Book Review: The Geographer's Library

Reviewed By: Woodstock - RAM

The Geographer's Library     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Jon Fasman
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller
Penguin Press, 2005, 372 pages

In small Connecticut town, a reclusive professor is found dead in his home. He had few friends, a rather adversarial relationship with the administration of small college where he taught, and a forlornly delapidated home with worn threadbare furnishings. However one cabinet is mysteriously empty.

Paul Tomm is a writer for the small local newspaper and is assigned the task of writing an obituary for the deceased. But his questions, which should have been more or less routine, only lead to more questions. And when the coroner who was examining the body is the victim of a hit and run, Paul begins to suspect that the story involves much more than the lonely death of a solitary man.

Chapters alternate between the Paul's attempts to complete the professor's obituary and the varied history of a small cache of historical artifacts, which have turned up in various parts of the world during a period extending back to the 12th century.

The double intrigue has the potential to provide a thoroughly engrossing read. However, both stories move at an overly deliberate pace, leaving the reader striving to maintain attention.

Recommended for fans of historical puzzles.

Woodstock - RAM

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