A Slepyng Hound to Wake

In McCaffrey's compelling second mystery to feature Boston book dealer Henry Sullivan (after 2009's Hound), Henry is unsettled by the murder of a fellow "book hound" down on his luck, Eddy Perry, who just sold Henry a rare volume of Lovecraft horror stories. Later, former girlfriend Barbara Krause, the owner of Alcott & Poe, an independent bookstore, asks Henry's help in investigating a plagiarism case. Sharon Greene, one of Barbara's employees, has accused a local literary heavyweight, George Duggan, of stealing from the work of the late James Frankowski, a little-known writer with whom Sharon lived for years. Meanwhile, Barbara struggles to keep Alcott & Poe afloat in an era of recession and e-commerce. A longtime bookstore owner himself, McCaffrey places less emphasis on crime solving than on the larger question of the printed word's place in today's world. Evocative prose and characterizations will remind many of Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer novels. (July)