cover image Unbound

Unbound

Julie Wallin Kaewert. Crimeline, $7.5 (444pp) ISBN 978-0-553-57715-0

""Publish and perish"" seems to be the rule in the world of London publisher Alex Plumtree. Having survived the tumult of Kaewert's first ""Booklover's Mystery"" (Unsolicited), Alex plunges into another deadly plot. The imminent release of Angela Mayfield's novel, The Stonecypher Saga, precipitates a rather drastic chain of events for Plumtree Press. Mayfield has uncovered secret anti-monarchical messages embedded in the novels of Marcus Stonecypher, a mystery writer affiliated with Woolf and other Bloomsburians. But the prospect of this rather dusty old code brings out the worst in people, and threatening messages are soon followed by worse. If the idea of a murderous political society operating within the Society for the Preservation of Rare and Antique Books isn't entertaining enough, Kaewert offers a complex puzzle within a puzzle and lots of insight into the daily life of a small, quality publishing house--which is the real charm of the book. (Nov.)