Once Upon a Spine Book Review

About the Book: Brooklyn Wainwright, a San Francisco bookbinder, is on edge because her soon-to-be in-laws are coming to meet her all the way from England.  She's also worried about the rumors that the charming Courtyard shops across the street from her will be replaced by a high-rise apartment building.  She and her fiance, Derek Stone, must convince the shopkeepers not to sell.

That could be a difficult task with a rare edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland causing bad blood at the Brothers Bookshop and vandalism putting everyone on edge.

As if that's not enough, Brooklyn finds the local cobbler murdered under a set of shelves in the local Rabbit Hole.  Things get even more interesting when a second priceless copy of Alice surfaces.  Will this cause more trouble within the close-knit Courtyard community?

When Derek's parents arrive, things go much better than anticipated.  Brooklyn wins over her fiance's dad with some chocolate cream pie, and Derek's mother jumps at the chance to help Brooklyn solve this murder.

My Thoughts: This is the first big city cozy I've read.  It still felt like a small town cozy to me, given how close everyone in the Courtyard is - it's like their own little world.  Once Upon a Spine is the first book I've read in the Bibliophile Mystery series, and I was able to easily follow the storyline.  So if you haven't read any of the other books in the series, you'll have no trouble reading this book as a stand-alone novel.

I really enjoy Brooklyn's character.  Her relationship with the main detective on the case, Inspector Lee, is much different than I'm used to in cozies.  Inspector Lee almost welcomes Brooklyn's help rather than reprimanding her and telling her not to get involved in the case.

There is a cat in this mystery, but we don't see much of her at all.  That was disappointing, but the book was excellent even without many appearances from Brooklyn's cat.

I really enjoyed reading this book.  I wasn't all together surprised at the end, but I really enjoyed getting to know all the characters.

I believe anyone who enjoys cozies would like this book.

FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of, "Once Upon a Spine: Bibliophile Mystery" by Kate Carlisle for a fair and honest review.  Receiving the book did not influence my opinions in any way.  All opinions expressed on Fur Everywhere are my own.