The first few pages got me hooked, and I couldn't put the book down. When June flees from her life and a secret in London, she finds rescue and a friendly face in a small bookshop. Soon, she's in over her head sorting out the mess of books filling up the store, an easy task for a professional librarian. But while doing so, she stumbles about several volumes carrying diary-like notes in them. When she moves to a little cottage which she soon learns belonged to the man who owned those books, she starts investigating what mystery he kept hidden in his cryptic entries. When a young pregnant woman shows up in the shop some day, claiming to be Lowell's (the store owner) daughter, things become even more complicated.

I loved the beginning - the description of the messy bookshop, June's and Lowell's shared passion for books - it was the perfect setting for a great story to unfold. When Eddy showed up, the story took a turn and suddenly, there were three mysteries to solve - what happened to June in London, what is Eddy's story and what happened in the past to make the town people so nervous?

While I doubted Eddy's true motives for a long while (just as June did) and found her character less intriguing than June or Lowell, at the end everything made sense, and the solution was not one I would have guessed too easily. This unexpected, wonderfully twisted and almost, but not too cozy mystery taking place in and around a bookshop made a perfect read.

(I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)