Mystery of the missing library book ..solved at last
Avid reader confesses she forgot to give back thriller
The mystery of an Agatha Christie book which went missing from a library nearly 70 years ago has finally
been solved.
Muriel MacIntyre, 84, confessed in a sweet letter to Kirkcaldy Library that she borrowed the book as a 12-year-old in the 50s – but never gave it back.
The OAP, from Livingston, only realised she still had the 1953 Hercule Poirot thriller After The Funeral out on loan while watching a TV episode about the detective earlier this year.
She remembered how her chance to return it was scuppered by her gran, who sent away a librarian who turned up at the door of her childhood home asking for it back.
In May Muriel wrote to librarians to apologise for the error and sent a substitute copy of the missing novel with a cryptic note signed only “MM”.
But after she contacted the library again last month, the decades- old mystery was finally solved and her identity was revealed.
Muriel said: “When I was young, I read all the Rudyard Kipling books, al l the Biggles bookbooks and most of Agatha Christie’s. Chris
“When I was aabout 12, I heard a knock aat the door and cocould hear granny tatalking to a lady wwho said she was from the library and was asking about a book. I heard my granny say, ‘ And what would my granddaughter want with a book about funerals?’
“She must have thought it was a book about dead people and slammed the door in the poor woman’s face.
“I never thought any more about it until a few months ago when my husband Angus and I were watching Poirot on TV.
“I turned to him and said, ‘ What’s the book that Poirot is based on again?’
“Then it dawned on me that I must have been the one to borrow that book. I thought about the young lady at the door, who must have been a librarian, and realised, ‘I owe her a book.’”
Muriel’s original mystery note read: “A book was borrowed in the 50s by a small girl. The house in Kirkcaldy was sold and the books went to London. So, I owe you this book to cover the error. Sincerely, M. M.”
The book had remained at her granny’s house in Kirkcaldy until Muriel went to study nursing at age 18. The original had gone to London when her aunt sold her granny’s house and moved down south in 1953.
As Muriel’s second letter gave her name and address, librarians replied – thanking her for being honest. The book now has pride of place on the library’s returns desk.
Yesterday the Sunday Mail presented mum-of-three and gran- of-five Muriel with a new copy of the book.
She said: “I still love books and taught my children to read before they went to school.”
Helen Stevenson, of cultural charity OnFife, which runs Kirkcaldy Library, said: “We were somewhat surprised to receive the book and the note but are delighted with this latest plot twist.
“It’s been great to find out more about the missing book. We were very keen to let her know how appreciative we are of her kind gesture.”
After The Funeral was first published in the UK in May 1953. It cost 10 shillings and six pence.