Cartoon of the Day: Bookstore

 

2024 GLASS BELL AWARD

London’s Goldsboro Books announced its Shortlist for the 2024 Glass Bell Award, which “celebrates the very best in contemporary fiction.” 

In Memoriam, by Alice Wynn (Viking)
Clytemnestra, by Costanza Casati (Michael Joseph)
Strange Sally Diamond, by Liz Nugent (Sandycove)
Lady Macbethad, by Isabelle Schuler (Bloomsbury Raven)
The Square of Sevens, by Laura Shepherd Robinson (Mantle)
The Turnglass, by Gareth Rubin (Simon & Schuster)

The winner will be announced September 26, at Goldsboro Books’ 25th birthday party. 

Sad to say, I have only read Strange Sally Diamond. It's brilliant. I'm looking forward to reading the others on the list. 

BOOKSTORE MYSTERIES: Bookstore Day!

Today is National Bookstore Day. I love books about books aka Bibliomysteries. Here's a random and totally incomplete but fun list of Bookstore Mysteries for Bookstore Day. There are so many bookstore mysteries that I couldn't include them all, but I invite you to comment below with your favorite titles, and I'll add them. 

Mystery Readers Journal has had several issues dedicated to Bibliomysteries that have included Bookstore Mysteries. They are still available. Check out the Tables of Content:

BiblioMysteries: Volume 30:4  (2014) 

Bibliomysteries: Volume 21: 3 (2005)

And don't forget to buy a book (or two or ten) at your local bookstore today!

BOOKSTORE MYSTERIES

Kathy Aarons: Chocolate Covered Mystery Series: Death is Like a Box of Chocolates
Victoria Abbott: The Christie Curse
Ellery Adams: The Secret, Book & Scone Society Series
Laura Alden: Murder at the PTA; Plotting at the PTA, Foul Play at the PTA, Curse of the PTA, Poison at the PTA
Garrison Allen: Desert Cat, Roayl Cat, Stable Cat, Baseball Cat, Dinosaur Cat
Esmahan Aykol: Hotel Bosphorus, Baksheesh, Divorce Turkish Style
Jemma Bard: Cafe Prose Series: Prose & Poison

Lorna Barrett: Booktown Mystery Series: Murder on the Half Shelf, Murder is Binding, Bookmarked for Death, Bookplate Special, Chapter and Hearse, Sentenced to Death, Not the Killing Type, Book Clubbed, A Fatal Chapter, Title Wave, A Just Cause

Isabella Bassett: Old Bookstore Mysteries, Volumes 1-3: Out of Print, Murderous Misprint, Suspicious Small Print

Tamra Baumann: A Novel Way to Die
Mikkel Birkegaard: The Library of Shadows
Laura Gail Black: Antique Bookshop Series: For Whom the Book Tolls
Olivia Blacke: Brooklyn Murder Mystery Series: Killer Content
Maggie Blackburn: Little Bookshop of Murder

Elizabeth Blake: Jane Austen Society Mystery Series: Pride, Prejudice and Poison
Lawrence Block: Burglars Can't be Choosers, The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza, The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian, The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams, The Burglar Who Thought He was Bogart, The Burglar in the Library, The Burglar in the Rye, The Burglar on the Prowl, The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons
Michael Bowen: Washington Deceased, Faithfully Executed, Corruptly Procured, Worst Case Scenario, Collateral Damage
Ali Brandon: Double Booked for Death, A Novel Way to Die, Words with Fiends, Literally Murder, Plot Boiler, Twice Told Tail
Jon Breen: The Gathering Place, Touch of the Past
V. M. Burns: The Plot is Murder; Read Herring Hunt, The Novel Art of Murder; Wed, Read and Dead (May 2019)
Lynn Cahoon: Tourist Trap Mystery Series: Guidebook to Murder
Liam Callanan: Paris by the Book
Kate Carlisle: Bibliophile Mystery Series: Homicide in Hardcover
Erica Chase: A Killer Read

Abby Collette: Body and Soul Food
John Connolly: The Museum of Literary Soul

Laurence Cosse: A Novel Bookstore

Cleo Coyle: Haunted Bookshop Mystery Series, including The Ghost and Mrs. McClure; The Ghost and the Dead, and more.
Cindy Daniel: Death Warmed Over...Coming Soon, A Family Affair
Vicki Delany: Body on Baker Street; Elementary, She Read, The Cat of the Baskervilles: A Curious Incident
Kathi Daley: Romeow and Juliet

Barbara Davis: The Echo of Old Books
John Dunning: Booked to Die, The Bookman's Wake, The Bookman's Promise, The Sign of the Book, The Bookwoman's Last Fling

Lauren Elliott: Beyond the Page Bookstore series: Murder by the Book; Prologue to Murder
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
Alex Erickson: Bookstore Cafe series: Death by Coffee; Death by Tea, Death by Pumpkin Spice, Death by Vanilla Latte, Death by Eggnog, Death by Espresso
Amanda Flower: Magical Bookshop Series: Crime and Poetry; Prose and Cons; Murders and Metaphors 

