By Eva Jurczyk
Poisoned Pen Press, 2022. 323 pages. Mystery
Liesl Weiss has been happy working behind the scenes in the rare books department of a large university for many years. But when her boss suffers a stroke, she must take over and soon discovers that the library’s more prized manuscript is missing. Everyone tells her to keep quiet and keep the donors happy, but when a librarian goes missing as well, it becomes clear that someone in the department must be responsible. Amidst the dusty manuscripts are secrets about her colleagues that have been years in the making, and Liesl must unravel them all in order to find the missing books.
This is a witty mystery with great character development and lots of little secrets that keep the reader engaged. I especially loved all the details about the special collections and the politics that occur at universities. Liesl has a wealth of personal issues, but is relatable and easy to sympathize with. As someone who has worked in special collections, I found the book authentic and addressed many of the issues that continue to influence academia today. This is a good read for anyone who loves old books, mysteries, or flawed main characters.
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By Fredrik Backman
Atria Books, 2020. 341 pages. Fiction
Taken hostage by a failed bank robber while attending an open house, eight anxiety-prone strangers--including a redemption-seeking bank director, two couples who would fix their marriages, and a plucky octogenarian--discover their unexpected common traits.
By M. E. Hilliard
Crooked Lane, 2021. 329 pages. Mystery
Greer Hogan is a librarian and an avid reader of murder mysteries. She also has a habit of stumbling upon murdered bodies. The first was her husband's, and the tragic loss led Greer to leave New York behind for a new start in the village of Raven Hill. But her new home becomes less idyllic when she discovers her best friend sprawled dead on the floor of the library. Though Greer admires the masters of deduction she reads about in books, she never expected to have to solve a mystery herself. Fortunately, she possesses a quick wit and a librarian's natural resourcefulness. But will that be enough to protect her from a brilliant, diabolical murderer?
By Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Penguin Press, 2004. 486 pages. Fiction
Barcelona, 1945--just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his eleventh birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother's face. To console his child, Daniel's widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona's guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world. Daniel's father coaxes him to choose a volume and Daniel so loves the novel he selects, The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax's work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he may have the last one in existence. Before Daniel knows it his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness and doomed love.
By Marie Benedict
Berkley, 2021. 341 pages. Fiction
In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. Pierpont Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture on the New York society scene and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps build a world-class collection. But Belle has a secret. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and well-known advocate for equality. The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths she must go-for the protection of her family and her legacy-to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.
TT
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