Saturday, May 8, 2010

Booked to Die

Booked to Die (Cliff Janeway Novels (Paperback)) Booked to Die by John Dunning


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
When I started this, I wasn't sure if I'd read it before. It was vaguely familiar, but I thought that may have been due to having heard about it. The whole first half of the book, I was convinced I hadn't read it - the characters and situations just didn't seem familiar. But then we reached the part where the old man dies and leaves hundreds of books, the value and ownership of which is in dispute. Aha! BOOKS I remembered! But not the people! Hmmm, what does that say about me? ;-) Anyway, it was still a fun read, as I couldn't quite remember how it all came out.

This is apparently the first book in a series, about an ex-cop who is into rare books and solves crimes. (In this one, we see how he becomes and EX-cop.) It was pretty much your typical mystery - mildly interesting characters, multiple suspects, etc. The protagonist, Cliff Janeway, is kind of interesting - a cop with a bad temper who also loves books. But I sometimes found his motives and actions a little unrealistic. But, with all the talk about books, book shops, book appraisals, etc, we get a good look into the world of book selling. (However, since this was written in 1984 - pre-internet - things have changed since then, especially with the advent of eBay and other online sellers.) So I still enjoyed it - even the 2nd time around! I will probably try the next one in the series, to see if it continues to hold my interest. It's always nice to have a light read available!

No comments: