DNF. Couldn’t figure out what the story was. ( )

2.5/5 rounded down.

At the onset of the novel we meet Liesl Weiss, second in command to Christopher Wolfe, director of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at the university library. Both Christopher and Liesl have been with the library for decades. When Christopher suffers a stroke she is called back from her sabbatical to act as interim director. However, she finds herself in the middle of a mystery when she discovers a rare manuscript that was scheduled for viewing has vanished from the safe in Christopher’s office. The loss of the manuscript seemingly coincides with the disappearance of one of the librarians. Subsequently, two other manuscripts are found to be missing and Liesl is tasked to find the manuscripts. She is not permitted to involve the police because the university president is worried about how the donors would react and how the library’s image and reputation would suffer on account of the negative publicity. She is instructed to search for the manuscripts without any external interference. Liesl’s colleagues have their own theories and suspicions and in the course of Liesl’s internal investigation many secrets,past relationships, infighting, rivalries and deception rise to the surface only complicating Liesl’s search for the missing manuscripts and her efforts to assert her authority and command the respect she deserves.

The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk is a slow-paced mystery with an interesting premise. I have nothing against narratives spread across different timelines, but in this case, multiple timelines felt unnecessary and messed with the flow of the story which was annoying. While the mystery started out well, I found myself losing interest halfway in. I really wanted to like this book. I am partial to stories revolving around about books, bookshops and libraries but this novel was disappointing. The pace was painfully slow, characters for the most part were unlikable and I did not like how the story panned out. The story does touch upon important themes such as mental health, the glass ceiling, homophobia and discrimination in the workplace but none of these issues are given due diligence. I was disheartened with the way Miriam’s character was treated.Given the premise , the setting and the element of mystery I had expected to like this novel a lot more. ( )

Liesl has been working for the university’s library for decades. After her boss has a stroke, she has to step into his shoes, a task made all the more complicated by the discovery that a priceless manuscript is missing.

This mystery is well-written, but bleak. Lots of workplace politics, something I think is worth exploring in fiction but didn’t enjoy reading about. It lands differently when the protagonist is at the end of her career (she’s in her late 60s or so). There’s not the same optimism as with a younger protagonist, who can reasonably hope to see change in all sorts of ways, from their ability to deal with things to longer-term cultural/systemic changes.

They only took five minutes, and as they breathed their silent prayers for the book to the soundtrack of the humming fluorescent lights, ideas for what to do arose and then were dismissed before they were ever spoken. Liesl was alternatively sure a solution would come to her and terrified it wouldn’t.

( )

The director of a university library has a stroke and lies in the hospital, unresponsive. Liesl Weiss steps into the interim role, and immediately confronts a disaster: a new, expensive, donor-funded acquisition is missing, and the university president does not want to go to the police. Liesl is hamstrung by the president and even some of her colleagues (she has a past romantic history with one; another disrespects authority in general; a third is an ex-priest who believes himself in line for the job). Meanwhile, another library colleague, Miriam, goes missing. Liesl doesn't really believe the two disappearances are related, but opens a missing-persons case with the police, against most advice. Liesl's husband John is an artist who has suffered from depression in the past, and Liesl regrets not seeing - or seeing, but not acting to help - the same symptoms in Miriam.

*Spoiler alert*

The details of the rare books library are convincing, as are the characters of the colleagues, donors, and the university president. For a thriller/suspense novel, though, the pacing is rather slow, and reveals are often somewhat buried (such as the fact that Liesl's colleague Francis, and not her husband John, is Hannah's biological father). In the end, Liesl discovers that the library director is the one who took the book - among others - and she "convinces" the university president to hire as the new director the woman who carbon-dated one of the books to discover it was a facsimile.

Quotes

Back in the bad times, Liesl used to be able to push down the panic as a survival mechanism, to avoid Hannah having two parents with broken brains. Now that John had emerged from the fog, Liesl was more likely to descend into it herself occasionally. (96)

Liesl was dismayed at how uncertain she still felt, about the police, about all of it, her opinions so unused to having weight that they were still just vapor. (130)

She wouldn't have framed it that way at the time, but stasis is a decision too. (175)

She'd tried on the leader's clothes and found they fit, found that her instincts were sharp when she got to follow them. (296)

"It sounds like [the library] might finally be turning into something modern."
...
"Yes," Liesl said. "Or if not something modern, then a reasonable facsimile." (315) ( )

3.5 stars

A good mystery novel, if not terribly sophisticated writing. ( )