Bookmarked for Death

Lorna Barrett

The town of Stoneham, New Hampshire, has remade itself into a town that sells books. They have many book specialty stores. Tour busses stop into their town now just to look through the stores. Tricia Miles owns Haven't Got a Clue, a mystery bookstore. She keeps used books in her collection to help shoppers find that hard-to-find mystery or the one that is out of print. She also carries new releases.

Zoe Carter, an award winning mystery novelist, comes to Haven't Got a Clue for a rare appearance and book signing. Tricia is disappointed that the author is so withdrawn and unsocial. Her niece constantly chides the author to smile, take her medicine, talk louder, and other directives. But then Zoe goes to the bathroom to take her medicine and doesn't return. Tricia finds her body a little later. Someone killed her in the bathroom.

This is the second time in about six months that Tricia has found a dead body. This time the police chief closes her store as a crime scene and aren't in a hurry to reopen it. She is losing money each day it is closed. The police don't appear to be looking very hard for the local author's killer. So Tricia decides to start investigating on her own.

OK, I admit it. I was suckered in by a cover showing a cat in a bookshop, with the additional "includes recipes" offset box. I could tell the book would be a bit of fluff cozy. It is that. But not much else. I almost skipped over the last third of the book because it wasn't holding my attention. It's an easy book to read. It's also easy to put down and ignore.

Actually, the mystery has a good twist at the end. But it wasn't easy to get there. I couldn't care about Lorna Barrett's characters or suspects. I kept with it. Bookmarked for Death is not unreadable. It's fairly predictable. Yes, it's readable and cute. But if you've got other books on your Mt. Bookpile, you can give Bookmarked for Death a miss.

Notice:  Non-graphic violence

Murder is Binding
Bookmarked for Death
Bookplate Special
Chapter and Hearse
Sentenced to Death