Ian Sansom

The case of the missing books

Israel Armstrong is a passionate soul, lured to Ireland by the promise of an exciting new career. Alas, the job that awaits him is not quite what he had in mind. Still, Israel is not one to dwell on disappointment, as he prepares to drive a mobile library around a small, damp Irish town. After all, the scenery is lovely, the people are charming—but where are the books? The rolling library's 15,000 volumes have mysteriously gone missing, and it's up to Israel to discover who would steal them . . . and why. And perhaps, after that, he will tackle other bizarre and perplexing local mysteries—like, where does one go to find a proper cappuccino and a decent newspaper?

A Mobile Library Mystery

The Case of the Missing Books

Il caso dei libri scomparsi. Le storie del Bibliobus di Tundrum

What does reading a book, smoking a cigarette, throwing confetti and voting in an election have in common? The answer, of course, is paper. Paper serves nearly every function of our lives. It is the technology with which we have made sense of the world. Yet the age of paper is ending. Ebooks now outsell their physical counterparts. Still, there are some uses of paper that seem unlikely to change, Christmas won't be Christmas without wrapped presents or crackers. And the language of paper, documents, files and folders, has survived digitisation. In Paper: An Elegy Ian Sansom builds a museum of paper and explores its paradox, its vulnerability and durability. This book is a timely meditation on the very paper it's printed on.

An Elegy

Paper

Israel Armstrong—the hapless duffle coat wearing, navel-gazing librarian who solves crimes and domestic problems whilst driving a mobile library around the north coast of Ireland—finds himself on the brink of thirty. But any celebration, planned or otherwise, must be put on hold when a troubled teenager—the daughter of a local politician—mysteriously vanishes. Israel suspects the girl's disappearance has something to do with his lending her American Pastoral from the library's special "Unshelved" category. Now he has to find the lost teen before he's run out of town—while he attempts to recover from his recent breakup with his girlfriend, Gloria, and tries to figure out where in Tumdrum a Jewish vegetarian might celebrate his thirtieth birthday.

The Bad Book Affair

Israel Armstrong är en känslig själ. En bokälskande vegetarian i manchesterkostym som flyttar till Irland för ett efterlängtat jobb som bibliotekarie. Men när han efter tolv timmars resa kommer fram upptäcker han att biblioteket har stängt, för gott, och att hans nyblivna chef har glömt berätta att hans tjänst numera består i att köra en bedagad biblioteksbuss. Strandad långt ute på den irländska landsbygden har Israel två val: Att med svansen mellan benen återvända till sitt halvdana liv i London och sitt halvdana jobb på en lågprisbokhandel i ett köpcentrum, eller att stanna kvar och sätta sig bakom ratten på en bokbuss som sett bättre dagar, och som inte bara saknar hyllor utan också böcker. För det visar sig vara nästa hake. Bibliotekets samtliga femtontusen böcker har försvunnit. Men vem stjäl så många böcker? Och hur? Den högst motvillige hjälten finner sig snart indragen i såväl jakten på böckerna som i lokalbefolkningens romantiska intriger. Ingendera leder dit Israel väntat sig. Fallet med de försvunna böckerna är första delen i en serie om den ofrivillige detektiven Israel Armstrong.

Fallet med de försvunna böckerna

Inspirational Extracts from Every Day of the Year

Reading Room

December Stories I

'The County Guides' are a series of detective novels set in 1930s England. The books are an odyssey through England and its history. In each county, the protagonists - Stephen Sefton, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, and his employer, the People's Professor, Swanton Morley - solve a murder. This book is set in Norfolk.

The Norfolk Mystery

ประวัติศาสตร์กระดาษโลก

CREAM TEAS! SCHOOL DINNERS! SATANIC SURFERS! Join our heroes as they follow up a Norfolk Mystery with a bad case of ... DEATH IN DEVON. Swanton Morley, the People's Professor, sets off for Devon to continue his history of England, The County Guides. Morley's daughter Miriam and his assistant Stephen Sefton pack up the Lagonda for a trip to the English Riviera. Morley has been invited to give the Founder's Day speech at All Souls School in Rousdon. But when the trio arrive they discover that a boy has died in mysterious circumstances. Was it an accident or was it - murder? Join Morley, Sefton and Miram on another adventure into the dark heart of 1930s England.

Death in Devon

Israel is at a convention in London when his mobile library is stolen.

The Delegates' Choice

Mr. Dixon a member of the Ulster Association of Magicians, has gone missing—along with one hundred thousand pounds in cash. Israel Armstrong, bighearted and overly inquisitive, should stick to delivering library books to out-of-the-way readers and not get involved in the investigation. But of course, he can't help himself—which costs him his job and earns him a place of dishonor among the police's prime suspects. Can Israel clear his name and get his van back? Will the exhibition of old local photos he's been driving around County Antrim offer clues to Mr. D.'s whereabouts? And is a romance in the offing with winsome barmaid Rosie Hart? All will be revealed!

