Thursday, November 10, 2011

Double Booked For Death-Ali Brandon

Double Booked For Death


Ali Brandon

Berkley, Dec 6 2011, $7.99

ISBN: 9780425244975



In Brooklyn with the death of her Aunt Dee, Darla Pettistone inherits Pettistone’s Fine Books and Hamlet the cat. Darla knows she has a lot to prove to herself, to the neighborhood (and beyond) and mostly to that darn cat whose air of superiority bothers her now owner almost as much as the feline appears to have a higher IQ than she has.



She feels good about her first major event since taking over Pettistone’s. Best-selling YA author Valerie Baylor will stop at Pettistone on her tour promoting her third bestselling Haunted High paranormal series. Darla anticipates five hundred or more teen girls attending the signing. She knows the gala has some problems from a person accusing the author of plagiarism and from a fundamentalist church thinking of picketing the bookstore. Those are minor to when Baylor arrives as she dies just outside the shop in what the police declare is a tragic accident. Hamlet the wise thinks otherwise and finds clues that propel Darla and her tenant former cop Jacqueline “Jake” Martelli, to investigate a homicide.



The first A Black Cat Bookshop Mystery is an entertaining whodunit starring a brilliant feline (who does not speak in human tongues), a beleaguered new store owner and an ex cop. The story line is fast-paced as Hamlet uncovers the clues that the two females working the case follow up on. Having an ex cop somewhat mitigates the amateur sleuth paradoxical flaw as fans will enjoy Double Booked For Death.



Harriet Klausner



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