by Bruno Somerset

Created on: August 10, 2009

Every so often a book catches readers by surprise; even more rarely that book becomes part of the very world it seeks to chronicle. Both were the case with John Dunning's Booked to Die, the first in the remarkable Cliff Janeway Bookman series, one of the best mystery series ever written.

Booked to Die is the story of a burned out cop named Cliff Janeway who quits the police force to become a rare book dealer. Janeway has turned in his badge; he keeps both his gun and his penchant for solving crimes. The mysteries now revolve around the new world of rare books he inhabits, which puts this book squarely in the genre of bibliomystery.

A bibliomystery is one in which a book or manuscript is central to the plot of the novel. The definition can be expanded to include mystery novels in which libraries, librarians, bookstores, booksellers, publishers and/or authors play a key role in the story. The genre existed well before Booked to Die, going back at least as far as Agnes Miller's The Colfax Book-Plate in 1926, but Dunning's contribution was a turning point, much like Springsteen's Born to Run helped both save and redefine rock music. In many ways, Dunning opened the door for many of today's hugely popular bibliomysteries, from Arturo Perez-Reverte's The Club Dumas to Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind.

What stands out in Booked to Die is not simply the solving of a mystery, though Dunning takes the reader on a non-stop thrill ride in doing so. This novel is unique because it gives the reader a behind the scenes look at the world of rare book dealers, as well as an education into rare books themselves, without ever bogging down the narrative. In the end, watching Janeway scout through a pile of books in an East Denver thrift shop is as interesting as witnessing the brutal fight that ends his career as a cop. And Dunning gives us some twists at the end that would surprise even Sherlock Holmes.

The four books in the series that follow Booked to Die are The Bookman's Wake, The Bookman's Promise, The Sign of the Book, and The Bookwoman's Last Fling. Too often by the third or fourth book a series will become predictable; this is not the case with the Bookman series. The Bookman's Wake is easily as good as Booked to Die, and finds Janeway on the trail of a young woman named Eleanor Rigby (no, really) who has stolen a rare volume of Poe's The Raven.

John Dunning is himself a rare book dealer in Denver, and Booked to Die made the leap into the real world of rare books in a way he never imagined. The initial print run was a miniscule 6,500 hardcover copies, at least in part because Dunning had not published a book in more than ten years. He says he doubted that even that small number would sell out; he was wrong. The book sold out overnight, and has since gone through at least five hardcover printings and more than 20 paperback printings.

That first hardcover print run is now one of the most collectible books on the market. Unsigned copies sell for as much as $800.00, and signed copies for a much as $2,000.00. With a novel this good and print run that small, Dunning should have seen this coming. Cliff Janeway certainly would have.

Learn more about this author, Bruno Somerset.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.