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.

Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore is closing

Sad News! Murder on the Beach, a mainstay in the mystery community, has announced that it will be closing its doors in April. I was lucky to visit this bookstore (in its former location) several years ago. So many wonderful writers and readers have passed through their doors. Wishing everyone the best as they pursue new endeavors.

Announcement from Murder on the Beach:

After 25 Years in South Florida, we sadly announce that Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore will be going out of business as of April 15, 2022.

 

Although we have tried our best to keep the store alive, Covid and its aftermath have done us in. Joanne and Cheryl will move on to other things, and Stacey will be working for Book Wise.

 

Thank you to all our customers, friends and authors who have supported and helped us over the years. Twenty five years is a good run, and we have enjoyed every minute of it. Our only regret is we never got to give a big party for our 25th anniversary 2 months ago!

 

Thank you all for everything! Come to see us before April 15.

 

Joanne, Stacey, Stephanie, Cheryl, Jay, Sue.

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

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.

Fred Bass, Strand Bookstore: R.I.P.

Fred Bass, who transformed his father’s small used-book store, the Strand, into a mammoth Manhattan emporium with the slogan “18 Miles of Books,” died on Wednesday at his home in Manhattan. He was 89. The cause was congestive heart failure.

From the NYT:

Mr. Bass was 13 when he began working at the Strand, founded by his father, Benjamin. At the time, it was one of nearly 50 such stores concentrated along Fourth Avenue. Except for two years in the Army, he never left, until retiring in November 2017.

A year after taking over as manager of the store in 1956, he moved it from Fourth Avenue to its present location, on Broadway at 12th Street, where it occupied half the ground floor of what had been a clothing business. He set the Strand on a path of unstoppable expansion, taking over the entire first floor, then, in the 1970s, the top three floors, adding an antiquarian department along the way.

Following his father’s playbook, he pursued a policy of aggressive acquisition.

“At first I used to think he was crazy,” Mr. Bass told the cable news channel NY1 in 2015. “Why are we buying extra books? We haven’t sold all these. But we just kept buying and buying. It was a fact — you can’t sell a book you don’t have.”

The 70,000 books in the Fourth Avenue store swelled, at the Broadway site, to half a million by the mid-1960s and 2.5 million by the 1990s, requiring the purchase of a storage warehouse in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. By the time Mr. Bass bought the building for $8.2 million in 1997, the Strand had become the largest used-book store in the world.

Into his late 80s, Mr. Bass stood behind a counter, appraising books and authorizing payment on the spot to book-laden sellers cleaning out their apartments, critics offloading surplus review copies and the down-at-heel looking to collect a few dollars.

Continue Reading HERE.

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?

4 Hardest to Find Bookstores in the World

If you're like I am, you can't pass by a bookstore without going in. Every town I visit has at least one bookstore or possibly a thrift shop with books for sale. But what if you can't find the bookstore? Thought I'd share this article on the 4 Hardest to Find Bookstores in the World from Bob Eckstein on Atlas Obscura on 4 of the hardest to find bookstores in the world. Have you visited any of them? Found them? Have any to add?

Read the article here.

T. Jefferson Parker Award Nominees

The Southern California Independent Booksellers Association selects seven award-winning titles. 

Nominees for the T. Jefferson Parker Award in the Mystery and Thriller category:

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley
Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz
The Promise by Robert Crais

Awards will be presented during the SCIBA Fall Trade Show on October 22, 2016, at The Garland in North Hollywood.

HT: The Rap Sheet

Worst. Reading. Ever. - Guest post by Adrian McKinty

Adrian McKinty is an Edgar Award nominated  (Gun Street Girl) crime writer from Belfast. His first crime novel, Dead I Well May Be, was shortlisted for the 2004 Steel Dagger Award. His first Sean Duffy novel, The Cold Cold Ground, won the 2013 Spinetingler Award. The second Sean Duffy novel, I Hear The Sirens In The Street, was shortlisted for the 2013 Ned Kelly Award, the 2014 Barry Award & was longlisted for the 2014 Theakston Best British Crime Novel Award. Thanks, Adrian, for this post. I'm sure a lot of writers and readers will relate.

