Review: Familiar story marred by convenient ending (3.5 stars)
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 12, 2012
This short story -- and it is quite short -- is one of a series of stand-alone mystery stories from MysteriousPress.com in which books, bookstores, libraries, or manuscripts play a central role.In a crate of old books purchased from an estate, Monty Danforth finds a scroll written in Aramaic.  The writing on the scroll does not reproduce on the photocopies he tries to make or on the digital photographs he tries to take.  Soon three bidders show up -- a scholar, a bishop, and an old man accompanied by a little girl -- seeking to buy the scroll and issuing dire warnings about its evil nature.  Danforth decides it is time to consult his employer, the bookshop's owner, who has been home ill for a few days, but discovers that the owner has died in a fire.  Now the decision to sell the scroll is Danforth's responsibility, but how can he decide which buyer deserves to have it?The theme of "The Scroll" is a familiar one:  Will an ancient scroll undermine fundamental teachings of Christianity and, if so, will the church destroy it to preserve its myths?  This leads to a correlative question:  Does Danforth have the right to decide whether the scroll should be published, potentially undermining the faith of millions, or suppressed, potentially depriving the world of a vital truth?  Notwithstanding the story's familiarity, Anne Perry gives it a fresh twist as the reader is left to ponder the identity of the strange little girl and her relationship with the old man.  Perry's writing is evocative but the ending, after such an interesting setup, is disappointingly convenient.  If I could, I would give "The Scroll" 3 1/2 stars.