It isn't particularly unusual when Brooklyn Wainwright is
asked to restore a
cookbook, since she's a bookbinder, but she didn't expect
the domino effect
that this simple request would have. The client was her
sister, Savannah, who
is a chef who graduated from the Cordon Bleu in Paris, and
the book is to be a
gift to her ex-boyfriend (and fellow Cordon Bleu alum)
Baxter Cromwell at the
opening of his new restaurant, to which he has also invited
other former
classmates so they can each feature their cuisine one night
per week.
When Savannah gives the book to Baxter, one of their fellow
chefs seems
quite angry, which Brooklyn notices since it seems to be an
usual reaction.
Savannah tells Brooklyn not to worry about it, but Brooklyn
can't help but to
worry when Baxter ends up dead before the night is over.
Unfortunately,
since Savannah is the one who found Baxter, she immediately
becomes a
suspect.
Brooklyn, who has now has a habit of finding dead bodies,
decides she needs
to do whatever it takes to clear her sister's name.
Brooklyn's boyfriend Derek,
who is a security expert and happens to have a good
relationship with the
detectives working Baxter's murder, is able to serve as an
intermediary --
both letting the detectives know that there are better
suspects than Savannah
and helping Brooklyn get some inside information. As the
investigation
continues, Savannah finds out that nearly chef who knew
Baxter had a reason
to want him dead.
The mystery deepens, however, when Derek gets a look at the
copies Brooklyn
made of the cookbook pages before she restored it, convinced
that the
cookbook could be more valuable than Savannah realised.
Derek calls his
brother Dalton, a cryptographer for MI6. Dalton drops
everything and flies to
the U.S. to examine the copies and discovers a secret code
buried among the
pages. Could this have anything to do with Baxter's murder,
or is this an
extra mystery?
The more Bibliophile Mystery books I read, the more I
love them. Brooklyn is
such a smart, savvy, witty character who has enough flaws to
make her
human, but not so many that one wonders how she's able to
solve mysteries.
Her relationship with Derek has evolved in an organic way
that has been
pleasant to follow, and Dalton was a great character, as
well. I hope he
continues to make appearances in future books, and I
wouldn't mind getting
to know the rest of Brooklyn's family, as well -- not just
her mildly eccentric
mother. All in all, this series keeps getting better, and I
look forward to each
installment eagerly!
It’s a recipe for disaster when bookbinder Brooklyn
Wainwright is asked to restore an antique cookbook….
Brooklyn has always been a little obsessed with food, but it
was her sister Savannah who became a chef, graduating from
the prestigious Cordon Bleu school in Paris. She and her
classmates all went on to successful careers, but none of
them achieved culinary superstardom like Savannah’s
ex-boyfriend Baxter Cromwell.
When Baxter invites the old gang to participate in his new
restaurant’s gala opening in San Francisco, Savannah looks
forward to seeing her friends, and even asks Brooklyn to
restore a tattered cookbook—an old gift from Baxter—as a
present for him. But Brooklyn immediately recognizes that
the book, which has strange notes and symbols scrawled in
the margins, is at least two hundred years old. She thinks
that it probably belongs in a museum, but Savannah insists
on returning it to Baxter.
Shortly after receiving the gift, Baxter is found dead, with
Savannah kneeling over him, bloody knife in hand, and the
rare cookbook has disappeared. Brooklyn knows her sister
didn’t kill him, and she suspects the missing cookbook might
lead to the real villain. Now Brooklyn will have to turn up
the heat on the investigation before Chef Savannah finds
herself slinging hash in a prison cafeteria.
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