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When a well dressed young man walks into Dido Hoare's antiquarian book shop and plunks down almost £2000 for a first edition of a Trollope novel, it was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Beautiful, that is, if you are a single mother trying to make a living. At irregular intervals, Tim Curwen would come into the shop, usually on a Saturday afternoon, make small talk and buy a book, always for cash after the first credit card purchase. Until the last time, when he gave Dido a cheque for £200 for a first edition Dickens novel. Dido deposits the cheque in her account but Curwen is found dead on the pavement outside his apartment on Wednesday and the cheque was returned by her bank on Thursday. She phones his apartment and leaves a message for the executors on the answering machine. A representative of a large law firm phones her back and Dido goes to the flat to look for her book. She offers to do an appraisal of the books for the executor, and her offer is accepted. The books in the bookcases lining the study, are, however, without exception, virtually worthless. Dido's father, retired Oxford professor, Barnabas Hoare, still despairs, but he helps her and even baby-sits for his small grandson, Ben. She spends time searching for the missing books and finds that a few of them have been sold legitimately through book auctions, but she cannot get information on the consignor. Eventually, the case is kicked upstairs and her old friend, and sometime lover, Paul Grant takes charge. Dido manages to keep out of jeopardy in this one. She acts in a much more mature manner, recognizing that she has responsibilities. I think I like this Dido much better. She goes to the edge but doesn't pass the barrier. If you haven't read the previous five books in this series, Death's Autograph, Ghost Walk, Smoke Screen, Road Kill and Blood Lies, start at the beginning. The descriptions of antiquarian book fairs and the workings of any business that deals with both browsers and collectors are spot on. You can order this from Crime in Store (CrimeBks@aol.com) or wait what will seem to be an inordinate amount of time for the US edition. I couldn't wait.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, July 2002
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