I love this series! It's a great combination of mysteries, clever characters and madcap carrying-on!

Book restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright is in Scotland attending and presenting at the Edinburgh Book Fair, when her ex-boyfriend Kyle McVee tells her a story about a book he's found that could have ramifications for Scotland, and England - including embarassing the British monarchy. He asks Brooklyn to authenticate the book and then runs off for a mysterious meeting, leaving the book with her More...

Gosh. OK. So here’s the thing. I sort of, vaguely, really, quite a bit, maybe enjoyed the first in this series, Homicide in Hardcover. I mean, it was a fun, trashy chick-lit-detective story that made for a relaxing read. The hero, Derek, rescued and patronised a little too much for my liking, and the heroine, Brooklyn, fainted more often than I could bear. Yet, despite the occasional stereotype, minority representation was good in this book, and it was basically a fun read.

However, the second i More...

If Books Could Kill
~Signet
(25)
A Mystery with depth and perception., March 25, 2012
By Ellen Rappaport (Florida)
This review is from: If Books Could Kill: A Bibliophile Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)
I am so glad I went back to read the 2nd in Kate Carlisle's Bibliophile series, "If Books Could Kill".
Brooklyn Wainwright appears to have come into her own,financially that is, after inheriting a fortune from her murdered mentor, Abraham Karastovsky. She's attending the annual Edinburgh Book Fa More...

This isn't so much a bibliomystery as it is Stephanie Plum goes west.

The star of the show is a young woman with loony parents. She is involved with a handsome hunk who is connected to law enforcement and with another drop-dead gorgeous guy who operates outside of the law. She has a female sidekick who is noticed for her physical attributes. If you like Janet Evanovich's books, you've come to the right place.

I have decided that it is an advantage for my reading pleasure to believe that, in the More...

When I read the first book in the series (Homicide in Hardcover), I knew that this was going to be a series that I would follow for quite a while. Not only does Carlisle manage to weave a good mystery, but she also includes one of my favorite subjects: books.

After the events from the previous book, all Brooklyn wants is to have a nice time at the Edinburgh Book Fair. However, her plans for a relaxing weekend are interrupted by her nemesis Minka as well as an ex-lover showing up claiming that he More...

3.5 stars

This book starts to remind me of the earlier novels of Stephani Plum series. From how Brooklyn seems to always attract mayhem and murder everywhere she goes, to her attractive best friend, to her evil nemesis, to her crazy family (Brooklyn's family is New Age, though), to her handsome patient suitor (Derek is a British Commander who has his own security agency), and this mysterious guy who comes at such interesting time of Brooklyn's life (his name is Gabriel, he's like Stephanie's Rang More...

Cute and totally fluffy. The smart ass running commentary by the narrator kept it amusing. It's obvious that Kate Carlisle is also a romance writer (something I didn't know when I picked up this book) because her series character, Brooklyn Wainwright, is either kissing a hunky guy or thinking about kissing a hunky guy when she's not tripping over dead bodies. Brooklyn's profession of bookbinder and rare and old book restorer offers a new and interesting focus for a cozy murder mystery series. Th More...

The second bokk in the Bibliophile mystery series. This continues with the mis-adventures of the main character as she stumbles again on a fresh corpse while at a Book Fair in Scotland. Once again the master bookbinder has become the focus of local law enforcement as the victim is someone she knows. So the Yard keep her as the prime suspect. Her book hammer was used to smash in the skull of the victim. Again her new love interest Cmdr. Derek of Scotland Yard has shown up along with a host of oth More...

Great "second in a series"!

Brooklyn is traveling in Scotland to attend a book fair. She spends some time with old flame Kyle upon arriving in Edinburgh where he gives her an old book. Kyle claims it is an unknown Robert Burns and appears to have been signed by Burns. Kyle wants her to authenticate it and keep it safe. Brooklyn can authenticate the binding but it will take a Burns scholar and a handwriting expert to give it full authentication.

Later that evening on a ghost walk, with her friend More...

New to me mystery series - VERY good! Good mystery, lots of fun characters.. This is book two of the series, book three is due out later this month. I'll be looking forward to it!

