Brooklyn has always been something of a foodie and has always been jealous of her chef sister, Savannah, who actually got the cooking talent in their family. Of course, Brooklyn is a fantastic book binder so when Savannah asks for a favor re-binding a cookbook from colonial America, Brooklyn is happy to help. At least until she finds out who it's for.
Baxter, an old schoolmate of Savannah's, gave her the book many years before and she wants to return it in celebration of his new restaurant opening. All of their old chef-mates will be there and she's excited for the gift. Brooklyn, not so much. She's never liked Baxter who's a jerk and and egoist and hasn't changed much. So when he's murdered, Brooklyn's surprised that so many people appear to be upset.
I'm not sure if I'll continue this series. It's interesting to introduce a cozy detective who faints at the sight of blood but it's irritating to have this back and forth of "WHY do I keep finding bodies?" and "This is really fun, I'm gonna solve a mystery. And the heroine is more than a little silly.

Brooklyn is a young bookbinder who seems to have a habit of coming across dead bodies, to the point that she has the San Francisco Homicide deactivate on speed dial. Brooklyn’s work is amazing to read about and I get completely engrossed when she beings talking about her work. “A Cookbook Conspiracy” centers on Brooklyn’s sister, Savannah, and her chef friends. The new characters are interesting and reading about the masterly prepared food is fun. There is less attention paid to the book at the center of “A Cookbook Conspiracy”, but instead the focus is on the author and her story. It is quite interesting and takes a different approach than the other Bibliophile Mysteries. Overall, it was another cozy read and I look forward to tackling the next book in the series.

I was a little disappointed with “A Cookbook Conspiracy”. I found it lacking in comparison to the others I have read in the Bibliophile Mystery series. The characters were interesting, but not enough to make me want to learn more about them. They functioned as plot devices, but not much more. Savannah was fun to compare with Brooklyn, until she developed interest in Dalton. Then I lost all interest in her as a character. Shame. Dalton brought little to the story as well. He is a Derek look-a-like, which is to be expected from siblings, and he is a cryptographer for MI6. Nothing about him interested me. I like Inspector Lee. She keeps her spunk throughout the series. Oh, and Bootsie. Bootsie is awesome and perfect in every way.

I was upset when Brooklyn didn’t go into much detail about her work with Obedience Green’s cookbook. I would have loved to hear more about the condition the book was in and how she repaired it. Instead, it is given away and then Dalton uses photocopied pages to study code. Very disappointing. I hope that the next book has a lot more detail about Brooklyn’s work; it is my favourite part of the story.

“A Cookbook Conspiracy” was another cozy read, but I feel it is the weakest in the Bibliophile Mystery series, so far. I hope that there is improvement as the series continues because I am enjoying it and want to keep on reading.

3.5 Stars!

I can't decide if I'm distracted or what, but I kind of feel like my enjoyment of this series is...kind of waning? Maybe or maybe I'm just out of it because I just moved.

I did like the fact that Brooklyn coached Savannah and tried her best to keep her out of trouble. But Brooklyn still made some stupid mistakes. At least Derek pointed it out and she kind of started to think. Granted, the future remains to be seen, but at least he pointed it out. I did like the fact that Brooklyn does seem to have more accepted her role as Nemesis or justice-seeker for the dead.

Savannah was...intriguing. And a little naive, honestly. I did like that she toughened up a little there towards the end; although that was mostly because Brooklyn was unconscious on the floor. I did feel bad that Dalton had to leave but maybe she'll be able to take a trip to London.

On the one hand, the overall reveal was kind of surprising, at the same time, it kind of felt the slightest bit ridiculous. To me, at least. Like I could have seen it if

Spoiler

Colette had done it; honestly she had enough reason out of any of them. But Raoul doing it because it was for his family's honor? I mean, not saying honor is a bad thing, but this just felt...I don't know, there was something about the reasoning.

I kind of want to read the rest of the series, but at the same time, I might have to put this series aside for now.

