John Dunning and the Bookman
In 1949 the Graysons put out an edition of The Raven which was slightly flawed. The word has been misspelled and Daryl Grayson is a perfectionist. This misspelling haunts Grayson for the rest of his life and at the time of his death he had been planning another run of The Raven. The book that Eleanor is alleged to have stolen was purported to be one of the 1969 Grayson Ravens, a book supposedly never completed and therefore non-existant.
Janeway easily traces Rigby to her home town of Seattle, WA, the scenery of which he describes exquisitely. It's rainy - all the time. When he meets her and speaks with her, he is amazed by her knowledge of rare and collectable books. He comes to respect her as a person and for her knowledge and decides that he will have no part in returning her to New Mexico for trial.
Unfortunately, the police arrive at her parents' home and arrest her on the outstanding warrant. In court Janeway produces papers which show that he has been assigned to escort her back to New Mexico. He springs her from jail much earlier than necessary to make their evening flight to New Mexico and the two of them prowl the book shops of Seattle, finding an unbelievable number of Ayn Rand's books in a shopping bag in the shop of a once excellent bookman, now alcoholic. The shop keeper is nowhere to be found and so they leave a note promising $3,000 for the contents of the bag. It is a bookman's code never to take unfair advantage of another bookman.
While in his custody she is kidnapped by a man whom Janeway fears to be very dangerous, with good reason. Janeway locates a house where he fears Eleanor has been taken. He finds instead, two bodies.
He has been in touch with a reporter with a Seattle paper who has written a biography of the Graysons. He contacts her so that he can report the murders without becoming directly involved because he needs to find Eleanor.
This book is filled with booklore and surprising twists. When I saw John Dunning interviewed I went out and bought his book, but was not in a frame of mind at that time to read it. I am sorry that I waited so long because I want to read every word he has ever written.
The ending of The Bookman's Wake
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