The main character is a book binder. With her job, she travels quite a bit - this book was set in Scotland. As with any good amateur sleuth, dead bodies appear around her quite regularly. Amazingly men seem to appear around her often too. (that part alone reminded me of the Stephanie Plum series. Well, maybe not that pa More...

Brooklyn Wainwright is in London for a book fair. She runs into her good friend, who's husband is a no good idiot who hates Brooklyn and a bookbinder who is a stuck up snotty (the male version of Minka). So to see the sights of London, she walks around by herself and, hang on, she meets a friend! And he claims he is no longer a player and wants to marry her good friend after she divorces her no good husband! It seems too good to be true, but true sometimes is stranger than fiction...Especially i More...

It's written well enough. The bookbinding thing is far more interesting than that terrible yarn shop series. The characters are nicely done. There was really nothing to complain about at all.

I just kept putting it down and leaving it down. I very rarely forget I have a book in progress, but this one slipped my mind for more than three library renewals. Seriously, I'd get the "books due soon" email and go "Oh, right, I was reading that." I was never engaged with the book at all. Once I had it in More...

I absolutely loved the first book in this series, Homicide In Hardcover, but I didn't find this second book quite as engaging. The interesting thing is I can't put my finger on why I didn't like it as well. One thing, I didn't find it very well paced. I also found it repetitive (Kyle is a good guy, Kyle is a bad guy...) I was surprised to find out who the murderer was and who Serena was. One other thing, and this may be really nit picking but every man that Brooklyn came in contact with was drop More...

Instead of doing all those things I "had" to do yesterday--Memorial Day--I flopped on the front porch with If Books Could Kill for the afternoon and enjoyed it immensely. (These rare days remind me so much of when I was growing up...summer, too hot to move, book I can't put down.) Brooklyn Wainwright, the narrator of the Bibliophile Mysteries, is a fun companion and the book is at times laugh-out-loud hilarious. Plus, the setting--Edinburgh, during its Book Festival--is perfect for us book geeks More...

Book restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright is happy to be attending the world-renowned Edinburgh Book Fair. She take a nighttime tour of the city and the first landmark contains a real dead body, her ex Kyle McVee. Kyle asked Brooklyn earlier to authenticate a book for him that could change history. Kyle was killed with one of Brooklyn's book restoration tools and she leads the suspect list. I loved the first book in this cozy mystery series, and this one was close behind. All the characters ar More...

I didn't like this book anywhere near as much as the one before it. It was much less believable. I mean, (spoiler), there is no way that the Scottish police would share information with their prime (American) murder suspect, or that the queen of England would suddenly show up to get a book. And then Gabriel showing up again, and her parents (who, despite the fact that they live on a commune, are written like they're way too immature - they would have grown up at least a bit after having all thos More...

Book 2 in the series takes place only a month after the first one ended. Brooklyn is at a Book Fair in Edinburgh, Scotland,with her parents and Robin as well as Derek and Gabriel and Minka. Once again she finds dead bodies and is framed for the crimes. Good suspense although the plot is rather unbelievable. The characters continue to be intriguing.
Her loony mother had me laughing out loud. With best of intentions, she adds to Brooklyn's humiliation during all the interaction with the police and More...

This is the second in the Bibliophile series, and I have to say that I truly enjoy these books. They're well-written, technical, without being too geeky, filled with an interesting cast of characters, good, tight writing, and a mystery that delicately accompanies the narrative without overpowering it. Kind of like a fine wine, but this is about book binding instead. This is a series that I would be comfortable reading again because while Brooklyn Wainwright may have a lot of advantages in life, More...

Brooklyn and her family and friends are still a lot of fun. This time the action takes place at a book fair in Scotland. Not as much info on book binding this time, but some on detecting frauds.

What I liked:
* The characters are are fun and interact well with each other.
* Some great descriptions of Scotland.
* The background story of the scandalous book.

What I didn't like:
* Gabriel. He seems to much like Ranger and I don't want another love triangle. And his whole bit was really unnecessary to the More...

