In 2007 lecturer Richard Symes fell off a roof at the university where he taught and died. An open verdict was recorded but Brian feels that suicide was unlikely as Symes had just taken a whole load of books out of the London Library. Brian loves going undercover at the library ("It smells of books") where he is befriended by the Urquharts, a couple of elderly lecturers who knew the dead man. Symes' widow Paula tells Sandra her husband was regarded as a dinosaur and sacked by vice-chancellor Ventham,but he claims that Symes was stealing books from the university library to sell in Paula's shop,which Paula admits. Her young lover Tim was also part of the racket. Brian works out that the Urquharts are trying to locate one of the books Symes stole,a priceless first edition which he hid somewhere in the London Library. But several other interested parties are also after it - including the murderer.