A Flight Attendant’s Bookish Ethical Dilemma

J.T. from Georgia posed this question to the New York Times ethicist, Randy Cohen:

I am a flight attendant. I was working a flight from Europe when I recognized Michael Connelly, my favorite author, on board. I told him I was reading his novel “Brass Verdict,” and he kindly offered to autograph it. The catch: it is a library book. Must I return the signed book to the library, or can I replace it with a new copy in a suitable jacket?

The answer is entertaining, and not just because of the line about what Cohen would do if he met “the ghost of Jane Austen on the D.C. shuttle.”

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