Sarah Fox: Literary Pub Series: Wine and Punishment
Bruce Graeme: Seven Clues in Search of a Crime, House with Crooked Walls, A Case for Solomon, Work for the Hangman, Ten Trails to Tyburn, And a Bottle of Rum, Dead Pigs at Hungry Farm
Carolyn Hart: Death on Demand Series: Death on Demand, Design for Murder, Something Wicked, Honeymoon with Murder, A Little Class on Murder, Deadly Valentine, The Christie Caper,  Southern Ghost, The Mint Julep Murder, Yankee Doodle Dead, White Elephant Dead, Sugar Plum Dead, April Fool Dead  Engaged To Die, Murder Walks the Plank, Death of the Party, Dead Days of Summer, Death Walked In, Dare To Die, Laughed ’Til He Died, Dead by Midnight, Death Comes Silently; Dead, White, and Blue; Death at the Door, Don’t Go Home, Walking on My Grave, Death on Demand

Joan Hess: Strangled Prose, The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn, Dear Miss Demeanor,  A Really Cute Corpse, A Diet to Die For, Roll Over and Play Dead,  Death by the Light of the Moon, Poisoned Pins, Pickled to Death, Busy Bodies, Closely Akin to Murder;  A Holly, Jolly Murder ; A Conventional Corpse, Out on a Limb, The Goodbye Body, Damsels in Distress, Mummy Dearest, Deader Homes and Gardens, Murder as a Second Language, Pride v. Prejudice
Caroline Kepnes: You

Alice Kimberly (Cleo Coyle): The Haunted Bookshop Series: The Ghost of Mrs McClure; The Ghost and the Dead Deb, The Ghost and the Dead Man's Library; The Ghost and the Femme Fatale, The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion; The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller,
Allison Kingsley: Mind Over Murder, A Sinister Sense, Trouble Vision, Extra Sensory Deception
Essie Lang: Castle Bookshop Series: Trouble on the Books
Josh Lanyon: Fatal Shadows, A Dangerous Thing, The Hell You Say, Death of a Pirate King, The Dark Tide
S.A. Lelchuk: Save Me From Dangerous Men; One Got Away
Amy Lillard: Main Street Book Club Series: Can't Judge a Book by its Murder
Charlie Lovett: The Bookman's Tale

Marianne MacDonald: Death's Autograph,  Ghost Walk, Smoke Screen, Road Kill, Blood Lies; Die Once, Three Monkeys, Faking It
T. J. MacGregor: The Hanged Man,  Black Water, Total Silence, Category Five, Cold as Death
Karen MacInerney: A Killer Ending
Molly MacRae: Plaid and Plagiarism, Scones and Scoundrels
Russell D. McLean: Ed's Dead
Elizabeth C. Main: Murder of the Month, No Rest for the Wicked
Christine Matthews (w/Robert Randisi); Murder is the Deal of the Day, The Masks of Auntie Laveau, Same Time, Same Murder 

Judy Moore: Cozy Mysteries to Die For series: A Book Signing to Die For
Terrie Farley Moran: Well Read, Then Dead; Caught Read-Handed, Read to Death
Walter Mosley: Fearless Jones, Fear Itself, Fear of the Dark
Amy Meyerson: The Bookshop of Yesterdays

Elizabeth Penny: Chapter and Curse
Otto Penzler, ed.: Bibliomysteries (2 volumes): Short Stories
Bill Petrocelli: Through the Bookstore Window
Mark Pryor: The Bookseller series  (multiple titles)
Bellevue Square by Michael Redhill

Kym Roberts: Fatal Fiction
Paige Shelton: The Cracked Spine; Lost Books and Old Bones; A Christmas Tartan
Sheila Simonson: Larkspur, Skylark, Mudlark, Meadowlark, Malarkey
Robin Sloan: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Matthew J. Sullivan: Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

Carolyn Wells: Murder in the Bookshop
Vanessa Westermann: An Excuse for Murder

Gayle Wigglesworth: Tea is for Terror, Washington Weirdos, Intrigue in Italics, Cruisin' for a Brusin', Malice in Mexico
T.E. Wilson: Mezcalero
M.K. Wren: Curiosity Didn’t Kill the Cat; A Multitude of Sins, Oh Bury Me Not, Nothing's Certain by Death, Seasons of Death, Wake Up, Darlin’ Corey, Dead Matter,  King of the Mountain
Carlos Ruiz Zafron: The Shadow of the Wind

And a few other Bookstore Novels, not necessarily mysteries:

Jenny Colgan: The Bookshop on the Corner

Penelope Fitzgerald: The Bookshop

Nina George: The Little Paris Bookshop

Helene Hanff: 84 Charing Cross Road

Veronica Henry: How to Find Love in a Bookshop

Amy Meyerson: The Bookshop of Yesterdays

Deborah Meyler: The Bookstore

Christopher Morley: Parnassus on Wheels; The Haunted Bookshop

Robin Sloan: Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore 

Gabrielle Zevin: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

YA: 

Anna James: Tilly and the Bookwanderers

Let me know if I've forgotten any of your favorites.

LIVING IN A BOOKSTORE: Guest Post by Cathy Pickens

Cathy Pickens: Living in a Bookstore

What reader wouldn’t say yes! to living in a bookstore? 
 
On my one visit to Paris, I naturally made the obligatory visit to Shakespeare and Company, the legendary English-language bookshop in the shadow of Notre Dame, the place that Hemingway “liberated” after Paris was reclaimed by the Allies in World War II. The place where thousands of authors have camped on beds tucked between books or set up after hours on top of book tables, a place to live a while and to write.
 
