Bookbinder Brooklyn Wainwright is back in the town where she grew up, Dharma, California, for the town’s first ever book festival. The festival is being planned and organized by a committee run by Brooklyn’s mother Rebecca, and the theme of the festival is Little Women. Brooklyn is excited about the festival, where she will give talks on bookbinding as well as offering crafts for young readers and wine and book pairings, so she and her husband Derek decide to go to Dharma before the festival starts, to see family and help out where they can.
They immediately head to one of the committee meetings, to see Brooklyn’s mom and to check in on the planning for the festival. And they are surprised at what they find.
Most of the committee are in agreement with Rebecca and her vision for the festival, but local businessman Jacob Banyan is not impressed with her leadership. He had moved to town and foreclosed on several wineries in the area so he could buy them for himself. And since Banyan has the backing of a minority of the committee members, he thinks he can interrupt the meeting, trying to bully Rebecca into letting him have a festival booth for his cheap wines. She’d already told him no, and she stuck by her decision. All the booth assignments had been decided long ago and there are no openings. Banyan storms out, his threats ringing the air.
Brooklyn and Derek decide that they will keep an eye on her, to make sure she’s safe.
But then things take a dark turn. The board’s money manager is killed, and they find out that the account has been drained. Rebecca is almost hit by a car. They want to blame Jacob Banyan for everything bad that is happening to the festival and to Rebecca, but he has a strong alibi, so Brooklyn has to turn her amateur sleuthing in a different direction.
Before his death, the board’s accountant had given Brooklyn an old copy of Little Women to restore. She does a little digging and finds out that it’s a first edition, only half of a set, but still worth well over $10,000. Could that have something to do with his death? Or was the motive something more sinister?
As Brooklyn and Derek work to protect their family and the first edition, they find that they themselves are in more danger than they ever expected to be in Dharma. But the only way to get past the danger is to figure out who is threatening them. They have to find a killer!
The Grim Reader is Kate Carlisle’s 14th book in the Bibliophile Mystery series, and it is imminently readable. It’s a light-hearted mystery, with lots of family warmth and friendly reunions. There are crimes, even murder, but they take a bit of a backseat to the talk of the festival, Brooklyn’s work on the first edition of Little Women, and the time spent with friends and family.
I enjoyed The Grim Reader. It’s certainly not a hardcore mystery, but if you’re looking for a lighter cozy with lots of talk about books and family, then this may be the mystery for you.
Egalleys for The Grim Reader were provided by Berkley through Edelweiss, with many thanks.
