The Club Dumas

by Arturo Perez Reverte

This is a mystery revolving around some handwritten Chapters of the Three Muskeeters by Dumas and a different versions of a manuscript that supposedly can be used to summon the devil.  The Satan books were supposedly created by a printer in 15th century Venice.

The story starts with a man who is a dealer (not so ethical dealer) in rare books being contacted by a close friend who wants him to verify the authenticity of a Chapter supposedly written by Dumas as part of the Three Musketeers.  The former owner of the Chapter was found dead, hanged, in his home.  Was he murdered or did he commit suicide

At the same time as he is working on this request the book dealer Lucas Corso is contacted by another client to track down two other copies of a document that supposedly can summon the Devil.  The client wants to know if the copy he has is an original or a fake.  The person who created them was murdered because of these works.

Lucas visits the owner of the of the other devil book.  This man is an aristocrat who has fallen on hard times.  He has sold everything except his collection of valuable books.  He has to sell one of these a year, reluctantly, to have money to live on.

Lucas is shocked to find out that the man is murdered soon after his visit and the copy the man had has gone missing.

Then Lucas approaches a book expert in Paris who confirms the Dumas chapter is likely the real thing.  He also visits a woman who has a book museum.  She is the owner of the third copy and lets him study it on the premises.  He has noticed slight differences in the pictures between the three versions.

While he is travelling around Lucas has a young woman who seems to be everywhere he is and turns out to be a protector of sorts. We never find out who she really is.

Lucas then finds his friend is having and affair with the wife of the hanged man and he wonders if they are working against him.  He keeps getting followed and attacked by a man with a large scar on his face.  Lucas starts to suspect that there is some link between the Dumas work and the devil book.

He eventually finds out that there is a club of Dumas devotees who don't want the manuscript he has to get out because it will reveal that Dumas had a collaborator who did more work than people thought.

In the end the client of Lucas has managed, by nefarious means to gather the images from all three volumes.  He attempts to create a ceremony using the images and info to summon the devil. Lucas leaves him screaming in disappointment.

I like books about books and book lovers.  This book was very entertaining and really kept you guessing to the end.