A Small Mystery

A small mystery – Recently, I ordered a used book online. When it arrived from Texas, I was surprised to see the book was from a library in Pennsylvania. A card inside the book showed someone checked it out on November 8th, 2025, and it was due on the 29th. It never returned. What happened? A book thief? This required some digging. 

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Carie read a blog I wrote called “Here be Dragons”*. The blog detailed our recent travels in Malaysia and Indonesia. Later, Carie and I were talking at a party and she mentioned that given how much we enjoyed our travels there, I might be interested in a novel called, “The House of Doors”. It tells a story about author Somerset Maugham visiting friends in Penang, Malaysia. In the words on the book jacket, the novel “traces the fault lines of race, gender, sexuality and power under empire.” 

I was immediately interested. I’d read Maugham years before, and while “Of Human Bondage” is his acknowledged masterpiece, my favorite was “The Razor’s Edge”, the story of Larry, a native of Chicago, who rejects conventional life and travels to both Paris and India, searching for spiritual meaning.

 Maugham’s books are always filled with mysteries and subplots. Little did I know, the book “The House of Doors” would provide an added mystery for me when it arrived.

 I went online to Amazon (no judgement please), found the book, read a couple of reviews, and ordered a used copy for around $7. A few days later, it arrived from a book distributor in Texas and I opened the package.

 Huh. This was strange. The book had a plastic sleeve, just like a library book. And then I noticed the stamp of the Bala Cynwyd Library, of Bala Cynwyd, PA on the front cover. What?

I opened the book to the first page and, lo and behold, there was a library book pocket with a check-out receipt in it. The receipt showed someone checked the book out on Saturday, November 5th, 2025, at 10:54AM. It was due fourteen days later, November 29th.

What was a checked-out library book from Pennsylvania doing in an online used bookstore in Texas? Was it stolen? If so, by who? The person who checked the book out? Someone who saw the book lying on a table and grabbed it? Did the library get rid of it for some reason? Did the library know it was gone and, in the words of Jack Kerouac, On the Road? (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

 I was intrigued and decided to call the Bala Cynwyd Library.

 I reached someone in circulation and explained I had received a used book in the mail from Texas, but upon receiving it, discovered it was a book checked out from their library. Could she tell me anything? 

Silence.

Then, “That’s strange. Let me look it up. What was the name again?” I gave her the name and she placed me on hold for a couple of minutes. Then, she was back with me. “Well, this is strange. We show the book was checked out, and then later “Withdrawn.”

Me: “What does withdrawn mean? The same as checked out?”

“No. Withdrawn means taken out of circulation by the library. But in this case, there is no reason given. Usually, it says why a book is withdrawn.”

Me: “Huh. Well, the slip in the book says a second book was also checked out: “The Blue Hour.” Can you tell me anything about it?”  

She put me on hold again, and after a minute or two, was back on the phone. “Is that the large print version?” I answer, “Yep. That is what the card says.” 

“Well, this is strange as well. It too was withdrawn, but is now back in circulation here at the library. It doesn’t say why the library withdrew the book, or when it came back in circulation.”

Me: 

 We talked a bit more. She hadn’t a clue what happened with either book, but thought the whole thing odd. She suspected they might have been forgotten, then stolen in embarrassment, but then one returned later. I wondered out-loud if the culprit might be a library employee. She chuckled at that and thought it doubtful. She agreed it was a good mini-mystery, especially with the two books handled differently.

 As we finished, I told her I would send the book back to them, after I finished reading it. Was that OK?

 “Well, that is up to you. Since it is officially Withdrawn, you can do with it whatever you want.”

 I’m thinking now, I will send the book back after I read it, along with a small donation for the library. I am no closer to knowing what happened, but the entertainment of this little mystery is worth at least as much as the book itself.

And, because we can all use a little humor, I’m adding this Calvin and Hobbes cartoon as a closing. ;-

Addendum:

• Thanks to my friend Carie Hammond for suggesting the book, “The House of Doors,” It’s a winner. If you can fine a copy, read it. There is a story within a story within a story and it is worth the time. Like most good books, it transports you to a time and place.
• The lady I spoke with at the Bala Cynwyd Library was wonderful to talk with and great at answering my strange questions.
• * If you want to read “Here be Dragons”, the blog that started the whole story, here is a link: “As we left Labuan Bajo, it was raining. It almost felt like our three days on The White Pearl were a pleasant, but fading dream in the mist. Snorkeling, baby sharks, an early morning hike to see sunrise from a mountain top, thousands of bats, and Komodo Dragons were all a part of “[…] Continue here: https://maxnhall.com/2026/05/20/here-be-dragons/