Ripped From The Pages by Kate Carlisle is the 9th book in the “Bibliophile” mystery series. Publisher: Obsidian, June 2015

When book-restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright temporarily relocates to her parents’ place in Northern California, she finds that wooden barrels aren’t the only things buried in the wine caves of Sonoma.

Excited to explore the secrets of wine country, Brooklyn attends an excavation of the caves hidden deep under her parents’ commune—and the findings are explosive. A room is unearthed, and it contains a treasure trove of artwork, rare books, a chest of jewelry…and a perfectly mummified body.

A closer examination of the murdered man’s possessions reveals a valuable first edition of Jules Verne’s A Journey to the Center of the Earth. Hidden in the book is a secret map that unveils an even greater hoard of treasures brought to California by French winemakers fleeing the Nazi invasion with the commune leader’s grandfather, Anton, among them.

As reporters and art appraisers flock to Sonoma to see the precious bounty, questions begin to rise—did Anton hide these items to protect them, or did he steal them for himself? Who is the mysterious man left for dead inside the cave? But not all crime is buried in the past. When a new presence threatens the town’s peace, Brooklyn decides to do a little excavating of her own and solve the mystery of the treasure before anyone else is written off.

I loved it. Brooklyn is back in Dharma and once again as is her being her, she finds not one but two bodies and they are all related to the excavation of the winery cave. I enjoyed this foray in the latest adventures featuring Brooklyn and her family. The author does a great job of pulling me into this light drama and I love the care she took in the telling of this story. The relationship Brooklyn has with Dharma and her family is front and center and I liked that we got a chance to learn more about Jackson and his secret life. The mystery was good because I too wondered who could have done the second murder and it was written quite well with some twists and turns that enhanced the story. The final paragraph was pure joy for me and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this beloved heroine.