"The streets of San Francisco would be lined with hardcovers if rare book expert Brooklyn Wainwright had her way. And her mentor wouldn't be lying in a pool of his own blood on the eve of a celebration for his latest book restoration.
With his final breath he leaves Brooklyn a cryptic message, and gives her a priceless and supposedly cursed copy of Goethe's Faust for safekeeping.
Brooklyn suddenly finds herself accused of murder and theft, thanks to the humorless, but attractive, British security officer who finds her kneeling over the body. Now she has to read the clues left behind by her mentor if she is going to restore justice…."
My Thoughts:
I'm always looking for a new cozy mystery series and so I decided to pull this one off of my shelves. A book featuring a rare book expert is right up my alley which is why I added this one to my to be read list so long ago. I enjoyed it and thought it was a good start to a new series, but I'm also having a hard time remembering some of the details after reading it a few months back. It was a solid read but nothing that really blew me away. I guess I like for my cozies to really pull me in with the characters and this book didn't quite do that. I'm having trouble explaining my thoughts on this book for some reason. It was good but not great for me. I liked it enough to want to add the second book to my TBR list but not enough to go rushing out for that next book. I loved the focus on rare books and book restoration which was really interesting and something I don't know much about. In fact the sections of the book where Brooklyn was working on restoring books were some of my favorite parts just because I was so intrigued. The mystery portion of this book was interesting but it was never what really drew me in. Instead I found myself reading to see how Brooklyn was going to clear her name and get out of the trouble that she was in.
In the end I found this to be a good beginning to a new to me cozy series. I'm glad that I finally pulled it off of my shelves. It wasn't my favorite but I liked it enough to want to continue on. And writing up my thoughts on it (finally) has me thinking about what I like most about some of my favorite cozy series. Food for thought! Overall, I would recommend to fellow cozy mystery fans.
Bottom Line: A good read!
Disclosure: I purchased my copy of this book from the used bookstore.
If you are curious about some of my favorite cozy mystery authors try:
Ellie Alexander
Kate E. Dyer-Seeley
Maddie Day
Ann Meyers
I have this one on my shelf too--it's been in my TBR collection forever. I really need to make time for it. I'm glad you liked it, Samantha. It sounds like a good escape, even if not particularly memorable. Sometimes that's just what we're looking for in a book, isn't it? :-)
ReplyDeleteThis is a series I follow mainly because of the main character's profession. I do bookbinding myself (for fun) so it's cool to read about a main character who is a bookbinder. Having said that, if it wasn't for that draw I'm not sure this would be a favorite series. It's ok but I feel like it still needs to develop better characters.
ReplyDelete