Bookstores: past present and future!

 

HALLIE EPHRON: If you open my kitchen cabinet in search of a coffee mug, here’s what you’ll find, front and center.

Every time I see that mug from Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont, PA, I think of Mary Alice Gorman and the wonderful bookstore she and her husband Richard Gorman made into a required pilgrimage for mystery writers. They hosted a ton of author events and local Sisters in Crime chapter meetings. And an annual event that drew scores of mystery authors on their way home from Malice Domestic and hundreds of crime fiction shoppers.

Watching Mary Alice hand sell books was like watching a virtuoso violinist. She knew just which strings to pluck. Her customers came in empty-handed and left with armloads of books.

What booksellers have a special place in your heart, and do you have any keepsakes from your visits that you treasure?

RHYS BOWEN: I have memories and memorabilia from so many bookstores. When I first started writing mysteries John had just retired and we drove coast to coast several times visiting bookstores along the way.

I have particularly fond memories of Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Mary Alice and Richard and their wonderful festivals of mystery. As a new mystery author I sat at my table at my first festival and saw a long line waiting to get books signed by me. Wow! Amazing!

I remember so many dear friends and stores that are no more. M is for Mystery in San Mateo and dear Ed Kaufman, Robin and Aunt Agatha’s, the store in Thousand Oaks plus several others around LA, Kate’s in Cambridge, Joanne Sinchuk’s Murder on the Beach in Del Ray Beach Florida. 

I have a mug from Kansas City, a little box from Orange County, and I remember the store in Denver where they made a cake to look like the book cover. What a loss these little stores are to our community–they’d hand sell newcomers like me, make us welcome, put on spreads, have a friendly cat…

Thank heavens a few favorites have managed to thrive: Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale is always a favorite, as is Murder by the Book in Houston. Most of the other stores I visit on Book Tour these days are big indies, not specialty mystery bookstores, but I miss those cozy nooks and store pets. 

HALLIE: Reminds me of the potbellied pig who hung out in the mystery bookstore in Tucson. She was a heavy-breather with a gristled snout. 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I’ve been to every one of those bookstores you mention, Rhys, and their loss is keenly felt. We do have fewer mystery-only bookstores around than when I debuted as an author 20 year ago.

On the plus side, there are actually more independent bookstores opening, as more and more readers come to value what good booksellers can do for your TBR pile and for the community! Over 300 have opened in the past few years, according to the New York Times, and the average bookseller is getting younger and younger - good news, because hauling those boxes from the publishers around isn’t easy.

In that vein, I’d nominate PRINT: A Bookstore, right here in Portland, ME, as my special place.

Founded just six years ago by veteran booksellers Josh Christie and Emily Russo (yep, her dad is Richard Russo,) PRINT has made a big splash in our already great indy bookstore scene. I’ve taken part in several great events with them, including interviewing Michael Koryta and taking part in a lively Sisters in Crime panel presentation. 

Josh and Emily were one of the first booksellers to pivot when everything shut down in early 2020 - we went from canceling my live appearance to streaming to several hundred viewers in a matter of ten days. I don’t have any merch from them, but I do have a stack of books… 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: The very first such a store I remember visiting, with great– well I almost said joy, but it was really more like terror–was Kate‘s Mystery Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Remember, Hallie? 

In a ramshackle Victorian house, with a crazy front lawn and all kinds of decorations on the porch, and then you would open the door to this bookstore and there were stacks and piles and overflowing tables of mystery novels in some order that no one could ever figure out, no one but Kate Mattes at least, with the entire store ringed with a all kinds of ceramic cats. 

Cats everywhere. It was nutty and wacky, and Kate never got a computer or a cash register, she would just write out a sales slips by hand and make change from an envelope in a drawer, if I remember. Buying a book from her was incredible, absolutely everyone in mystery world came to Kate’s, but I also remember how long it took to buy a book! The paperwork was so complicated!

She told lots of stories about when she opened the store, most memorably, Robert B. Parker helping her build the bookshelves. Her Christmas parties were famous, everyone came. She’s long gone, (not too long, I guess), but still such a presence in mystery world. (And talk about a gift from her–she hooked me up with RBP, who gave me a wonderful blurb for Drive Time, on his personal stationery, which I have framed in my office.

