Death of a Bookseller

A title dedicated to the book trade, moving between various London bookshops, with humorous and astute observations about booksellers and rare book collectors.

“Some dealers and collectors have no conscience whatever. Do you know, Sergeant, there are men and even women who would cheerfully kill me to get what I have found today?”

When Sergeant Wigan stops to escort a swaying reveler home at the end of his late shift, he is spun a tale of the ups and downs of a life spent collecting and selling rare books. His new companion, Michael Fisk, has been celebrating the acquisition of a signed copy of Keats’ Endymion, and a trip into Fisk’s library is enough to convince Wigan to begin his own collection. After developing a love for antiquarian books and a friendship with Fisk, Wigan is called upon by the C.I.D. when tragedy strikes and Fisk is found murdered in his library.

Suspecting another book collector, seller or agent of murdering his friend and stealing a precious volume, Wigan dives into the antiquarian book trade where pleasantries and a kind of collector’s code mask simmering jealousies and ruthless desires. This adventurous bibliomystery, which has remained a rarity itself since its first publication in 1956, combines exuberant characters with a puzzling case and a wry depiction of the second-hand book market to delight book lovers and classic crime enthusiasts alike.