Mr. Dixon Disappears

Another fun yarn about Israel Armstrong, the Jewish vegetarian librarian transplanted from London to Northern Ireland to run the mobile library. Will the hapless, insecure Israel ever be able to live a normal life in Northern Ireland? I doubt it. This time he is arrested when the department store owner disappears with the contents of the safe. Even Israel's dithering protestations make him appear guilty. Maybe it's my mothering instinct, but I adore him.

Israel Armstrong is the librarian for the Tumdrum and District Mobile Library, Northern Ireland. One Saturday morning he arrives at Dixon and Pickering's Department Store to set up his acclaimed five-panel touring exhibition of the store's history to find the store’s proprietor, Mr Dixon, has disappeared and someone’s stolen all the cash from the safe. The Police arrest Israel for the crimes and when he's released on bail he has to try to solve the case using techniques gleaned from a random selection of crime fiction and with the help of Ted the local cabbie (and general odd-job man).

If you are looking for a book with an engaging and intriguing plot to keep you up past bed time I would suggest you go elsewhere because you won't show more find one here. Honestly, the entire thing can be summed up in two paragraphs and even then is a bit contrived to be sensible.

However, if you can put aside your need for story for a couple of hours and just enjoy the beauty of funny, well constructed sentences and some charming characterisations then I highly recommend the book. Sansom was (or possibly still is) a columnist for The Guardian and he brings the same kind of wry, observational wit and love of language to the writing here. Just after he is released on bail Israel is driven back to Tumdrum

Tumdrum! What can you say about Tumdrum?

An impartial observer - and indeed Israel himself until this morning - might perhaps have said that the best thing you could say about Tumdrum was that it wasn't actually offensive...Tumdrum was not really the kind of place that inspired you to want to stick around for too long: it was not the kind of place that threw its arms around visitors and offered you a hundred thousand welcomes: it was more the kind of place that made you want to check the bus timetable to find out when the next bus might be leaving.

But to Israel, now, this morning, Tumdrum was like Shangri-La.

There are some delightful characters in the book too and even though they initially might present as absurd you really ought not dismiss them as such because they all, in their way, offer insight on their world and the people in it. Whether it be the Reverend Roberts who cheekily introduces an element of showmanship into his Easter service or Robbo the local version of a radio shock jock Sansom uses his characters to make some shrewd observations about people.

I suspect It's not the sort of book that everyone will like but language lovers and people who've seen enough dead bodies for a while will enjoy this one. show less

Apparently I've been on a sequels kick this week, having also finished the second book in Ian Sansom's Mobile Library series, Mr. Dixon Disappears. Israel Armstrong's chaotic adventures in Tumdrum continue when he accidentally (but entirely predictably) gets caught up in an investigation into the disappearance of department-store magnate (and amateur magician) Mr. Dixon.

This book had less to do with the mobile library than The Case of the Missing Books did (although here we see that dilapidated old book-van put to more, eh, extra-curricular uses, including kitchen, press room, and canine maternity ward), and the mystery itself ends up being a bit of a snoozer, but Sansom's knack for telling a strange story well continues to shine here.

show more target="_top">http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2008/03/book-review-mobile-library-mr-dixon.html show less

I like this mobile library mysteries series, but when I am reading them they tire me out. These people just can't communicate, they don't listen to one another, understand everything wrong and just plain talk to each other without listening. We have a saying in dutch for this sort of talk, but I wouldn't know how to translate it into english. There are some wonderful characters in these books and I love them all, except maybe for Linda..?!

Israel Armstrong, mobile librarian in Northern Ireland, arrives at Dixon & Pickering's Dept Store to set up a panel display on the 100 year history of the store when the caretaker exclaims about a robbery. After being shown all the empty vaults and touching everything, the Police arrive and haul him off as their prime suspect. There is a terrible mix-up at the station with the investigator and an unhelpful appointed lawyer that is over the top. He finally gets out on bail the next morning but loses his job and his transportation. He has one week to prove he is innocent before having to return to the station. The first book in this series was funny in a fish out of water kind of way, but this one was less funny and illogical. Duh, why show more not ask the caretaker why Israel was there? He bumbles his way through the rest of the mystery not really helping himself much. Don't think I'll continue with this series. show less

Freddo di chiamata

E' un modo di dire che non so quanti di voi conoscono. Sta ad indicare qualcuno che, nonostante venga sollecitato, non risponde al richiamo, non mostra reazioni. Il libro si legge scorrevolmente, la scrittura è tipicamente "british" con qualche ripetizione tipo "tic nervoso" un pò sfiancante. Non è terribile, ma non lascia il segno. A parte alcune interessanti riflessioni del protagonista, la situazione paradossale che si crea nella storia ha dei rimandi kafkiani, ma molto meno complessi. Il finale non al livello della suspense creata non è un difetto. Come dire, il viaggio sta nel mentre e non è soltanto il raggiungimento della mèta a determinare la bellezza di un'avventura. Tutto sommato, senza infamia nè show more lode. Non mi convince proseguire le orme dell'autore. show less

Although this was better than the first book of the series, the quirkiness and humor was not enough to save a rather silly mystery. At least it was quick read but now I am done with the Mobile Library mysteries.