This one is still pretty messed up.
I often end up with an Alice's Missing Book item, when she has not requested one, which does not disappear and you have to drop in the trash.
Today though, she told me that the books had turned magic.
There was no magic, just stacks of books.
As I searched each stack it said "You cannot find the Daring Swordsmen" or something like that. Why I was looking for the Daring Swordsmen, I have no idea.
I then found Alice's Missing Book, which again, I didnt need. She wouldnt accept it, there was no ping to complete the quest, and no monsters.
I checked each stack twice, I couldnt get an end quest ping.
In the version of the quest where you fight books, the purple tomes placeable is situated in such a way that it is a PITA to manage to actually touch it before the books spawn.