But much closer to home, in the Southern hill country near where I grew up, is Shakespeare’s American cousin. In 1999, Katherine Willoughby opened Shakespeare & Co. Books in Highlands, North Carolina. This was no random knock-off of the name. In her younger days, Katherine lived with owner George Whitman in the Paris store. And he gave permission for her to use to name to create its echo tucked on a plateau at 4117 feet above sea level in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
 
Over the years, I stopped in every time I visited Highlands—a beautifully historic town with an interesting mix of wealthy incomers and those whose families farmed the area since the 1800s. In my experience, used bookshop owners and used bookshop habitués tend to be introverted folks, focused on books and respecting the space of others equally devoted. I exchanged greetings with Katherine as I checked out, but little more. I remember the books I bought there—favorites being Arthur Koestler’s The Act of Creation, discovered while I was locked away in Highlands working on my book CREATE!, and The Blue Guides England, with a spidery inscription: Margaret M. (her book) why?
 
In 2019, I decided to spend more time in the mountains. Summers in Charlotte feel increasingly hot and oppressive to me. Why not go home to the mountains more often, while I’m still able to race my Mustang up the winding roads?
 
On a visit, Stuart Ferguson greeted me from the desk at the front door. He introduced himself as Katherine’s viceroy. Over frequent visits, he encouraged me to renew my acquaintance with the charms of Golden Age mysteries. We talked about our personal histories around Highlands. And, when Katherine couldn’t return from Florida last summer, he invited my husband and me to live upstairs for the winter, to keep the place heated. 
 
Yes. Again, who wouldn’t say yes? 
 
About that time, my true crime book on the North Carolina Appalachian Mountains was published. And I was working on a Southern true crime book for Books-A-Million covering cases Texas to the Virginias. What a wonderful place to hide out and work.
 
At the store, we don’t have to sleep on the book tables. Katherine kept a spacious apartment upstairs. But one door opens directly into the children’s and history sections upstairs. And we’re allowed to roam around downstairs even at night if we run out of anything to read. 
 
When we finish reading a book that we don’t want to keep, we tuck it on the shelf in the store for another reader to find. As the wind blew or the sun lit up the sitting room or the day the snow fell (but, sadly, didn’t stick), we sat in front of the bow window, we read or wrote and enjoyed how magical it all was.
 
A mystery book club held its inaugural gathering in February, to talk about why we’re fascinated with mysteries and crime. In March, for a “read-around” of Agatha Christie, everyone chose one of her mysteries or a biography or her memoirs and we explored the Queen of Crime. Next, we’ll move across the pond to look at the origins of the hard-boiled detective.
 
As a writer, living in the bookstore has shown me up close the life of a bookseller. The people who exclaim, “I just downloaded that book to my Kindle!” Or who say, “Oh, that’s too expensive. I’ll check online.” Stuart stocks a small selection of well-reviewed new books—but what if no one wants to buy the new Putin biography? Or what of the people who’ve written a book and don’t understand that book signings typically end up costing the store money? Or the well-meaning folks who would be hurt if you didn’t take their donated truckload of old textbooks that you’ll have to haul off?
 
Even among readers, not many realize the difficult finances of the book business. The margins are small. In an expensive resort town, the taxes and insurance are high. The salaries are abysmal. But the chance to stop by on a cloudy day and talk about what you’ve read lately? Or to have Stuart find for you a lovely copy of the fantasy novel that started you on your life’s reading journey when you were a kid? Or to pick up a local history or a Georgette Heyer you’d forgotten? There’s magic in that, the kind of magic a bookstore—especially a used bookstore—offers.

True, not everyone gets to live in a bookstore. But everyone can visit. And everyone can help make sure those magical places are there for a while more.
 
Keep in mind the struggles—albeit as labors of love—of your favorite booksellers. Online and e-books certainly have their place. But the places that sell books—the places where you first found your life-long favorites or started your reading journey—those places need you to come visit. Maybe chat about books. Buy a book. Or a stack of books. You want that place to be there the next time you come to visit.
 

***

A former president of Sisters in Crime, Cathy Pickens’s Malice Award-winning series has been re-issued by Joffe Books in the U.K. She also writes a series for History Press on historical Carolinas true crime cases and is fact crime columnist for Mystery Readers Journal.

Cartoon of the Day: Reasons to Visit Your Local Haunted Bookstore

 

BOOKSTORE MYSTERIES: Independent Bookstore Day

Here's a random incomplete but fun updated list of Bookstore Mysteries for Independent Bookstore Day. I invite you to comment below with your favorite titles...and add missing titles. Mystery Readers Journal has had several issues dedicated to Bibliomysteries that have included Bookstore Mysteries. Don't forget to buy a book (or two or ten) at your local independent bookstore today!

