The first but not my last, July 20, 2012 By Ellen Rappaport (Florida) This review is from: The Sign of the Book (Cliff Janeway Novels) (Paperback) This was my first Cliff Janeway Bookman story but I will be reading more in this series.Cliff Janeway is a rare book dealer and runs a book store along with his partner, Erin D'Angelo. Erin's former love interest, Robert Marshall, has been murdered. Cliff finds his wife, Laura, has been taken into custody without the aid of a lawyer. Cliff starts to investigate and finds a rare collection of books may be at the center of this murder.That's when the "Preacher" comes to the attention of Cliff. The Preacher is a tall strange sort of character that runs a rare book collection with many books signed by the authors. But are those signatures authentic? And how can cliff go about finding who is actually signing them?I listened to this fabulous mystery on CD narrated/performed by George Guidall. G.G. executed a magnificent job at interpreting the authors words precisely and with depth that added another dimension to this story. There was one scene, in particular, that had me rolling with laughter. It was when the Preacher was over the top paranoid about the relentless Cliff showing up at his every turn. The preacher goes into his bathroom after ranting about his feelings of being constantly stalked by cliff only to find cliff standing in his shower. Cliff then smiles and winks at the Preacher which sends the preacher into a frenzy falling backwards entangling himself in the shower curtain. He flees from his house and jumps into his car speeding away with his side kick running after the car. Absolutely hilarious.I can only say, "why have I not heard more about this author and this fabulous series?" Have already requested 2 more books in this series and I highly recommend this book and series to all serious mystery lovers.
I read The Sign of the Book right after reading ROCKETS IN URSA MAJOR and exactly like ROCKETS IN URSA MAJOR it feels as if the book was written more than twenty years earlier.There's nothing wrong with releasing now a book that was written back then. But in the first chapters the author, as character and narrator, thinks back on how things have changed with the ubiquitous presence of the Web. That places us in the late 90s or early 21st century, right?The trouble here is that all through the novel many of the sub-plots depend on things like the absence of cell phones. Oopsie! Cell phones became ubiquitous pretty much in step with Web ubiquity. If you tell me that there's one in this universe and then present me with the absolute absence of the other, then you've lost me. I'm too busy finding odd things as I read, to get really absorbed by the plot or the characters.Then, like many a good detective fic writer the author creates nice "atmosphere" details at a certain technological level. But that level has changed in the last twenty years all across the USA. People in remote Colorado communities have cable TV or satellite TV now. They also have GPS systems. All that nice "atmosphere" seems mind-bogglingly fake now.
This book was mentioned in Donald Maass' "The Fire in Fiction", a book on writing fiction, and it was used to illustrate techniques in creating unusual milieus (in this case, mysteries connected with rare book collections). I picked up this novel as part of a project I have started, using the examples in Donald Maass' book as a reading list. This was the first John Dunning novel I've read, and it took a while to get used to his narrative style. After a couple of chapters, however, the reading smoothed out. The Cliff Janeway character is fun to follow, his escapades are not terribly over-the-top, and the premise to this mystery was intriguing. There is a significant twist near the end that had me feeling more blindsided than shocked. In fact, the story takes such an abrupt turn, I would have been more satisfied if there had been just a few hints toward this surprise element, just enough so I could say, "Darn...I should have seen that coming!" Instead, it felt more like the author simply threw in a wild card that turned his average hand into a full house. All in all, it was a fun story that kept the pages turning.
—Richard Good
I had Janeway's back up until the Christmas kiss and then the story took a sharp tangent that required a shower and a lot of thought to get back on board with. I had Laura pegged from the start as a smothering helicopter mother but it wasn't until then that I realized for someone determined to keep Jerry out of it, she sure had a way of making sure NO one EVER forgot he was in it up to his ears.THE book is fast paced and reads rapidly. There never was a moment where it lagged and I put it down f
—Kris
THE SIGN OF THE BOOK (Amateur Sleuth-Colorado-Cont) – G+Dunning, John – 4th in seriesScribner, 2005- HardcoverCliff Janeway is a former policeman and now bookstore owner and collector. He is asked by his attorney girlfriend Erin to investigate the arrest of Erin's former best friend, Laura, who has confessed to killing her husband. What he finds is a woman, who may be trying to protect her disabled son, a bully deputy who has badly mishandled a murder scene, and a house full of signed 1st editions.*** Dunning has created a wonderful character in Janeway. He's a tough ex-cop who knows how do to long stakeouts, understands judges and knows when a crime scene investigation has been bungled. He also knows books, finding, valuing and selling them. It's a combination that leads to a fully dimensional, and very interesting, character. He also knows how to build an excellent supporting cast, create a sense of place and build tension. If I wish his dialogue were better, that's a small criticism. For those of us who love books and tough-but-tender investigators, this is a very enjoyable series.
—LJ
