Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I just finished this last night and was both amused and disappointed in the book. Israel Armstrong is a whiny, 'oh poor me' kind of person that is boring and not very admirable. If I had as many headaches as he gets I'd be going to a neurologist to see what was wrong with me. But, no, he just swallows another pill. I much prefer Ted the driver of the mobile library. He's funny, interesting and and hasn't a whiny bone in his body except for the mobile library van. And that is what this book is about...the van. Israel and Ted are on their way to a "Mobile Meet" which is a collection of mobile librarians and their vans. They are meeting near Stonehenge but while visiting Israel's mother the van is stolen, or rather in the vernacular of PC Britain "taken without owner's consent". The road to retrieving their property is bumpy and filled with hippie-like gypsies. But all turns out fine in the end. The funniest parts were all the little quips about librarians and their "kind of occult power, an aura" which is absolutely true. And in full disclosure, I am a librarian. *LOL* I'm sorry I can't recommend this book but there isn't enough mystery to be called a mystery and I'm still waiting to see how Israel handles being a librarian.

Nothing drew me in. It was complicated and not interesting. I tried but honestly, I just couldn't read it. You would think that books and having a Jewish character would be intersting - alas, it was not.

In Tumdrum, Northern Ireland Jewish mobile librarian Israel Armstrong informs his peer Ted Carson that for him THE BOOK STOPS HERE as he plans to tell their boss Linda he is resigning so he can restart his exciting London life especially with his girlfriend. However, before he can open his moth, Linda tells Israel and Ted they will to London on an all paid expenses trip to represent their district at the annual mobile library gala. Ted does not want to go claiming he once went to Belfast, which was enough of a big city for him. However, Israel, dropping his quitting plans at least until after the trip, cons his mobile partner into going by betting the prideful Carson that their library vehicle will win no prizes from the Mobile Library Steering Committee unless there is something given for the worst.

On the way to London, the duo stops in Finchley to see Israel's mom only to lose the van, which makes no sense to Israel as the vehicle is a crappy rusty junker older than him. He, his Londoner mom, and Ted search for the lost mobile in a quest that takes them to Stonehenge in order to recover and bring the mobile to the competition before Linda learns they lost the vehicle.

The third Mobile Library mystery (see THE CASE OF THE MISSING BOOKS and MR. DIXON DISAPPEARS) is a lighthearted frolic that never takes itself seriously. The stolen van mystery is low keyed as the tale focuses on the misadventures of the lead pair and the ensemble support cast consisting mostly of family, the Mobile Library Committee, the thieves and a few other eccentrics. Although crime buffs will pass, fans of an amusing satirical mystery will laugh at the antics of those crime busting buddies "not" Israel and Ted.

Harriet Klausner

This begins a series of moderately entertaining books about a city boy in the country-side of Northern Ireland. The stories are predictable, the characters are grotesque. The weather is awful.

Passes the time without being overly enlightening.