A person with a penchant for DC and Marvel Comics graphic novels has piqued the interest of a Salmon Arm bookstore following repeated thefts.

Peter Marsan, manager of Bookingham Palace at the Mall at Piccadilly, says there have been at least three incidents where books have been stolen from the store 鈥� about 40 in total, all DC and Marvel graphic novels, totalling about $1,000.

One of those incidents occurred Thursday, March 3. A camera placed behind the shelf loaded with graphic novels captured the moment. The one-minute file shows a balding man wearing a mask entering the store and immediately turning left towards the shelf with the graphic novels. He pauses there for several seconds, crouches and visually scans the store before pulling a bag from his blue jacket. He then selects a handful of books, taking a second to reposition one he didn鈥檛 grab, before walking towards the back of the store and moving to another aisle before heading out.

Marsan suspects the same person is responsible for the previous thefts.

鈥淚t seems unlikely it would be different people,鈥� said Marsan. 鈥淲e lose very few books in the store in general and we noticed we were losing a lot from just those two little shelves in that one little section.鈥�

Marsan said he hasn鈥檛 heard from anyone else in the mall who may have seen the man, but he did have a chance to look at mall security footage.

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鈥淗e comes to the mall, he comes straight to our store, he does his stealing and he leaves,鈥� said Marsan. 鈥淗e鈥檚 in the mall for less than five minutes total. He doesn鈥檛 go anywhere else. So unless someone kind of lingers, you鈥檙e not going to remember a face.鈥�

In addition to reporting the incident to the RCMP, Marsan shared the March 3 security cam footage on the Bookingham Palace Facebook page. The post has since received thousands of views, has received numerous shares and comments, and has been picked up by media outside of Salmon Arm.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a little bit surprising,鈥� said Marsan of the media attention, 鈥渂ut I think the video is pretty good quality so that is probably part of it. Lots of time you鈥檒l see a video and it will be a grainy thing鈥� If it wasn鈥檛 for the mask I鈥檓 pretty sure we could identify this person right away.鈥�

Marasan is hopeful the books will be returned. For now, anyone interested in buying a graphic novel won鈥檛 find them on the shelves at Bookingham Palace.

鈥淲e actually pulled all of the books from those shelves on the weekend鈥�,鈥� said Marsan. 鈥淯nless I鈥檓 constantly staring at that section it鈥檚 going to happen again.鈥�

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