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The Book Stops Here: A Mobile Library Mystery (Mobile Library Mysteries)
 
 
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The Book Stops Here: A Mobile Library Mystery (Mobile Library Mysteries) [Paperback]

Ian Sansom (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Mobile Library Mysteries August 12, 2008

Disgruntled, disheveled, fish-out-of-water mobile librarian Israel Armstrong is finally going home to London, rattling along with his irascible companion Ted Carson in their rust bucket book van en route to the Mobile Meet. The annual library convention gives Israel the opportunity to catch up with his family, eat paprika chicken and baklava, and drink good coffee. But they've barely found parking when the unimaginable occurs: their library-on-wheels is stolen!

Who on earth would want to take a thirty-year-old traveling disaster with the words "The Book Stops Here" painted across the back? Israel and Ted are determined to find out. But their search is leading them on a very twisty trail through the countryside in pursuit of a suspicious convoy of New Age travelers. And the hunt is raising numerous troubling questions—such as where exactly is Israel's high-flying girlfriend, Gloria? And is Ted really making a move on Israel's widowed mother?


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The Book Stops Here: A Mobile Library Mystery (Mobile Library Mysteries) + Mr. Dixon Disappears: A Mobile Library Mystery + The Case of the Missing Books (Mobile Library Mysteries)
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

After more than six months as the mobile librarian of Tumdrum, Northern Ireland, Israel Armstrong yearns to return to London and civilization. He’ll resign to get there, too—until an all-expenses-paid business trip, to a conference of mobile librarians, saves him the trouble. Accompanied by colleague and comic foil Ted Carson, Israel goes home and finds that everything has changed—or maybe he has—except, perhaps, his mother. We criticized Sansom’s last outing (Mr. Dixon Disappears, 2007) for its lack of plotting chops; in retrospect, the problem may have been that he tried to make too much of a mystery out of it. Here, crime takes a backseat to the characters, and the problem is solved. The sleuthing—in search of Ted’s beloved, disappeared van—doesn’t start until halfway through the book, leaving plenty of room for hilarious scenes where nothing much happens. And watching the aggressively mild-mannered Israel try to find himself between the stifling rurality of Tumdrum and the soulless horror of London sprawl is entertainment enough. --Keir Graff

Review

“Hang around for what promises to be a very enjoyable series.” (The Observer )

“A humane, big-hearted and sometimes devastatingly funny book.” (LA Weekly )

“[THE BOOK STOPS HERE] succeeds as a light farce . . . The book’s high point is the acerbic portrayal of the personalities making up the Mobile Library Steering Committee, but most every page will elicit a grin, if not a chuckle.” (Publishers Weekly )

“A clever, affectionate poke in the ribs…. Sansom...discovers an exceptionally lively world.” (Kirkus Reviews )

“appealing” (Kirkus Reviews )

“One of the most unlikely detectives you’ll ever come across.” (Daily Express )

“A work of tender and bonhomous refraction…pleasing, amusing and honest.” (Newsday )

“Ian Sansom is as expertly comic as his hero is comically inept.” (London Times )

Product Details

  • Paperback: 307 pages
  • Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; First U.S. Paperback Edition edition (August 12, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0061452009
  • ISBN-13: 978-0061452000
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,186,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great addition to the series..., October 14, 2008
This review is from: The Book Stops Here: A Mobile Library Mystery (Mobile Library Mysteries) (Paperback)
It's unfortunate that there aren't more reviews for this book. It really is part of a genuinely unique, wonderfully written series.

Israel Armstrong is a not your typical detective. In fact, he's not a detective at all, but a Librarian who runs a Mobile Library van in a small Northern Ireland town. His unlikely partner, Ted Carson, is a belligerent curmudgeon who doesn't seem to like Israel too much. In this story, Israel and Ted are on their way to the "Mobile Library Meet" near London, which will reunite Israel with is family. He'll also meet up with his girlfriend Gloria (or will he?) All does not really go as planned when the van is stolen and Israel and Ted must set off to find it, with the help of Israel's domineering mother.

There are a lot of laugh-out-loud moments in this book (Israel and Ted's visit to Ted's cousin is priceless.) Only one thing that bothers me is that Israel is too much of a dishrag. I'd like to see him have a little bit more back-bone in future books.

If you're a fan of Patrick Taylor's books, you might like this series as well.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Getting away without murder, November 12, 2010
By 
D. P. Birkett (Suffern, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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I had just enjoyed "The Bad Book Affair and am catching up with the series backwards. In this one Israel, the mobile librarian schlemiel, and Ted, the prod clod, travel from Ulster to England to attend a mobile library conference and enter their van in a concours d'elegance. Sansom has great fun with the ethnic identities of the British Isles (North London Jewish, Irish Presbyterian, gay London Irish catholic, travelling druidic hippies, Asian lesbians etc) and hits a lot of targets with his wit, but nobody gets hit with a bullet. Israel is unlucky in love, but Ted and Gloria (Israel's mother) do better. This still has "mystery" on the cover, and it's true that for a time Israel and Ted don't know who swiped their van. Actually there is certain amount of violence when Ted gets into action but in general Agatha Christie is splatterpunk compared to the mildness of the crime in Sansom.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, September 19, 2011
By 
trs "trs" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
The British are blessed with mystery writers who include in their number at least one poet laureate and any number of authors of fiction, civil servants, and highly educated academics. Ian Sansom is of this ilk. Most wonderfully for us, he lives in Northern Ireland and produces the most fantastic and funny scenes set in this part of the world. There is also an undercurrent of serious reflection to heal the soul. Among the very best mystery series I've come across - when out in public I'll suddenly think of Israel Armstrong in his chicken coop and find myself hopelessly in the class of people who walk around laughing to themselves.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
mobile library van, dripping with rain, cab area
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mobile Meet, Northern Ireland, Baseball Cap, Old Man, Concours D'Elégance, Israel Armstrong, Barry Britton, Prince Albert, Mobile Library Steering Committee, Flatiron Building, Booker Prize-winning, Linda Wei, Melanie Phillips, Ted Carson, Alton Towers, Jack Russell, Book Worm, Daily Mail, Fatboy Slim, Eye of Horns, Adam Krimholz, New York, Bob Lady, Paprika Chicken
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