BOOKSTORE MYSTERIES

Kathy Aarons: Chocolate Covered Mystery Series: Death is Like a Box of Chocolates
Victoria Abbott: The Christie Curse
Ellery Adams: The Secret, Book & Scone Society Series
Laura Alden: Murder at the PTA; Plotting at the PTA, Foul Play at the PTA, Curse of the PTA, Poison at the PTA
Garrison Allen: Desert Cat, Roayl Cat, Stable Cat, Baseball Cat, Dinosaur Cat
Esmahan Aykol: Hotel Bosphorus, Baksheesh, Divorce Turkish Style
Jemma Bard: Cafe Prose Series: Prose & Poison

Lorna Barrett: Booktown Mystery Series: Murder on the Half Shelf, Murder is Binding, Bookmarked for Death, Bookplate Special, Chapter and Hearse, Sentenced to Death, Not the Killing Type, Book Clubbed, A Fatal Chapter, Title Wave, A Just Cause
Mikkel Birkegaard: The Library of Shadows
Laura Gail Black: Antique Bookshop Series: For Whom the Book Tolls
Olivia Black: Brooklyn Murder Mystery Series: Killer Content

Maggie Blackburn: Little Bookshop of Murder

Elizabeth Blake: Jane Austen Society Mystery Series: Pride, Prejudice and Poison
Lawrence Block: Burglars Can't be Choosers, The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza, The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian, The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams, The Burglar Who Thought He was Bogart, The Burglar in the Library, The Burglar in the Rye, The Burglar on the Prowl, The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons
Michael Bowen: Washington Deceased, Faithfully Executed, Corruptly Procured, Worst Case Scenario, Collateral Damage
Ali Brandon: Double Booked for Death, A Novel Way to Die, Words with Fiends, Literally Murder, Plot Boiler, Twice Told Tail
Jon Breen: The Gathering Place, Touch of the Past
V. M. Burns: The Plot is Murder; Read Herring Hunt, The Novel Art of Murder; Wed, Read and Dead (May 2019)
Lynn Cahoon: Tourist Trap Mystery Series: Guidebook to Murder
Liam Callanan: Paris by the Book
Kate Carlisle: Bibliophile Mystery Series: Homicide in Hardcover
John Connolly: The Museum of Literary Souls
Cindy Daniel: Death Warmed Over...Coming Soon, A Family Affair
Vicki Delany: Body on Baker Street; Elementary, She Read, The Cat of the Baskervilles
Kathi Daley: Romeow and Juliet
John Dunning: Booked to Die, The Bookman's Wake, The Bookman's Promise, The Sign of the Book, The Bookwoman's Last Fling
Lauren Elliott: Beyond the Page Bookstore series: Murder by the Book; Prologue to Murder
Alex Erickson: Bookstore Cafe series: Death by Coffee; Death by Tea, Death by Pumpkin Spice, Death by Vanilla Latte, Death by Eggnog, Death by Espresso
Amanda Flower: Magical Bookshop Series: Crime and Poetry; Prose and Cons; Murders and Metaphors 

Sarah Fox: Literary Pub Series: Wine and Punishment
Bruce Graeme: Seven Clues in Search of a Crime, House with Crooked Walls, A Case for Solomon, Work for the Hangman, Ten Trails to Tyburn, And a Bottle of Rum, Dead Pigs at Hungry Farm
Carolyn Hart: Death on Demand Series: Death on Demand, Design for Murder, Something Wicked, Honeymoon with Murder, A Little Class on Murder, Deadly Valentine, The Christie Caper,  Southern Ghost, The Mint Julep Murder, Yankee Doodle Dead, White Elephant Dead, Sugar Plum Dead, April Fool Dead  Engaged To Die, Murder Walks the Plank, Death of the Party, Dead Days of Summer, Death Walked In, Dare To Die, Laughed ’Til He Died, Dead by Midnight, Death Comes Silently; Dead, White, and Blue; Death at the Door, Don’t Go Home, Walking on My Grave, Death on Demand

Joan Hess: Strangled Prose, The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn, Dear Miss Demeanor,  A Really Cute Corpse, A Diet to Die For, Roll Over and Play Dead,  Death by the Light of the Moon, Poisoned Pins, Pickled to Death, Busy Bodies, Closely Akin to Murder;  A Holly, Jolly Murder ; A Conventional Corpse, Out on a Limb, The Goodbye Body, Damsels in Distress, Mummy Dearest, Deader Homes and Gardens, Murder as a Second Language, Pride v. Prejudice
Alice Kimberly (Cleo Coyle): The Haunted Bookshop Series: The Ghost of Mrs McClure; The Ghost and the Dead Deb, The Ghost and the Dead Man's Library; The Ghost and the Femme Fatale, The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion; The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller,
Allison Kingsley: Mind Over Murder, A Sinister Sense, Trouble Vision, Extra Sensory Deception
Essie Lang: Castle Bookshop Series: Trouble on the Books
Josh Lanyon: Fatal Shadows, A Dangerous Thing, The Hell You Say, Death of a Pirate King, The Dark Tide
Amy Lillard: Main Street Book Club Series: Can't Judge a Book by its Murder
Marianne MacDonald: Death's Autograph,  Ghost Walk, Smoke Screen, Road Kill, Blood Lies; Die Once, Three Monkeys, Faking It
T. J. MacGregor: The Hanged Man,  Black Water, Total Silence, Category Five, Cold as Death
Karen MacInerney: A Killer Ending
Molly MacRae: Plaid and Plagiarism, Scones and Scoundrels
Russell D. McLean: Ed's Dead
Elizabeth C. Main: Murder of the Month, No Rest for the Wicked
Christine Matthews (w/Robert Randisi); Murder is the Deal of the Day, The Masks of Auntie Laveau, Same Time, Same Murder 

Judy Moore: Cozy Mysteries to Die For series: A Book Signing to Die For
Terrie Farley Moran: Well Read, Then Dead; Caught Read-Handed, Read to Death
Walter Mosley: Fearless Jones, Fear Itself, Fear of the Dark

