The Grim Reader (Bibliophile Mystery, #14)

by Kate Carlisle

San Francisco book-restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright was hoping for a fun, relaxing weekend at a local book fair, but a murderer made other plans in the latest in this New York Times bestselling series.

Brooklyn and her new hunky husband, Derek, are excited to be guests at Dharma’s first annual Book Festival. The entire town is involved and Brooklyn’s mom Rebecca is taking charge. In addition to all of her other event related duties, she’s got Brooklyn doing rare book appraisals and is also staging Little Women, the musical to delight the festival goers. If that wasn’t enough, she and Meg—Derek’s mom—will have a booth where they read palms and tarot cards.

Brooklyn couldn’t be prouder of her mom’s do-it-all attitude so when a greedy local businessman who seems intent on destroying Dharma starts harassing Rebecca, Brooklyn is ready to take him down. Rebecca is able to hold her own with the nasty jerk until one of her fellow festival committee members is brutally murdered and the money for the festival seems to have vanished into thin air. 
Things get even more personal when one of Brooklyn’s nearest and dearest is nearly run down in cold blood. Brooklyn and Derek go into attack mode and the pressure is on to catch a spineless killer before they find themselves skipping the festival for a funeral.

• ISBN10: 0451491432
• ISBN13: 9780451491435
• Publish Date: 2 June 2020
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Out of Print: 27 April 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780451491435

Reviews

[pagesbycyndy]

I plan on devouring all of the previous books as soon as I get the chance.

The Grim Reader by Kate Carlisle is book number 14 in the series. This is the first book that I have read in this series and it may be read as a standalone, although I plan on devouring all of the previous books as soon as I get the chance.  Brooklyn and husband, Derek, are in  Dharma for the first annual Book Fair, and it seems that wherever these two go a murder is sure to follow. Brooklyn is a fun heroine and I absolutely love the banter between her and hunky hubby Derek. We get plenty of help from  Brooklyn's siblings, all unique in their own way with their awesome names, they are all named for the places that they were conceived in by their wonderful hippie parents, who endeared themselves to me right away. As the bodies pile up Brooklyn and Derek race to solve the murders before the killer strikes close to home.

The twists and turns in this book, as well as the way the story unfolds, is very well done. I loved all of the Little Women references and the way that the mystery revolved around one of my all-time favorite books. With just the perfect balance between romance and mystery I was satisfied and if you like a great cozy mystery with a side of romance then you will enjoy this book.

This review was originally posted on Cindy’s Book Stacks