Arrests Made in Theft of Dead Man's Books

James Strand was something of a recluse. An elderly man without children, he lived alone in a small house in the Lents neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. He had a niece and they spoke on occasion, but very infrequently, and not in many years. He had a few friends and acquaintances, but none with whom he was particularly close.

James Strand had something else. A valuable collection of books. Not even his niece knew how valuable it was. It was not a typical valuable collection of classic books. Strand collected horror and fantasy. His favorite writers included Stephen King and Ray Bradbury. He owned the original manuscript of an H.P. Lovecraft short story. He had various other manuscripts and numerous books inscribed to him. Then there was the other half of his collection. He had many old and valuable comic books in the field of fantasy. He bought many of his books and other items at bookstores in the Portland area, and his friends were others who frequented these sites and shared his passion for fantasy and horror.

He also bought many of the items in his collection at Heritage Auctions. They posted at the time “We were saddened to hear that James Strand, a valued client of Heritage Auctions for two decades, recently passed away.” They included a list of items he had purchased from them so people could be on the lookout if they showed up for sale.

James Strand died in late July 2023. It was a few days before neighbors checking on him discovered he had collapsed and died. What happened next to Strand's collection was a tragedy. Sadly, there are people who take advantage of tragedies to take what does not belong to them. It is why when there are fires, floods, earthquakes and the lot, police have to quickly step in to protect people's property from looters. With Strand's house now empty, looters came in, night after night, and stole what they thought was valuable. That included Strand's book collection. Since the collection was unknown to anyone but a few booksellers, the house was not adequately secured. As Strand was the only one who knew what he had, booksellers and others were not on the lookout. eBay along with unknowing booksellers became the thieves' means of disposal.

The reality of what had happened began to come to light when booksellers started to be offered valuable works by shady characters. The presence of numerous books inscribed to “James” or “James Strand” was doubly suspicious. Who was he? One man who knew was Scott Brown of Downtown Brown. He heard from another bookseller that books inscribed to Strand were showing up on the market. Once he realized Strand had died, he began compiling a list of books he knew Strand owned and passed it around to other dealers to be on the lookout.

Books soon started showing up all over, even the far end of the country and Canada. Some have been recovered but most of the items in Strand's collection remain missing. Many will most likely never be found. The collection has been estimated at a value of $2 million, maybe more.

Recently, almost two years after the books were stolen, two arrests were made. Joshua Blaine Munsey, who has a long rap sheet, and Dorean Billie Hardman. Both are incarcerated in federal prison in Sheridan, Oregon, on unrelated firearms charges.

There is much more detail on this story, including comments from Strand's niece, in an excellent piece written by Steve Duin on Oregon Live. Click here.

For the list of missing items purchased from Heritage Auctions, click here.