The Case of the Missing Books

Israel Armstrong has finally been offered a proper job as a librarian and leaves London for Northern Ireland for it, but when he arrives the library has been closed, his job is now driving a broken-down mobile library bus, and, to top it off, someone has made off with all 15,000 library-books. This is marketed as a humorous mystery and it is both, but in rather small measures - Israel starts off funny and I did giggle a few times, but the same type of humor is repeated throughout, and it gets increasingly unfunny (having a character say "bless you" when Hanukkah is mentioned wasn't funny the first time and isn't subsequent times either). He's also too whiny and incompetent to be likable, so all the miseries that happen to him don’t show more make me feel sympathy, but rather irritation. And the mystery is solved not by Israel at all, even though some of his time is spent searching, but by deus ex machina when a villager decides to return the lot. The main crime though, is that the characters are all two-dimensional and it seems that Israel has ended up in the one village in the world where every inhabitant is disgruntled, quite mean, and performs actions that make no sense whatsoever. I had a few others in the series in my bookcase, but they'll be donated away together with this one. show less

Israel Armstrong has lost his job as a librarian. Off he goes (from England) to Ireland to become the driver of a mobile library. He discovers a mystery when he arrives, the books have gone missing! As Israel goes about trying to find them, he mixes it up with the locals. The book and it's characters are a bit quirky and it starts out slow but in the end I really enjoyed it.

A mystery novel doesn't necessarily have to have a murder, but without bloodshed it helps to have humor and some intriguing characters to keep readers glued to its pages. That has been the secret of Alexander McCall Smith's successful No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Ian Sansom's Mobile Library series has yet to catch on - just try to find a copy of one of his books in stock in your local bookstore - but it deserves success, if the first novel in the series, "The Case of the Missing Books" (2006), is any indication.

Israel Armstrong, a bookish Londoner, takes a job as librarian in Tumdrum, a small town in Northern Ireland. There are just two problems, as he discovers upon his arrival. First, the library has been closed for economic show more reasons. Only a beat-up bookmobile or mobile library still exists. Second, all the books in the mobile library are missing. Israel's first task as librarian is to find those missing books.

He makes a terrible detective, and his ineptitude is part of the fun. Then, too, there are the many quirky townsfolk, who seem to take offense at everything Israel does while at the same time giving greater offense to him. Israel wants only to quit and return to London, but he is warned that unless he succeeds in finding those missing books, his temporary contract will be extended.

Sansom, who lives in Northern Ireland, comes up with some nifty sentences. Here are a few of my favorites:

"You wouldn't mind him driving your cab, but you wouldn't want to have to argue over the fare. Israel strongly suspected tattoos."

"'Mind if I smoke?' said Ted.
"'Not at all,' said Israel, although he did mind actually, but he couldn't say he did because he was a liberal ..."

"Israel reckoned he was probably the most politically correct person in about a hundred-mile radius at this very moment but even he couldn't help noticing her legs."

"... he was the sort of person, after all, who could get nostalgic about yesterday's breakfast."

Those lines can give one a pretty good picture of the kind of man Israel Armstrong is, and also the kind of book this is. I enjoyed it immensely. show less

The first of what I hope will be many installments in the "Mobile Library Mystery" series, Ian Sansom's The Case of the Missing Books (2006) chronicles the arrival of Israel Armstrong - a portly, cynical, Jewish, vegetarian from London - to Tumdrum, a rough-and-tumble coastal town in Northern Ireland. Israel's come to Tumdrum to take up his position as the town's librarian, but finds things aren't going to be quite that simple. The library's been closed, and Israel finds himself assigned to man the "mobile library" instead; but of course the 15,000 books comprising the library's stock have gone missing, and it's his job to find them.

With biting wit and a fair helping of humor, Sansom deftly handles the absurdities and quirks of rural show more life and culture and the pitfalls they present to the unwary outsider (especially those as utterly comic as Israel Armstrong).

