Friday's Forgotten Books - Blue Octavo

Bibliomysteries are a subgenre of crime fiction in which manuscripts, books, libraries, bookstores or publishing houses (or any employees thereof) play a large role. They date back at least to The Lost Library by Fredric Perkins in 1874, and many well-known authors have used the theme since, even Chandler's The Big Sleep (1939) with its rare book dealer who is fronting for something entirely different.

It's rarer to find an author of the genre who is a real-life book dealer, but John Blackburn is one example. Born in Northumberland in 1923, he was the brother of poet Thomas Blackburn, although the writing bug didn't bite John early. He served in the British merchant navy during World War II and then as a schoolmaster, before becoming director of Red Lion Books.

In 1958 he published his first work, A Scent of New-Mown Hay, which is a blend of science fiction and horror, themes that permeated many of his novels. He also penned several international espionage thrillers, including those with General Charles Kirk of British Intelligence and his sidekicks, scientist Sir Marcus Levin and his Russian wife Tania.

Blackburn's Blue Octavo (titled Bound to Kill in the U.S.), was published in 1963, and is a departure from most of his other books, but is likely the one most rooted in his own life and the biblio world. The hero is John Cain, a young bookseller who inherits the stock of a curmudgeonly antisocial dealer, James Roach, after he appears to have committed suicide. Or so the police soon conclude.

Cain is unconvinced, especially considering the alleged suicide followed the dead man's strange behavior at an auction where Roach had grossly overbid on a thin blue volume about mountain climbing. The book appeared to be as exciting as its title, Grey Boulders, but why had Roach been so obsessed with owning it and why is it now missing from Roach's collection?

As Cain digs deeper, he realizes Roach was murdered over that book, and in his bumbling attempts to get to the bottom of the mystery, he crosses paths with an unconventional young heiress, Julia Lent, and the noted author and mountaineer J. Moddon Mott. The three join forces in a hectic quest to uncover why a book with fewer than 50 remaining copies is worth three murders, attempted murder and blackmail. And where do a dying millionaire and a tortured clergyman with burned feet fit into the puzzle?

As you'd expect from a bookseller/author writing a bibliomystery, Blue Octavo is filled with details about  bookselling (at least as it was in Britain in the early 1960s). John Kennedy Melling notes, in his foreword to the Black Dagger reprint, that the novel gives "a revealing insight into the world of books, with a clear explanation of how the Ring works in bidding at public auctions, descriptions of bookseller's shops and stocks which immediately conjure up pictures of shops known to all book collectors, and some useful tips on collecting the editions—to say nothing of how to deal with auctioneers who won't cooperate."

Still, the thriller elements are enough to inspire author and Shots Magazine columnist Mike Ripley to include the work (along with Blackburn's A Ring of Roses) on his list of favorite thrillers. Maybe it has to do with the Hitchcockian climax in a factory tower...

Comments

[Richard R.]

A new one to me and really sounds intriguing. I love this kind of thing and will be searching out a copy of this one, if one can be found that's affordable. Thanks very much for the review.

[BV Lawson]

It's not a thick book, so that should help on shipping! It also means that you can get through it in relatively quick order, maybe 1-2 hours, depending upon quickly you read.

[J F Norris]

This is utterly surreal, B.V. Make sure you check out my contribution. Also a Blackburn book. Two in one day! There must be some magical synchronicity in the air when it comes to the FFB posts.

Love bibliomysteries, but I'll be reading Blackburn's eerie thrillers with the supernatural elements first before I get around to this one.

[Yvette]

Ooooh, this sounds good, B.V.! I love the sound of it. And the bibliophile background is just my thing. I hope I can find a copy.
Speaking of bibliophiles - have you read Michael Gruber's THE BOOK OF AIR AND SHADOW? One of my faves. Also, of course, the books of John Dunning?

[Martin Edwards]

Very interesting. New Mown Hay is pretty good, but I don't know this one.

[BV Lawson]

Ha! Yes, J.F., I guess we must have a psychic link. I usually "test" my author and/or book via Patti Abbott's web site and archives to see if s/he and or the book has been featured before, and Blackburn had only made one appearance. So to have two on one day -- very unusual. This particular Blackburn is probably a good place to start if you don't like horror or surreal elements, and it's more of a straight up-and-down detection story. The others would be enjoyable on different levels.

[BV Lawson]

I wish I could say I've the pleasure of reading John Dunning, but I'm afraid I haven't yet had the chance. But onto the TBR pile he goes! My current stack of real-live books is up to about 70, while my *list* of additional books to read numbers around 200 at last count. Must read faster.

[BV Lawson]

Martin, I believe "Blue Octavo" is different from his others (although I confess I haven't read them all!), as it doesn't involve any real horror or espionage type elements. Personally, I'd call it more of a detective novel or possibly suspense than an out-and-out thriller, as we think of them today.

[Julia Madeleine]

So many books, so little time. This looks like one worth reading.

[J F Norris]

BV -

Been meaning to ask you: Do you have a shortcut to search the FFB archives? I do exactly the same thing that you described above. I saw that only Jerry House had reviewed Blackburn's CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT back in 2008. But I had to resort to Google and the proper combo of precise terms. Took several tries. Is there a way to search Patti's blog? I failed miserably. Maybe I'm just not looking carefully enough. Any help would be appreciated.

[BV Lawson]

So true, so true, Julia. I almost cry every time I look over at my poor neglected TBR pile. Need to win the lottery. This working-thing to pay the bills takes too much time.

[BV Lawson]

I sent you an e-mail J.F., with my usual research strategy, such as it is.