GEORGE WRIGHT / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Saturday, August 27, 2005 7:00 pm
“The Sign of the Book” by John Dunning, Scribner, 353 pages, $25
So much for Paradise.
Denver bookstore owner and ex-cop Cliff Janeway is back trying to solve another murder mystery — this one taking him to the small town of Paradise, high in the Rockies.
Murder victim Bobby Marshall is a book collector who has several valuable signed copies in an otherwise ordinary collection. Bobby was also a friend of Janeway’s girlfriend Erin D’Angelo, an attorney. The kicker is that the murder suspect, Bobby’s wife, Laura, was also a friend and wants Erin to defend her.
Janeway helps Erin by sorting through the murder evidence and also the shelves of books in the victim’s house. The case sends Janeway where his expertise is: probing shady dealings in the world of book collectors.
This is Dunning’s fourth book in the Janeway series. Janeway’s investigations give readers a look at the interesting world of book fairs, sales and collectors.
Janeway also gets out in the countryside in this thriller.
“The snow stopped and I came into one of those spectacular midmorning sun-showers that made me glad I live in Colorado, and beyond that was nothing but blue skies and sunshine.”
Take the scenery while you can; Janeway’s investigation pushes him toward a tense and bloody ending.
Reach George Wright at 473-7321 or gwright@journalstar.com.