This was a good mystery, but it was a little too "hard-boiled" for me, especially for a book whose description won me over with the promises of the rare book world.

4.5 stars

I'm not super impressed with this book so far. It's a pretty typical murder mystery in a lot of ways, but for something that's supposed to be about book-lovers, the author makes a lot of mistakes. I'm barely 100 pages in, and already I've come across plain/plane, and a reference to covenant that I think should be convent.

Yeah, overall not that impressed with this one. I found the characters mostly shallow and/or cliched, and it just didn't do anything for me. As book-related mysteries go, I think I actually found the Club Dumas more believable.

Enjoyable, but not gripping.

Re-read, 1st read in the early 90s

Detectives and old books. What's not to like?

This one started out a little slow, got really interesting, threw me off a little bit, got interesting again, and then ended quite abruptly. I did like it, and the main charcater enough to continue the series, though.

I couldn’t put this down. Such a delight. It’s part “cop with a chip on his shoulder and a sultry dame” part “cozy bookstore mystery.” I read the 25th anniversary edition with a great intro by the author. Don’t miss this if you are a mystery lover. It’ll keep you going until the very last page.

Clifford Janeway turns in his police badge to run a rare/collectible bookstore. He still continues to work on the case of a murdered book seller and tries to find out who done it.

I loved reading about the world of rare and collectible books and it really made me want to open a used bookstore even more. Of course, the kind of books I'd like to sell is what they would call "junk books", since I would see mass market and trade paperbacks instead of rare first editions.

That said, I really didn't like Janeway at all. There are 4 more books in this series and I don't plan to read anymore unless I happen upon one cheap at a booksale. I liked the mystery but Janeway just got on my nerves too much. I thought the ending was kinda strange too. It wrapped everything up but it just ended in the middle of nowhere, to me.