Libraries in Swale are trying to solve their own whodunnit - after more than £20,000 of items disappeared from bookshelves in the last two years.

The mystery of the missing works sounds like it should be a book title in its own right, but it’s a fact, not fiction, which makes for avid reading.

Kent County Council has disclosed that stock worth £203,056 was either stolen, damaged beyond repair or simply not returned by customers across the county between 2006 and 2008 across its 117 libraries.

County library chiefs say they do what they can to limit losses, including using debt collectors to chase people who have failed to return overdue books and other items like DVDs and computer games.

The council also said it would be willing to consider an amnesty if there was public support for the idea.

However, if items are still missing or unreturned after about five months, its policy is to write-off the fines owed and the value of the items.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that in 2006-2007, KCC wrote off nearly £97,000 of library stock.

That rose last year to £106,209 although the increase included books and other items that were damaged and lost in a fire at Ramsgate library.

In 2007-08, books valued at £87,700 were written off. Swale contributed £7,735 to this amount.

Videos and DVDs accounted for £10,285 across the county and cost Swale £534, while CD losses were £4,458 countywide and £543 for Swale.

Losses from individual libraries are not available.