A BOOK that vanished from a Surrey library has turned up nearly 4,000 miles away in an American city. John Van Der Kiste and Nicola Sly’s More Cornish Murders was last seen at Surrey County Council’s Ditton’s library five years ago.

Now the true crime book has resurfaced at Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The 160-page paperback was handed over by local resident and big Sly fan Meaghan Good, who bought it on Amazon’s worldofbooskusa store for $3 – about £2.

Librarian Megan Bell alerted the county council after spotting a Ditton’s library label inside the front cover and doing some online research. A transatlantic email exchange ended with the county council donating the book to the US library after confirming that Surrey readers can still borrow a copy from the Egham branch.

But how it travelled more than 3,880 miles across the Atlantic to the north eastern US city remains a mystery. Megan said: “I wanted to be sure we did not have someone’s property before we added it to our collection. Our true crime section is very popular with the patrons – I’m guessing this book will be a nice addition.”

Surrey County Council Cabinet member Richard Walsh said: “The county’s latest export to America may not have quite the same appeal as Magna Carta does but we’re still happy to donate it to our US friends.

Crime paperbacks won’t suit every taste but we’ve got a huge range of novels to download and the shelves of our libraries are crammed with everything from bestsellers to books about the great charter Surrey gave to America and the rest of the world.”