Kate Carlisle delivers another fantastic cozy mystery with Little Black Book, the fifteenth in her Bibliophile Mystery series.
Brooklyn and Derek are now married and working together with their combined expertise to solve a new mystery involving a rare book and a missing person.

I enjoy cozy mysteries for the setting and characters as much as for a light mystery and this was satisfactory on all counts. The characters are well developed and have great banter between all of them.
It is a delight to see a married couple who actually like each other and I'm looking forward to seeing their relationship strengthen even more over time.

This adventure involves a very rare edition of Rebecca and takes them to Scotland. Between the location, a gothic manor, a search for a missing person, and the frequent literary references (that tickle my book-loving sweet spot), I thoroughly enjoyed this story.

The unabridged audiobook from Dreamscape is narrated by Susie Berneis and has a runtime of just slightly over 11 hours. The narrator did a good job with a story that required different accents and helping the listener differentiate between various characters

I requested and recieved an audiobook copy of this book from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen and give my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I like when I find a new author and series, which is the reason I joined NetGalley and I scored big with this audio book.

First, the narrator is fantastic. I really enjoyed the voices she gives to her characters. Second, I love books and to learn a bit about how book binders and book restores work was interesting. Third, they talk about Phyllis Whitney who was, without a doubt, the first author whose books I had to have in the 70s. I think I still have them, upstairs on the W shelf.

When a First Edition of Rebecca is mailed to Derek Stone from a woman he used to work with at MI6, he and Brooklyn think it is because she is a book binder. But when Clair Quinn shows up looking for her aunt and is shortly followed by two dead bodies, Derek and Brooklyn know they have to help her find her missing aunt.

A trip to Scotland follows while they investigate a plethora of suspects. The ending was perfect and I enjoyed the book and series will read more by this author.

#Netgalley #littleBlackBook

The main characters in this book are Brooklyn, a book restorer, and her husband, Derek, an ex-spy and owner of a security business. They receive a mysterious package containing a valuable book. Shortly after, a woman appears at their door, asking for help locating that same package, sent by her missing aunt. This leads to an adventure that involves characters who could be good or bad (wait and see), as well as a trip to a castle in Scotland. It was a fun book to hear, and I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the countryside in Scotland.

Little Black Book by Kate Carlisle is the fifteenth in her Bibliophile series and features Derek Stone and his wife, Brooklyn Wainwright. Brooklyn is really the star of the show as she is the bookbinder, and typically the mysteries start with books sent to her. This time the book was sent to Derek, and shortly after, Clair, Quinn, an acquaintance of Brooklyn's arrives on their doorstep followed by a dead body in their garage. Clair's story is succinct: She has been to Scotland to visit her aunt and found her missing. He apartment had been ransacked. Among those things left, Clair found a receipt to a package mailed earlier to Derek so she has come to inquire. It must be the book Derek had received. They all took off to Dharma for a few days, mostly to feel safer, but that was disrupted when another dead body turned up. Both men who ended up dead had approached Clair. Almost simultaneously, Derek and Brooklyn decided to head to Scotland, where things got even more confusing. Still no aunt.

Brooklyn and Derek are good characters. They have been married only a short while so they are still learning about one another. They have worked together on numerous other murder cases so they are totally in sync there. Clair was a good addition to the trio: quick and smart, and deadly with a dagger. There were plenty of surprises in the story, mostly hidden relationships between characters. It was a good plot, taking place in three locales, which presented the opportunity for many characters to interact. It encompassed a little of Derek's past (as a government agent) and introduced us to some minor royalty, in the form of a Scottish laird. It was a good book, past of a good series. I recommend.

I listened to the audio version which was narrated by Susie Berneis and over all she did a good job. I had trouble with Derek's voice at first, but I adjusted. She paced her read well and was excellent with a variety of voices and accents. It was fun to listen. This is the first of Carlisle's book I have gotten in audio and it won't be the last. I enjoyed both the book and the read.

