The Club Dumas

"Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?" said Borgia, watching Corso closely. "There's nothing like that sheen, the gold on leather, behind glass. . . Not to mention the treasures these books contain. . . "I know people who would kill for a collection like this."

- Perez-Reverte, The Club Dumas (p.54)

If you enjoyed reading The Three Musketeers or The Count of Monte Cristo, and if you enjoy mysteries, this book may be right for you. I admit to being one of those people, in fact I remember my first traversal through the adventures of Edmond Dantes, and I could not put the book down until I finished it.
Arturo Perez-Reverte is an intelligent Spanish writer who includes details in his mysteries that make them seem authentic to the topic, in this case bibliophilia of an antique sort. The story he tells in The Club Dumas involves a detective, Lucas Corso, and two bibliophile mysteries intertwined, one of which involves a Dumas manuscript. The other mystery is a bit more sinister and the denouement seems a bit contrived. However, the mystery is a cut above the average procedural and Perez-Reverte has written several more for those inclined to spend their mysterious hours wrapped in the labyrinths of his fictional detectives.

The Club Dumas by Aturo Perez-Reverte. Harvest Books, New York. 2006 (1995).