If Books Could Kill: A Bibliophile Mystery [Mass Market Paperback]

Kate Carlisle (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 2, 2010 | Series: BIBLIOPHILE MYSTERY (Book 2)

Murder is easy-on paper.

Book restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright is attending the world- renowned Book Fair when her ex Kyle shows up with a bombshell. He has an original copy of a scandalous text that could change history-and humiliate the beloved British monarchy.

When Kyle turns up dead, the police are convinced Brooklyn's the culprit. But with an entire convention of suspects, Brooklyn's conducting her own investigation to find out if the motive for murder was a 200-year-old secret-or something much more personal.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Signet (February 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 045122891X
• ISBN-13: 978-0451228918
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 0.9 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Visit Kate online at www.KateCarlisle.com or www.Facebook.com/KateCarlisleBooks

Bestselling author Kate Carlisle spent over twenty years working in television production as an Associate Director for game and variety shows, including The Midnight Special, Solid Gold and The Gong Show. She traveled the world as a Dating Game chaperone and performed strange acts of silliness on The Gong Show. She also studied acting and singing, toiled in vineyards, collected books, joined a commune, sold fried chicken, modeled spring fashions and worked for a cruise ship line, but it was the year she spent in law school that finally drove her to begin writing fiction. It seemed the safest way to kill off her professors. Those professors are breathing easier now that Kate spends most of her time writing near the beach in Southern California where she lives with her perfect husband.

A lifelong love of old books and an appreciation of the art of bookbinding led Kate to create the Bibliophile Mysteries, featuring rare book expert Brooklyn Wainwright, whose bookbinding and restoration skills invariably uncover old secrets, treachery and murder. Kate is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers and Romance Writers of America. She loves to drink good wine and watch other people cook.

The Real Story

For award-winning author Kate Carlisle, the gleaming brass ring of publication eluded her grasp for the longest time. People were starting to talk. Was it simply bad luck? Bad timing? Bad writing? Bad hair? A panel of experts were convened to analyze the details of Kate's life and certain patterns began to emerge that clearly indicated...well, let's just call them Bad Choices. Yes, Kate made some wrong moves on her personal path to publication, and in the interests of full disclosure--and as a cautionary tale--the highlights are listed below.

The Early Years

Kate was born in Los Angeles, California. Need we say more? Name one famous author who was born in Los Angeles. You can't do it. Why? Because all really famous authors are born somewhere else. A rural town in upstate Michigan, a crab shack on the Eastern shore, somewhere on the prairie, in a bayou, on the frozen tundra. Anywhere but LA.

And yet, despite this almost overwhelming handicap, Kate was born with good skin and a naturally attractive telephone voice which led her parents to wonder if she might have a future in either cosmetology or telephone solicitation.

Growing up, Kate and her family moved every few years. She would tell new teachers she was a Navy brat, but the truth is, her father's mounting gambling debts often forced the family to escape in the night with whatever they could carry on their backs. Kate learned to sleep with her favorite toys clutched in her arms, which may explain why her beloved Baldhead Barbie remains in Kate's special toy collection to this day.

Kate's creativity with scissors, not to mention her uncanny ability to tell great whopping lies, alarmed her parents enough that they sent Kate off to be educated by the nuns.

When Good Things Happen to Bad Girls

Thus began Kate's long and desperate search for a creative outlet and a good haircut. Chafing under the authoritarian rule of Sister Mary Cletus at Holy Rosary Academy, Kate escaped by making up stories. One of her favorites was a tale about a wild pony who rescued a strange, lonely farm girl with a bad haircut. Given their daughter's fascination with ponies, Kate's parents thought she might grow up to be a bookie like her Uncle Jerry.

As a teenager, Kate fell in with the wrong crowd. She grew big hair and started flirting with boys, but her school spirit never waned. In fact, Kate's sophomore class at Holy Rosary won a trip to Safari World for selling the most chocolate almond bars, due mainly to Kate's strategy of selling her candy bars to sailors at the downtown bus station. When Kate would ask if they'd like to buy some candy, the sailors would invariably respond, "Is your name Candy?" Her mother held out hope that Kate might someday find her niche in Sales.

Lying For Fun and Profit

But Sales weren't on Kate's radar. Instead, a friend got her a job on a game show and Kate grabbed that opportunity with both hands. She dropped out of college, bleached her hair and went on to spend years in production working on countless films and television shows, hanging out with rock stars and partying with the beautiful people.

But Kate realized she was losing her grip on what was truly important in life. She quit show biz and gave herself a permanent wave. Forsaking her worldly goods, she joined a cult. It worked out well at first. The cult leader owned a vineyard. But within months, the grapes were picked, the wine was drunk, and Kate's hair was losing its wave. It was time to move on. But where to go? What to do? Kate decided to seek professional guidance. After relating her life story to her therapist and lamenting that she'd run out of options, the woman gave her a dirty look and called her a big fat liar. Liar? Kate shouted "Eureka!" and applied to law school.

