The Bookman's Wake: A Mystery With Cliff Janeway [Hardcover]

John Dunning (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1995

Cliff Janeway, a book dealer, agrees to collect a woman who has skipped bail in Seattle. But when he arrives, he realizes he's been employed to find a rare edition of "The Raven". He also learns that those who are known to have owned copies of the book have met untimely deaths.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The sequel to the popular Booked to Die. Cliff Janeway, Denver cop-turned-book-dealer, finds himself chasing down a charming young fugitive named Eleanor Rigby, who has stolen a rare copy of Poe's "The Raven" for reasons of her own. Trouble follows, and Eleanor disappears into a city filled with people who want the book, and don't care what they have to do to get it. Stuffed with fascinating book lore, this mystery is a bibliophile's dream. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

In the long-awaited sequel to Booked to Die, Denver policeman-turned-bookdealer Cliff Janeway is hired by sleazy ex-cop Clydell Slater to retrieve Eleanor Rigby (really), who has jumped bail and fled to Seattle. Things get complicated when she turns out to be young, pretty and a talented book scout. The latter, almost by itself, seems to convince Janeway that she is innocent. Rigby may have the key to the location of a previously unknown fine press edition of Poe's The Raven. When Eleanor disappears, Janeway teams up with reporter Trish Aandahl, biographer of the Grayson brothers, who produced the rare Poe volume. Aandahl is convinced the brothers were both murdered over 20 years ago. To find Eleanor and The Raven, Janeway and Aandahl must connect the killing of the brothers with five other violent deaths. Dragging at the narrative are frequent long passages that either provide extensive background or serve to show off Janeway's bookhunting knowledge. While not uninteresting, these sections interrupt the novel's flow. Readers who loved the first Janeway appearance may find this entry somewhat disappointing. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 565 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Pr; Large Prnt edition (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786204966
• ISBN-13: 978-0786204960
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,590,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Although I have been writing fiction since childhood (and publishing novels since 1975), it was BOOKED TO DIE (1992) that gave me the freedom to write full time. I have always written out of my own life. My Bookman novels came from my ongoing experience in the used and rare book trade, coupled with my life as a Denver Post police reporter in the 1970s. I have written five novels about my book detective, Cliff Janeway, including THE BOOKWOMAN'S LAST FLING, to be published by Scribner in May 2006.

We have lived in Denver, it seems, forever, though I am a refugee from Charleston, SC. I have also been a glass cutter, a groom at Santa Anita and other racetracks, a publicist for political candidates (which is the same general thing)and did a radio show for more than 20 years.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Mystery For Book Lovers!, August 1, 2005

By 

Bobby Underwood "starlighthotel" (Manly NSW, Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bookman's Wake (Hardcover)

If you're one of those people like me that loves the smell of a new book, are picky about what you read, and find yourself organizing your books with your own little system, here is something special for you. John Dunning's work is much more than a mere detective novel. It is a novel of intrigue and murder amidst the book world, or more to the point, those who love books and spend hours searching the shelves of used book stores for a rare first edition.

Cliff Janeway is the Denver bookman and part-time detective who goes looking for a girl who may have in her possession a rare, and unheard of, Grayson Press edition of Poe's "The Raven." It is a book worth a fortune to those in the know. But things are not always what they seem and as Janeway tries to help the young and frightened Eleanor the story becomes more complex and dangerous. Dunning's mystery is exciting and compelling, peppered with insights and observations about books from a writer who loves and respects them as much as we do.

This is a book you will love and respect after finishing it. It is a wonderful and exciting read and Cliff Janeway can stand side by side with Travis McGee and Lew Archer in American detective fiction. We are treated to keen observations about humanity during this twisty tale of books and murder. Dunning uses the rain in Seattle and the snow in Denver for atmosphere and there is almost a wistful feel to the ending.

This was the second Cliff Janeway novel, "Booked to Die" being the first, and both are highly recommended. This is a smart read that will be enjoyed by anyone who loves books. If you like an intelligent mystery with sharply drawn characters and keen observations on our society as well, then this book is a must have for your library. A real treasure of a book about books that are treasures.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Janeway Is Back!, April 15, 2004

By 

H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bookman's Wake (Cliff Janeway Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

Book-collectors and lovers of cerebral mysteries have reason to rejoice. Ex-Denver cop and now bookstore owner Cliff Janeway is back and involved in an intrigue that gets more byzantine by the page. Mr. Dunning is even more ambitious in this novel than his first with a plot that twists and turns as Janeway sets out to pick up a young fugitive in Seattle. But that is just the beginning of a mystery that takes him back in time as he uncovers murder after murder in some way connected to a 1969 edition of Poe's "The Raven."

At one point in the novel the character Huggins describes the writing skills of another character Trish Aandahl: "The woman is just a sorceress when it comes to words. There's a seductive quality to her writing that hooks you by the neck and just drags you through it. Just wait till you get started reading her book-- you won't be able to leave it alone." That could be a perfect description of the better part of this well-plotted book where only at rare times do you see Mr. Dunning's scaffolding.

Of course there's Mr. Dunning's opinions about the book business that I completely agree with, for example, the "anal-obsessive who defaces books: "You find a grand copy of an old Ross Macdonald and open it to see that some fool has written all over it, destroying half its value and all of its factory-fresh desirability. Why is a book the only gift that the giver feels free and often compelled to deface before giving?" "Even worse than the scribblers. . . were the name embossers." Finally, Dunning takes aim at "the remainder goons at the Viking Press." I have never understood why people in the book business insist on those awful remainder marks either. I get the feeling they would be just as happy retailing toilet tissue if the profit margin were greater.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars with stipulations, this is a knock out of a great book, June 26, 2005

By 

clifford "akitonmyers" (Portland, OR, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bookman's Wake (Cliff Janeway Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

Everything about this book is perfect... or one could say that if you were to look at it under a certain light. What came to mind time after time while I was reading `Bookman's Wake' was that film by Jean Cocteau `Orpheus.' I say that because in the movie Cocteau creates a surreal world where Poets are akin to rock stars, crowds of beautiful young ladies cling to successful poets outside of cafes. In `Bookman's Wake' Dunning creates a similar world where a specialty book publisher attains the same heights as the poets in `Orpheus.' Not that it would be a bad thing if this were really so, but it just strikes me as preposterous in today's world, and I had a hard time swallowing it as a focal point of this novel. I myself enjoy collecting contemporary firsts and understand a little of the book collecting world. Specialty/fine press publication books are kind of goofy novelties in my opinion and just my predisposition towards this medium left me a little jaded towards this book. You can find an actual master at arionpress.com. A place located in San Francisco, where you can get a tour and check out some truly remarkable books.

OK, with all of that aside, I have to say that everything else about this book really is perfect. It is one of the very best mysteries that I have read. It doesn't pull punches, doesn't go over the top, and it is more of a cerebral journey than a brain dead thriller. The character Cliff Janeway is a pretty interesting guy. And this is not the first in a series of books. I say that because usually you will get most of the character development in the first book. I have not yet read the first book, but was still sucked in by the protagonists deep character. The story does feel like a good Raymond Chandler book as some other reviewer put it. But if you have really read Chandler, you will see that it is not a rip off of that long dead hard boiled writer. Instead it is a modern homage of Chandler in many ways.

Pick up this book. I totally recommend it. I have read hundreds of mysteries and maybe only one or two were as good as this one.