Mr. Dixon Disappears

Israel Armstrong, den manchesterklädde, bortkomne, bokälskande bibliotekarien långt ute på den nordirländska landsbygden, är äntligen tillbaka i en ny härlig humordeckare. På det stora varuhuset Dixon & Pickering är man mitt uppe i förberedelserna för ett stort jubileumsfirande när det upptäcks att självaste mr Dixon är spårlöst försvunnen - och med honom flera hundra tusen pund i kontanter. Det dröjer inte länge förrän vår hjälte, Israel Armstrong, som borde nöja sig med att leverera biblioteksböcker till sina föga litterärt bevandrade läsare, lyckas hamna högst upp på polisens lista över misstänkta kidnappare. Han förlorar både jobbet och anseendet, och i sin strävan att rentvå sig själv upptäcker han att ingenting är vad det synes vara. Kommer Israel att få upprättelse? Lyckas han få tillbaka sin fallfärdiga bokbuss? Kan han få ordning på sitt trassliga kärleksliv? Och är det verkligen ingen som har hört talas om Franz Kafka? Ett komiskt mästerstycke. The Belfast Telegraph Sällsamt lyckad brittisk humor med hög verklighetsflyktfaktor. London Times Största nöjet är den Guinnessmättade miljön och Israels svarta livssyn ... Washington Post

Mr Dixon försvinner

A witty, personal and entertaining reflection on the history and meaning of paper during the (passing) era of its universal importance.

Paper: An Elegy

È la vigilia di Pasqua. Oggi è il grande giorno: il primo giorno della mostra itinerante sulla storia del più importante emporio della città, il leggendario Dixon & Pickering’s, che compie ben cento anni. E Israel Armstrong, bibliotecario itinerante di Tundrum e curatore dell’esposizione, è di ottimo umore. Anche se piove – a Tundrum piove sempre ¬–, lui non ha bevuto il suo caffè – ormai è un lontano ricordo – e la gente del luogo sembra fare di tutto per rendergli la vita impossibile. Insomma, ogni cosa va per il verso giusto. Almeno fino a quando si scopre che il proprietario dell’emporio è sparito. Dov’è finito Mr. Dixon? E cosa ne è stato delle centomila sterline che custodiva nella sua cassaforte? Inutile dire che il sospettato numero uno è proprio Israel, che nel giro di poche ore si ritrova ammanettato, accusato di rapimento e furto e per giunta senza lavoro – la biblioteca di Tundrum e Distretto non intende affatto infangare il suo buon nome annoverando tra le sue fila un pregiudicato. Riuscirà Israel a trovare la chiave di quella sparizione, salvare il posto e non trascorrere i prossimi anni in una cella dell’Irlanda del Nord? Perché Gloria non risponde mai alle sue telefonate? E si può sapere perché a Tundrum sembrano avercela tutti con lui? Ma, soprattutto, c’è nessuno qui che ha sentito parlare di Franz Kafka?

Le storie diel Bibliobus di Tundrum

Che cosa è successo a Mr Dixon?

“[Israel’s] fish-out-of-water dilemmas and encounters with kooky locals will resonate with Alexander McCall Smith fans.” —Publishers Weekly Author Ian Sansom “clearly loves a good laugh” (Washington Post), as his delightful mystery series featuring rumpled, fish-out-of-water, Jewish vegetarian librarian Israel Armstrong indisputably proves. The Bad Book Affair is Israel’s fourth hilarious adventure as he tools around Ireland in a rattletrap bookmobile trying to solve the mystery of a missing teenage girl while trying to keep his mess of a personal life in order. Sansom’s Mobile Library Mystery series has made a big splash with critics on both sides of “the Pond.” The New York Times Book Review loves their “formidable reserves of insight and humor,” while the London Times calls Israel “one of the most original and exciting amateur sleuths around.”

A warm, humane, and sharply observed tale of small town life that is by equal turns hilarious and moving. Big Davey Jones is coming home. He's been gone almost 20 years now, but nobody's forgotten him. Davey's a local hero -- his miracle birth as the seventh son of a seventh son brought fame to this little town and they've been grateful ever since. But Davey's home town has changed much in the intervening years. The traditional family business like Billy Finlay's Auto-Supplies and Calton's Bakery and Tea Rooms have been replaced with 'Exciting New Housing Developments ' and even a nightclub called 'Paradise Lost'. The locals haven't changed much though. Bob Savory, who always had it in him, has made a million with his company Sandwich Classics, and he's branching out now, with an Irish themed restaurant on the ring road. trying to convert the town through his Fish-and-Chip Biblical Quiz Nights and his Good Friday Carvery & Gospel Night. And Sammy, the town's best plumber, is depressed as ever and looking for solace at the bottom of the whisky bottle. Clever, touching and, above all, utterly spot-on in its depiction of small town life, Ring Road is confirms Ian Sansom's status as one of our most perceptive authors working today.

Ring Road

December Stories

'Beautifully crafted by Sansom, Professor Morley promises to become a little gem of English crime writing; sample him now' Daily Mail

Ian Sansom

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