My Love of Library Sales by Ellen Byron #GIVEAWAY

LUCY BURDETTE: You know how devoted I am to the Friends of the Key West Library--in fact it turns out our first book sale is this weekend. It also turns out that our friend Ellen Byron feels the same way about her California library. I'll let her tell it...

ELLEN BYRON: On the last Saturday of every month, this sign goes up outside my local library branch in Studio City, and I do a happy dance.

When you’re a passionate reader like I am and a collector of a specific genre— in my case, the vintage cookbooks that inspired my Vintage Cookbook Mystery series—there are few things in life more thrilling than the vast array of affordably priced books available at a Friends of the Library book sales. I make sure to hit the ones hosted at New Orleans’ Milton Latter Library whenever I’m in town. And every month I’m available, I show up to the sale at our local branch of the famed Los Angeles Public Library system.

As a regular patron, I’ve established a pattern. First, of course, I check out the Cookbooks section, where I’ve scored some incredible finds, all for the incredibly low price of a dollar for hardcovers and fifty cents for paperbacks.

My favorite find is a 1928 edition of Photoplay’s Cook Book [sic] of the Stars. Film fans know that 1928 was a pivotal year in the industry, marking the transition from silent movies to talkies. This is reflected in the cookbook itself, featuring recipes from silent stars to those who survived the seminal change like Greta Garbo and Gary Cooper. (BTW, the odds of the stars actually supplying the recipe are minimal. I’m sure they were “cooked” up by studio publicists.)

Once I’ve thoroughly perused cookbooks, I move on to the mysteries section, which the Friends of the Studio City Library separate into two categories, Paperback Mysteries and Mysteries and Suspense, which are hardcovers. I love searching for my friends’ books, which I photograph, buy, and mail to them.

After working my way through the mysteries, I travel to the travel section (see what I did there, wink wink?), after which I scope out Crafts. I’m an avid needlepointer and have found great needlework books at the sale. I also check out Nonfiction and the special section where items are incrementally more expensive. 

Here’s my haul from this past Saturday’s sale: A 1949 cookbook I’ll keep for myself, plus two or three to use as giveaways (I’m on the fence about the Paris Café cookbook. It’s so cool!) There’s a hiking guide I picked up in the Travel section and a collection of walks in Paris from the Special Section that set me back a whopping two dollars.

Over the years, I’ve befriended many of the volunteers, making the monthly event even more special. I’m incredibly grateful to them for their commitment to the sale and to our library branch. So grateful, in fact, that this is the dedication in Crescent City Christmas Chaos, my fourth Vintage Cookbook Mystery:

Readers, do you have a Friends of the Library sale in your neighborhood and do you occasionally pay it a visit? Comment to be entered in a giveaway for a Kindle edition of Crescent City Christmas Chaos.

SYNOPSIS: 

Have yourself a merry little . . . murder?

Ricki James-Diaz gets the best present ever when her parents arrive in New Orleans for the holidays. Not only is it a chance to catch up, it’s also an opportunity to jog her mom Josepha’s memory about Ricki’s adoption. The details have always been shrouded in mystery. And Ricki understands why when she learns her mother was blackmailed for years, simply for not wanting to lose her precious daughter.

But digging into the past soon lands the James-Diaz clan in water hotter than a big pot of gumbo! When the woman who extorted Ricki’s mom is found dead at her home, Josepha becomes the primary suspect. Now Ricki has another murder to solve, and tracking down a killer in Crescent City is going to take a miracle.

Luckily, ‘tis the season! And Ricki has all the staff at the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum on hand to help. Can she prove her mother’s innocence and have the case wrapped up in time for Christmas? 

ORDER NOW:

Crescent City Christmas Chaos a book by Ellen Byron - Bookshop.org US

BIO:

Ellen is a bestselling author, Anthony nominee, and recipient of multiple Agatha and Lefty awards for her Cajun Country Mysteries, Vintage Cookbook Mysteries,  Catering Hall Mysteries (as Maria DiRico), and Golden Motel Mysteries. She is also an award-winning playwright and non-award-winning writer of TV hits like Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly OddParents, but considers her most impressive achievement working as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart. Visit her at http://www.ellenbyron.com/.