This mystery novel starts with a bit of confusion. Someone on leave has come back, the department's director has suffered a stroke, and several employees are going through issues of their own. However, when the latest purchased rare book is missing, as in no where to be found, and a previous purchase has been replaced, something of a mystery is afoot. Liesel, an older librarian is working with several others to determine where the 6-volume rare book may be hidden becomes a detective in finding answers as more mysteries arise. With little help from University administration, Liesel becomes a bit of detective herself. A great read for anyone who loves a library mystery or anything about rare books and archives.
I found myself lost in a work where I hadn't been in quite a while.
It is hard to believe, with all the twists and turns this mystery takes that it is Eva Jurczyk's first novel!

When the director of a library containing rare books dies the interim director is a library staffer who is totally unexpected. She is less educated and seems to be less assertive than other staff who expected themselves to be made the director. But, her tenacity and her intelligence have been underrated. She tackles the jealousies and the attempted coverups that ensue and puts her mark on the rare book world.
I could hardly put the book down. It was refreshing to read how an amazing middle aged woman could be portrayed in a positive and exciting way.

Liesl is temporarily in charge of the rare books and special collections department of the university as her boss has had a stroke. First, she discovers that a priceless book is missing, then a librarian. Are the disappearances connected? What is happening in her department, and how can she fix it? Mystery, intrigue, and rare books abound in this library. Interesting story, setting, and academic politics.

Thank you, NetGalley, for allowing me to read an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

I was not prepared for this story. I thought it would be a typical women's fiction story based in a library. I love that it was not that type of story. The other surprise, at least to me, was that the main character was not your typical "young woman looking for purpose ." Liesel Weiss is middle-aged and knows her purpose. Or at least she thought she did.

While I love that Liesel was not your typical character, I was not a fan. I did not like her decisions, especially when it came to her family. I felt she mistreated her husband and was more smothering her daughter than a parent. I think you are meant not to like her. Because I wasn't a fan of Liesel's, I found that I didn't care about her or any changes she may have gone through.

I feel the same for the rest of the characters featured. They all felt very one-note. I pushed through the story because I would hope that something would spark and make me like it, but sadly I didn't care very much about the result of the main problem in the story. I so wanted to cheer for the team. I wanted them to come together to find a solution. Still, all they achieved was being a bunch of self-centered career people who could care less if their team succeeded or failed.

The setting was fun. I have not read many books where the location is Canada. I found it interesting to read about a place I have yet to visit as an adult (I went to Toronto once when I was 7, and I barely remember it). However, any setting in a library makes me smile. The story gave insight into how university libraries are run and the specialness of curating rare books. I related to the scenes at the bookseller conventions, as I have a museum background, and I've been to a few shows in NYC where there were rare book vendors. They are unique places.

Overall, while I'm not a fan of this book, I think the writing was decent. The plot has potential. I may not have liked it, but that's the great thing about books; just because you don't like a book doesn't mean the next reader will feel the same.

Don’t judge this book by the cover. Looking at the cover I thought this would be a “fluff” book, it was a wonderful surprise. Lies Weiss is an assistant librarian in a large university. The Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections is filled with extremely costly rare books and Liesl has been the person doing purchasing and record keeping. She does her job well and is almost ready for retirement when the Director of the Library has a massive stroke and unconscious. Liesl is tapped to take on his role until he returns. A spectacular book has recently been purchased and is to be viewed by major donors to the university. When Liesl opens the safe, it is missing. Here starts the mystery. Where did the book go, did someone steal it, who? Gender politics, hierarchy in the university setting, book binding and book selling, mental illness, family, all are explored in this book. I learned a great deal about rare and ancient books and had a marvelous time reading this one. One of the best surprises in quite awhile. The hunt for the thief was exciting.

How could a retired librarian choose not to read a mystery called "The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections"?

FIRST SENTENCE: "From the first spin of the lock, she knew she wouldn't be able to open the safe."

THE STORY: When the revered head of the university library suffered a stroke, Liesel Weiss, barely days into her sabbatical year, was called back to be Interim Director. Uncomfortable in this new role, her first shock is that a set of extremely valuable books has disappeared. Are they misplaced or stolen?