All The Right Moves...Really

During her first year of law school, Kate again turned to writing as a way of escaping the drudgery of studying because, let's face it, she wasn't the greatest student in the world. But this time there were no stories of wild ponies or lonely little girls with bad haircuts. No, this time her stories were filled with hot, lusty men and smart, spunky women investigating murders and falling in love. There was danger and adventure and treachery...and sex!

Faster than you can say res ipsa loquitur, Kate dropped out of law school and signed up for writing classes. She joined Sisters in Crime and Romance Writers of America where she met lots of wonderful writers and made fabulous friends. She wrote books and attended writers' conferences and sent out query letters and entered writing contests in hopes of selling her manuscripts to the perfect publisher.

And one day, Kate walked out of the hair salon with the best haircut she'd ever received. The sun was shining, the air was clean, the planets were aligned, and suddenly her phone rang. It was "The Call." Kate became a published author that day. Her destiny was fulfilled. And her hair was perfect.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars second in the Bibliophile mystery series April 7, 2010

By audrey TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Brooklyn Wainwright, bookbinder, is beginning to get a complex. It seems that everywhere she goes she finds dead bodies, and Edinburgh's Book Fair is no exception. Picking up right where the first in the series (Homicide in Hardcover) left off, Brooklyn is attending the book fair, meeting up with old friends and finding new acquaintances, having a grand old time, when an old flame asks her to authenticate a book of unknown Robert Burns poems, signed by the poet and embroiling the British royal family is a salacious scandal. Before she can even get a decent look at the object, her friend is found dead, appropriately enough, on a ghost tour, and Brooklyn is the number one suspect. Could it be because one of her bookbinding tools is the murder weapon?

Carlisle is a fine writer. The dialogue is natural, the narrative voice is a hoot, and the mystery is populated with lots of devious suspects, daunting detectives and a few silly Scots.

It's not necessary to have read the first in the series, but it does make the appearance of Wainwright's nutty parents more delicious, and adds depth to her romance with British agent Derek Stone. (No graphic scenes.)

This is a fun mystery in an interesting setting with a lively narrator and protagonist.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Why O Why? May 31, 2010

By valerie

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

The idea of a bookbinder qua accidental detective is very appealing to me.
I really enjoyed the passages in which books were described and in fact anything having to do with books was written.

However, I didn't care for the style of the narrator's voice or the dialogues. It was too crisp and uncouth for me. The narrator describes herself as superficial at one point in the story and I have to admit she did seem a little superficial to me. She's a little flat and her thoughts seem detached from a profound personality, except, again when she describes books and the sights of Scotland.

If these linguistic quirks won't bother you then you might really enjoy the books in this series. The premise is great as is the general plot and the unraveling of this mystery.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Liked with some reservations October 22, 2010

By Cathy G. Cole TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

First Line: If my life were a book, I would have masking tape holding my hinges together.

Book restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright is still recuperating from the events in Homicide in Hardcover, but she's now in Edinburgh, Scotland attending the Book Fair. Her roguish ex, Kyle McVee, shows up with an original copy of a book that could very well change history and humiliate the British monarchy in the process.

When Kyle turns up dead, naturally Brooklyn is the first suspect out of the gate, so she starts conducting her own investigation to see if the motive for murder was a 200-year-old secret-- or something much more personal.

Although the main character is still suffering the effects from the first book in the series, there's no need to go back and get your hands on a copy to fill in the blanks. Carlisle provides enough detail for new readers to avoid confusion.

There is a lot to enjoy in this second book. I loved the Edinburgh setting, and-- just like the first time-- I really enjoyed the book restoration details which Carlisle provides. Brooklyn is a likable, interesting character who has a fascinating career, the promise of a lot of romance in her life, and a winning voice. The plot certainly has enough twists and turns to keep the pages turning, but there is trouble looming in my rearview mirror. I find two of the supporting cast of characters extremely annoying and more than a bit distracting.

Brooklyn's mother is a child of the 60's who never relinquished her hold on Flower Power. She's gone on to put New Age practices in a stranglehold as well. I found her dependence on spleen washes and other kooky-sounding stuff mildly amusing at first, but in this book she just got on my nerves.

The second character who chaps my hide is Minka LaBoeuf, Brooklyn's arch enemy. The character is so over the top she's like a cartoon character. Minka is screaming loud, she's obnoxious, and she's constantly telling the police that Brooklyn is responsible for whatever's gone wrong. I wouldn't be surprised if Minka also believes Brooklyn is responsible for global warming, the US deficit, and my trick knees. I really wish Carlisle would either have Minka put on some heavy duty meds... or have her committed. (Preferably the latter. I'd supply the strait jacket.)

When two secondary characters begin to annoy me to this degree, I begin to wonder if the series is really for me. The acid test will be Carlisle's third Bibliophile Mystery, The Lies That Bind. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.