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Theodore I. Terhune #9
A Case of Books
When Theodore Terhune’s wealthy client Arthur Harrison is found stabbed and his library ransacked, the police suspect the murderer was looking for a book. Harrison collected rare early printed books called incunabula, but as the provenance of such titles is well documented in the book world it would make little sense to steal one. Terhune is hired by the estate to sell off Harrison’s library, but another armed break-in and a very strange book auction suggest the killer is still searching for something. Soon Terhune himself becomes a target, but what exactly does the murderer want? And why are crosses appearing in the turf of local fields?
The sixth book in the entertaining series involving bookseller and amateur sleuth Theodore Terhune.
BRUCE GRAEME (1900–82) was a pseudonym of Graham Montague Jeffries, an author of more than 100 crime novels and a founding member of the Crime Writers’ Association. He created six series sleuths, including bookseller and accidental detective Theodore Terhune, whose adventures—Seven Clues in Search of a Crime (1941); House with Crooked Walls (1942); A Case for Solomon (1943); Work for the Hangman (1944); Ten Trails to Tyburn (1944); A Case of Books (1946) and And a Bottle of Rum (1949)—are republished by Moonstone Press.
The sixth book in the entertaining series involving bookseller and amateur sleuth Theodore Terhune.
BRUCE GRAEME (1900–82) was a pseudonym of Graham Montague Jeffries, an author of more than 100 crime novels and a founding member of the Crime Writers’ Association. He created six series sleuths, including bookseller and accidental detective Theodore Terhune, whose adventures—Seven Clues in Search of a Crime (1941); House with Crooked Walls (1942); A Case for Solomon (1943); Work for the Hangman (1944); Ten Trails to Tyburn (1944); A Case of Books (1946) and And a Bottle of Rum (1949)—are republished by Moonstone Press.
- GenresCrime
296 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1946
3 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Bruce Graeme
121 books9 followersGraham Montague Jeffries aka David Graeme, Peter Bourne, Roderic Hastings, Fielding Hope, and Jeffrey Montague father of Roderic Jeffries
He is the creator of:
1. ‘Blackshirt (Richard Verrell)’, a gentleman crook.
2. ‘Auguste Jantry’, an Inspector in 19th century Paris.
3. ‘Robert Mather’, a Detective Sergeant.
4. ‘William Stevens and Pierre Allain’, a Detective Superintendent and an Inspector.
5. ‘Theodore I. Terhune’, a bookseller and amateur sleuth.
6. ‘Lord Blackshirt (Anthony Verrell)’, a gentleman crook and son of Richard Verrell.
In 1952 his son Roderic Jeffries started writing Blackshirt stories under the pseudonym ‘Roderic Graeme’.
He is the creator of:
1. ‘Blackshirt (Richard Verrell)’, a gentleman crook.
2. ‘Auguste Jantry’, an Inspector in 19th century Paris.
3. ‘Robert Mather’, a Detective Sergeant.
4. ‘William Stevens and Pierre Allain’, a Detective Superintendent and an Inspector.
5. ‘Theodore I. Terhune’, a bookseller and amateur sleuth.
6. ‘Lord Blackshirt (Anthony Verrell)’, a gentleman crook and son of Richard Verrell.
In 1952 his son Roderic Jeffries started writing Blackshirt stories under the pseudonym ‘Roderic Graeme’.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 22, 2022
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February 18, 2022
For fans of the bibliomystery, this ticks lots of boxes.
A book collector is murdered in his library, with books strewn around. The amateur detective, Theodore I Terhune, is a bookseller and author of detective novels, and the murdered man was a client. Solving the mystery involves book catalogueing, book auctions and antiquarian book vendors. Reading books provides some clues, and there is a "book within a book" to contend with.
However, this is far from being the best in this entertaining and revelatory series.
There are the occasional longueurs,and rather too much which is not even tangentially relevant to the plot. Some of the solution comes from a chance reading of a book of arcane South American lore, and I felt that chance played too much of a role here.
A much smaller part is played by the feisty Julia MacMunn,and, given that the other woman in Terhune's life, Helena Armstrong, is now engaged, what, I wonder, will happen in Tommy's life outside books and detection?
Overall, a recommended read.
3.75 stars.
A book collector is murdered in his library, with books strewn around. The amateur detective, Theodore I Terhune, is a bookseller and author of detective novels, and the murdered man was a client. Solving the mystery involves book catalogueing, book auctions and antiquarian book vendors. Reading books provides some clues, and there is a "book within a book" to contend with.
However, this is far from being the best in this entertaining and revelatory series.
There are the occasional longueurs,and rather too much which is not even tangentially relevant to the plot. Some of the solution comes from a chance reading of a book of arcane South American lore, and I felt that chance played too much of a role here.
A much smaller part is played by the feisty Julia MacMunn,and, given that the other woman in Terhune's life, Helena Armstrong, is now engaged, what, I wonder, will happen in Tommy's life outside books and detection?
Overall, a recommended read.
3.75 stars.
February 17, 2022
This is the sixth of the seven books by Bruce Graeme being reprinted by Moonstone Press, this one first published in 1946, all of them featuring amateur detective and professional bookseller Tommy Terhune. Gramee is an engaging writer, and the pace of these novels is leisurely. In this penultimate novel of the series, however, that leisureliness occasionally becomes a bit soporific. But it also has its surpising and even shocking turns of event especially near the end. The book is also interetsing for its asides about life in the immediate aftermath of WWII. Near the opening of the book is a reflection on the futility of book collecting in the face of the arbitrariness of death, and later on an assertion by one of the characters that Germany is already preparing for a third, final world war. This leads Tommy to imagine a possible future that is almost H.G. Wellsian. So in sum, a pleasant but rather thin mystery with some compensating features that make the novel work a look.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews