Murder at the Library of Congress

Margaret Truman

1/21/2000

Michele Paul is a research expert at the Library of Congress. He is arrogant, vain, and the best in his selected field of Hispanic studies. He believes he is close to discovering some missing diaries from one of Christopher Columbus' shipmates. Unfortunately, he is now slumped over his desk, dead.

In Miami, a second rate painting is stoeln from a small, obscure Spanish museum. The painting is delivered to Los Angeles. During the robbery, a security guard is killed. Soon two of the robbers are captured, but the third has flown to California, unaware of the situation he has left behind.

Annabelle Reed-Smith is taking a hiatus from her shop to write an article for The Constitution, the magazine published by the Library of Congress. She is researching an article about the possible diaries that Michele Paul was trying to locate. She is given a cubicle next to his at the Library. She is the person who finds his body.

Margaret Truman takes her knowledge of Washington D.C. and of people and gives us another well turned mystery. She quotes her father a couple times in the book, not surprisingly, but that can be forgiven. The reader is led back and forth as we learn whether the murder and the art theft really connect. What about the rich collector of Spanish art who is at the fringes? The clues are there. As the reader I was able to determine who was the murderer. I did not have all the reasons that prompted the murder, just the clues. There were many threads that I did not pull correctly. The ending had a logical, political twist.

This is the newest Capital Crime novel. The hardback version can be found at . 8/2003 Since this review was written the paperback version was released and the hardback edition has gone out of print. These links go to the less expensive publication of Murder at the Library of Congress.

The Series:

Murder in the White House
Murder on Capitol Hill
Murder in the Supreme Court
Murder in the Smithsonian
Murder on Embassy Row
Murder at the FBI
Murder in Georgetown
Murder in the CIA
Murder at the Kennedy Center
Murder at the National Cathedral
Murder at the Pentagon
Murder on the Potomac
Murder at the National Gallery
Murder in the House
Murder at the Watergate
Murder in the Library of Congress
Murder in Foggy Bottom
Murder in Havana
Murder at Ford's Theater
Murder at Union Station
Murder at the Washington Tribune
Murder at the Opera
Murder on K Street