Dealing with higher ups, colleagues, detectives, her family, and solving mysteries, Liesel pursues doing what she thinks is right and ultimately learns who she is and what she wants and who dunnit.

WHAT I THOUGHT: A very literate mystery, the engaging writing style drew me into this slower paced story. There's more depth to it though touching on a myriad of issues including mental illness, feminism,and alcoholism. The author has created clever, interesting characters for Liesel to deal with and I loved the fact that the rare books mentioned actually exist!

BOTTOM LINE: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Especially for librarians. Others might not be as enthralled.

DISCLAIMER: Thank you to NetGalley / Poisoned Pen Press, and the author for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The premise really had potential. Unfortunately, the execution was less than stellar. It gave me anxiety how everyone was expecting the (literal) impossible from this poor woman. To the point where I didn't even care who did it, I just wanted her to get out of there. The writing was fine. In the end I just didn't care about the main plot.

When her boss suffers a stroke, Liesl steps in as the interim director of the rare books department at a Toronto university. Preparing for an event showcasing the latest acquisition, six volumes of the Plantin Bible, for university donors, Liesl discovers the bible is missing. At first she believes that the volumes have been misfiled, but comes to realize that the bible has been stolen. Is the thief one of her coworkers? Secrets are uncovered as Liesl learns more about her coworkers. Appearances can be deceptive.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy.

A death occurs; a rare book goes missing; discussions about fellow employees, good and bad takes place, which all leads to something more mysterious; whodunnit? Sometimes, chapters are a little confusing because they jump from 10 years earlier, then Forty years earlier. Sometimes, a fun read, then a bit slow. Give it a try. It may be your cup of tea.

Ahhh I wanted to love this one and was looking forward to it, but for some reason I had a really hard time getting in to it. I went back to it twice to try again, thinking it was maybe just my mood at the time, but I couldn't do it!! I'm sorry :(.
I'll have to try again maybe later in the year, as I have seen some good reviews.

Thank you for the advanced copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read I'm exchange for an honest review.

There is something about this book that is just so beguiling. The writing seems stilted but it sucks you in to the characters and the story. I love the atmosphere of a scholarly library and a peek behind the scenes of rare collections. I'll be thinking of this one for a long time to come

This was a fascinating read. I felt though, that it had difficulty deciding what it was. Was it a bibliophile's mystery? It works quite well as this, and the sections that fit into the mystery category flow quite well. Was it a story of a woman trying to create space for herself in a male-dominated academic environment? It definitely is that, and sometimes that story gets in the way of the mystery flow.
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Readers of Robertson Davies or Margaret Atwood will recognize the academic characters here. In fact, at times, I wondered if there wasn't a nod to la Atwood herself in one of the characters. If you are familiar with U of T spaces, there will be recognizable settings here. The main character is quite compelling, but at times she is almost too pulled in too many different directions.

This was a denser read than I expected from the cover blurb, and the main character turned out to be quite a bit older than I originally envisioned her to be. I enjoyed the writing, and the academic intrigue, but felt that some of the characters (Miriam and her spouse, in particular) weren't as well developed as they might have been. There are a rather lovely bunch of interesting personalities in this book, and I would have liked to know more about them.

Staff in the university’s rare books and special collections library are blindsided when their director suffers a disabling stroke. Veteran librarian Leisle steps in tentatively to fill her bosses shoes. However, her slight awkwardness turns to horror when she discovers the library’s newly acquired priceless manuscript is missing. The university president refuses to call in the police and Leisle is left to try to determine which of her trusted long term colleagues may have been behind the inside job. Things go from bad to worse when another manuscript is found to have been replaced with a facsimile. Everyone, including Leisle, has secrets that may be revealed as she struggles to relocate the manuscripts before donors suspect or the books themselves are damaged. Mature interesting characters with engaging backstories and the most appealing subject, rare books and their study, make this novel a treat.

