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Title details for The Bookman's Promise by John Dunning - Available

The Bookman's Promise

#3 in series

by John Dunning
George Guidall
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Cliff Janeway is back! The Bookman's Promise marks the eagerly awaited return of the award-winning crime novel series that helped the nation turn on to first-edition book collecting.
The Bookman's Promise juxtaposes past and present as Denver ex-cop and bookman Cliff Janeway searches for a book and a killer.
The quest begins when an old woman — Josephine Gallant — learns that Janeway recently bought at auction a signed first edition by the legendary nineteenth-century explorer, Richard Francis Burton. The book is a true classic, telling of Burton's journey — disguised as a Muslim — to the forbidden holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The Boston auction house was a distinguished and trustworthy firm, but provenance is sometimes murky and Josephine says it is rightfully hers.
She believes that her grandfather had a fabulous collection of Burton material, but everything mysteriously disappeared shortly after her grandfather's death. With little time left in her own life, Josephine begs for Janeway's promise: he must find her grandfather's collection. When a friend is murdered, Janeway must find the answers. Someone today is willing to kill to keep the secrets of the past.
Rich with the insider's information that has made John Dunning famous, The Bookman's Promise is riveting entertainment from an extraordinarily gifted author who is as unique as the books he so clearly loves.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Cliff Janeway

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 24, 2004

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780743568708
      • File size: 169269 KB
      • Duration: 05:52:38

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Listeners will welcome the return of John Dunning's "bookman," introduced ten years ago in BOOKED TO DIE. Ex-detective turned rare book dealer Cliff Janeway is a minor cult figure among book-lovers. Based in Denver, Janeway travels in pursuit of rare books that have mysterious, murderous, and fascinating histories. Writings by nineteenth-century explorer Richard Burton are the object of Janeway's attention here. George Guidall knows this series well--having recorded the unabridged versions of Dunning's work. Guidall matches the engaging narrative style with his master's skill with pace and characterizations. Only complaint--Dunning's books are full of marvelous detail and minor characters--the abridgment just makes this listener long for the full text (available from Recorded Books in June 2004). R.F.W. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      The Bookman titles comprise an immensely entertaining series of literate whodunits about Cliff Janeway, cop and bookseller. In this one, a dying little old lady extracts Cliff's promise to recover a collection of Richard F. Burton first editions stolen some years before. Linguist, explorer, adventurer, eroticist, translator, and cad, Sir Richard apparently took a hand in sparking the American Civil War. Janeway investigates this intriguing historical hint as well as the priceless purloined writings, stumbling into danger and two sets of intrigues. Narrating stalwart George Guidall does his wonted fine job, making our hero believably streetwise and intellectual. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 16, 2004
      In Nero Wolfe Award–winner Dunning's third literate entry in his Cliff Janeway series (after Booked to Die
      and The Bookman's Wake
      ), 90-ish Josephine Gallant persuades the former Denver cop turned antiquarian bookseller to try to recover a rare collection of the works of Richard Burton, "the explorer, not the actor," that once belonged to her grandfather, a faithful traveling companion of Burton. Eager to fulfill his pledge to Ms. Gallant, who expires soon after their meeting, Janeway begins an investigation that takes him to a seedy used bookshop and other strange haunts in Baltimore, where he runs into a shady writer and a gang of thugs who are obviously looking for the same literary treasures. Midway through the often rambling narrative, a flashback to 1860 steps up the pace when Burton undertakes a possible espionage mission to the South for the British prime minister and encounters Captain Abner Doubleday, who solicits his advice on the defense of Fort Sumter. Two well-intentioned women join Janeway for the final search through historic Charleston, with the inevitable romantic interludes. Too many extraneous characters and some tedious dialogue slow the action, but the book-collecting background is sure to appeal to a wide range of mystery readers. (Mar. 9)

      FYI:
      Dunning's last novel was
      Two O'Clock, Eastern Wartime (2001), about old-time radio.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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