Billing it as "the largest recovery of rare postage stamps in U.S. history," the FBI has finally announced the results of its extensive search for the 153 U.S. stamps stolen from the New York Public Library....All of the recovered stamps could be traced back to an old-time Pennsylvania stamp dealer who died.... No arrests were made in connection with the theft, and the statute of limitations has now expired. The dealer's records and bank statements were subpoenaed by a grand jury investigating the theft, but the FBI was unsuccessful in its attempts to puzzle out, from these records, just how the dealer came to possess the stolen stamps.... (Linn's Stamp News)
This is the published version. There is another version set forth here. Library detective Rudyard Mack with the help of an outspoken library union leader named Arbuthnott Vine leads us through the corridors of power in one of the country's showplaces. We see its "upstairs/ downstairs" reflecting the life of New York City surrounding it like a rough sea about a lighthouse. Mack's tenacious pursuit of the "Inverted Jenny," the 24-cent 1918 airmail stamp in which the mail plane was printed upside down, combines with his subconscious pursuit of love to lead him to the mastermind behind the theft. This is the story that the grand jury did not know
Genre: CRAFTS & HOBBIES / General
out of print
He stayed in the booth and gaped nervously at the great door which was the only exit kept open throughout the night. Crouching in the booth, he was getting angry at the slowness of the police when he heard a car screech to a stop. He flicked a switch and the great door moved up. Two cops ducked under it. He ran out to meet them, crying, "He's in there!"
“Trouble was," Bugofsky sneered, "he wasn't in there."
The one hundred recessed glass panels near the Information Desk attracted scores of Stamp aficionados who pulled them out and studied the stamps for hours. The intruder had intended to disconnect the alarm system by drilling into the wall behind the panels, taking away the backing to the cabinets and drawing them back into the privacy of the Comptroller's Office.
"He vanished," Bugofsky said, "but he left his drill behind."
"How'd he get in?"
"That's your problem, Rudyard. We also don't know how he got out, or if he got out. He might be here right now. He could step out from behind a bookcase during the day and walk out with the crowd." Bugofsky flashed a grin and then frowned. "You're the intellectual! You find out!"
"One guard isn't enough," I said, ignoring Bugofsky's little jibe.
"Tell that to Henry Betterton," Bugofsky growled. He raised his voice to a high pitch, "The budget doesn't call for it.' That's what he'll tell you. So, Rudyard, catch this bastard before he strikes again."
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Maria Calderón
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