Shelter Island Library presents a Mystery Book Club caper

The first thing that disappeared was the building.

As a research librarian, Jocelyn Ozolins was adept at finding the arcane and the obscure, but this was a challenge. Faced with a quarantine in a time of pandemic, the library, with its comfortable spaces where book lovers could gather, was required to close. Having built up a loyal club of mystery-loving readers, she was loath to end their regular meetings where they could wax rhapsodic about character and plot, or dump with abandon on the latest over-rated bestseller.

Gathering in one or another’s home was out of the question, for the same social distancing requirements that had closed the library.

Fortunately, the library had been a place where many Island residents had honed their virtual skills, accessing information online or becoming computer savvy.

Therefore, Ms. Ozolins thought, a Zoom meeting was the perfect answer. She emailed an announcement with a link and scheduled the meeting for mid-May. The book was “The Moonstone,” by Willkie Collins, published in 1868. Ms. Ozolins was sure the club would be intrigued by such characters as Rachel Verinder, who receives the priceless Moonstone diamond on her 18th birthday (its subsequent disappearance is at the heart of the mystery); the great detective Sergeant Cuff; meddlesome Miss Clack; garrulous Gabriel Betteredge; and the hunchbacked servant girl Rosanna Spearman, hopelessly infatuated with adventurer Franklin Blake.

The next occurrence was a little disconcerting. One of the members said she couldn’t attend the meeting, unless it could be postponed. Ms. Ozolins hesitated to change the date, once it had been announced.

Then a second participant asked for a postponement; the librarian demurred. When the third person to respond (and there were only three, out of a typical five or six) said she would also like a delay, Ms. Ozolins encountered confusion and consternation. It was disconcerting, if not discouraging and demoralizing, to receive such regrettable responses. How could she host a book club meeting with no members? Did they simply hate the book — as all had readily declared when they’d read David Baldacci’s “True Blue” for an earlier meeting?

“I couldn’t get past page 12 of that one,” said one club member, Patricia Hinder, of the Baldacci book. “I said “I’m not wasting my time on this ____.”

After interrogating the club members one by one, however, Ms. Ozolins got to the heart of the mystery. T.S. Eliot had called “The Moonstone” “the first, the longest and the best of modern English detective novels.” The paperback edition runs to 438 pages. The three mystery book club members, avid readers all, had to confess: They simply had not yet finished the book and needed more time.

Even in these days when we all seem to have too much time on our hands, the meeting was re-scheduled to give all readers a chance to finish.

And how did they like “The Moonstone?” The answer will be revealed in the next installment.