Kate Carlisle

When she finds her mentor lying in a pool of blood, clutching a priceless and supposedly cursed copy of Goethe's Faust, book restorer Brooklyn Wainwright is accused of murder and theft by an annoyingly attractive British security officer. Original.

Homicide in Hardcover

Sarah Sammis

Colleen

** spoiler alert **
           This review contains spoilers!

I was searching around for a new mystery series and came across this one. It seemed interesting enough. The main character is a bookbinder and amateur sleuth which seemed like the sort of quirky character I would like. There are already a few more books in the series so I figured it should be decent... but it was very disappointing.

Where to start? I have a predisposition to dislike books written in first person. I think very few authors can pull off a good novel in first person. It just doesn't jive well with me.

Next: the whole commune thing. I get that her background is supposed to be growing up on a commune, but if she isn't running back to the commune for whatever reason then she is talking or thinking about it. And a large portion of the characters are from the commune. It might have worked if it had provided an interesting angle, but mostly it felt like the author Googled "commune life" and stuck some stereotypical characters in there and some random references to dharma and third eyes. Even the main character, Brooklyn, didn't seem to have consistent opinions about the commune. The commune itself seemed stupid. It was the type with a world class winery and spa. The members were mainly trust-fund babies who live in two story Colonials with private pools. And their leader is a complete hack! I won't bother looking up the quotes, but he says things about how it is important to live in nice conditions and that more money equals more personal happiness. Oh, and he collects priceless works of art that are obtained in not-so-legal ways. Great spiritual leader, folks.

Her parents are Deadheads. I get it. You didn't have to mention that many freakin' times that they are obsessed with the Grateful Dead. Oh, they followed them on tour for years and named all six of their kids after the tour places that they were conceived? How boring and irrelevant to the plot. Yet the Grateful Dead fan angle must be mentioned at least once a chapter.

Her romantic interest. To start with, he is supposed to be British. But he NEVER once seemed British to me. Sure she threw in a couple standard British words and phrases for the first few dialogues, but after that it was reduced to referring to his James Bond-esque attitude. The way he was written seemed more like your standard tough guy American private investigator half-hardheartedly rewritten as British. Nothing against British P.I.s; I just wish his character was better written. And then there was the relationship with Brooklyn. He starts out suspecting Brooklyn as the killer, but somewhere along the line (without any written development) he becomes very protective of her. It felt like the author refrained from expanding on him more because she was hoping you might still think he might be the murderer and throw you off. So they start out with this hot chemistry then he basically disappears for about 1/3 of the book. Then almost at the end, another possible romantic interest is introduced for about 4 whopping pages only to disappear and only have two vague references in the remainder.

And finally, the story itself. Middle of the road writing. I try to give first time authors a plus one star for trying, but there were just too many issues with this book. There were at least two places where the story contradicted itself. And the wrap-up was terrible! I started dreading it when I only had a dozen or so pages left and the murder still hadn't been revealed. Then they had one of those annoying "The main character has figured out who the killer is but isn't going to tell you; instead she is going to drag you along while she sets a stupid trap for them." Add an epilogue to hastily wrap up the many, many loose ends and you have the end to this rather disappointing book!

Homicide in Hardcover

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