The Bookbinder’s Secret

In this stellar debut from Bell, a British bibliophile courts danger while seeking answers about a mysterious note she found in a book. Lilian Delaney is a bookbinder’s apprentice in 1901 Oxford, where she also assists her widowed father with running his bookstore. Lilian’s confidence in her skills is bolstered when Dr. Ashburn, a well-connected physician and bibliophile, asks her to rebind a book about botany intended as a gift for his wife. On a visit to the doctor’s library, Ashburn gives her a partially burnt novel, A Song for a Knave, by an obscure author, and she finds a scrap of a letter concealed in the binding that reads, “I wish you had not killed him.” Lilian then finds more of the letter, a secret love note addressed to “my Knave” from his Queen. Lilian becomes obsessed with the possible homicide that the writings refer to and seeks to determine the novel’s provenance. When she’s mugged and the book is taken from her, she realizes that the missive’s secrets still threaten someone. Meanwhile, her inquiries cause her to neglect her work, putting her father’s floundering business at risk. Bell exhibits a superior gift for crafting an engrossing puzzle and a complex, sympathetic protagonist. Admirers of Charles Palliser’s The Quincunx will love this. (Jan.)