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Ex-Denver homicide cop-turned-rare bookseller Cliff Janeway has recently spent almost $30,000 on a signed and inscribed copy of a book by the 19th century explorer and author, Sir Richard Francis Burton. Cliff goes to a dinner party given at the home of a judge, in which a Pulitzer prize-winning author, Hal Archer, a boyhood friend of the judge, is a guest. Archer turns out to be a jerk. He is escorted by Erin d'Angelo, who was brought up by Judge Leighton (Lee) Huxley and his second wife, Miranda. After dinner, Cliff and the other guests are admiring the library, when Miranda tells Lee to show them the real library. They go downstairs and Cliff starts salivating over the complete runs, with original bindings, of many of the great Victorian authors, including many books by Burton. Janeway leaves at one in the morning with two new loves . . . Burton and Erin. Within two months he has studied up on Burton, bought many reading copies of his work, and flown to Boston to bid on Travels to Medina and Mecca that he finally bought at the auction. An NPR interview with him brings an old lady to the door of his bookshop. Josephine Gallant believes that the volume is part of a collection of Burton first editions that was stolen from her family the night of her grandfather's death in 1906. Her only proof is another Burton book, inscribed and autographed in the same way. She gives the book to Cliff after extracting his promise that he will search for the other books in the collection. She dies soon after. Dunning's third Cliff Janeway novel takes place in 1987. He wisely refrains from giving values because book values change quickly and any information given in 2004 would not be valid for 1987. He does teach a man how to be a book scout (or picker as we say in other segments of the antiques market) but his search takes him to Baltimore and Charleston, so Dunning sensibly sticks to the story of Burton and Charlie Warren and their travels through pre-Civil war southern states. Dunning tells a good story and Cliff visits some interesting places. THE BOOKMAN'S PROMISE is worth a try.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, July 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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