Ontario library solves mystery of returned book's 49-year absence

May 3 (UPI) -- An Ontario library said it has solved the mystery of a library book dropped into the return box 49 years after it was checked out.

The Greater Sudbury Public Library said last week the copy of Great Moments in Chess was dropped into the return box with a brief apologetic note from a man named "Larry" written on the sign-out card.

The news of the book's return after 49 years, and the mystery of its long absence, reached a man who put library employee Jessica Watts in touch with his uncle, Larry Corrigan.

Corrigan explained he had moved to Nova Scotia shortly after checking the tome out of the facility, and he decided to return it while he was in the area for a family gathering.

"I was hoping to deliver it to you in person but the Library was closed (Library funding cutbacks??)," Corrigan wrote in an email that was shared with Sudbury.com. "I don't have another 49 years on my countdown clock -- so I just put it in the door slot."

Corrigan said he thought it was important to return the book to its rightful home.

"My deceased dad, Cecil Corrigan, would haunt me if he thought I wouldn't return a library book!" he wrote.