Mary (rxkicker) - , reviewed Sleuth is a reference librarian on 1/25/2009 + 71 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Set in present day, but has the slow, elegant feel of an historical. Not a traditional mystery. The sleuth, a librarian, solves the problem of a missing item (turns out to be a watch), partly with his knowledge of Dewey classifications. Funny funny description of the staff post-inventory party, which includes a Dewey classification competition called Class Struggle, and a 'chariot' race around the Reading Room. Class Struggle winner gets to run the library any way he wants for the rest of the party; he takes his oath on a copy of the _ALA Handbook_.
Like the janitor on _Scrubs_, the library janitor knows far more than most people suspect, and can assist in ways only the janitor can. If you know (or are) a reference or catalog librarian, you may like this. I like the librarian, adore the janitor, am ambivalent about the watch-seeker, and sometimes want to smack the wife. Clever (but fiction, so improbable) mental revenge aided by way-modern technology. Usually I like all loose ends wrapped up. This has some uncertainty at the end, but it seems appropriate to the book.

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