by Margaret Truman
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Product Description
In the depths of the U.S. Library of Congress toil thousands of researchers, chasing down obsessions, breakthroughs, and new contributions to human wisdom. But when amateur D.C. sleuth Annabel Reed-Smith enters this stately American institution, she discovers a hornet’s nest of intrigue and murder.
After a renowned scholar is bludgeoned to death among the scholarly stacks, an ambitious TV reporter links the case to the heist of a Spanish painting from a Miami museum and a killing in Mexico City. Annabel suspects that buried in the Library are secrets some people will do anything to keep silent–the secret of a rich man’s ambition, a researcher’s disappearance, and a mysterious diary of Christopher Columbus’s journey written five hundred years ago. . . .
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Appetites, 2007-11-23
Casa de Seville, a museum, is located in Miami. It has a painting of Christopher Columbus with the Book of Privileges. Reina, a maintenance man, is a snow-bird, a term for a cocaine user. Of course he is a weak link. Mac Smith, a Truman series regular, husband of Annabel and professor of law at George Washington, needs to repair his meniscus, his knee. Annabel has traveled to Florida with the United States Senator from Florida in order to write for the Library of Congress a commentary for its publication. Her subject matter is Las Casas, an associate of Columbus.
Annabel is given space for two months at the Library of Congress to pursue her research. An art theft and murder at the Casa de Seville in Miami drive a correspondant from a CNN-like network to seek interviews with Annabel and a reknown Las Casas scholar at the Hispanic section of the LC. A second death, this actually taking place at the Library of Congress, raises the level of anxiety among the employees and researchers there. The library is interested in obtaining Las Casas material and there is competition for it. Frank Nastasi, a police officer in other Truman mysteries, is back in this one.
Research interests, bequests to the library, scholarly and romantic jealousy are elements fueling this competently written story.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Truman---the name sounds familiar., 2007-11-17
I know this about Ms. Truman. She's 83 years old and lives in New York. She was an accomplished pianist who played for crowned heads in Europe and Knot heads in Washington. She's a fine mystery writer who manages in M A T L O C to involve us in a murder at the library which is linked to the heist of a Spanish painting from a museum in Miami and to a killing in Mexico. She also ties in a cryptic diary of Columbus's voyages, written 500 years ago. This is a huge load to stuff in one book-but she does it and does it well.
Her writing and organizational skills lead me to believe that this woman should run for President of the U.S. Now I know that Ms. Truman was not married to a former president, so she doesn't have much of a resume. But that name Truman does sound familiar. Even if she wasn't wed to a Chief Executive- I think she has potential. Vote Margaret Truman. I am giving her my vote. FIVE STARS OF FIVE
william russo 17 nov 2007
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Good concept, 2005-06-07
Murder at the Library of Congress by Margaret Truman is one of the Capital Crimes novel series. Annabel Lee, an ex-lawyer and a new art gallery owner, is invited to do an article over the long-lost Las Casas diaries in a magazine. Annabel, deciding to do the article, goes to the Library of Congress where she meets with Consuela, head of the Hispanic and Portuguese division, to find all the materials she needs to write the article. In between researching, she meets and interviews Michele Paul, a rude historian who has been trying to find the Las Casas diaries for years. His murder later that night puts a bump in Annabel Lee's plan to interview him some more and creates a whole new oppurtunity to investigate Paul's murder.
Truman's mystery novel is not one of mystery, as the plot shows indirectly who the murderer is and why this person murdered Michele Paul. Although not surprising, it is a let down at the end of the book when you find out that the person you were expecting murdered Michele Paul, really did murder him. Another thing that was destroyed in this book was word play. Whenever Truman used a popular saying that virtually everybody knows, she added either after or before the character said it "As the saying goes." Although not important, it makes the story a little less real and choppier as well. One good thing, however, is that the characters Truman used may not be like regular people, but are interesting and they keep you reading to see what happens to them in the end. The concept of the whole story is thrilling as well.
Truman made some mistakes that were costly to the book's storyline and appeal, but that was fixed with interesting and complex characters. As a whole the book was good, but not one to be remembered as a classic.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 A Bit Silly, 2005-02-22
This book is an Annabel Smith murder mystery. Annabel, a curator of a museum of pre-Columbian art, has for some reason been asked to write a feature article about Christopher Columbus for a special issue of "Civilization," the magazine of the Library of Congress. When she shows up at the Hispanic section of the library to start her 2 months of research for the article, she meets a cast of characters, some nice, and some not-so-nice. Meanwhile, a second-rate painting of Columbus is stolen from an art museum in Miami. Is there a connection from the heist to the Library? There must be, or else this story would be dead in the water. Clues like a fellow researcher at the Library turning up dead draw Annabel into the investigation.
This is the kind of mystery in which the author lets us know the whereabouts and thoughts of everyone, including the bad guys, as we go along. She tells us up front 80%-90% of who is involved in the suspicious activities, so the real suspense is in waiting to see if Annabel will solve the mystery before it's too late, and in seeing how the pieces of the plot-line are finally all tied together. Though the story is told coherently, the details are far from realistic. It's hard to picture librarians and researchers with the personalities that Truman describes. Yes, academics can be a motley bunch of interesting people, but I've never met any who act like this. Truman has the Library intern working on a long-term project of cataloging 15 Cuban newspapers, hardly the work of an intern. The researchers, Annabel included, go about their work like journalists rather than academics, for instance, starting their projects with interviews with other researchers, in which they hope to catch a great quote. A big deal is made of some computer disks which Annabel discovers, and spends all night reading on her computer screen-whereas any experienced computer user, especially a former lawyer, would immediately hit "Print" upon finding such material, or at the very least, make a copy to the hard drive (which Annabel's laptop apparently didn't have, back in 1997 when the story is set). Overall, I found the plot weak and predictable, the dialogue inane, and the plausibility very low. Nevertheless, the story at least hangs together and can keep one's interest for a short while.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
The library is the star..., 2005-01-04
One of the best parts about a Margaret Truman mystery is the insight into the Washington DC institutions that are featured in her books. Murder in the Library of Congress is no exception, and we get a fascinating look inside this venerable but widely overlooked treasure.
Former lawyer and current art gallery owner, Annabel Reed-Smith, takes a two month sabbatical from her gallery to write an article that will appear in the Library of Congress magazine, Civilization. The article will be about Columbus' friend and colleague, Bartolome' Las Casas. Reed-Smith plans to spend two months in the Library of Congress doing research for this article. Many experts believe that Las Casas kept diaries and even a treasure map from the three voyages he made with Columbus. But many people searching for these diaries have met with tragic fates. Almost as soon as Annabel arrives at the library, she discovers the body of the number one Las Casas expert in the world. Unfortunately, he's been murdered. Also, 8 years prior to this, another Las Casas expert (who also worked at the library) vanished without a trace. Annabel quickly becomes immersed in trying to solve these mysteries.
While the premise of the plot is plausible, how Annabel seems to always be at the center of things is not. She is consulted by the police, asked to examine possible clues, and kept up to date on the investigation. This is the Washington DC Metro Police, not Mayberry RFD. Also, Annabel's perfect life is just a little too nauseating.
Still, the star of this book is the Library of Congress. She gives both a thumbnail sketch of its history, as well as procedures of operation today. After reading Murder in the Library of Congress, I'll definitely put it on my list of places to visit during my next trip to Washington.
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