April 7, 2014
In Carlisle’s captivating ninth Bibliophile mystery (after 2013’s A Cookbook Conspiracy), bookbinder Brooklyn Wainwright joins This Old Attic as the traveling TV show’s rare-book expert. Brooklyn’s first guest on the show, which is currently taping in San Francisco, is Vera Stoddard, owner of “a limited first edition” of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 children’s classic, The Secret Garden, which Vera says she recently bought at a garage sale for $3. Brooklyn tells Vera that an antiquarian book dealer would pay between $20,000 and $25,000 for this rarity. Vera agrees to let Brooklyn restore it to increase the value. Later, in the studio parking lot, a thug accosts Brooklyn, claiming the book is his and threatening violence if she doesn’t give it to him. Meanwhile, the show’s handsome new host, Randolph Rayburn, who’s spooked by the man’s threat, is convinced he’s being stalked. The action builds to a surprising final showdown. Agent: Christina Hogrebe, Jane Rotrosen Agency.