ADRIAN McKINTY:
WORST. READING. EVER.

It was nice of JK Rowling to share her early stories of rejection and humiliation with us. Rejection, of course, is part of the book business but no humiliation is quite as abject as that of the book reading gone awry and Jo Rowling doesn’t seem to have had many of those to complain bout.

Like comics celebrating their bad gigs however pretty much every other author can humble brag about book readings they have given where only two or three people came. This is far more common than you would think and in fact the majority of all book readings are probably for “crowds” of a dozen or less. You don’t get to hear much about these sad events because this never happens to celebrity authors or best selling writers, though for the majority of novelists it’s the humiliating norm: the crowd of four, two of whom are asleep, one of whom is clearly mad and the last person is your auntie.

Far more impressive to me are the authors who can boast of zero attendance at their book readings. For zero people to show up you have to be particularly skilled in the arts of non persuasion. This has happened to me half a dozen times, and now I quite look forward to these nihilities as they are, actually, pretty easy situations to handle. If no one comes, you simply sign stock and go home early free of the whole unpleasant business. Much trickier is the circumstance where one person shows up. Then you feel obliged to go on with the show, sometimes to the annoyance of the shop owner who is forced to go through the motions with you. Once in the Boulder Bookstore as I proceeded to read to one person (my wife’s cousin), the owner began aggressively putting away the clangy metal chairs he had laid out for twenty.

I’ve got many other reading horror stories. At a book reading in Spain once my host began the event by throwing my book on the table, pointing his finger angrily at me and demanding “why I had betrayed the revolution?”

But my worst reading of all was in Boston, Massachusetts where I had to deal with a heckler. Comics are used to dealing with hecklers but not authors. I’ve had my share of online trolls, of course, where it’s easy for someone to say that you’re a “terrorist sympathiser” or a “provocateur working for MI5”; but it requires courage to show up to someone’s book reading and try that on.

At this particular store in Boston I had a respectable crowd of about eleven, and I’d been reading for about five minutes when I noticed a man in the front row (they’re always in the front row) start to get agitated. He was about thirty, well built, tall, wearing black jeans, work boots and a button down white shirt. He looked completely normal, but evidently something I was doing was driving him crazy. Finally he could take it no more and yelled out: “This is shit!”

I decided to ignore him and carry on but a minute later he interrupted again, looking at his fellow audience members for support: “Can’t you all see this? This is such utter shit!”

Authors go through a lot of self doubt over their manuscript, and as you read and re-read the book in the proofing and editing stages the jokes start to seem flat, the plot points predictable and the characters dull. Part of you is always thinking: “Can’t you all see this? This is such utter shit!” If I’d been, say, Stewart Lee, I would have articulated all of this and potentially disarmed the man, but as it was I kept ignoring him and attempted to continue. Incensed, he stood up, went to the podium, and tried to snatch the book out of my hand.

“Look, what’s the problem, mate?” I asked.

“This is shit.”

“Specifically what’s the problem?”

“What’s with all the big words? Who do you think you are? What can’t you talk in normal fucking English?”

A line from Fawlty Towers rose up in my head that I unwisely gave vent to: “What? Pretentious, moi?” I said.

This only maddened him further and he successfully snatched the book out of my hands. I tried to grab it back before he muttered: “I have a knife!”

So do I, I thought, a whole kitchen full of them until it occurred to me that he probably meant with him, here, tonight.

This particular bookshop had no security of any kind and enjoying what was turning out to be a much livelier event than advertised, no one in the crowd was calling the police.

“This word, what does this word mean?” he said shoving the book in my face and pointing at the word ‘tenebrous’.

“It means ‘shadowy’ or ‘dark’,” I said.

“What can’t you fucking say ‘dark’ or ‘shadowy’ then?”

“I could have, but I’d said ‘darkness’ earlier on the page, and if I remember rightly I liked the association the word ‘tenebrous’ conjured up with the Catholic liturgy of—”

“My point exactly! You could have fucking said dark!” the man yelled triumphantly and stormed out of the bookshop still holding my book.

The reading more or less ended there in mass embarrassment for everyone, and, if it had, in fact, been the worst book reading ever, the audience would have agreed with the heckler about my purple prose and left with him. Actually I got more sympathy purchases of the book than normal, although I still wouldn’t recommend this as a strategy for boosting your book sales up into the JK Rowling territories.

SF Borderlands unique solution to remaining open

Here's a pretty unique response to keeping a bookstore open!

From ShelfAwareness:

In response to ideas put forward at a community meeting held last week and e-mails from customers, Borderlands Books, San Francisco,CA, has come up with a plan that might allow it to remain open. Owner Allan Beatts had previously announced the bookstore would close by the end of next month due to the city's minimum wage proposition, which passed last fall.

In a new statement posted on the Borderlands website, Beatts wrote that effective immediately, "we will be offering paid sponsorships of the store. Each sponsorship will cost $100 for the year and will need to be renewed every year. If we get 300 sponsors before March 31st, we will stay open for the remainder of 2015." He also offered preliminary details on sponsor benefits, and said the goal is to "gather enough paid sponsors to cover the projected short-fall in income that will be the result of the minimum wage increase in San Francisco." Plans call for soliciting sponsors again at the beginning of 2016.

"If it is to succeed, we will need your support--not just right now, but every year moving forwards. So, if you want Borderlands to continue, it is in your hands," Beatts noted, adding: "Prior to the events of the last two weeks, I would never have imagined that something like what follows would ever be possible. The outpouring of affection and emotion that started the moment we announced that we were closing has changed forever the way the I and the rest of the staff see Borderlands. This place has always meant the world to us--that's why we work here--but we never imagined that it meant so much to so many people. Win or lose, open or close, we are all more grateful that we can express for your kind words, sincere compliments and the belief that what we do matters."

READ MORE on the BORDERLANDS BOOKS WEBSITE HERE.

Sleepover at Waterstones Piccadilly: Serious Readers Should Apply

After an American tourist was accidently locked in Waterstones in Trafalgar Square in London last week, the Piccadilly Waterstones is offering an overnight stay for up to 20 people this Friday. Waterstones was struck by the many people who tweeted that being locked in a store after hours would be a dream.

Interested book lovers can apply via an Airbnb listing for 10 spots (each winner can bring a friend) on Friday, October 24. The listing reads: "With Waterstones Piccadilly all to yourself, saunter up and down our beautiful central staircase, from our Ground Floor Bestsellers to our Fourth Floor's Russian Bookshop, and let your imagination loose. Settle down on the comfy airbeds and sleeping bags provided and drift off surrounded by the fantastical tales, incredible true stories and beautiful books of all shapes and sizes that are packed into the more than eight and a half miles of book shelves.

"That's not all though--there's plenty of treats and surprises in store. Food (Grazebox and Weetabix to name a few), entertainment, bedding--we got you covered! The only thing you need to worry about is what to read next. And if someone will let you out in the morning... But that wouldn't be a problem would it?

"House Rules: Only serious book lovers need apply. Be considerate--other guests may be trying to read. And why wouldn't they, they're in a bookshop after all?"

A Waterstones bookseller will give a tour of the store at 9 p.m.

Bookstore overnights seem to be the new international trend. On November 1, Japanese bookstore chain Junkudo will host six people overnight at the company's store in the Chiyoda section of Tokyo--with the proviso that they buy at least one book by the time they leave. Depending on the experience, Junkudo may hold more bookstore overnight events.

HT: ShelfAwareness

Coming to Left Coast Crime? Monterey Area Bookstores

Coming to Monterey for Left Coast Crime? There will be a great Bookroom at the Convention, but if you come early, stay late, or just have some extra time on your hands, check out this article on Monterey area bookstores in today's SF Chronicle special Monterey section.

