BOOK MURDER by Bob Duckett
A few months back we held a crime writing competition in the library. Here we hear from one of the winners, Bob Duckett on how he wrote his winning entry…
“What”, I am asked, “was the inspiration behind my essay which won the Murder in the Library competition? Answer – A life working in libraries!
The Scene As a life-long librarian having worked in many libraries, I have spent a good part of this life in bookstacks, in basements, attics and boiler rooms that housed reserve book stocks and special collections. Infrequently visited by staff, one might think these secluded places to be havens of peace. But they are not. Hot water pipes gurgle; metal shelves bend and creak as the heating rises and falls; outside noises filter in through the air-conditioning; and the patter of tiny feet can sometimes be heard. In Bradford Central Library there was the gentle ‘thump’ of books falling onto a motorized conveyer belt as it transported them underground from the returned books counter to the shelving trolleys. A vivid memory is of reaching up to free a book on the tightly packed top shelf only for my fingers to crush something warm and sticky – a cockroach! And I have known books fall off a shelf unaided! Given the general dim lighting, cramped space, dust and stuffy heat, book-filled basements are not for the faint-hearted, especially if energy-saving lights switch themselves off!
The Victim In 1974, when many previously independent library authorities amalgamated, one outcome was that there were many multiple copies of individual titles. Too many. It became my job to go round the various libraries to identify surplus bookstock and dispose of it. This was not a job I enjoyed, especially when I became known as ‘The Hatchet Man from Central’. Yet until recently these libraries had been proudly independent and had built up their book collections over decades. They resented having these collections emaciated by an ‘off-comed-un’ sent out from Big Brother Bradford! Yet space is finite.
The Deed A memorable find in my stack sleuthing was a 1908 pocket-sized reprint of the book written in 1697 by the satirist Jonathan Swift. It had the striking title: The Battle of the Books: A Full and True Account of the Battle Fought Last Friday, between the Ancient and the Modern Books in St. James Library. It was about the ‘Old Learning’ of the Greek and Latin classics contrasted to the ‘New Thought’ of the scientists and rationalists. Swift imagined a friend’s library after dark when the books began to chatter amongst themselves, a chatter that developed into argument and then warfare. ‘What’, I wondered, ‘Would books today be talking about in the dark depths of the Basement? Perhaps about Dirty Harry, the Hatchet Man from Central, murdering books!
Bob’s winning entry will be in our forthcoming anthology! Keep an eye out for details.
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