The bookseller by Tim Sullivan

In the seventh in the series, Detective Sergeant George Cross, of the Avon and Somerset Police plies his craft superbly well, learning much about the book trade as he tracks down the killer. No-one will work with him, and George, a man who finds people difficult to understand, sees beyond the mask people present to nut out the detail which points to the killer. He is able to delve into details that others dismiss. He asks questions that no one else dares, and spend copious amounts of time  researching, much to the chagrin of his co-workers.

He spends each Wednesday evening with his father having a take out Chinese meal, where little is said, and on Thursday he goes to a church where he practices the organ for exactly one hour, the only audience being the appreciative priest, Stephen.

George has a routine driven life but in this novel, his routine is mangled when his father tells him he has cancer. George’s life of routine is over, and it takes him a long time to work out how to cope.

But a bookseller has been stabbed to death exposing decades of estrangement and conspiracies.  Seemingly an open and shut case, when George delves into the background of this bookshop and that of its rival, questions arise. Only George can separate the facts from the lies and half truths.

Meanwhile, George’s mother has returned to Bath after a lifetime of absence. George is diffident about her being there and seems to resent her renewed presence in his father’s life. He has decided to resign from the police to be his father’s full time carer, and cannot understand why his father is so much against the idea.

This is an absorbing part of the novel as we see George having to change and make decisions, allowing other people to enter his narrow life. Sullivan makes this all credible, and George’s problems are woven around the case he is trying to solve.

Sullivan concludes the story to everyone’s satisfaction: George and his parents are happy with the situation of father’s care, and the murder of Ed Squires, the bookseller is beautifully resolved, bringing the secrets of the past to the fore. And we as an audience learn a great many facts about the book industry. Which is always a plus.

Themes: Murder, Bookshops, Beth (UK), Humour, Autism.

Fran Knight