Search - The Bookwoman's Last Fling (Cliff Janeway, Bk 5)

I remember reading an interview John Dunning gave in which he said that he didn't think a series should go beyond 5 books. "The Bookwoman's Last Fling" is the fifth book in his Cliff Janeway series and in some ways his weakest. Unlike the previous books, this one seemed too long and not as attention grabbing - almost as if he felt he had an obligation to write it but his heart wasn't in it. It isn't a bad book. But, based on the others it left me feeling just so-so about the characters and the plot line. And despite his statement, I have a feeling there will be at least another book coming with Janeway.

This is one of my favorite series that I only recently discovered. The adventures of a cop-turned bookseller and the lengths he goes to, to find rare books. It does not sound very exciting, but believe me it is. This one is not the best of the series, but it is quite well written. It is a whole new world out there for him to seek out authentic first editions - not just for the financial aspect, but just the hunger to find that one hidden gem. There is a mixture of crime detective and book facts that somehow just pulls you in. Check out "The Sign of the Book" and "Booked to Die", too.

The author combines his knowledge of rare books and racetracks for a thrilling mystery.

I've enjoyed the last four Cliff Janeway books by Dunning, but perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood when I read this one. Janeway is hired by the estate of a very rich man to investigate missing books from the library of the man's wife, also deceased. While he's deciding whether he wants to work for these very unpleasant people, he meets the one good offspring and gets drawn into whether or not the woman was actually murdered. The locales were interesting: he spends quite a lot of time at a ranch and also working at a racetrack, but wow this book is slow. Talk talk talk, all the same questions, every answer has to be dragged out of the character over ten or more pages while they dither and ditz and evade. It seemed like it went on interminably. Finally when he gets close to solving the mystery, we head off into left field for the answer. The book has some good moments, and what looks like an interesting bit of character development for Janeway, but I would have appreciated about 100 fewer pages.