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A review by usbsticky
The Book of the Lion by Thomas Perry
5.0
Spoilers below.
I did not know it was a short story but it was a pretty interesting plot. A noted Chaucer scholar (Hallkyn) was informed by phone that a lost Chaucer book had been found. After delivering photo evidence that this lost book was real, Hallkyn talked to a sponsor to try and raise money to buy this book. However the "blackmailer" told Hallkyn that he had to give him $5M just so he doesn't destroy the book and then they would decide what to do after that.
The sponsor agrees to give Hallkyn $5M to preserve the book and puts transponder devices with the money and sets up a team of security men to follow Hallkyn at the dropoff point to try and identify the blackmailer. Hallkyn meets with the blackmailer but the latter discovers the transponder devices and burns them. A few days later the blackmailer calls up Hallkyn angrily and accuses him of cheating. He then sends a video of the book being burned. Twist follows.
A fast and quick story. Too bad, I think Perry could have stretched it into a full book.
I did not know it was a short story but it was a pretty interesting plot. A noted Chaucer scholar (Hallkyn) was informed by phone that a lost Chaucer book had been found. After delivering photo evidence that this lost book was real, Hallkyn talked to a sponsor to try and raise money to buy this book. However the "blackmailer" told Hallkyn that he had to give him $5M just so he doesn't destroy the book and then they would decide what to do after that.
The sponsor agrees to give Hallkyn $5M to preserve the book and puts transponder devices with the money and sets up a team of security men to follow Hallkyn at the dropoff point to try and identify the blackmailer. Hallkyn meets with the blackmailer but the latter discovers the transponder devices and burns them. A few days later the blackmailer calls up Hallkyn angrily and accuses him of cheating. He then sends a video of the book being burned. Twist follows.
A fast and quick story. Too bad, I think Perry could have stretched it into a full book.