Bookstores Carry On Monterey's Literary Tradition 
by Christine Delsol

For those of us who prefer reading on paper rather than an LED screen, the Monterey Peninsula is an oasis, a refuge from a world rushing to drive the printed word into extinction. Maybe it's the area's heritage, studded with such literary lights as Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack London, Henry Miller, Sinclair Lewis and John Steinbeck. Or maybe it's the dramatic landscape calling to the artist-within.
Whatever the explanation, the region is blessed with a cadre of booksellers who are trying to ensure that books, old and new, live on. Anyone who loves reading, history and feeling a sense of place will find that, in their own way, these repositories rival the region's ravishing scenery and outdoor thrills.

READ MORE HERE. 

Tokyo Bookstore Boasts Roof Apiary

From Japan Times. How cool is this? Definitely part of the environmental movement. B & B: Books and Bees!

Major construction firm Kajima Corp. has started beekeeping in Tokyo jointly with bookstore chain Yaesu Book Center in a project to help raise awareness of environmental protection.
Some 20,000 western honeybees are being kept on the rooftop of the bookstore chain’s eight-story building near Tokyo Station. Yaesu Book Center is an affiliate of Kajima.

“We’d like to use this bee project, which is under way in front of Tokyo Station, to spur discussion regarding city development that can sustain biodiversity,” Yoriyuki Yamada, deputy general manager of Kajima’s environment division, said Tuesday.

The bees are supposed to fly to such places as Ueno Park and the Imperial Palace, located within 4 km of the rooftop, to hunt for nectar from plant life ranging from tulip trees to cherry blossoms, Yamada said, adding the firm expects to harvest 2 kg to 5 kg of honey per week.

The Yaesu Book Center near Tokyo Station plans to give away the honey to the first 100 customers who buy ¥3,000 or more worth of books on April 23, which is World Book Day. The store also plans to offer the harvest at a cafe inside the store.

Kajima started keeping bees in 2009 at its company dormitory in Tokyo, and this is the fourth such project.

Hat Tip: Book Patrol

America's Best Bookstores

Travel and Leisure's January 2013 issue has an article by Sarah L. Stewart on America's Best Bookstores.

If you're a bookish person, and you probably are if you're reading this, you search out bookstores whenever you travel. I've only been to 5 or so of the bookstores Sarah Stewart has chosen. Wouldn't it be fun to do a U.S. Bookstore Tour? Anyone game? Are there any other Bookstores you'd add to the list? What are some of your favorites?

"You’ll find more than a good read at these cool independent bookstores across America." 

Square Books, Oxford, MS
Prairie Lights, Iowa City
Books & Books, Coral Gables, FL
Politics and Prose, Washington, D.C.
Boulder Book Store, Boulder, CO
Bookbook, New York City, NY
Powell's Books, Portland, OR
Faulkner House Books, New Orleans, LA
The Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA
Crow Bookshop, Burlington, VT
City Lights, San Francisco, CA
Chapter One Bookstore, Ketchum, ID
Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, CA
Tattered Cover Book Store, Denver, CO

For the complete article with comments and photos, go here.

Hat Tip: ShelfAwareness

Partners & Crime to Close

More sad bookstore news. New York City's Partners & Crime has posted the following on their website:

After 18 years in the shop on Greenwich Avenue, Partners & Crime Mystery Booksellers is closing its doors on September 20th. 

We've had a great run and have enjoyed helping a generation of readers find the books they love. 

We've had a lot of fun, learned a tremendous amount, and enjoyed our time with all of you - customers, authors and publishers. 

Stop by, reminisce and check out our THANK YOU sale -- and maybe find that favorite title you really can't live without! Couldn't have done it without you! 

With our great appreciation to all , and a special thank you to Bernard Charles, our landlord, for all their support. 

All of us at Partners & Crime

20 More Beautiful Bookstores Around the World

Flavorwire always has such wonderful collections, and I love the latest post: 20 More Beautiful Bookstores from Around the World, especially because it includes one of my favorites: Baldwin's Book Barn in West Chester, PA. Love that the photo includes the resident cats. I haven't been there in awhile, but when I used to visit my parents in Philadelphia, my father and I always made a pilgrimage to this wonderful bookstore. I loved the outside and inside of the fabulous stone barn. I could spend hours wandering the warren of rooms in search of books.

To see the rest of the readers' choice 20 more beautiful bookstores, go HERE.