Bookman's Wake

Rating:
Summary: Bookman's Wake is A-1!
Review: This is one of the best mysteries to cross my path in ages, and believe me, my path is littered with mysteries! The characters are believable, the plotting is well crafted and the setting! The setting is an absolute stroke of genius of the author! What lover of books wouldn't be intrigued reading about Dunning's world of the book man? And what lover of mystery novels wouldn't be intrigued by murder in this book world? Both Bookman's Wake and Booked to Die are gems. Buy them both. Buy the hardcovers. You'll want to keep these forever.

Rating:
Summary: Twists and Turns to the very end,Still keeps you guessing
Review: This is the first Dunning novel I have had a chance to read. I intend to go right out and pursue the other volumes. As a die-hard quality mystery fan who does not go in for spy stories or blood-n-guts volumes, I find this action filled book a delight to my English sensibilities. There is the obligatory violence, though it's minimal and not too graphic. There is the romance. There is the thoroughly dislikeable villain. Binding these all together is an intellectual plot and a thorough love of all things related to book collecting that keeps you on your toes throughout the book. Even on the last page, you are still wondering what will happen next. You will NEVER guess whodunnit!

Rating:
Summary: Competent Ross MacDonald Knockoff
Review: This is yet another variation on the classic American private detective novel. This book is competently written and plotted but lacks originality. This book has many of the features developed by Raymond Chandler, and in particular, Ross MacDonald. The protagonist is a decent but tough detective and the plot involves a troubled young heroine, family pathology, and murder. These are the elements of the typical Ross MacDonald mystery. The Bookman's Wake is decent entertainment but if you like this style of mystery, read Ross MacDonald for superior versions of this genre.

Rating:
Summary: Weak Second Outing For Janeway
Review: This second in Dunning's Cliff Janeway series picks up several months after the events of Booked To Die. Ex-cop Janeway is quietly running his used bookstore in Denver when another ex-cop walks in and offers him a very sweet deal to run up to Seattle and bring back a woman who jumped bail. Janeway balks at this bounty-hunter gig, but when it's revealed that there's a connection with a rare copy of "The Raven", he finally bites. Of course, if something sounds to good to be true...

In Seattle he easily catches up with the bail-jumper, but she's a pretty young book scout, so it doesn't take him long to ditch the idea of turning her in. Turns out she's connected to The Grayson Press, a (fictional) small specialty press well-known in the collecting world. This piques Janeway's interest even more, and soon he's embroiled in a very very convoluted mystery involving collectors of Grayson books and the possible murder some forty years ago of the two brothers who were The Grayson Press. This allows Dunning to wax prosaic about the craft and artisanry of small presses and the processes employed in days of yore. I'm as big an admirer of fine bookmaking as anyone, but it gets irksome he makes blanket statements about how bookmaking a dead art. While it's true that there the vast majority of books published are given only the most rudimentary design treatment, there are plenty that have been sweated over and given loving attention to detail. Even though they're using computers instead of moveable type, there are plenty of designers paying close attention to typeface selection, kerning, binding materials, and so on.

In any event, as in the first in the series, the book distinguishes itself via the immersion in the world of collectible books. The reader is given a fascinating insider's glimpse into aspects of book scouting, used book dealing, and bookmaking. This is all good stuff, but probably of much greater interest to those who already know a little about such things than the uninitiated. However, the plot itself is far too complicated and long-winded to make for a satisfying read. There are so many different threads that when everything is brought to a head and the motive for all the mayhem is revealed it's a pretty big letdown. It also doesn't help that some of the characters feel like repeats from the previous book: in each Janeway meets and befriends pretty and clever troubled young women early, there are thuggish goons he takes an instant dislike to, and he meets and beds a smart, pretty woman. Overall, a bit of sophomore slump, but hopefully the next one will be back on form.

Rating:
Summary: If you read, look at or collect books, read this one.
Review: Try these ingredients for a best-seller recipe: Edgar Allen Poe, the Raven, antique books, a police detective turned book collector and part-time sleuth plus add in Colorado, great police work and a great deal of history with lots of information about book collecting and you have got one heck of a story. This book is the second in a (hopefully) long series of books about Cliff Janeway who is a former Denver police detective who becomes a full time collector of rare, antique and first edition books. But Cliff Janeway just can't give up his former life and so becomes a part time sleuth. The pace of the book is non-stop and it is full of interesting facts about collecting books. This is truly one you won't be able to put down. You'll never look at a book the same way again

Rating:
Summary: Dull story, interesting light on book collectors
Review: Very pleasant insight into the world of book collectors and small press publishers. I enjoyed that very much, but the story itself is dull, predictable, and too long.

Rating:
Summary: Alas...
Review: What a disappointment, after the bright promise of Dunning's first Janeway mystery. This is just too long, too overblown. Apparently the author thought that more was better, and he just piled it on. Blame some of this on the editor at the publishing house. If about 100-150 pages had been omitted, this might have been worth reading. As Gertrude Stein told Hemingway: "Prune, Ernest, prune."