The Bookman's Promise — John Dunning

Denver cop-turned-bookseller Cliff Janeway has just paid a hefty sum to acquire a real gem: a signed first edition by famed nineteenth-century explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton. But does he truly own the rare book? An elderly woman claims her grandfather traveled the American South with Burton just before the Civil War, and not only is Janeway's prized volume rightfully hers, but so is a missing library of Burton material, including an unpublished journal of inestimable worth. When she implores Janeway to recover her grandfather's collection, he sets out on a seemingly impossible search, retracing Burton's travels through the history-rich cities of Baltimore and Charleston--a search soon cast in a suspicious light and fraught with more questions than answers. When a friend's life is placed in deadly jeopardy, and violence forces them to make a perilous choice, Janeway realizes there is more to Burton's diary than its value as an antique. Someone is willing to kill to keep the shocking secrets of the past--and Janeway is next in the line of fire.