Penny, Elizabeth: Chapter and Curse
Otto Penzler, ed.: Bibliomysteries (2 volumes): Short Stories
Bill Petrocelli: Through the Bookstore Window
Mark Pryor: The Bookseller series  (multiple titles)
Kym Roberts: Fatal Fiction
Paige Shelton: The Cracked Spine; Lost Books and Old Bones; A Christmas Tartan
Sheila Simonson: Larkspur, Skylark, Mudlark, Meadowlark, Malarkey
Robin Sloan: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Matthew J. Sullivan: Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
Carolyn Wells: Murder in the Bookshop
Gayle Wigglesworth: Tea is for Terror, Washington Weirdos, Intrigue in Italics, Cruisin' for a Brusin', Malice in Mexico
T.E. Wilson: Mezcalero
M.K. Wren: Curiosity Didn’t Kill the Cat; A Multitude of Sins, Oh Bury Me Not, Nothing's Certain by Death, Seasons of Death, Wake Up, Darlin’ Corey, Dead Matter,  King of the Mountain
Carlos Ruiz Zafron: The Shadow of the Wind

And a few other Bookstore Novels, not necessarily mysteries:

Jenny Colgan: The Bookshop on the Corner

Penelope Fitzgerald: The Bookshop

Nina George: The Little Paris Bookshop

Helene Hanff: 84 Charing Cross Road

Veronica Henry: How to Find Love in a Bookshop

Amy Meyerson: The Bookshop of Yesterdays

Deborah Meyler: The Bookstore

Christopher Morley: Parnassus on Wheels; The Haunted Bookshop

Robin Sloan: Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore 

Gabrielle Zevin: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

Let me know if I've forgotten any of your favorites.

BOOKSTORE MYSTERIES: Independent Bookstore Day

I totally forgot to post my list of Bookstore Mysteries for Independent Bookstore Day. This list is incomplete, and I invite you to comment below with missing titles. Mystery Readers Journal has had several issues dedicated to Bibliomysteries that have included Bookstore Mysteries. Don't forget to buy a book (or two or ten) at your local independent bookstore!

BOOKSTORE MYSTERIES

Kathy Aarons: Death is Like a Box of Chocolates
Victoria Abbott: The Christie Curse
Ellery Adams: The Secret, Book & Scone Society
Laura Alden: Murder at the PTA; Plotting at the PTA, Foul Play at the PTA, Curse of the PTA, Poison at the PTA
Garrison Allen: Desert Cat, Roayl Cat, Stable Cat, Baseball Cat, Dinosaur Cat
Esmahan Aykol: Hotel Bosphorus, Baksheesh, Divorce Turkish Style
Lorna Barrett: Murder on the Half Shelf, Murder is Binding, Bookmarked for Death, Bookplate Special, Chapter and Hearse, Sentenced to Death, Not the Killing Type, Book Clubbed, A Fatal Chapter, Title Wave, A Just Cause
Mikkel Birkegaard: The Library of Shadows
Lawrence Block: Burglars Can't be Choosers, The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza, The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian, The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams, The Burglar Who Thought He was Bogart, The Burglar in the Library, The Burglar in the Rye, The Burglar on the Prowl, The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons
Michael Bowen: Washington Deceased, Faithfully Executed, Corruptly Procured, Worst Case Scenario, Collateral Damage
Ali Brandon: Double Booked for Death, A Novel Way to Die, Words with Fiends, Literally Murder, Plot Boiler, Twice Told Tail
Jon Breen: The Gathering Place, Touch of the Past
V. M. Burns: The Plot is Murder; Read Herring Hunt, The Novel Art of Murder; Wed, Read and Dead (May 2019)
Lynn Cahoon: Guidebook to Murder
Liam Callanan: Paris by the Book
Kate Carlisle: Homicide in Hardcover
John Connolly: The Museum of Literary Souls
Cindy Daniel: Death Warmed Over...Coming Soon, A Family Affair
Vicki Delany: Body on Baker Street; Elementary, She Reads,  The Cat of the Baskervilles
Kathi Daley: Romeow and Juliet
John Dunning: Booked to Die, The Bookman's Wake, The Bookman's Promise, The Sign of the Book, The Bookwoman's Last Fling
Lauren Elliott: Murder by the Book
Alex Erickson: Death by Coffee; Death by Tea, Death by Pumpkin Spice, Death by Vanilla Latte, Death by Eggnog, Death by Espresso
Amanda Flowers:  Crime and Poetry; Prose and Cons; Murders and Metaphors
Bruce Graeme: Seven Clues in Search of a Crime, House with Crooked Walls, A Case for Solomon, Work for the Hangman, Ten Trails to Tyburn, And a Bottle of Rum, Dead Pigs at Hungry Farm
Carolyn Hart: Death on Demand, Design for Murder, Something Wicked, Honeymoon with Murder, A Little Class on Murder, Deadly Valentine, The Christie Caper,  Southern Ghost, The Mint Julep Murder, Yankee Doodle Dead, White Elephant Dead, Sugar Plum Dead, April Fool Dead  Engaged To Die, Murder Walks the Plank, Death of the Party, Dead Days of Summer, Death Walked In, Dare To Die, Laughed ’Til He Died, Dead by Midnight, Death Comes Silently; Dead, White, and Blue; Death at the Door, Don’t Go Home, Walking on My Grave, Death on Demand
Joan Hess: Strangled Prose, The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn, Dear Miss Demeanor,  A Really Cute Corpse, A Diet to Die For, Roll Over and Play Dead,  Death by the Light of the Moon, Poisoned Pins, Pickled to Death, Busy Bodies, Closely Akin to Murder;  A Holly, Jolly Murder ; A Conventional Corpse, Out on a Limb, The Goodbye Body, Damsels in Distress, Mummy Dearest, Deader Homes and Gardens, Murder as a Second Language, Pride v. Prejudice
Alice Kimberly (Cleo Coyle): The Ghost of Mrs McClure; The Ghost and the Dead Deb, The Ghost and the Dead Man's Library; The Ghost and the Femme Fatale, The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion; The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller,
Allison Kingsley: Mind Over Murder, A Sinister Sense, Trouble Vision, Extra Sensory Deception
Essie Lang: Trouble on the Books
Josh Lanyon: Fatal Shadows, A Dangerous Thing, The Hell You Say, Death of a Pirate King, The Dark Tide
Marianne MacDonald: Death's Autograph,  Ghost Walk, Smoke Screen, Road Kill, Blood Lies; Die Once, Three Monkeys, Faking It
T. J. MacGregor: The Hanged Man,  Black Water, Total Silence, Category Five, Cold as Death
Russell D. McLean: Ed's Dead
Molly MacRae: Plaid and Plagiarism, Scones and Scoundrels
Elizabeth C. Main: Murder of the Month, No Rest for the Wicked
Christine Matthews (w/Robert Randisi); Murder is the Deal of the Day, The Masks of Auntie Laveau, Same Time, Same Murder
Terrie Farley Moran: Well Read, Then Dead; Caught Read-Handed, Read to Death
Walter Mosley: Fearless Jones, Fear Itself, Fear of the Dark
Otto Penzler, ed.: Bibliomysteries (2 volumes): Short Stories
Bill Petrocelli: Through the Bookstore Window
Mark Pryor: The Bookseller series  (multiple titles)
Kym Roberts: Fatal Fiction
Paige Shelton: The Cracked Spine; Lost Books and Old Bones; A Christmas Tartan
Sheila Simonson: Larkspur, Skylark, Mudlark, Meadowlark, Malarkey
Robin Sloan: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Matthew J. Sullivan: Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
Carolyn Wells: Murder in the Bookshop
Gayle Wigglesworth: Tea is for Terror, Washington Weirdos, Intrigue in Italics, Cruisin' for a Brusin', Malice in Mexico
T.E. Wilson: Mezcalero
M.K. Wren: Curiosity Didn’t Kill the Cat; A Multitude of Sins, Oh Bury Me Not, Nothing's Certain by Death, Seasons of Death, Wake Up, Darlin’ Corey, Dead Matter,  King of the Mountain
Carlos Ruiz Zafron: The Shadow of the Wind

Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore Move

Murder on the Beach will leave its current location at the end of this month.

Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore, in Delray Beach, Fla., will move next month to a retail space in the Delray Beach Public Library building. The bookstore and the library will have separate entrances, and store founder and manager Joanne Sinchuk said she's hoping for "synergy between the two." The new space is slightly smaller than the current store, Sinchuk said, but has more windows, and is located a few blocks away, on the main avenue through downtown (the current store is on a side street). Because of the smaller space, the store will stock slightly fewer titles, and the shipping/receiving area will be tight, she said. One of the bathrooms in the new space will be turned into her office.

Sinchuk and store owner David Wulf said, "We love Delray and are happy to be able to keep Murder on the Beach in the most fun small town in the USA." Delray Library director Karen Ronald added, "We have a lot in common and hope to make a difference in the community."

The bookstore had been on a month-to-month lease since its lease expired in December, and the site's owner plans to build a boutique hotel.

Murder on the Beach will be closed March 28-31 for the move, and will re-open at 104 West Atlantic Avenue on Monday, April 1. The store's phone number, e-mail, website and hours will remain the same.

BOOKSTORE MYSTERIES: Independent Bookstore Day

For Independent Bookstore Day, I put together a list of Bookstore Mysteries. This list is no where near complete, and I invite you to comment below with missing titles. Mystery Readers Journal has had several issues dedicated to Bibliomysteries that have included Bookstore Mysteries. Don't forget to buy a book (or two or ten) at your local independent bookstore today!

