The Book Stops Here: A Mobile Library Mystery (Mobile Library Mysteries)
After more than six months as the mobile librarian of Tumdrum, Northern Ireland, Israel Armstrong yearns to return to London and civilization. He&#x2019;ll resign to get there, too&#x2014;until an all-expenses-paid business trip, to a conference of mobile librarians, saves him the trouble. Accompanied by colleague and comic foil Ted Carson,&#xA0;Israel&#xA0;goes home&#xA0;and finds that everything has&#xA0;changed&#x2014;or maybe he has&#x2014;except, perhaps, his mother. We criticized Sansom&#x2019;s last outing (Mr. Dixon Disappears, 2007) for its lack of plotting chops; in retrospect, the problem may have been that he tried to make too much of a mystery out of it. Here, crime takes a backseat to the characters, and the problem is solved. The sleuthing&#x2014;in search of Ted&#x2019;s beloved, disappeared van&#x2014;doesn&#x2019;t start until halfway through the book, leaving plenty of room for hilarious scenes where nothing much happens. And watching the aggressively mild-mannered Israel try to find himself between the stifling rurality of Tumdrum and the soulless horror of London sprawl is entertainment enough. --Keir Graff