First published 1995
Cliff Janeway takes what seems like a straightforward job collecting a bail jumper in Seattle. The book dealer expects routine work, but the case transforms when he discovers his real target is a rare edition of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." This particular volume carries a deadly reputation. Previous owners of copies have died under suspicious circumstances. Janeway must navigate between his expertise in rare books and the mounting danger surrounding this specific edition. The investigation pulls him deeper into a world where literary value and human life intersect in fatal ways. As bodies accumulate around copies of the poem, Janeway realizes he's hunting more than a missing person or valuable book. Someone is willing to kill for Poe's masterwork, and the book dealer's knowledge makes him both hunter and potential victim in a game where rare literature becomes a motive for murder.
Genres: suspense, crime, thriller, mystery-thriller
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, literary-mystery
Setting: Seattle
Period: 20th-century
1 pages · Audio CD · Recorded Books, Inc. and Blackstone Publishing