It's not the mystery that I find enjoyable, but rather the characters and the conversational tone. At one point I found myself laughing out loud as the main character, a book conserver, interacts with her rather eccentric family. Lets just say the phrase "Wrong number!" will now have new significance in my life. The action occurs at a book fair in Scotland. It seems an unlikely setting for a murder mystery, for as one policeman incredulously proposes, who would kill over a book? It's an entertai More...

This is the second book in the Bibliophile Mystery Series. I enjoyed the first one so much, it was all I could do to get my thoughts down on the first one, so that I could begin it. I can say, that this one was even better than the first. It could probably be a stand alone book, but I am a very firm believer in reading series in order. If I don't, I very rarely go back and read any that I missed, unless I am rereading the entire series start to finish.

This story starts off close to where Homici More...

I really liked the first book in this series, so I was excited to start reading If Books Could Kill.

Let me list my disappointments in order:

I liked the protagonist/amateur sleuth Brooklyn's backstory so much in the first book--raised by upscale counterculture hippies in the commune Dharma, Brooklyn attended Harvard and became a high-level old book restorer (another member of Dharma was her mentor). But this book is set in Scotland and Brooklyn and the family live in California. No problem--they More...

In this second book in the series, Brooklyn Wainwright is attending a book fair in Edinburgh, Scotland. She loves the city and is excited for her trip. Shortly after arriving, Kyle McVee, an old flame, entrusts her will a rare volume of Robert Burns poetry that he claims includes unpublished poems that are part of a royal scandal. He also tells her that someone has been threatening his life and he is sure the threats are linked to the book. Sure, enough, later that day, Kyle's body is discovered More...

This series is really growing on me. Brooklyn Wainwright is a fun, bookbinding sleuth. But it's the colorful cast of supporting characters that are even more fun, especially Brooklyn's new-age family.

Book two takes place at the Edinburgh Book Fair, where a former lover of Brooklyn's is found murdered after discovering a rare book of poems by Scottish poet Rabbie Burns. The book may or may not have connections to the daughter of the madness of King George and has the potential to set the monarchy More...

I enjoyed the book but still have a few problems with this author. In the first book Brooklyn develops a slow-moving love interest in Derek, yet 2/3rds of the way through the book she has a dark tall and mysterious stranger save her life, Gabriel, who goes by one name and acquires extrememly rare items for a price (or steals them). He stole her book in the epilogue. Brooklyn gets all hot and bothered by Gabriel even though she likes Derek. Jump to second book. Gabriel makes another brief appeara More...

In this second book in the Bibliophile series, Brooklyn has traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland for a book convention. She meets up with an old friend, Kyle, who asks her to authenticate a book that may have an unknown poem by Robert Burns and is possibly scandalous to the Royal family. When her friend is found dead, and Brooklyn is implicated in the murder, she is surprised to find that Derek Stone has arrived and wants to help clear her name. Things get more chaotic when her best friend, with Broo More...

I really enjoy these mysteries. The thing that is sticking in my craw is that the main character grew up in a commune and is supposed to be kind of accepting of all people and "Live & let live" in personality. But her nemisis is constantly made fun of for being overweight. Being a little fluffy myself, I kind of cringe everytime they call her a cow. As near as I can tell, Minka is the only "fat" character in any of these books. Maybe it's a San Francisco thing? Meh. I like the stories well e More...

This is a rollicking good time. This heroine is book expert and an artist of book binding. A California girl raised by her parents in a commune, with all the cliches this implies about her parents. This also shapes who she is. So she finds she has a talent for book binding . . . So this series is set in the world of bibliophiles. Funny, fun, almost fantastic, set almost entirely on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh during the Book Fair. It is a good example of what it is, so may it should have five st More...

Great follow up to Homicide in Hardcover. Brooklyn and her family made me laugh at quite a few points. The mystery was interesting and the setting of Edinburgh was fantastic. I would have liked to have seen more bookbinding; there didn't seem to be as much as in the first book. Also, I could do without the quasi love-triangle. Gabriel would still be an interesting character without Brooklyn's attraction to him. Overall, loved the book and will continue with this series.