If Books Could Kill: Mission 1

by J.S. Morin

She's got a license to kill and a head full of dark magic. Relax, she's here to help.

Tiffany Bell read the wrong book and managed to survive. Now, she's got a mind filled with dark magic and a passionate desire not to get hunted down and killed for what she knows. When the Guardian of the Plundered Tomes offered her a job hunting down other dark wizards, she knew it was hunt or be hunted.

And Tiffany is good at her job. Her colleagues know she's built differently but can't fully grasp why. All the librarians are dangerous, but when a job has all the markings of a suicide mission, the guardian sends her.

It's been decades since the Library of the Plundered Tomes had a true attack dog, a stories-in-the-dark bedtime story to scare children and dark wizards alike.

When one of the other librarians fails to return home after a mission, there is a time for mourning… followed by vengeance for the dark wizard responsible.

If Books Could Kill is the first Mission of Murder By the Book, a dark fantasy series set in the Black Ocean futuristic universe. If you wanted more Dark Willow in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, if you thought Galadriel needed to roll up her sleeves and join the fight, if you wondered about The Magicians who dropped out of college, then Murder By the Book might be right up your starlane.

268 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 27, 2026

About the author

I am a creator of worlds and a destroyer of words. As a fantasy writer, my works range from traditional epics to futuristic fantasy with starships. I have worked as an unpaid Little League pitcher, a cashier, a student library aide, a factory grunt, a cubicle drone, and an engineer--there is some overlap in the last two.

Through it all, though, I was always a storyteller. Eventually I started writing books based on the stray stories in my head, and people kept telling me to write more of them. Now, that's all I do for a living.

I enjoy strategy, worldbuilding, and the fantasy author's privilege to make up words. I am a gamer, a joker, and a thinker of sideways thoughts. But I don't dance, can't sing, and my best artistic efforts fall short of your average notebook doodle. When you read my books, you are seeing me at my best.

My ultimate goal is to be both clever and right at the same time. I have it on good authority that I have yet to achieve it.

Reviews

[James Ronholm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wizard Tiffany is the newest Librarian at the Library of the Plundered Tomes. But Wizard Tiffany is not like any librarian you've heard of before because this librarian comes with a side of assassination.

The Library of the Plundered Tomes is tasked with making sure that the darkest, most evil, books never see the light of day and also make sure that any dark wizard that felt the need to write such a book in the first place never writes another one.

This was a fast read for me because I enjoyed the fast paced narrative a lot. Wizard Tiffany is rather omnipotent when it comes to magic, but rather less powerful when it comes to dealing with people. Still, she is tasked not only with taking on a powerful dark wizard but also with showing another librarian just exactly what it means to be a Librarian at the Library of the Plundered Tomes.

This story takes place in a far future where mankind has colonized many planets in other star systems but read this book for the story, the characters (especially the characters) and their magic, not the science.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Frank Carver · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Another Black Ocean favourite gets her own series

The Black Ocean universe is a sprawling and complex sci-fi setting. You get space travel, humanity and alien races living together on thousands of inhabited planets, and everything else you would expect from a high-tech future. You also get wizards and magic, a brilliant way to deal with the sticky parts of such an idea which usually get waved away or ignored. Artificial gravity? An enchanted stone which thinks it is a whole planet. Faster than light travel? Fly your spaceships through the astral plane which brings everything closer.

In literary terms, the Black Ocean universe now consists of several series of books which overlap and interconnect through shared locations, events, and characters.

Tiffany Bell was originally a side character in the Mercy For Hire series, but grew beyond that and has made cameo appearances in several other series. Now she gets a series of her own in which she takes on the role of a librarian. That may seem dull, but these librarians deal with magical books, and the wizards who write them. Often the books themselves are too dangerous to read, and the kind of wizard who could create such a book is even more so.

Tiffany's task is simple to describe. Find books, bring them to the library for safe keeping, and deal with the authors. None of this is easy, and Tiff has to learn on the job.

I always enjoy a new Morin series, and in this first book there are already signs that Tiffany is developing into a really interesting character.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in the Black Ocean Universe, the main character is Tiffany Bell, who has taken a job with the Guardian of the Plundered Tomes, hunting down other dark wizards. Because of the dark magic she knows, it’s hunt or be hunted, and she’s the baddest dark wizard around so she’s very good at her job. We follow her on one easy mission and then she’s sent in to take care of the dark wizard who is leading a cult, has killed many cultists and has already defeated a beloved member of the team. She’s assigned new librarian Angelica to shadow her, but Tiffany doesn’t think she has what it takes and she might be right. Tiffany is still a very young woman with a sailor’s vocabulary, who looks even younger, and all she wants is for someone to see her as Tiffany, not the monster inside. They either discount her because of her looks, or fear her because of her power, which makes for a pretty lonely life. Since this is the first book in the new Murder by the Book series, I’m looking forward to many more stories of Tiffany, where perhaps she may grow as a person and maybe even find some happiness along the way.

[Brett Wickersham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tiffany Bell may be young, but thanks to the knowledge from a dark magic tome, she has knowledge beyond her years. She is also the Library of the Plundered Tome's newest attack dog. She is sent after rogue black wizards to execute them, and return their writings to the Convocation Library.
When a fellow Librarian does not return from a cult busting mission, Tiffany takes on a mission of vengeance, to show the galaxy that no one messes with the Library.
Tiffany need to pick up the pieces of a failed investigation, show another new recruit the ropes, and gain the respect of the local Inquisitors.
This is another great entry in the Black Ocean universe. I definitely recommend reading the previous Black Ocean series, as they will give context to what happens in this series, but this can be read by itself.
If you are in the mood for some wizard culture as well as some massive magic slinging, give this a try.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Carol Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like snarky heroines, this book is for you. The Library of Plundered Tomes is actually a repository of books on dark magic. Librarians kill the dark wizards, and bring their writings back to the library, to keep people from accessing them. Librarian Tiffany is new to the job, but very effective. The bulk of the book is taken up by her assignment to stop a cult leader who killed another Librarian. I’m eagerly awaiting Tiffany’s backstory. The plot was really interesting; it would have been a 5* rating except for the swearing. “F” was used prodigiously, and “s” and “d” occurred regularly in various forms. I received a free copy of this book, with no obligation.

[daniel klem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good to be back in the Black Ocean

It is clear that Morin loves the Blqck Ocean. We move away from the Ramsey family for the second time, but it's good to see Tiffany's launch. This is an easy book to start in with no prior knowledge, but it also picks up an obviously continuing story. It has the fun, excitement, and wit of the other stories while maintaining Tiffany's uniqueness. This is a fun opening to her solo run.