It’s the first annual Mark Twain Festival in honor of the Covington Library in San Francisco, and bookbinder Brooklyn Wainwright is ready for it. The festival is sponsored by the newspaper, the Clarion, which is owned by billionaire entrepreneur Joseph Cabot. Brooklyn’s husband Derek once saved Joseph’s life, so they are close friends. And Brooklyn is friendly to anyone who loves books, so Joseph is her friend too.
The festival has several different activities through the week, including riverboat gambling, a frog-jumping contest, fence painting for the kids, and Brooklyn will be doing her bookbinding magic on a first edition of The Prince and the Pauper, right in the middle of the library for anyone who wants to watch her work. The inside pages aren’t too bad, but it needs to be rebound and the gold on the cover needs to be re-gilded.
And as the centerpiece for the festival is a sort of reenactment of The Prince and the Pauper. Joseph has created a contest where people have applied to show how they look like Joseph. three judges have picked out the person they think look most like him to take his place for the duration of the festival. That person will live in his house, eat meals prepared by his chef, and be driven around by his driver. At the end of the festival, that person will earn a new custom wardrobe and $100,000. Meanwhile, Joseph will be taking their place for the week.
Because Joseph decided to put up a life-changing amount of money in this competition, there have been some threats. Joseph doesn’t want to take any chances, so he hires Derek and his security company to guard both Joseph and the look-alike.
They announce the winner of the contest at Joseph’s mansion, surrounded by friends and by the press. The man chosen is named Tom Cantwell, an Army veteran down on his luck. Joseph introduces him and then whisks him away for an immediate makeover, so the press can show the before and after photos in the next morning’s paper. When Tom returns, he looks almost exactly like Joseph.
Meanwhile, all is not entirely well with everyone at the house. Joseph’s butler Hobson is upset by the idea of a stranger moving in and refuses to help. He was also arguing with Joseph’s mother-in-law Ingrid, who is visiting. While his wife Ella is lovely and has always been kind to Brooklyn, Brooklyn is still intimidated by her beauty and flawless fashion sense. But Ella’s mother Ingrid has spent her time at the festival activities complaining and arguing, creating lots of speculation and gossip but not too many friends.
But when someone is murdered right in front of Brooklyn and Derek, then she takes it personally and wants to know why. Is the murder about the look-alike contest, or are there some other nefarious reasons for it? She has the reputation of the festival and the library to keep in mind, but someone’s death is more important. Brooklyn knows it’s dangerous to investigate, especially with a killer smart enough to kill in the manner they did, but she won’t feel safe until she finds out the truth. And hopefully she can figure it out before someone else gets hurt.
The Paper Caper is book 16 in the Bibliophile mystery series. Kate Carlisle never fails to entertain with these cozy mysteries starring a bookbinder and her adventures in crime solving. While there are a lot of mystery series about books, librarians, and book lovers of all types, these are the only ones I know of that feature a bookbinder, which offers an entirely new way of looking at books and their value. Brooklyn and Derek, along with the friends and family who tend to show up in these books, feel like old friends, and reading one of Carlisle’s mysteries is like taking a vacation back to a favorite location.
I really enjoyed The Paper Caper. Each chapter starts with a quote from Mark Twain, which is a fun reminder of the man’s wit and depth. Having the celebration of his life as the background to this story adds a lot of texture, and I admire Carlisle’s creativity it coming up with activities based on his work. The look-alike competition was maybe a little weird (the characters thought so too), but Carlisle made it work. And the ingenuity of the murder weapon shows that she has definitely done her research. I loved that Brooklyn and Derek got to stay close to home for this one, and that library sounds like a dream. The Paper Caper is a strong addition to this series and a lot of fun for fans of mysteries as well as of Mark Twain and his influence on American literature and culture.
Egalleys for The Paper Caper were provided by Berkley Publishing Group through NetGalley, with many thanks.
