Brooklyn has always been a little obsessed with food, but it was her sister Savannah who became a chef, graduating from the prestigious Cordon Bleu school in Paris. She and her classmates all went on to successful careers, but none of them achieved culinary superstardom like Savannah’s ex-boyfriend Baxter Cromwell.When Baxter invites the old gang to participate in his new restaurant’s gala opening in San Francisco, Savannah looks forward to seeing her friends, and even asks Brooklyn to restore a tattered cookbook—an old gift from Baxter—as a present for him. But Brooklyn immediately recognizes that the book, which has strange notes and symbols scrawled in the margins, is at least two hundred years old. She thinks that it probably belongs in a museum, but Savannah insists on returning it to Baxter.Shortly after receiving the gift, Baxter is found dead, with Savannah kneeling over him, bloody knife in hand, and the rare cookbook has disappeared. Brooklyn knows her sister didn’t kill him, and she suspects the missing cookbook might lead to the real villain. Now Brooklyn will have to turn up the heat on the investigation before Chef Savannah finds herself slinging hash in a prison cafeteria.Monty is also killed. Raoul is the murderer. Baxter was the father of his sons and he overheard Monty call the police and say he knew the killer. Kate Carlisle returns to her Bibliophile Mystery series with A Cookbook Conspiracy. Readers who love food, as well as, books will be especially happy with this installment. With a combination of history, mystery and culinary craftiness this book offers a little something for everyone. The restoration of a valuable cookbook takes center stage and lands Brooklyn's sister, Savannah in some hot water. A great new whodunit to add to any readers collection.What I liked:Being a voracious reader for practically all my life makes me really enjoy books about books. The Bibliophile Mysteries satisfy that part of me that loves to learn about books, libraries, collections, and restoration. Carlisle generally uses a particular book in each of her mysteries to draw the reader in and lend authenticity to each story she creates. In her latest book, it's a very valuable cookbook that needs to be restored and which plays a big part in the murder that Brooklyn needs to solve. I loved the information about the book and where it came from, the secret code that provides a lot of evidence and all things related to the restoration, however there was a little less of that in this book than usual for a Bibliophile mystery.Kate Carlisle likes to add a bit of history to her mysteries and that always entertains me well because I am a history buff myself. Using the 240 year old cookbook also gave this book a different avenue of interest. Since Brooklyn's sister is a chef, and she is the one having the cookbook restored readers get to learn a lot about the behind scenes culinary world as well. I thought this was a great way to add new interest in the series and I think new and old readers a like will enjoy this part of the book.Baxter Cornwall was a real piece of work, or so I think. Readers don't get to understand the true evil of this villain because he doesn't have any dialogue in the book. He is killed very early on and the reader is left to find out how bad he was and what he was capable of through the eyes of other characters in the book. It was hard to form a connection to a character who was such a huge part of the story, but is not really present in the book. His connection to Savannah carried that part of the story, but I found myself wanting a little more where the villain was concerned.The mystery aspects of the story were quite well written. Carlisle used the cookbook to create a very intriguing situation in which Baxter is killed and the 240 year old cookbook holds the key to figuring out a current murder. I loved the combination of the past meeting the present in such a dramatic way. Carlisle never disappoints when it comes to keeping the reader in the dark. I didn't figure this one out until Brooklyn did. What I didn't like:I felt there were a few problems with this one but as usual they may just be my own hangups and not the general consensus. So take it with a grain of salt and read it and find out what you think. This book was more centered on the culinary elements than the book restoration and bibliophile aspects the series is known for. The villain was a bit uninspiring because the reader did not get to know him and why he was evil. There were also parts of the story that felt a piecemeal, or stitched together, including the visit from Brooklyn and Savannah's parents. It felt like it was only added so that the quirky family was present and not central to the story. Bottom Line:There were good points and bad points to this one. I loved the theme and idea behind the cookbook and the way it was represented on the story, but I wanted more relation to books and restoring them than to chefs and culinary interests. The combination of mystery and history really works, but the details were not there for this one. Not a bad book, but not my favorite of the series either.
What do You think about A Cookbook Conspiracy (2013)?
The best part of this book is she got a kitten at the end!
—frank
A good one if you are just looking for a fun, light read.
—anubhav
