Comments for The Lies That Bind

The Lies That Bind: 06/10/14

The Lies That Bind by Kate Carlisle is the third of the Bibliophile Mystery series. Brooklyn Wainwright has returned to San Francisco to teach a book binding course. She's also rebound a nice old (but not first) edition of Oliver Twist only to have the director of BABA lie and call it a first edition.

It seems that every time Brooklyn tries to run her class, someone either ends up seriously hurt or dead at BABA (Bay Area Book Arts). Ultimately it's Layla, the director who is murdered and Brooklyn, figures she has to solve the case before her reputation is forever damaged.

As with any cozy mystery, there's a chance that the series' niche and its refined selection of tropes will make solving the mystery faster than the protagonist too easy. That happened here. The reasons behind the crimes, though, come in the back third of the book which seem to be there for soap-operatic drama than for the construction of the mystery.

I did though enjoy Brooklyn's further lessons on book binding, book history, and her hippy commune roots. I have the fourth book, Murder Under Cover, on hand to read soon.

Three stars

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