4.25 stars
Brooklyn's sister Savannah, a world renowned Chef, is being featured in a new restaurant being opened by an old friend. As a thank you to him, she wants Brooklyn to fix up an old cookbook so she can give it to her friend as a gift. In fact, it was a book he had once given her, back in their culinary school days. Savannah is trusting and a little naive, but Brooklyn knows her "friend" Baxter is not a good person. So it is not surprise to us that he ends up murdered in his own restaurant. The suspects? All of his old culinary school "friends". Or are they really friends? We quickly find out that there are long histories between Baxter and all the characters...and he is truly a manipulative and calculating guy. Though none of them can believe that one of their friends is a killer....someone must have murdered him. And why?

Brooklyn of course jumps at the chance to investigate to help clear Savannah's name. She is reluctant to believe any of the culinary friends are the murderer, but she efficiently looks into each one as a suspect. I wish Derek was by her side for more of her investigating, because I LOVE HIM. I also adore her family, I would love to visit Dharma and live with them. I would happily take a protection spell from her mother.

I was actually not very surprised by the identity of the killer.

Spoiler

Raoul seemed almost too good to be true. To nice, too emotional, too upset by all the deaths. It actually seemed in character for him to commit these acts to protect his family...in his mind the only way to do so.

I also liked how the mystery revolved someway around the cookbook and learning more about it's secrets.

This is one of my favorite series because of the awesome characters. Brooklyn is funny and strong and I love learning more and more about old books and book binding. Derek and her family and friends are amazing recurring characters and I feel like I really know many of them. I can't wait to continue this series

Brooklyn is reunited with some old friends that she met while staying with her sister in Paris. Someone got murdered and nobody likes him. Turns out everyone had a motive. I guessed it was one person who did it and I was close. Turns out it was someone that I medium suspected. As always this series is delightfully cheesy and I love it.

Hard to read on a diet.

I have become a bit lukewarm about this series with the last couple of books. I enjoy the mysteries the author comes up with, but Brooklyn is starting to annoy me.

This mystery revolves around a group of friends who are all famous chefs, and a missing Revolutionary War era-cookbook restored by Brooklyn for her sister Savannah. There are fun excerpts from the cookbook of Obedience Green to open every chapter, and as always the characters are very colourful individuals.

I enjoyed this as a fast easy read. I listened to it on audiobook and it was the perfect kind of book for my daily commute.

I'm liking Brooklyn less and less with each book, though, so I am not sure that I will continue. She's just starting to get pushy and whiny, and she is just getting on my nerves.

Brooklyn is quite a foodie and having a sister who graduated from the prestigious Cordon Bleu school in Paris is fantastic as she isn’t much of a cook herself.

One of Savannah’s classmates, Baxter Cromwell, is opening a new restaurant in San Francisco and he has invited the old gang from Paris to participate in the Grand Opening. Savannah asks Brooklyn to restore an old cookbook that Baxter had given her years ago so she can give it back to him as a gift. Brooklyn realizes the book must be at least 200 hundred years old and it has some strange notes in the margins. This is a book that belongs in a museum but Savannah is determined to give it back to Baxter.

Derek and Brooklyn attend the grand opening and the food is delicious, each and every course. It was a wonderful evening until shortly after the restaurant closes and all the guests have gone. It is then Baxter is found dead, the cookbook is missing, and Savannah is found next to the body with the murder weapon in her hand.

Dollycas’s Thoughts
After reading Peril in Paperback a couple of weeks ago I couldn’t wait to start this book and I devoured it in just a couple of hours.

Savannah has brought Brooklyn a very special cookbook, steeped in history and full of interesting recipes and intriguing information. Information that brings Dexter’s brother, Dalton, to town. Can there really be two hunky handsome guys in this family? Oh my YES! He definitely needs to be in upcoming installments.

The girls “hippy” parents along with the rest of the Wainwright family return. Guru Bob also makes an appearance. I just love their mom with her spells and incantations. Now she is planning to study Exorcism!

The authors creates a capricious group of supporting characters as well. Quite a blend of chefs that are so totally different and all of them seem to have secrets.

Kate Carlisle continues to deliver us marvelous mysteries and this is the best one yet. I highly recommend you add this one to your shopping cart today!

I love the addition of new characters to love. Carlisle did a good job at fleshing out the new people, and write a cool mystery to boot. Did not see that ending coming at all! I wish her books weren't such fast reads though because there is so much waiting for the next one.

My only complaint was the lack of Gabriel. You can't just throw in a new brother and make Gabriel disappear!

Baxter's a bad, bad man.