And of course the incredible Aunt Agatha‘s in Ann Arbor Michigan. Where Robin Agnew, queen of the universe, knew every single mystery novel and every single mystery author, and talk about a virtuoso, could match every reader with the perfect book. 

When their store closed, after 25 years, Robin sent me a framed note from Mary Higgins Clark note that she’d sent as congratulations. I look at that every day.

Two more? Continuing the standing ovation for the indomitable and brilliant Barbara Peters at Poisoned Pen, what would we do without her and her amazing team? And I point you to Page 158 Books in Wake Forest North Carolina, where the Dave and Sue Lucey have taken care of me gorgeously since the beginning of the pandemic. I cannot wait to go visit in person.

JENN McKINLAY: Since I live in the same neighborhood as the Poisoned Pen Bookstore, it’s small wonder that I have a longstanding relationship with Barbara Peters, the owner, and her employees - Patrick, PK, Susan, Tracy, and John - to name just a few. 

Barbara and her crew aren’t just booksellers to me. They’re friends and mentors and their shop is a sanctuary when the writing gets hard and I need to get out of the house and visit with book people. 

Also, Barbara and her husband Rob have taken to Tik Tok, which impresses to no end and is forcing me to raise my game. LOL. 

Another favorite is Murder by the Book in Houston. My friend Dean James (Miranda James) worked there the first time I signed in Houston and it’s become a favorite stop of mine ever since. And I can’t forget Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego. I love this quirky little shop and the staff who work there are the nicest booksellers in the biz.

And here’s some happy news from the NYT: “But there has also been a sharp and sustained rise in new bookshops, and more than 200 additional stores are preparing to open in the next year or two, Ms. Hill said.”

Read more here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/10/books/bookstores-diversity-pandemic.html

YAY!!!

LUCY BURDETTE: Can you believe I’ve never been to either Poisoned Pen or Murder by the Book? Maybe this year… I adore indie bookstores and I feel so lucky to have them in both my hometowns.

RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison CT has been an amazing supporter, starting with my very first book launch when SIX STROKES UNDER came out in 2002! I love having book parties there–I always bring cake. And I’ve spent a truckload of $$ buying books in that gorgeous space. 

In Key West, we have two wonderful but very different indie bookstores. 

Suzanne Orchard runs Keywest Island Bookshop, a little shop on Fleming St with tons of local, used, and some new books. She handsells the Key West mysteries like nobody’s business. 

Books and Books on Eaton Street was founded by George Cooper and Judy Blume. It’s a gorgeous little store with a great collection and sometimes the bookseller is Judy herself!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I'm not much of a keepsake keeper, but if I were, I'd have mugs from Murder By the Book in Houston, and from The Poisoned Pen. I've been to many wonderful bookstores, but these two began as, and remain, my favorites. I've never missed a book launch signing at either store, and they were so kind and supportive when I was a newbie author and not sure of the ropes. Barbara Peters at the Pen is a force of nature in the mystery world!

HALLIE: Bookstores are the glue that connects authors to readers, and we've all been privileged to be invited into their worlds. 

What are the bookstores that have connected you with the writers of the books you love?

Lamenting Aunt Agatha's.

RHYS BOWEN: This year seems to have been full of bad news. Sue Grafton died. My brilliant audio reader, Katherine Kellgren died. And that's steering clear of political horrors! But the latest came this week when Aunt Agatha's Bookstore in Ann Arbor Michigan announced it was closing its doors.

This was one of my favorite stores: Jamie and Robin were always so welcoming and over the years we developed a relationship that extended beyond just professional. Robin's family owns the fabulous hotel on Mackinaw Island and two years ago they invited me to do an event at the library there, staying at the hotel. What heaven.

Add caption

But I always enjoyed just as much the funky little bookstore in the heart of Ann Arbor. The first time I visited I had a crowd of exactly one (plus Robin who sat with us). The last time they had to  move the event to the library because there wasn't enough room at the store. And that was largely because booksellers like Robin and Jamie hand sold my books and introduced them to customers.