BOOKSTORE MYSTERIES

Kathy Aarons: Death is Like a Box of Chocolates
Ellery Adams: The Secret, Book & Scone Society
Laura Alden: Murder at the PTA; Plotting at the PTA, Foul Play at the PTA, Curse of the PTA, Poison at the PTA
Garrison Allen: Desert Cat, Roayl Cat, Stable Cat, Baseball Cat, Dinosaur Cat
Esmahan Aykol: Hotel Bosphorus, Baksheesh, Divorce Turkish Style
Lorna Barrett: Murder on the Half Shelf, Murder is Binding, Bookmarked for Death, Bookplate Special, Chapter and Hearse, Sentenced to Death, Not the Killing Type, Book Clubbed, A Fatal Chapter, Title Wave, A Just Cause
Lawrence Block: Burglars Can't be Choosers, The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza, The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian, The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams, The Burglar Who Thought He was Bogart, The Burglar in the Library, The Burglar in the Rye, The Burglar on the Prowl, The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons
Michael Bowen: Washington Deceased, Faithfully Executed, Corruptly Procured, Worst Case Scenario, Collateral Damage
Ali Brandon: Double Booked for Death, A Novel Way to Die, Words with Fiends, Literally Murder, Plot Boiler, Twice Told Tail
Jon Breen: The Gathering Place, Touch of the Past
V. M. Burns: The Plot is Murder; Read Herring Hunt, The Novel Art of Murder; Wed, Read and Dead (May 2019)
Lynn Cahoon: Guidebook to Murder
Cindy Daniel: Death Warmed Over...Coming Soon, A Family Affair
Vicki Delany: Body on Baker Street; Elementary, She Reads,  The Cat of the Baskervilles
John Dunning: Booked to Die, The Bookman's Wake, The Bookman's Promise, The Sign of the Book, The Bookwoman's Last Fling
Alex Erickson: Death by Coffee; Death by Tea, Death by Pumpkin Spice, Death by Vanilla Latte, Death by Eggnog, Death by Espresso
Amanda Flowers:  Crime and Poetry; Prose and Cons
Bruce Graeme: Seven Clues in Search of a Crime, House with Crooked Walls, A Case for Solomon, Work for the Hangman, Ten Trails to Tyburn, And a Bottle of Rum, Dead Pigs at Hungry Farm
Carolyn Hart: Death on Demand, Design for Murder, Something Wicked, Honeymoon with Murder, A Little Class on Murder, Deadly Valentine, The Christie Caper,  Southern Ghost, The Mint Julep Murder, Yankee Doodle Dead, White Elephant Dead, Sugar Plum Dead, April Fool Dead  Engaged To Die, Murder Walks the Plank, Death of the Party, Dead Days of Summer, Death Walked In, Dare To Die, Laughed ’Til He Died, Dead by Midnight, Death Comes Silently; Dead, White, and Blue; Death at the Door, Don’t Go Home, Walking on My Grave, Death on Demand
Joan Hess: Strangled Prose, The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn, Dear Miss Demeanor,  A Really Cute Corpse, A Diet to Die For, Roll Over and Play Dead,  Death by the Light of the Moon, Poisoned Pins, Pickled to Death, Busy Bodies, Closely Akin to Murder;  A Holly, Jolly Murder ; A Conventional Corpse, Out on a Limb, The Goodbye Body, Damsels in Distress, Mummy Dearest, Deader Homes and Gardens, Murder as a Second Language, Pride v. Prejudice
Alice Kimberly (Cleo Coyle): The Ghost of Mrs McClure; The Ghost and the Dead Deb, The Ghost and the Dead Man's Library; The Ghost and the Femme Fatale, The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion; The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller,
Allison Kingsley: Mind Over Murder, A Sinister Sense, Trouble Vision, Extra Sensory Deception
Josh Lanyon: Fatal Shadows, A Dangerous Thing, The Hell You Say, Death of a Pirate King, The Dark Tide
Marianne MacDonald: Death's Autograph,  Ghost Walk, Smoke Screen, Road Kill, Blood Lies; Die Once, Three Monkeys, Faking It
T. J. MacGregor: The Hanged Man,  Black Water, Total Silence, Category Five, Cold as Death
Russell D. McLean: Ed's Dead
Molly MacRae: Plaid and Plagiarism, Scones and Scoundrels
Elizabeth C. Main: Murder of the Month, No Rest for the Wicked
Christine Matthews (w/Robert Randisi); Murder is the Deal of the Day, The Masks of Auntie Laveau, Same Time, Same Murder
Terrie Farley Moran: Well Read, Then Dead; Caught Read-Handed, Read to Death
Walter Mosley: Fearless Jones, Fear Itself, Fear of the Dark
Bill Petrocelli: Through the Bookstore Window
Kym Roberts: Fatal Fiction
Paige Shelton: The Cracked Spine; Lost Books and Old Bones; A Christmas Tartan
Sheila Simonson: Larkspur, Skylark, Mudlark, Meadowlark, Malarkey
Carolyn Wells: Murder in the Bookshop
Gayle Wigglesworth: Tea is for Terror, Washington Weirdos, Intrigue in Italics, Cruisin' for a Brusin', Malice in Mexico
M.K. Wren: Curiosity Didn’t Kill the Cat; A Multitude of Sins, Oh Bury Me Not, Nothing's Certain by Death, Seasons of Death, Wake Up, Darlin’ Corey, Dead Matter,  King of the Mountain

Thanks to StopYou'reKillingMe for many of these titles.

Sad News: Aunt Agatha's Mystery Bookshop Closing in August!

I'm so sorry to learn that Aunt Agatha's Mystery Bookshop in Ann Arbor, MI, will be closing in August. This was just posted on their Facebook page. I wish Robin and Jamie the best of everything.

Dear Beloved Customers and Readers,

We are regretful but ready to announce that we will be closing Aunt Agatha’s in August of this year. We have enjoyed getting to know many of you, discussing books with you, sharing author events with you and sharing the love of mysteries with you for 26 years. Many of you we are happy to think of as friends. It’s been a wonderful journey.
 
As in the great Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express there are many culprits for our demise – we are getting older; constant street construction; Amazon; and fierce local competition. We hope you will keep local bookstores vital and alive by patronizing the many exciting stores that remain open.
 
