Untitled: A Booklover's Mystery (Booklover's Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Julie Kaewert (Author)

Book Description

Series: Booklover's Mysteries | Publication Date: November 2, 1999

The perfume of old books and the smell of danger...

Publisher Alex Plumtree is in for the most astounding week of his life. First he comes into possession of a rare, centuries-old book, rumored destroyed on orders of King Edward IV. Then he receives an undreamed-of honor: an invitation to join a select society of book collectors...who are also some of the most powerful men and women in England.

But Alex's triumph quickly turns sour. The book vanishes from Alex's office. His initiation weekend with the Dibdin Club is rife with bizarre behavior, appalling accidents--and a death that sends Alex reeling. He quickly begins to suspect that his valuable find is even more than it seemed on first glance. For hidden in its pages is a shocking secret that could change the history of books forever...as well as the face of the modern world. And there are people--and foreign powers--who would do anything to keep this secret from coming to light.

All Alex has to do is figure out what that secret is. If he can stay alive long enough.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The discovery of an extremely rare, 15th-century book leads to murder and international intrigue in Kaewert's (Unprintable) latest contemporary mystery featuring publisher and rare-book collector Alex Plumtree. The medieval book, which details the lives of the knights who protected King Richard the Lion-Heart and which was believed to have been destroyed by Edward IV, is immediatetly stolen after Alex finds it hidden in his family library. Meanwhile, the Foxburghe Club in Cornwall, an exclusive society of book collectors whose membership primarily consists of nobility, surprises Alex by inviting him to join. Curious, he agrees, but the honor quickly fades; Alex's initiation weekend at a medieval castle in Cornwall turns sour with the death of a club member, compounded by his mounting suspicion that one of the elite book collectors stole the ancient tome. Alex is determined to ferret out the thief (and in the process discovers that the book has a deadly secret). No one, including the prime minister and the archbishop of Canterbury, is above suspicion. Alex is an engaging and often comic hero, and he is supported by wonderful secondary characters. The plot is complicated and occasionally confusing, but in the end, the charming characters and the suspenseful race to find the book hold readers' attention. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A treat for booklovers."
--Tales from a Red Herring

"As always, absorbing and enlightening."
--Rendezvous

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Crimeline (November 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553577174
• ISBN-13: 978-0553577174
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #905,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My first "Un-book", but definitely not my last!, May 9, 2000

By 

Top Dragon (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Untitled: A Booklover's Mystery (Booklover's Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

All right, I admit that I bought this book for the "Booklover" premise, being a true bibliophile myself. However, I read over 75 novels each year, many of them mysteries and so I have learned never to judge a book by its cover (or the printed endorsements on the back). So it was with some trepidation that I began reading.

In short, I was astounded! I found the main character to be quite entertaining, bringing a common man's attitudes to an unusual life situation. Not only does he know the Prime Minister by his first name, and is able to carry on an overseas romance successfully, we find out even more interesting aspects of his ancestors in this volume. The other characters are all intersting as well.

I always admire authors who can mix genres together and come up with a great novel. This book is a perfect example. Not only are all of the classic mystery elements here, but she also mixes in a fair amount of thriller action ala James Bond or Dirk Pitt. Our hero is even reported to be a mirror image of Pierce Brosnan. I admit that some of the action sequences are a little far fetched, but somehow, that just adds to the enjoyment of the roller coaster ride. Contrary to another review below, I did not see any strings left untied, except for the cliffhanger ending, which is sort of like the Lady or the Tiger variety.

All in all, mystery readers, thriller readers, book lovers, and just about everybody else will enjoy this installment of the "Un-books"

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Much improved over the first in the series, March 8, 2001

By 

ctdak (Alaska USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Untitled: A Booklover's Mystery (Booklover's Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I read Kaewert's first in this Booklover's Mystery series and hoped that subsequent stories would show improvement. (Incidentally, the first one is Unsolicited, originally published in 1994, then reprinted by Bantam in 2000. Bantam would have you believe this is a new addition to the series when in fact it's a reprint of the first.) Untitled, the fourth in the series, is indeed much improved over the first. It is not slow in getting rolling and it has quite a complicated plot with twists and turns that leave you guessing. Just when you think you have things figured out, something is revealed which changes the picture again. The setting, with most characters and scenes revolving around the annual weekend gathering of an exclusive, high society British antique book collectors club at Castle Trefoyle, is definitely reminiscent of an Agatha Christie setting.

There is still too little in the way of British expressions and terminology used by her characters for them to be totally realistic, and one of the main characters, the protagonist's brother Max Plumtree, has an unbelievable character overhaul from book one. Also, a minor writing problem appears later in the story when the plot is disjointed in a couple of places. The ending doesn't explain or resolve everything, but this is obviously intentional and gives one the impression of being at least a partial lead-in to the next book in the series (Unsigned, which came out in January of 2001). The most unlikely, but still interesting, aspect of this story's plot is the tenuous nature of the relationship between the West, particularly England, and Iraq over the content of an antique book.

All in all, this is a good read, pretty much leaving you guessing to the end. Kaewert's series is better for this one and I will read more. I recommend it to British mystery fans, although it helps to have been introduced to the characters in a previous book of the series.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fun but exasperating, March 14, 2000

By 

MingoFan "MF" (somewhere) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Untitled: A Booklover's Mystery (Booklover's Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed reading this book on the surface. In other words, it's a good, fast read - enjoyable prose and an interesting premise.

However, even though I enjoyed the story overall, found some of the historical information fascinating, and was very entertained by the plot and characters, at the end of the book, I was hopping mad because certain loose ends weren't explained, questions weren't answered, and odd situations weren't explored.

I went back and reread some sections FIVE times to try and find what I must have missed, but the answers just weren't there.