Joey Green has returned to Beaufort, South Carolina to look after his ailing father, who is succumbing to dementia. Marshall Green’s short-term memory has all but evaporated, but his oldest memories are vivid. His mind keeps retreating into long-ago yesterdays of growing up in Beaufort as a boy. At first this seems like a blessing, with the past providing a refuge from a shrinking future, but Joey grows increasingly anxious as his father’s hallucinatory arguments with figures from his youth begin to hint at deadly secrets, long buried and forgotten. Especially when a murder brings the police to his door… And though library staff would rather you just return your books on time, we’ll take what we can — even happily accepting a return many years later. Below, I’ve compiled some of my favourite examples of lonely library books turning up 41 to 221 years after their due dates. If you enjoy these book mysteries with their happy endings, the longer versions of each story are worth digging into — plus, there are tons of others. And remember to return your library books!
