Lionel Harper

Lionel Harper has owned Harper’s Bookshop, midway along the High Street, for thirty-one years. He still keeps a ledger.

He is in his early sixties, thin and a little stooped, with the absent look of a man whose attention is generally engaged elsewhere. It is usually engaged on Seabrook. He knows more about the history of the town than anyone, including several people who have written books on the subject. On the shop he is brief. On the town’s past he is not, and it is as well to sit down.

The shop smells of paper and wood polish. Local history and coastal walks are at the front, with a shelf of maritime books that he keeps with care. He changes the window every day. A book he thinks a customer will want is kept aside until that customer comes in.

He makes his offers of help sideways, as suppositions, so that they can be declined without fuss. The room above the shop is the office of Penrose Investigations. Mr Harper takes in its post and lets its visitors up the stairs.

His hours are irregular. Sales are entered in the ledger by hand.

Where you will find him

• At Harper’s Bookshop, behind the counter at the far end. The bell above the door will tell him you are there.
• At Finch’s Tea Room, at the small table by the bookshelf, reading.