Lovely light reading, reminiscent of Garrison Keillor's sketches of Lake Wobegon. Highly recommended.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2008/01/book-review-case-of-missing-books.html show less

** spoiler alert ** This is one of the worst books I've read. There is not one redeeming character, including the main character. The description said "Israel is not one to dwell on disappointment, as he prepares to drive a mobile library around a small, damp Irish town." Ummm.. yeah, he does, and in a very whiny way. However, given the people who dwell in the town and the treatment he's received, I would probably be whiny as well. Some may find this character somewhat comic, I'm finding him sad and pathetic.

I managed to finish this book, but the characters did not improve. Not one person was kind to Israel. His living situation was terrible and so far below what a reasonable person would expect that I wondered not only why anyone would show more offer this but why he didn't go look for better accommodations. To add insult to injury, he didn't solve the mystery! Oh, it got solved alright, but the ending was a complete let down. show less

When I saw Ian Sansom's name on a book in the mystery section, I knew not to expect an Agatha Christie yarn. I've read Sansom's book reviews for some time, and that experience told me not to expect all the characters assembled in a dustry drawing room for the final scene.

But once I turned the first page I was hooked. His Mobile Library series, of which this is the first book, takes place in a tiny town in northernmost Northern Ireland. And the hero, Israel Armstrong, is a vegetarian Jew librarian from London. The mystery itself has nothing to do with a murder -- its about what happened to the town's books. It sems they have all disappeared.

But the mystery is only the unifying thread in what is essentially a series of surreal everyday show more experiences in Israel's life. And they are laugh out loud funny. It is a sort of Little Britain in book form, and I am so pleased I got to enjoy the Israel Armstrong Show. show less

Israel Armstrong cuts less than an imposing figure; bookish would be an understatement, though Israel might read such a description as a compliment. The portly, vegetarian of Jewish and Irish descent opens a new chapter in his life, taking a job as the village librarian for Tumdrum in Northern Ireland. Only, upon arriving, he discovers the library closed by the local Department of Entertainment Leisure and Community in favor of a mobile library which Israel is meant to pilot. Fuming over the new direction of his long dreamed of literary journey, Israel continues to make discoveries, finding the mobile library immobile and the full catalog of 15,000 books altogether missing. Hoping to flee the scene, Israel finds himself penniless and show more trapped by the fine print of his contract. So, he takes up the mantle of Mike Hammer and Sam Spade in an effort to sniff out the books and the depraved soul who purloined them.

His living quarters a chicken coop, complete with the former occupants, and his office the rusitng, delapidated, and empty mobile library, Israel undertakes his inquiry. Attempts to question the villagers prove devastatingly unsuccesful as he can't understand a word anyone says and begins to realize that he is the brunt of many a practical joke. Leads only began to develop when he begins to take time to really get to know the villagers, relying on the direction of his Watson, a grizzled, volatile boxer turned cabbie. Gradually the town begins to trust Israel and he begins to settle in to his place in the village. In his pursuit of the filched books, Israel learns the age old moral that you can't judge a book by its cover.

Ian Sansome's strengths are the eccentric, colorful characters he creates and the 'Who's on First,' slapstick dialog he writes for them. The incongruity and irony of the town's population draws the reader along through the story, offering several opportunities for audible laughs. Unfortuneately , Sansom holds back too much of these people, giving just a small taste of each new character before speeding the tale along. Offering only a brief cocktail party introduction, it felt as though he meant us only to meet the village folk but not really get to know them. Such a strategy made sense only upon finding the back pages of the book devoted to a teaser chapter for the next 'Mobile Library Mystery.' Sansom robs the reader of good material and interesting characters, saving it all for a franchise. If Israel Armstrong and the village of Tumdrum offered one good book, Sansom should have written that book. Better one good book than a series of spotty ones.

Still, this was an enjoyable book, largely due to Sansom's witty dialog and crazy characters. And the frequent and varied literary references tickled just the right spot for the bibliophile. Whether the latter was more marketing for a franchise or just good, clean fun didn't matter much to me; it tipped the scales.

3 1/2 bones!!! show less