Miranda grew up in sunny California, but her interest in teaching history took her across the country. Now a phone call summons her back: her uncle Billy, who she’s not seen for sixteen years, has died. Returning home to see her parents and attend the funeral, Miranda is staggered to learn that her uncle left her his bookstore, Prospero’s — “where books are treasured above dukedom”. What’s more, he’s left her a book with a riddle in it, a riddle that reminds her of the little literary scavenger hunts he’d send her on as a child. Those ended as she was hitting adolesence, after a mysterious late-night screaming match between Billy and Miranda’s mom. Miranda’s parents are visibly disturbed that the bookstore has been given to Miranda, and any attempt to find out what happened between Billy — and why the store disturbs them so — are met with absolute stonewalling. Still, Billy’s clues lead Miranda not only through the store, but into the past — and boy, are there surprises in store. The Bookshop of Yesterdays is a story of relationships and secrets, and the mystery of what happened, with some assistance from the setting of a bookstore and literary puzzles, were a hook that kept pulling me through this title even though I didn’t like a lot of the characters in it, including the main character whose most ready reaction is angry screaming and withdrawal. While Miranda is spending a long summer trying to make sense of her uncle’s estate and of the past, she’s also in increasingly strained relationships with her now-long distance boyfriend, her mom, and trying to get to know the customers and employees of the bookstore, all of whom regard her with suspicion. Some of these characters are interesting, some not: it’s really the mystery that kept me plugging along, as well as the drama created b the fact that Prospero’s is actively failing and will be bankrupt by the end of the year! This is an enjoyable enough story for those who want a bookish mystery.