyn Wainwright serious, blond, tall, still barely out of my gangly stage

Robin Tully, best friend, runs her own tour and travel business and is also a brilliant sculptor. curvy brunette with almond eyes

Abraham Karastovsky, my lifelong teacher and mentor.

Vinnie neighbor pretty young Indian woman, wood sculptors and animal activists, cats Pookie and Splinters.
Suzie Stein neighbor Vinnie's girlfriend, wood sculptors and animal activists

Derek Stone, Commander, private security

Homicide inspector Nathan Jaglow, tall, probably in his fifties, with short, curly gray hair and a sad smile, was a very patient man.
Inspector Janice Lee, was Asian American, pretty but painfully thin, with long, lustrous black hair.

Minka LaBoeuf the woman could fuel my rage faster than anyone I’d ever known, X-Acto knife and stabbed me in the hand.
Enrico Baldacchio an unpleasant little man with a tendency to sweat. And he’d been present at the Covington

Ian McCullough (curator) been engaged several years ago for almost six months until I took pity on him and broke it off. Thankfully, we were still good friends

Winslows, Conrad- Faust owner
Sylvia wife,
Meredith, daughter

Anandalla - cocktail note, Abraham Karastovsky's daughter

Gabriel -Man in Black - Discreet Procurement

( )

There is a subgenre of cozy mysteries series which picks up a hobby (usually art or craft) or business and sets the series around it - coffee-shops, baking, bookstores... you name it, it probably exists. Most of them are formulaic to some extent (there is a love interest, whoever runs the business/has the hobby becomes a reluctant detective, the police seems to always think they did at least the first murder at least for awhile and so on) but they tend to have enough details and difference to actually work on their own.

This novel is the first in one of these series. Brooklyn Wainwright restores old books and is one of the best in the business, albeit very young. A rare collection, being restored by her old mentor Abraham Karastovsky, is about to be shown in a local museum but he does not live long enough to see it - during a celebration in the museum he is killed. And it seems like Brooklyn and people she cares about are in the frame for it. So she resolves to do two things: find the murderer and finish Abraham's work with the collection.

There is an old love interest, there is an old foe (almost Cruella de Vil level cartoonish in her hate) and then there is the security consultant which makes Brooklyn's knees week. All that was the usual formula. Then there are the details - the commune where Brooklyn grew up (and met Abraham), all the book binding and restoring details and Brooklyn's personality which after a bit of a stumble early on (way too... formulaic) actually evens out and even shines.

But what really carries the book is the mystery itself - the murder and its resolution. With old books all over the place it was bound to be ties to the past and it is. But it was handled properly, without sudden jumps or surprises.

A good start for a new cozy mystery series - if you are in the mood for the style. I plan to read at least a few more from the series - they are a wonderful palate cleanser after heavier books. ( )

Fairly standard cosy with two too many impossibly perfect men sweeping in and taking over too often. ( )