I was invited to listen to a free e-audio ARC of Little Black Book by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #littleblackbook

This is the fifteen Book in the Bibliophile Mystery Series.
So if you enjoy Kate Carlisle Mystery’s this one will not disappoint.
It starts when a rare first edition black book shows up at Brooklyn & Dereks house and they don’t know why. When Claire shows up letting them know her beloved aunts missing and her house was ransacked. And she fears for her and her aunts live. So what does this black book have to do with all this? I guess you will have to read the book to find out😊 Thank you netgalley for letting me read this for a honest review of the book

I listened to the audio of this book. Pro of the audio, the narrator is very good at doing subtle and different accents. Con of the audio, the narration is very slow. I sped the book up to 1.75x speed and it didn't sound even a little bit chipmunky.

The slow pace of the narration might not have been so noticeable if it weren't for the fact that the pace of the story was also incredibly slow. There is a lot of filler in this book. Full disclosure, this is the first book I have read in this series. Pro, I didn't feel like I was missing anything by not having read the first 14 books. Con, this book was a little too heavy on the cozy and a little too light on the mystery. It felt a bit like a season finale of a long running television series where they feel the need to bring every single character back for a cameo. Many, many characters were paraded out who served no point to the overall story in the book. The trip "back home" probably should have been sacrificed in favour of more time spent in Scotland meeting people there and dealing with the actual mystery. I suppose if I were a long time fan of the series I would be interested in all these people's lives, but most of what I learned could have been covered in phone calls or facetiming from Scotland.

For a book with so many characters, none of them were particularly compelling, and the ones who were compelling we spent little or no time with. Every single character in the book is a Mary Sue of some sort. One character has 4 post-graduate degrees, there are three different characters who are CEOs of separate wildly successful security firms, and every single sibling who's not in security has some other business or career that they are wildly successful in. It's exhausting.

The book spends way too much time on the set up and not nearly enough time on the actual solving of the mystery. It was almost as if the mystery and the trip to Scotland were tacked on as an afterthought to the book. We should have spent more time in the castle and surrounding village getting to know all the characters involved in the story. Also, for a former MI6 agent and a woman who has been central to apparently over 14 other murder mysteries, the leads were awfully slow on the uptake. I had part of the mystery figured out halfway through the book. Either your mystery needs to be clever, or your characters need to be fun. This didn't really have either.

Over all, this book is readable, just barely, but not recommendable. It's a bit like going to see a Fast & Furious film expecting fistfights and fast cars, and instead watching Dom's home videos of every family BBQ and getting told they all used to solve crime in the old days. Too much cozy, not enough mystery.

A mysterious little black book. An old friend showing up unannounced on their doorstep. A couple of dead bodies. A quick trip to Scotland. A castle. Just another another day in the life of San Francisco's celebrated book restorer, Brooklyn, and her security-expert husband, Derek. A fun addition to Kate Carlisle's Bibliophile Mystery Series, Little Black Book was a fun cozy to listen to, with (for me at least!) a surprise ending! A+++ to the story AND the narration!

Brooklyn, a book conservator, and her husband - Derek, a security pro, always seem to find themselves in the middle of a murder. When an acquaintance named Claire shows up at their doorstep, asking them to help find her missing aunt, they realize that there might be more to the missing person than expected.

Little did I know that this was the 15th book in this series, I still enjoyed it all the same. I don't think that you necessarily have to read them in order, but it might help to get some background and learn more about the characters. Overall, it was a decent mystery book, I loved the quirkyness of some of the characters (especially Brooklyn's odd job of repairing old books.. my booklover heart really enjoyed that nugget). Other than that, the mystery itself wasn't something that kept me hooked and I just wasn't invested in the characters (again, this could be because I haven't read the books prior). This read was just an okay read for me.

Outstanding narrator brings fascinating characters to life! I love that this series has a husband and wife duo who have experience and intellect to solve the crimes. As a rare book restoration authority Brooklyn meets the most talented and unique people which brings a depth to this cozy mystery series that you don't typically see in the traditional bumbling sleuth style cozies! I love that a bit of history of books or other antiquities, in this book it is weaponry, is brought to our attention in a conversational manner that enhances the personalities of the characters. If you are looking for a cozy with murder, intrigue, international travel and more then this is the book or rather series for you! I can't recommend this series enough as it is the one that first turned me onto cozy mysteries in the first place!