It has always been a dream of mine to work in the rare books department in the LOC. What a dream read! It combined all my favorite elements. Books, mystery, and great character development. It was a fabulous read!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book.
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In all honesty, I do not think that I was the target audience for this title. The synopsis had me intrigued, but the pacing was too slow for my taste. I found the central character somewhat tedious, and I was never fully pulled over on to her side. That said, perhaps those who work in the educational and historical library systems will find humor that went over my head, and others will have more fun puzzling out the mystery. I don't think that my opinion will reflect that of all readers, so will avoid publication on retail sites out of fairness to the author and publisher.

The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections follows Liesl Weiss as she adjusts to her new interim position as Library Director. As she struggles to live up to her predecessor's legacy, rare materials and employees start to go missing. The people around her aren't willing to call the police and spook the donors, so she decides to solve the mysteries herself.
The idea of this book is great. There is so much potential to play with the idea of missing materials in a rare book library. However, I didn't love the execution so much.
As someone who worked in a rare book library, the setting of this book made me very happy. I loved that the author took the time to explain the office and stacks and the type of people who worked there. It transported me back in time. I also thought this book did a good job with the red herrings sprinkled throughout. I did not see the end coming but everything made sense in hindsight, which is always a good thing for a mystery book.
With those things said, I had a hard time sympathizing with Liesl in general. She was getting pushed around and bullied by her employees and coworkers, and she just took it. As a woman in academia, I know she had to have a backbone, but we didn't see her step up until the last 30-40% of the book.
The plot twist was also underwhelming to me. I did not see the culprit coming, but I don't often read mysteries, so those who frequent mystery stories may see it coming a mile away. While the whodunit made sense to me, the additional plotlines related to the culprit didn't feel necessary to me. If felt like an afterthought and more like a random office scandal than anything.

I would recommend this book to library lovers, but I'm not sure that the mystery aspect holds up by itself.

Thank you to Poison Pen Press and Netgalley for my ARC copy in exchange for an honest review!

I received an advance copy of The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk (publication date 1/4/22) from NetGalley, and I am so glad that I did! What a wonderful novel. The setting - the rare book room of a university library - vied with the the story itself for my attention and appreciation. Liesl Weiss, the department’s acting director , is a terrifically written and unique protagonist and the solving of the whodunnit - a stolen manuscript - comes together beautifully with a few extra surprises at the end. Some of the sentences were so gorgeous that I found myself reading them aloud to savor them all the more. Brava to the author. Highly recommended. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections describes how college librarian Liesl Weiss involuntarily takes over as head of the department when her boss falls ill, just as rare, valuable and recently acquired manuscripts go missing. As she strives to do the right thing in trying to find the manuscripts, she encounters issues of secrecy, sexism, and classism while at work. Meanwhile in her personal life, she is faced with an empty nest, a deteriorating marriage, possible troubles with mental health/alcoholism, and feeling like she didn't live up to her goals and dreams in life, as she wondered "what if'" she had made different choices in love and life.

Much like libraries, this book is a quiet mystery and it unfolds slowly. I continued reading as I wanted to discover more about these flawed but interesting characters and their stories. I did anticipate most of the twists that were revealed, but there were a few small surprises that remained at the end. The ending concluded with satisfying results for the main characters and some progress in the leadership in the department to bring it into a more modern, diverse era. I do wish there would have been bit more clarity in how Liesl came to conclude her choices in her private life were the correct ones and the path on which she wanted to continue, as it just seemed to be stated with no real contemplation on her future options.

What book lover doesn’t love books about books? The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections is the perfect novel for people who love books. The story was mostly fast paced, but I did find myself getting bored at some of the slower parts. Overall, the book was interesting and a good time!

This one was a miss for me, but I feel like it has potential for others. I could not get into this book and found it very easy to put down. Often times I think this simply comes down to a reader/writer mismatch. Sort of like dating. The chemistry just wasn't there for me. Books about books and reading and libraries are catnip for me so I am glad I gave this one a shot. But like other reviewers have mentioned it's just kind of a bummer to read and given the world we currently live in I have a hard time willingly reading anything that's much of a downer. Overall, the plot, characters and pace aren't bad. Just not for me. I will definitely keep this in mind for my fellow book loving patrons.