The Story
Product DescriptionThe Bath Street public library in Cowden is an impressive, modern facility that was only recently opened. Now, the borough council wants to close it as part of a rationalization package. So, one autumn night, militant librarylovers enter the building and begin unfurling their banners and bedrolls. The branch librarian locks the doors behind them . . . and the occupation of Bath Street library is underway. The mood is buoyant, full of hope and solidarity at least, until a garrotted corpse is found sitting in the librarians office. DI Don Packham recognizes the deceased straight away: Bert Rosen was a muchloved local character. The Cockney son of Jewish refugees, Bert was a veteran of World War II and had spent his long life fighting in the workingmans corner. Plenty opposed his politics, but its hard to find anyone to say a bad word for the man himself. So who, amongst the anticuts campaigners gathered in the library that night, might have killed him? Don, outraged at plans to close the library, reckons they should forget about the murder, and just arrest the council on a charge of cultural vandalism. DC Frank Mitchell, meanwhile, despite everyone telling him that community pressure groups are an essential part of a healthy democracy, is increasingly convinced that the lunatics have taken over the asylum. And the whole investigation is complicated by the astonishing object found in the dead mans pocket . . .Mat Coward is a Dagger and Edgarnominated short story writer. He lives in Somerset, in the UK.From BooklistThe new Don Packham and Frank Mitchell mystery will please devotees of this toolittleknown series. A man is murdered in the Bath Street Library in Cowden, England, apparently while a sitin protesting the imminent closure of the library was taking place in the very same building. Detective Constable Mitchell and his boss, Detective Inspector Packham, work their way through the list of suspects, all the while contending with the vocal (and somewhat wacky) prolibrary lobby. Its hard to tell whether the Packham and Mitchell novels are comic mysteries, or spoofs of mysteriesits a very thin line, and the author wanders back and forth across it with ease. Some of the banter between the two leads will remind some readers of the wordplay in a Donald E. Westlake novel, and thats just fine. Readers who have not yet sampled this quirky and entertaining series (this is the fourth installment) should be vehemently encouraged to do so, with all haste. Jenny McLarinCopyright American Library Association. All rights reserved
Description
Product DescriptionThe Bath Street public library in Cowden is an impressive, modern facility that was only recently opened. Now, the borough council wants to close it as part of a rationalization package. So, one autumn night, militant librarylovers enter the building and begin unfurling their banners and bedrolls. The branch librarian locks the doors behind them . . . and the occupation of Bath Street library is underway. The mood is buoyant, full of hope and solidarity at least, until a garrotted corpse is found sitting in the librarians office. DI Don Packham recognizes the deceased straight away: Bert Rosen was a muchloved local character. The Cockney son of Jewish refugees, Bert was a veteran of World War II and had spent his long life fighting in the workingmans corner. Plenty opposed his politics, but its hard to find anyone to say a bad word for the man himself. So who, amongst the anticuts campaigners gathered in the library that night, might have killed him? Don, outraged at plans to close the library, reckons they should forget about the murder, and just arrest the council on a charge of cultural vandalism. DC Frank Mitchell, meanwhile, despite everyone telling him that community pressure groups are an essential part of a healthy democracy, is increasingly convinced that the lunatics have taken over the asylum. And the whole investigation is complicated by the astonishing object found in the dead mans pocket . . .Mat Coward is a Dagger and Edgarnominated short story writer. He lives in Somerset, in the UK.From BooklistThe new Don Packham and Frank Mitchell mystery will please devotees of this toolittleknown series. A man is murdered in the Bath Street Library in Cowden, England, apparently while a sitin protesting the imminent closure of the library was taking place in the very same building. Detective Constable Mitchell and his boss, Detective Inspector Packham, work their way through the list of suspects, all the while contending with the vocal (and somewhat wacky) prolibrary lobby. Its hard to tell whether the Packham and Mitchell novels are comic mysteries, or spoofs of mysteriesits a very thin line, and the author wanders back and forth across it with ease. Some of the banter between the two leads will remind some readers of the wordplay in a Donald E. Westlake novel, and thats just fine. Readers who have not yet sampled this quirky and entertaining series (this is the fourth installment) should be vehemently encouraged to do so, with all haste. Jenny McLarinCopyright American Library Association. All rights reserved
