Read or Alive
A Bookmobile Mystery
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
A match-made in cozy heaven for fans of Jenn McKinlay, Kate Carlisle, and book lovers everywhere, Nora Page's third Bookmobile mystery will (book)worm its way into your heart.
Wrongful accusations have librarian Cleo Watkins and her loved ones booked for trouble.
It's springtime and septuagenarian librarian Cleo Watkins is celebrating new blooms and old books. To her delight, the Georgia Antiquarian Book Society has brought its annual fair to Catalpa Springs in honor of Cleo's gentleman friend, respected antiquarian bookseller and restorer, Henry Lafayette. However, trouble rolls in with the fair when a flirtatious book scout makes the rounds, charming locals out of prized books.
Among the conned is Cleo's cousin, Dot, who handed over a signed, first edition of Gone With the Wind. With no proof the scout took the valuable book, Dot is at a loss. And when the deceitful man is found murdered the very next morning, Dot becomes a prime suspect. To Cleo's dismay, so is Henry. The scene of the crime is behind Henry's shop and his bookbinding tool is the murder weapon. As evidence stacks up against Henry, the police aren't alone in questioning his innocence. Even friends and family ask Cleo how well she truly knows her gentleman friend.
Although books are at the heart of the crimes, Cleo feels dizzyingly out of her depths. Someone is setting up the people she holds dearest. With the authorities on the wrong trail, Cleo has no choice but to catalog the evidence herself. Along with her trusty bookmobile cat Rhett Butler, it will be up to Cleo to book the real killer for good.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The murder of underhanded book scout Hunter Fox, found dead in a Catalpa Springs, Ga., alley during the Georgia Antiquarian Book Society Fair, drives Page's delightful third Bookmobile mystery (after 2019's Read on Arrival). Since Fox finagled or outright stole valuable books from Dot Moore and many other town residents, suspects abound. To the dismay of 76-year-old librarian and bookmobile driver Cleo Watkins, two of them are her cousin Dot and antiquarian bookdealer Henry Lafayette, her gentleman friend. Meanwhile, the police chief is so taken with bookseller Kitty Peavey, a Marilyn Monroe look-alike, that no amount of evidence will convince him to see her as a suspect, even though her relationship with the deceased seemed awfully friendly for a woman who claimed to be "pre-engaged" to the book society president. To catch the killer, Cleo lays a trap for someone that no one else has even suspected. Page offers a fascinating look at book collectors and their world. Cozy fans will look forward to seeing more of Cleo and her friends.