Vincent McCaffrey

I don't think I liked this one as much as the first in the series but it was pretty good. The reason I didn't like it as well is that the mystery was mostly way on the back burner while Henry ran around worrying about plagiarism and the death of brick and mortar bookstores, specifically the bookstore where he got his start and that is still owned by his friend Barbara.

Also, there wasn't enough of Albert, Henry's "refuse management" friend and wise counsel.

But, I did enjoy spending time with Henry again and getting a glimpse into the world of booksellers, both in a physical store and as an online venture.

I will read the next in the series.… (plus d'informations)

There is a great deal to like about this book, especially if you are a lover of books as Henry Sullivan most definitely is, he is after all a book buyer and seller. Set in Boston there is a lot of local atmosphere to this book, with the Beacon Hill houses to the Brookline part of town, you know that Boston is part of the story just because it is so much a part of Henry's life.

When an old friend/flame of Henry's is killed, just hours after he left her home and her bed, Henry is pulled into the mystery of who killed Morgan, and why? Morgan is the widow of a very popular publisher who has an amazing collection of books that Morgan is planning on donating to a college, all signed, all first editions, all authors that Heber Johnson published in his many, many years as a renowned publisher. So, who has motive? Henry because of his affair with Morgan? Arthur Johnson, the son of Morgan and Heber who is desperately in need of money and doesn't want the books donated but sold so he can have the money? Peter Johnson, the son of Heber's first wife and who has had almost no contact with his father over the years? Someone else that Henry doesn't yet know about?

All of the threads that Henry is following are interwoven in the mystery of a set of letters found in a small, walled off room, in a house that was going to be destroyed. Henry weaves a mystery out of the letters as well as trying to solve the mystery of the murder of Morgan.

Well written, lots and lots of literary allusions, and great characters. I will be reading the next in the series.
… (plus d'informations)