Double Booked for Death

A Black Cat Bookshop Mystery #1

by Ali Brandon

Berkley Prime Crime

Mystery, Mystery: Cozy

December 6, 2011

ISBN-10: 0425244970

ISBN-13: 9780425244975

Available in: Paperback

Double Booked for Death
by Ali Brandon

When transplanted Texan Darla Pettistone unexpectedly inherits her Great-Aunt Dee’s Brooklyn bookstore and the apartment above, she’s certain her worst headache will be dealing the store’s mascot. Hamlet, an oversized black cat with a personality to match, considers the four-story brownstone to be his own personal stomping grounds. He has a bad habit of terrorizing customers, claiming every sunny spot for his own, and, in general, acting like a small potentate.

The fact that Hamlet is smarter than the average cat makes dealing with him all the more difficult. But Darla is less sure that a series of odd incidents in the store—misplaced items, lights going on and off after dark—is his fault. In fact, the usually skeptical Darla soon finds herself seriously considering the possibility that her late aunt is now haunting the place.

Matters come to a head when a bestselling author of young adult ghostly fiction meets an untimely end during an autographing event at the bookstore. While the death is officially ruled accidental, Hamlet soon digs up a clue that seems to indicate otherwise. Now, Darla fears the murderer might be one of the author’s entourage—or even one of Darla’s own customers—and that she and her staff are in equal danger. Hamlet's interfering ways might just help point the paw at the culprit...that is, if he doesn’t lose one of his own nine lives in the process of solving the crime.



Ali Brandon's Bio

Ali Brandon, author of the upcoming contemporary cozy series, The Black Cat Bookshop Mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime. Mix a bad-tempered black cat named Hamlet with an unwitting bookstore owner named Darla, add a dead body or two, and you have the kind of fast-paced murder mystery that will make you purr with satisfaction.

And, shhh! Don't tell, but Ali is also Diane A.S. Stuckart, author of the award-winning Leonardo da Vinci Mystery series. To learn more about Ali/Diane and the first Black Cat Bookshop Mystery, DOUBLE BOOKED FOR DEATH (on the shelves December 2011!), go to www.dianestuckart.com.