Homicide in Hardcover: A Bibliophile Mystery
by Kate Carlisle
List Price:
Our Price: $1.80
You Save: $6.19 (77%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Kate CarlisleEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-02-03
ISBN: 0451226151
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Signet
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780451226150
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Homicide in Hardcover: A Bibliophile Mystery
Book Review: Not for book lovers who love good writing.
Summary: 1 Stars
To start with the positive aspect (singular, only one), the book has a story that moves right along. No dawdling for this perky dame. But maybe that should be only half a positive: there is more than enough action to fill one of the more ridiculous Hollywood crime movies. (When it's made into a movie, I suggest a cast that includes whoever the two currently most prominent male Hollywood heart-throbs happen to be, and Gabourey Sidibe*).
Then there's the narrator, who unfortunately IS a perky dame. She (and apparently her creator) is one of these women who think women are wonderful, talented, charming, etc. just because they happen to be women. So right away the narrator introduces us to her BFF (yes, the entire book is written cute, even including some "hmmm"s), who's glamorous, runs a business and is also a brilliant sculptor. But then the next door neighbor comes in to ask a favor of the narrator; This neighbor and her lesbian mate also happen to be sculptors, yet they've never met the best friend sculptor, and the fact that they're all sculptors is never brought into the conversation.
Another of these apparent attention-to-verisimilitude lapses occurs later in the book when the narrator has a bowl of noodles splashed all over her in a restaurant and swears she'll never eat another bowl of noodles. The very next day she's "nibbling" on noodles, with no reference to the previous day's oath.
When the love interest is introduced, our witty, independent, liberated perky dame suddenly becomes a mass of molten blubber at the very sight of him, and the book threatens to become a cheap romance novel instead of a bad crime novel. That threat grows even more threatening as the action moves forward. And one of these ideal hunks is not enough; the author brings in a second perfect stud toward the end.
*Speaking of blubber, if the narrator follows the diet described by the author, she (the narrator--and who knows, maybe the author) must weigh about 350 pounds--pizza, wine, ice cream, wine, noodles, wine, candy . . .
If I try to imagine the author, I have to conclude that the book is the fantasy of some fat blob who can't move off the couch but manages to bring in an income and maintain her steady diet of carbs and fat because she knows how to type. But then I get to the end of the book and am confronted by a photo of an apparently not-overweight, rather attractive blonde (with a glass of wine in front of her) grinning into the camera. All of which just goes to show, I guess, that one should not confuse the writer with the narrator.
Finally, I don't even want to get started on the motive for the murders and the believability of the person who commits them. They're more fragile than the crumbling pages of the books that the narrator restores. (As another reviewer has pointed out, the whole bibliophile angle of the production is quite disappointing.)
At any rate, when I start thinking that maybe Agatha Christie was a literary genius, I know I'm reading a very bad mystery novel.
Summary of Homicide in Hardcover: A Bibliophile Mystery
murder is always a bestseller...
first in the new bibliophile mystery series!
The streets of San Francisco would be lined with hardcovers if rare book expert Brooklyn Wainwright had her way. And her mentor wouldn?t be lying in a pool of his own blood on the eve of a celebration for his latest book restoration.
With his final breath he leaves Brooklyn a cryptic message, and gives her a priceless?and supposedly cursed?copy of Goethe?s Faust for safekeeping.
Brooklyn suddenly finds herself accused of murder and theft, thanks to the humorless?but attractive?British security officer who finds her kneeling over the body. Now she has to read the clues left behind by her mentor if she is going to restore justice?
first in the new bibliophile mystery series!
The streets of San Francisco would be lined with hardcovers if rare book expert Brooklyn Wainwright had her way. And her mentor wouldn?t be lying in a pool of his own blood on the eve of a celebration for his latest book restoration.
With his final breath he leaves Brooklyn a cryptic message, and gives her a priceless?and supposedly cursed?copy of Goethe?s Faust for safekeeping.
Brooklyn suddenly finds herself accused of murder and theft, thanks to the humorless?but attractive?British security officer who finds her kneeling over the body. Now she has to read the clues left behind by her mentor if she is going to restore justice?
Literature & Fiction Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Literature & Fiction Books
Little Womenby Louisa May Alcott
Scribner; Published: 1986-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
The Killing Groundby JACK HIGGINS
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS LTD; Published: 2007; Hardcover; Book
Saving Fish from Drowningby Amy Tan
4th Estate; Published: 2005; Paperback; Book
Life Expectancyby Dean Koontz
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2005-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Constant Princessby Philippa Gregory
Touchstone/Simon & Schuster; Published: 2005; Hardcover; Book
Wolf of the Plains (Conqueror, Book 1)by Conn Iggulden
Harper; Published: 2007; Paperback; Book
Saharaby Clive Cussler
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2005-03-21; Paperback; Book
Perelandra (Cosmic Trilogy)by C. S. Lewis
Voyager; Published: 2005-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.64
Price in other shops:
The Lord Of The Rings: Part 2 The Two Towersby J. R. R. Tolkien
Harper Collins Publishers; Published: 2001; Paperback; Book
Red Marsby Kim Stanley Robinson
Trafalgar Square; Published: 2001-06; Paperback; Book
Similar Books and other products
Sentenced to Death (A Booktown Mystery)by Lorna Barrett
Berkley; Published: 2011-06-07; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.65
Price in other shops:
The Square Root of Murder (Professor Sophie Knowles)by Ada Madison
Berkley; Published: 2011-07-05; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.84
Price in other shops:
Murder Is Bindingby Lorna Barrett
Berkley; Published: 2008-04-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.60
Price in other shops:
File M for Murder (Cat in the Stacks Mystery)by Miranda James
Berkley; Published: 2012-01-31; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.15
Price in other shops:
Double Booked for Death (A Black Cat Bookshop Mystery)by Ali Brandon
Berkley; Published: 2011-12-06; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.13
Price in other shops:
The Last Word (A Books by the Bay Mystery)by Ellery Adams
Berkley; Published: 2011-12-06; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.09
Price in other shops:
If Books Could Kill: A Bibliophile Mysteryby Kate Carlisle
Signet; Published: 2010-02-02; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.52
Price in other shops:
The Lies That Bind: A Bibliophile Mysteryby Kate Carlisle
Signet; Published: 2010-11-02; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops:
Murder Under Cover: A Bibliophile Mysteryby Kate Carlisle
Signet; Published: 2011-05-03; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.91
Price in other shops:
One Book in the Grave: A Bibliophile Mysteryby Kate Carlisle
Signet; Published: 2012-02-07; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops: