Brooklyn and Derek are ready to celebrate Christmas with their friends and family at their new home in Dharma, in California’s wine country. They have invited over dozens of people, setting up rides in limousines and tables full of food and drinks for everyone who comes. And they are enjoying their evening when Brooklyn gets the phone call.

Dear friends of theirs in Scotland, Claire and Cameron, have decided to get married, and they want Brooklyn and Derek to come be their witnesses. Brooklyn doesn’t have much time to think about it, as they’re getting married in a week, just after midnight in the new year. They offer to fly Brooklyn, Derek, and Brooklyn’s parents over to Loch Ness, where they can stay in Cameron’s family’s castle.

But once they get to Loch Ness, Brooklyn can tell that not everything is happiness and warmth for the wedding. For one thing, there are twelve books missing from the castle’s library, some of them quite valuable. And for another, there is a strange energy coming from the castle’s librarian. In fact, several of the local women make Brooklyn feel uncomfortable. At first she thinks it’s just jealousy, that the local women are upset that the Laird Cameron had chosen Claire to be his wife. But when Claire tells Brooklyn about a couple of threatening incidents, Brooklyn knows that something potentially dangerous is going on.

As Cameron builds a big bonfire so the town can come celebrate Hogmanay at the castle, Brooklyn and her mother team up with Claire’s aunt Gwyneth to come up with a plan to keep Claire safe. She doesn’t necessarily need the help, as she is an expert with weapons (Claire originally met Cameron when he hired her to help with the many ancient weapons that had been neglected at the castle while his father had been in charge). But she is distracted by the wedding plans, so Brooklyn and her team put their plans into action.

A series of loud shrieks and clanking chains in the walls of the castle leave Brooklyn disoriented, but it’s the murders that cause the real disturbance. Brooklyn knows that Claire and Cameron can never really be safe and happy unless all the mischief is sorted out, so she puts her head down in order to find those twelve missing books, and maybe a killer as well.

The Twelve Books of Christmas is book 17 in Kate Carlisle’s Bibliophile Mystery series. These books are filled with family and friends, good food and drinks, beautiful locations, some scheming and thieving and a little bit of murder. In this one, there is plenty of holiday cheer, for Christmas and New Year’s and for Scotland’s Hogmanay, as well as a little wackiness to keep things interesting.

I am a fan of Kate Carlisle and her knack for creating characters that are just fun to hang out with. But she also throws in some surprises and plenty of good energy. The food she describes sounds delicious and there is a genuine sense of celebration in this one, for the holidays and the wedding. There are also lots of interesting tidbits about Christmas stories and explanations of bookbinding and repairing techniques, adding bookish fun to the story. I really enjoyed The Twelve Books of Christmas, and I think other fans of Carlisle and of cozy mysteries will find this book to be a gift.

Egalleys for The Twelve Books of Christmas were provided by Berkley through NetGalley, with many thanks.