Israel Armstrong is a vegetarian librarian from London who finds himself in rural Ireland running a rundown bookmobile. However, this is not the job Israel had envisioned for himself. An opportunity to attend a bookmobile conference in London may be his way out (and give him a chance to enjoy his favorite indulgences, visit his family and see his girlfriend). When mobile librarian Israel Armstrong's library-on-wheels is stolen at the convention, he sets out with his fellow librarian Ted Carson to find it. Their search leads them to a suspicious convoy of New Age travelers. I found the plot pointless and silly, the characters hard to warm to and the ending did not connect with the rest of the book. I think I will pass on any further books in this series. 1 out of 5 stars. ( )

Funny in the way Good Omens should have been, not much in the mystery category but lots in the satire department. Funny, smart and worth reading more of the same.

Something's always going missing in Ian Sansom's Mobile Library mysteries. Israel Armstrong has just become the mobile librarian in the Northern Ireland community of Tumdrum when, in "The Case of the Missing Books," he discovers all the books have vanished. His first assignment is to find them. Then in "Mr. Dixon Disappears," Israel must find a prominent local businessman because he is a suspect in his disappearance. Now in "The Book Stops Here" (2008), the third and arguably the best novel in the series, it is the mobile library itself that goes missing.

Israel and Ted, the disgruntled older man responsible for driving and maintaining the vehicle, take it to London for the Mobile Meet. Israel yearns to return to London after six annoying months in Tumdrum. He wants to see Gloria, the girlfriend he has not heard from in awhile, and reconnect with friends. The first stop is at his mother's house, where she and Ted hit it off immediately, much to Israel's dismay. That night the mobile library disappears from the street.

How Israel, Ted and Israel's mother track down and recover the van makes a rollicking adventure. Done right, this would make an entertaining film.

There's a bittersweet quality to the tale. Both Israel, who wants to go to London, and Ted, who doesn't, are shaken by their journey. Israel finds you really can't go home again. In just six months, everything has changed. As for Ted, a man he has not seen in many years turns out not to be the kind of man he thought he was.

As in the previous books, poor Israel gets verbally abused by everyone, his mother included. Seeing him prevail yet again gives pleasure to the reader, as do Sansom's insightful comments about literature sprinkled throughout the novel. ( )

Sadly Israel Armstrong is becoming the caricature of a born loser and that makes for difficult reading and leaches much of the comedy from the story. ( )

The Mobile Library series of "mysteries" by Ian Sansom takes place in a surreal world where a vegetarian Jew named Israel Armstrong is lured to Northern ireland to be town librarian, only to learn upon arriving that the town library is a mobile books on wheels van. Israel's pseudo intellectual outlook and mock erudite body of knowledge put him at constant odds with the simple people of the town, who are more likely to know the color of a book than the author or title.

Each of the books revolves around one central plot and a million little snapshots of Israel being a square peg in a round village.

In this book, Israel is offered the opportunity to return to England for a Mobile Librarian's conference, but quickly stumbles into another mystery that he must solve to save his reputation and freedom. But honestly, the plot is incidental to Sansom's very funny characters and gift for dialogue.

Having read Sansom's book reviews and articles on British websites for years, I am surprised that he writes books like these. As a book reviewer Sansom is quite tough, but these mysteries reveal an appreciation for the kaleidoscope of people that populate the world. Obviously being a tough reviewer doesn't mean he is a cold person. ( )