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I would hazard a guess that John Dunning has done for books the same thing that Jonathan Gash did for antiques: interested readers to such a great extent that some began collecting. Dunning has a great advantage in that he has spent time as an antiquarian bookseller so knows whereof he speaks. His years as an investigative reporter have done him no harm, either, since his associations with the police have given him material to provide an authentic background for Cliff Janeway, his Bookman protagonist, when he works as a homicide detective for the Denver Police Department. Cliff Janeway loses sleep because of his work. Someone is killing derelicts and he thinks he knows the culprit: wealthy sociopath Jackie Newton. Frustrated because he is unable to prove the man's guilt, Cliff suffers nightmares which feature his nemesis. One of these nightmares is interrupted when his partner Neal Hennessey calls him in the middle of the night to report another killing. This time the victim is Bobby Westfall, a bookscout – someone who makes a living finding valuable (but mostly not so valuable) books and selling them to booksellers. Janeway knows the victim because of his own hobby of collecting books. He has seen Westfall selling treasures to the bookstores they both frequent. The detective pursues Newton but meets complications when caught up in the affairs of a girl Newton is seeing. He takes unorthodox steps and finds himself in the position of having to leave the department but is able to fulfil his dream of opening a bookstore. He is helped with the setting up of his store by two booksellers, ostensibly his rivals, partners Ruby Seals and Emery Neff. Since Cliff is no longer with the police, he has no official way of gleaning information about the investigation into the Westfall murder but, fortunately, his friendship with his former partner is strong and he is good at arm-twisting. When another bookscout falls foul of the killer, Cliff follows an unconventional trail to try to unravel the mystery. The plot is very well constructed. Dunning has given Janeway necessary and sufficient cause for his change of profession. The mystery is admirably plotted and I have to admit that I didn't realise the identity of the killer before it was made clear. The characters are vividly drawn, although the mother of one of the victims was somewhat overdone as were, perhaps, the feuding brother and sister who owned a collection of apparently worthless books.
Reviewed by Denise Pickles, August 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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