by Sandra Murphy

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of the book and a link to purchase it from Amazon.

Brooklyn is a book restorer. When most people would see trash in a damaged book, Brooklyn sees potential. She’s giving a demonstration at the prestigious Covington Library where they are celebrating Mark Twain. These are her people.

Her husband of only a year, Derek, is in charge of security for the five-day event. There’s a frog jumping contest in the park, a river boat casino night, and for kids, a chance to paint a fence with Tom Sawyer. What could go wrong?

The highlight is the Look Alike contest. The Clarion newspaper is the sponsor of the event and the contestants are supposed to look like the paper’s owner, Joseph Cabot. The paper chose Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper, to represent the festival.

While Joseph is a wonderful and generous guy, his new wife is standoffish and her mother, well, bossy doesn’t begin to describe her. To give Ella and her mother time to collect themselves, Brooklyn gives Ella a tour of other sections of the library but is disappointed they run out of time before seeing the Poisoned Papers exhibit. A newspaper printer had added a sticky substance to the paper and used a gold powder to celebrate Queen Victoria’s coronation. Unfortunately, the substance was poisonous and workers at the paper died. Inks achieved special colors with the addition of arsenic and typesetting, done by hand, used lead type.

When one of Joseph’s employees is murdered, Brooklyn has to wonder, was he the intended victim or was Joseph? And now that Joseph’s look-alike has been introduced to the public, with an uncanny likeness, is it Joseph or the lookalike who is targeted? Brooklyn and Derek have to rush to save not only the event but Joseph and his doppelgänger.

This is book sixteen in the series. Brooklyn has grown more confident overall. She’s always known her work is excellent but now knows other people think so, too. She has Derek’s undying love and devotion, friends in their building, and a good relationship with her family. And they have a cat.

I love a mystery where there are secret agendas and no one knows who to trust. There’s a hint at the end of the book that things are changing, so look for book seventeen for what’s next.

Carlisle has also written nine Fixer Upper mysteries, some reviewed here.

To enter to win a copy of The Paper Caper, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “caper,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen September 3, 2022. US only, and must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via email please include your mailing address in case you win. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Be sure to check out our new mystery podcast too with mystery short stories, and first chapters read by local actors. A new episode went up this week.

You can use this link to purchase the book from Amazon or click here. If you have ad blocker on you may not see the link:

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the Arch in St. Louis Missouri. She’s editor for Peace, Love, and Crime: Crime Stories Inspired by the Songs of the ’60s, with twenty-two cozy stories. She also edited A Murder of Crows, twenty-one stories featuring animals and crime (no animals were harmed). She also writes for magazines, newsletters, and the occasional guest blog. Both anthologies are available at the usual outlets, print or ebook.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.