Murder is Binding
by Lorna Barrett
Small
town cozy mystery with mystery bookseller sleuth.
Lorna Barrett's Murder is Binding introduces the
new Booktown Mystery series. A cozy mystery with a mystery bookseller
amateur sleuth and a book at the center of the puzzle, this mystery is
a fun light read. For mystery enthusiasts, the tribute to the mystery
genre itself with mentions of mystery classics from Cornell Woolrich
and Ngaio Marsh to Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie make Murder is Binding a must read.
Every good cooking mystery must include recipes, and true to form,
Lorna Barrett delights readers with a recipe addendum in the back.
Stoneham, known as the safest town in New Hampshire, was a dying town
until the downtown revitalization. Now, the center of town houses genre
specialty bookstores and draws in tourists and book collectors. Tricia
Miles and her cat Miss Marple run the mystery bookstore, Haven't Got a
Clue. When she discovers Doris Gleason, owner of the Cookery, dead in
the neighboring bookstore, Tricia sees a new side of Stoneham from the
political race threatening to divide long term natives on the town's
outskirts and the bookstore newcomers to other simmering jealousies.
When another resident has a suspicious car accident, Tricia thinks she
might have a lead into the motive behind the murder but who can she
trust? Sheriff Adams seems determined to pin the murders on Tricia, the
town jinx. Tricia's sister Angelica arrives into town unexpectedly,
stirring up the past along with her appetizing dishes.
Lorna Barrett's Murder Is Binding
is a must read for mystery buffs. Full of first edition classics and
tributes to many of the great mystery classics, readers will not only
feel the nostalgia of a small town mystery but of their personal
reading histories. Lorna Barrett's research into the bookseller trade
flows in the smallest details from the details of book sources and
different types of booksellers to the antiquarian and rare book
standards for packaging books.
Tricia Miles is a wonderful sleuth. With each new trail, the reader
catches a glimpse of a woman who cares for others and justice beyond
just clearing her name even to the point of endangering her own safety.
Tricia's relationship with her sister Angelica adds depth to the
characterization as Tricia battles a history of sibling rivalry at the
same time as she gains a mystery sidekick who amuses and endears the
reader to the sisters. To the reader's delight, the mystery details and
resolution provide several twists until the very end. Lorna Barrett
gives readers a delicious mix of small town and family jealousies and
undercurrents beneath the surface complemented by heart-warming scenes,
all brought together by Doris Gleason's murder. After reading Lorna
Barrett's Murder is Binding,
the first in the Booktown Mystery series, readers might just find
themselves hoping that this small town will forever shed the
distinction of safest town to make way for more Booktown mysteries!
Publisher: Berkley (April 2008)
Reviewed by Merrimon,
Merrimon Book Reviews
