Status Updates From Dewey Decimated (A Werner-B...

I correctly guessed the murderer a good bit before the end - the person had the right attitude, motive, and was perfectly placed for it all, so it seemed fairly obvious. I thought Goodrum might attempt to do something unexpected and muck up my guess, but no.

Overall, this was dated and I don't know how well I'd have followed parts of it if I hadn't had some prior experience with a similar research library.

The Library of Congress will now be used to solve part of the mystery.

I'm amused at how the characters just assume that LC will not only have copies of these books, but first editions no less. I mean, that may well be true, these are classics, but contrary to popular belief, the Library of Congress does not actually own a copy of every book ever published.

The moral: don't eavesdrop on your coworkers, or you might get decapitated.

"I take some pride in my Latin, but my Greek is as clumsy as a woman's. Oh, excuse me."

...He's talking to a woman, by the way.

I'm glad this is short, because I'm finding myself struggling to remember who the characters are, even as my eyes glaze over while they talk. It took me several pages to recall who Welles was. And ugh, I can't believe Crighton essentially agreed to go on a date with him.

"His eyes began to water as they always did when he lost his temper, and he fought to get control of himself."

So...he cries when he get mad? But I'm guessing the author would only say that, in those words, if he were a woman.

"DeVeer was, quite frankly, a mixed blessing. He brought us great prestige and, in his own field, was very skilled, but he made everyone he worked with smaller and less effective in theirs."

I hate it when employers put up with toxic "star" employees. They'll convince you they're irreplaceable, but imagine all the growth and development those toxic employees are squashing.

We've got rare bibles that may, in fact, be forgeries, and a dead Head of the Manuscripts Division, who may have been about to reveal damaging secrets in order to convince the library director to give the Manuscripts Division more funding (and the Rare Books Division less?).

Sadly, the main character is not a librarian, but rather the library's press officer, who knows barely enough about the library to do her job.

I came across this while attempting to put together a list of fiction my library owns that features libraries and/or characters doing research as a significant part of the story. A brief scan of reviews indicates it's pretty dated, but I'll give it a shot.

Gadgets that sense smoke! What will they think of next??

"What Elgin did for the Marbles and Napoleon did for the Louvre, I was going to do for Oriental art." This guy's a real winner.

So many librarian jokes. I love it.