"Endymion Spring," Matthew Skelton, Puffin Books; 2007; 439 pp.

If you think that the only mysteries you'll find in a library are in the Mystery section, think again. Matthew Skelton's unputdownable thriller, "Endymion Spring," makes the libraries of Oxford University seem as terrifying as a dark, deserted alley in the seamiest part of town.

There's no murder (although a couple of them almost happen); there's no mad carchase (although the hero Blake finds himself shadowed often enough); and there's no gun-toting villain. This is a book lover's version of the mystery thriller, where cloak-and-dagger games are played in academic circles, and the villains are the harmless, bespectacled types you'd think would be busy leading classroom discussions, not hatching evil. And of course, at the center of all the fuss, lies a book.