Murder Is Binding by Lorna Barrett (2008, Paperback)

This is the first book in a promising new series about Tricia Miles,owner of a mystery book store in Stoneham, New Hampshire. The town was dying out until some of the community leaders lined the streets with bookstores of every kind. What they didn't count on was the murder of the Cookery cookbook shop owner, Doris Gleason. She was not well liked by her fellow booksellers because of her constant complaints. The murder points to Tricia because she was supposedly the last person to see her alive. A rare cookbook is missing from The Cookery and in order to prove her innocence, Tricia will have to take a page from one of her own mystery books and hunt down the killer herself.

I enjoyed this first book in the series but the murderer was too easy to figure out. Tricia's older sister, Angelina, who has divorced her 4th husband, wants to come live in the town and help her out, but they have never gotten along very well, but Ange is trying to change her life around and so they do some sleuthing, watching each other's backs. I like the fact that Ange will probably be in all the books since it ended with her opening up her own restaurant. Who knew the trophy wife was a gourmet cook? The idea of a street with nothing but bookstores was inventive, and I loved that they all had a different specialty. If Ms. Barrett can smooth out the plot part so it is more difficult I'd say this book is a real winner.