Once Upon a Spine by Kate Carlisle

Once Upon a Spine: A Bibliophile Mystery by Kate Carlisle

Published June 5, 2018; Berkley/Penguin Random House

Brooklyn  and Derek, owners of the Brothers Bookstore, get ready to host Derek's British parents while trying to solve a murder and vandalism.
This is the 11th in the mystery series though each book can be read on its own.

Book beginning:

Lately, I've resorted to stalking. Not a person, but a book. For weeks now I'd been visiting the book almost daily. It was a little embarrassing to continually beg the bookstore owner to let me hold it, page through it, study it. I just wanted to touch it, stroke it, and once, when he wasn't looking, sniff it. But he didn't seem to mind my book fixation. He's as big a book nerd as I am.

Many readers can empathize with Brooklyn and her extreme love of books. The fact that she is a book binder and an amateur sleuth adds spice to this novel. The British in-laws- to-be add to the plot interest and the solving of the mystery.

Page 56:

The fact that I had walked in and found two unconscious people - one almost certainly dead - was something I should have been used to by now. 

The amateur sleuth gets some help later on from her future mother-in-law, a psychic.
This is definitely a book for readers, bibliophiles, and mystery lovers.

Thanks to the publisher for a paperback review copy of this book. 
Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader

Sunday Salon: How I Became a North Korean by Krys Lee

How I Became a North Korean by Krys Lee was a lucky find at the library, informative, revealing, and easy to read. The story involves a Korean-American student Danny who returns to his parents' former hometown in China, partly to run away from his separated parents and partly to escape the bullying in his California high school.

Danny meets runaways from North Korea who have crossed the river separating their country from China, and he tries to become one of them, befriending them while living as one of them, refugees in fear of discovery by the authorities. When Christian Koreans offer them shelter and food, Danny continues his subterfuge, unwilling to tell the pastors he is not a North Korean orphan, as his father is in America and his mother in China.

The novel reveals the plight of many North Korean refugees who make it across the river to China, but are there illegally, in fear of being returned to their oppressive home country. They often live in pitiful conditions in their newfound "freedom" and are taken advantage of by unscrupulous people while they wait and hope to be repatriated to either South Korea or another welcoming country.

The novel is written by South Korean writer, Krys Lee. I gave her intriguing and eye-opening novel five stars.

Other new books: a few cozy mysteries are also on my reading list.

Once Upon a Spine by Kate Carlisle, June 6, 2017, Berkley Books

San Francisco bookbinder Brooklyn Wainwright stumbles through the looking glass in a tale of murder, rare books, and a quest for the perfect pie 

Only Skein Deep by Maggie Sefton, June , 2017, Berkley

Kelly Flynn and her boyfriend and The Lambspun Knitters are eagerly awaiting the birth of Kelly's bouncing baby boy but find themselves having to solve a crime instead. 

A Just Clause by Lorna Barrett, June 13, 2017, Berkley

Tricia Miles, mystery bookstore owner and amateur sleuth, is in for a surprise when her ne er-do-well father, John, comes to town and becomes a prime suspect in the murder of a woman with a scandalous past. 

I got a galley of an historical mystery for a TLC book tour coming up.

Betrayal at Iga by Susan Spann, July 11, 2017 by Seventh Street Books.

Book description: Autumn, 1565: After fleeing Kyoto, master ninja Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo take refuge with Hiro's ninja clan in the mountains of Iga province. But when an ambassador from the rival Koga clan is murdered during peace negotiations, Hiro and Father Mateo must find the killer in time to prevent a war between the ninja clans.

What books are you reading? 
Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date Also visit Mailbox Monday.