San Francisco book-restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright is back with an intriguing new mystery in the New York Times bestselling Bibliophile Mystery series.

Joseph Cabot is a very popular wealthy San Franciscan who owns the main newspaper in town, as well as radio stations and TV. Years ago, Brooklyn’s husband Derek and his security team rescued Joseph from an assassination attempt and now the man and his wife are friendly with Derek and Brooklyn. The friendship is helped along by the fact that Joseph is a big book lover and contributes lavishly to the Covington Library. His favorite author is Mark Twain (another newspaperman) and he’s underwritten the first annual Mark Twain Festival at the Covington.

As part of the festival activities, Brooklyn will spend a few hours every day at the Library, giving demonstrations of her work at re-binding an old copy of The Prince and the Pauper. There will be events all week, all around town, celebrating the time Twain spent in the city. But the biggest event is being run by Joseph’s newspaper: a citywide contest based on The Prince and The Pauper—they want to find someone who looks like Joseph! The two men will trade places for a week as part of a huge publicity campaign to raise money for the Covington Library. But the fun turns frantic when a murder occurs right before Brooklyn’s eyes! Now Brooklyn and Derek will have to chase clues all over their beloved city to solve the murder before another death becomes front-page news. ( )

Set aside two days for this contemporary library fundraiser cozy mystery set in San Francisco, California where the first annual Mark Twain Festival was held, featuring a look-alike contest. I was given a paperback and thoroughly enjoyed it. ( )

San Francisco Clarion publisher, Joseph Cabot, has hired bookbinder, Brooklyn Wainwright, to restore a first edition of The Prince and the Pauper as part of a Mark Twain festival. The events at the festival include, a frog jumping contest, fence painting, and a look-alike contest where the person who looks the most like Joseph will trade places just as in the P&P. When someone who is involved in Joseph's life turns up dead, Brooklyn and her husband Derek set out to protect Joseph and find the murderer.

I was somewhat disappointed with this installment. It didn't seem to have the same depth of character for the regulars. Brooklyn seemed a bit restricted in her personality and Derek seemed to clingy. Hopefully, they will return to normal next time. ( )

Perhaps the least satisfying of the series. It may be my imagination, but the lead character Brooklyn seems to be becoming increasingly unstable. When Derek gets out of her sight for a few minutes at a party, she all but has a panic attack. From a larger view, despite now having had a long run of murder involvements, she honestly doesn't seem any more sophisticated about them. Has she learned nothing? Her insistence on doing blatantly illegal acts such as searching rooms in other people's homes, and eavesdropping every chance she gets, frankly makes her a person of pretty questionable character. While I'm at it, Derek is a wooden, one-dimensional stock character who's main purpose is to coo sweet nothings into Brooklyn's ear and make her cry from joy. Aarrrgh!

Plotwise, at least, this outing was fairly typical. a few surprises, but also no real puzzles, and certainly none that were solved by detective work and brain power rather than just dumb luck of things falling into laps. ( )

Brooklyn Wainwright is a bookbinder specializing in rare books. As such, the author has been able to pick varied books over more than a dozen mysteries to entertain us. The multi-millionaire publisher of the San Francisco Clarion, Jacob Cabot, has a love of all things Mark Twain. He has planned a multimedia event involving both the paper and the public to celebrate Twain and his favorite book, The Prince and the Pauper. He even hires Brooklyn to refurbish a first edition as part of the festivities at the Covington Library. There are glittery parties, a frog jumping contest and best of all, a lookalike contest to see who most resembles Cabot and will change places with him for 4 days. I appreciate getting a chance to know these characters, before the slow build to the murder occurs. There are plenty of likely suspects, many unpleasant folks making guessing the culprit a challenge. Set in San Francisco, much of the story takes place at the charming Covington Library, site of other crimes that Brooklyn has helped solve. ( )