Once Upon a Spine by Kate Carlisle

Once Upon a Spine by Kate Carlisle ISBN-13: 9780451477736 Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Released: June 5, 2018

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Brooklyn's future in-laws are traveling from England to meet her, and if that's not enough to set her on edge, rumors abound that the charming Courtyard Shops across the street may be replaced by high-rise apartments. Their trendy neighborhood will be ruined unless Brooklyn and her fiance, Derek Stone, can persuade the shopkeepers not to sell.

But with a rare edition of Alice in Wonderland causing bad blood at the Brothers Bookshop and a string of petty vandalism making everyone nervous, Brooklyn and Derek feel overwhelmed. Then the local cobbler is found in the Rabbit Hole juice bar under a toppled heavy shelf. Things get curiouser and curiouser when a second priceless copy of Alice is discovered.

As the Brits descend, Brooklyn learns they're not so stuffy after all. Derek's dad is won over with chocolate cream pie, and his psychic mum would kill to help Brooklyn solve this murder--before another victim takes a tumble.


My Review:
Once Upon a Spine is a cozy mystery. This novel is the 11th in the series. You don't need to read the previous novels to understand this one, and this story didn't spoil the whodunit of the previous books.

Brooklyn and Derek worked as a team, and they passed on the information that they discover to their detective friend. Brooklyn mainly got people talking about the murder to glean who had motive and might have known that the victim would be at that spot. There were clues, but the mystery was ultimately solved by Brooklyn knowingly running into a situation where whodunit was threatening more people (hoping to somehow prevent another death). I prefer reckless to stupid in a heroine, but my favorite mystery heroines solve the mystery without the murderer confessing. Still, enjoyable characters.

There was no sex. There was occasional use of bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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