And please come by to say hello, fill out your collection, or plan to attend one of the wonderful events we have remaining on our schedule this spring and summer. However, we can no longer take your books for store credit. We suggest the library, the PTO thrift store, and the recycle center.
After we close we plan to continue selling our remaining inventory on ABE books online, and under construction is a review blog focusing on first mystery novels by women. We also have some future events planned at the library. But for now, everything is for sale!
April - 15%
May – 20%
June – 30%
July – 40%
August – 50%
 
We will also be selling shelving, tables, our front counter, and posters. If there’s something you are interested in please make us an offer. We also have quite a few 6’ banquet tables & folding chairs.
 
We have a closing event scheduled on August 26 with William Kent Krueger, and we hope you’ll join us for a final gather round the communal mysterious hearth.
 
With much gratitude for your patronage,

Robin & Jamie

Seattle Mystery Bookshop for Sale

Sad news! 

The Seattle Mystery Bookshop posted this on their website today:

For Sale: One Bookshop 

As of today, Tuesday, August 1st, the Seattle Mystery Bookshop is for sale.

It is our hope that someone who cares deeply about this shop, will help SMB continue past its 27th year.

Some time ago, we were gratified by the results of a Go Fund Me drive which brought in enough funds to allow us to pay off overdue bills and to sock away enough to see us through this past winter. It bought us a year – but barely, and that has taken its toll. While we could do another such fund raiser, that’s not a viable way to continue in business.

What this shop needs is someone who will invest their time and money in it. Should you or someone you know seriously want to become a bookshop owner, please let us know. Founder Bill Farley used to joke that everything in the shop was for sale, even the paint on the walls. Now that is true.

Going Forward:
* Outstanding credit slips and unused gift certificates must be used by August 31st.
* We will not be accepting any used books for credit or collectable books for consignment.
* Special Orders & New Releases (any book published in 2017) are not part of the sale
* Special orders will have to be paid for in advance.
* We will be filling current orders for new releases through August & Signings in September.
* All used books are 40% off. All in stock, regular priced books are 25% off - non new releases (obviously)

Thank you for your support through all these years!

JB Dickey

50 Unique Bookstores: One in Each State

I may not agree with all the choices below, but I guess I'll have to go on a road trip to be sure.

From The Culture Trip:

Across the US, independent bookstores are having a comeback. Often combining bookselling with a cafe or bar, these stores will usually stock rare presses and obscure publishers, alongside classics and bestsellers. The below are no exception, but also have that little something extra which makes them stand out from the rest. 

 

CA: The Last Bookstore, Los Angeles, CA. Multi-level space offering books, records, and local art. 

View the list here.

How many have you visited? Any you'd like to add?

US Tourist trapped in London bookstore: What could be bad?

In case you missed this story, a Texas tourist was in the Trafalgar Square London Waterstones on Thursday evening when he got locked in. He only went in to use their free Internet..perhaps there's a certain amount of justice there. He should have bought a book.

Although he set of the alarm trying to open the doors and spoke to a security guard and police via telephone, no one came to his aid. He ended up tweeting his way out. He posted on social media--Twitter and Instagram. Eventually the tweet was retweeted so many times that an employee saw it and went and let him out.

Three hours alone in a bookstore and all he wanted was out? Clearly he's not one of us!

Read the entire story here.

My 2000th Post: The BookBar

It's very apt that my 2000th post on Mystery Fanfare is a short report on a new independent bookstore: The Book Bar. This bookshop bills itself as "A Book Shop for Wine Lovers. A Wine Bar for Book Shoppers." Wish this bookstore was in my neighborhood! Actually it's in the "Berkeley" district of Denver. Love the idea of wine and books!

From Denver.eater.com:

On Memorial Day, Nicole Sullivan opened the doors to BookBar, a bookstore and bar located at 4280 Tennyson Street, in a space that previously housed another bookstore, minus the bar part. The store will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day with the hope of attracting patrons from the neighborhood and those seeking a place to summon their book clubs.

Sullivan dreamt of a gathering space for those who love reading and she wanted to create an atmosphere where they would feel at home. That is how this highly-curated bookstore found its food and beverage wing. BookBar features an inventory of brand new books, focused on those that are most current and mostly highly regarded by bookworms everywhere. And there's a small menu of food and drinks available to go along with the good reads.

  The decor is simple featuring exposed brick, high wooden ceilings, dark book shelves and couches, and warm-colored wood floors. A long bar sits at the right of the space with a small lounge space where an accordion door will be added to bring a small indoor-outdoor area. Several tables with tops made from recycled wine crates provide additional seating. To the left of the space is a small area where couches and chairs are available for those wanting to read or browse books and just past that are several rows of book shelves.

Cartoon of the Day: Bookstore

Saw this on Facebook and had to share. So right!

Theatre Converted to Bookstore

El Ateneo is an amazing bookstore in Buenos Aires. The structure used to be known as Teatro Gran Splendid and was completed in May 1919. Every available inch of it is filled with books, except the box seats, which are used as reading rooms. Fabulous!

 Source: http://www.buzzfeed.com/whatthecool/theatre-converted-to-bookstore-uew

Hat Tip: Doc Quartermass

Bookstore: Door Made of Books

From Toxel.com comes photos of this Unique Bookstore in Sao Paulo.

Livraria da Vila bookstore features creative doors made out of bookshelves. Designed by Isay Weinfeld. Located in São Paulo, Brazil.