The Bookman's Promise by John Dunning

I devoured this series when I found it. It's a good mix of mystery and book collecting. If you really love books, you would like this series. But I was surprised when I was rearranging my books to find The Bookman's Promise. I read the synopsis and it didn't sound familiar. How did I read all other books in the series and not this? We must remedy that!

We're back with Cliff Janeway, ex-cop turned bookstore owner/bookscout. He comes across a rare Richard Burton book and purchases it for fairly hefty sum. Doing this gets him in the spotlight a bit and all the crankpots start calling with "rare" books of their own to sell him. Josephine Gallant seems to be one of those crankpots. An elderly lady, very much near her deathbed, not only calls but takes her last bit of energy to visit Janeway. She claims the book he purchased from stolen from her grandfather, Charles Warren, who traveled with Burton. Trouble is, no one can find proof Warren and Burton even knew each other. Gallant is intriguing enough that Janeway listens and tries to help. Denise and Mike Ralston let Gallant stay with them and sadly, she dies. But not before getting Janeway to promise to get the books that were stolen. He promises.

Things take an ugly turn when Denise is killed. And Janeway is off to find the killer and why the books were so important.

A motley cast of characters join Janeway for some Southern history and back story on Richard Burton (yes! a real person!) and the tensions that led to the Civil War. Mystery, murderers, books and American history. Seriously? What more do you want?

Dig out the series - it's over 10 years old - and start devouring.