I am a longtime reader of the series which follows Brooklyn, a bookbinder who is good at finding dead bodies and her husband Derek, a former spy. The story itself once again is wonderful. Brooklyn and Derek find themselves involved in a murder mystery they have been tasked with solving. The plot this time was refreshing, and I finished the audiobook in 5 days, which means I could not stop listening. The change of setting and new character were delightful. I loved that Rebecca (I love the movie) was the book this time around, and I have finally decided to read the book. I have one small minor criticism which is I do not like how the narrator does Derek's voice. It's just not how I envisioned him sounding. Its a little off-putting, but you do get used to it. The narrative flows quickly, and I did not guess the killer until the book was almost done, which means it was not predictable at all. This audiobook helped me get a hot 8-mile run yesterday, and I really had a hard time turning it off. I could have run longer to listen. I cannot wait for the nest book.

This was not my favorite in the series. While the mystery was intriguing enough and had elements of the bookbinding/repair that is the basis of the series, the characters are getting a little too perfect. I get that they have money but the whole traipsing around everywhere, spending time in Dharma in every book and everyone with their expertise being Johnny-on-the-spot is getting a little hard to believe. Also, the pairing off of all the singles annoys me (it is possible to not be in a relationship). I will continue with the series but hope it gets more realistic in the next one.

The narration was well done. No issues.

Little Black Book is the 15th Bibliophile cozy mystery by Kate Carlisle. Published 29th June 2021 by Penguin Random House on their Berkley imprint, it's 384 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

I have enjoyed this series very much. The protagonist is sweet and likeable and even with a penchant for landing in the middle of murder and mayhem, she seems to always manage to stay kind, resourceful, and (mostly) brave. The details of the mystery and some of the plot twists really pushed my suspension of disbelief. At the end of the day, however, it's a cozy mystery and it's not egregiously silly, but fair warning; this is a cozy for real fans of the genre.

The plot moves along at a good pace and only a few chapters from returning from a trip to Dharma (a commune where protagonist Brooklyn grew up), they're on a trip to Scotland with her former colleague and casual friend and former colleague Clair, in an attempt to try to find Clair's missing aunt. There's a spooky gothic manor, an atmospheric mystery, and lots of classic book name dropping for readers who like suggestions for their TBR lists. The language is clean, there is no gore, and the denouement and resolution (though a bit over the top) are well done and satisfying.

I did find Derek and Brooklyn's *constant* smoochy obsession with one another a bit cloying, but they're still sort of newlyweds, so, ok. The characters the author writes are a bit two dimensional. The "good guys" are ONLY good, the best at whatever their specialty is, and too perfect for words. I know that most of us read cozies for pure escapist reading pleasure, so I'm likely in the minority. The book is quite well put together however and I never found it lagging or too slow. Although it's the 15th book in the series, it would work as a standalone, but readers must be willing to accept major spoilers for earlier books if read out of order.

The unabridged audiobook from Dreamscape is narrated by Susie Berneis and has a runtime of 11 hours 11 minutes. I had some issues with the voice reading in the first few chapters since it's a very dialogue heavy book and the narrator was doing three different accents (American, Scottish, and Mainstream Received Pronunciation) and both male and female parts. The narrator did find her pacing eventually and the accents mostly straightened out after a few chapters.

This is a perfectly fun light read in a fun series. Three and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Thanks to Netgalley for the audiobook of Little Black Book by Kate Carlisle. I have been reading this series since I happened upon a paperback copy while perusing the cozies in my local library several years ago. I have either read or listened to all of them. This one was okay but not my favorite so far. It was really a bit long for my taste in a cozy, I like them to be short and sweet.
Speaking of sweet, Brooklyn and Derek are just a bit too sweet for me. I’m just not that into them as a married couple. There was also a lot of location hopping, from city to country and then to another country. It made my head spin. It’s always best to read a series in order but with this one especially because with all of Brooklyn’s friends and family I don’t think you could keep up otherwise.
This audiobook narrator, Susie Berneis, is good as usual but she did read the wrong voice for a character a couple of times.
My biggest gripe is that in casual conversation the author gives away the ending to Rebecca. I know it’s a very old book and I have read it more than once myself but not everyone has read it. Giving away the ending to another book is an author no-no.
After all that, I still thought it was pretty good and will stick with the series in future.