THE BOOK SUPREMACY

5 stars out of 5

Delightful! It's been a long time since I've read a book with so many characters as engaging as these - starting with book-restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright. That probably won't come as a surprise to those who found her long ago - this is the 13th book in the series - but she's new to me. And for sure I'll be following her from now on.

The story begins as Brooklyn is with her newly minted hunky former spy husband, Derek, in Paris (she'd met him on a murder case, apparently a book or two ago. Turns out she loves Ian Fleming's James Bond books (another reason I love her), so while Derek chats with a friend they bumped into as they browsed street vendors, she finds and buys a first-edition copy of "The Spy Who Loved Me." As she joins Derek and Ned to show them the book, she spots a suspicious character wearing a hoodie; nothing bad happens, but Ned clearly is upset.

Back home in San Francisco, they visit with another of Derek's spy-days cohorts, Owen, who runs a shop called "Spectre" that sells all kinds spy-related things and manages several very popular escape rooms. There, she meets a group of young would-be writers, a couple of whom work at Spectre. Brooklyn also offers her newly purchased book for a display that might help boost Owen's business - and he snaps up the offer. 

Owen then puts the book on display under lock and key. Not long after that, though, there's a break-in - and one of the young writers ends up dead (several items have been stolen, but thankfully, the book is safe). Derek gets a sad letter from Ned, who refers to a "list" in a "book." But what book? Could it be he's referring to Brooklyn's rare find and, if so, was it the real target of the break-in? Even more important, can Brooklyn and Derek figure out what's going on before someone else gets killed?

I can't give out the details, but I can say it was great fun learning the answers to those questions. For the record, I also enjoyed reading the details of Brooklyn's book-binding and restoration work, and the recipes at the end of the book sound yummy even though anything with more than three ingredients isn't likely to get made in my kitchen. Loved this one, and I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

The Book Supremacy by Kate Carlisle (Berkley, June 2019); 332 pp.