The Tricks of the (Book) Trade: The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte

Book Review
The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte
First Published in Spanish in 2002
This Edition Translated by Sonia Soto and Published by Harvest Books in 2006

A wealthy Spanish book collector is found hanged with a copy of Alexander Dumas' The Vicomte de Bragelonne by his side. A book seller acquires the dead man's collection of Dumas' personal notes to The Three Musketeers. Lucas Corso, an antique book broker of dubious caliber, is hired to investigate the authenticity of the Dumas papers. Was the death a suicide or a murder, and what is the connection with Dumas? Coincidentally, he is also asked to evaluate an apparently original printing of Aristide Torchia's The Book of the Nine Doors of the Kingdom of Shadows, a medieval book that was banned by the Church and caused the author his life at the stake. Corso soon finds himself overwhelmed with both mysteries as he seemingly finds himself a character in a Dumas novel the deeper he digs in the secretive and shady world of antique book sellers. Can Corso find out the truth before reality catches up with him?

The Club Dumas is a well-written and engaging novel, much like Perez-Reverte's more recent The Queen of the South. The style in this book is quite unique and works very well for this particular mystery: it is written in both the first person singular and third person singular--that is, there are two different narrators in the novel (Perez-Reverte used the same technique in his other novel). If there is a minor flaw with the author's writing style, it is that his constant allegories may at time get tiring, yet perhaps they are more often than not needed for his otherwise excellent characterizations. Two thumbs up for this book!