(Here we are several years ago at a big author event they hosted. Note that Julia and I seem to be having fun while Steve Hamilton looks bemused and Vicki Delaney looks as if she wished she wasn't sharing a table with us!)

When my first mystery came out in 1997 (with a print run of 2500) there was zero publisher backing. I was on the last page of the catalog--actually only half the last page. No ads. Nothing. I was clueless about where to start. But I joined MWA and Sisters in Crime and fellow members suggested bookstores to me. Try Bruce at San Francisco Mystery Bookstore, they said. And Ed Kaufman at M is for Mystery wrote to invite me. As did Crown books. And Maurice Redbourn. Then Janet Dawson and Penny Warner invited me to join them on a tour of Southern California. We visited 7 mystery bookstores in the LA area. And I sold through that first printing!

For my next book my husband and I drove all the way across the country, visiting any bookstore that would have me. And do you know what? There was a mystery bookstore within driving distance every day! And they all made me welcome even though my audiences were pathetic at that time.

I consider myself really lucky that I had that opportunity. Alas I can count the mystery bookstores in the US on my fingers these days. I know online shopping is partly to blame but the first onslaught came from the big chain stores, and from greedy landlords who kept raising the rent. How I miss them: I miss the quirky pets--lots of cats, but dogs, birds even a pig.

Some still flourish: Otto's Mysterious Bookshop in New York, Barbara Peter's Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Murder by the Book in Houston, Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego and a few more beloved stores. But so many have gone: 3 in New York City, Kates from Cambridge, 2 from Denver, 6 from LA.

I miss them all. Robin and Jamie, thank you for everything you have done for me and other mystery writers  . We are forever in your debt. I hope you'll have a lovely retirement looking at the sailboats from Mackinaw Island.

So, dear friends, do share your bookstore memories. Which stores do you miss the most?

Aunt Agatha's Robin Agnew — and a Day in the Life of the Kerrytown BookFest

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Today I'm delighted to introduce Robin Agnew and Jamie Agnew of Aunt Agatha's New and Used Mysteries, Detection, & True Crime, an absolutely wonderful bookshop (not to mention the 2014 Raven Award winner) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was privileged to meet Robin and Jamie at the KerryTown Book Festival this past fall, an annual gathering of book aficionados, which Robin plans and runs in her role as president.

As an author speaking on a panel and signing with fellow authors and meeting readers, everything at the KerryTown Book Fest was absolutely perfect. Only Robin and Jamie know what really goes on behind the scenes to make such a large and complex (not to mention fun!) event run so smoothly, and I thought it would be interesting to peek behind the scenes with Robin — take it away!

ROBIN AGNEW: Along with running Aunt Agatha’s, I have been involved in running and planning Ann Arbor’s annual Kerrytown BookFest, since 2004.  Through the years of the bookfest I have served as “author wrangler” (my original job), secretary, operations chair, vice president, and I have now served as president for the past couple of years.  

As we are a small, hands on board, and we share duties including obtaining permits from the city, renting equipment, finding a hotel with available rooms during busy football weekends, PR, fundraising, grant writing, finding volunteers, signing up 100 or so vendors each year, poster commission and distribution, programming, set up, tear down, and making sure all parties involved are pleased.  Authors, exhibitors, bookfest visitors - we want everyone to have a great day.

Luckily, a capable board means that while I am part of the discussion of all these things I am not part of the nuts and bolts for all of them.  My central focus is on author programming.  Each year I start with a “seed” – an author I’ve spoken with or met, often at a book signing at the store or at a conference – and from there, the planning begins to grow organically.

Last year my “seed” author was Simone St. James.  I had moderated a panel with her at Bouchercon and was delighted by her.   We actually had two seeds last year, as the year before we had hoped to book Chris Raschka, a two time Caldecott medalist with ties to Ann Arbor, and he was unavailable.  In 2014 he was available so our marquis panel became a panel with 3 Caldecott medalists - Chris, Brian Floca, who won in 2014; and Erin Stead and her husband, Philip.  Erin won in 2011.  

Moderating is tricky, as tricky, I’ve discovered, as the rest of the panel.  For this one I turned to Debbie Diesen, author of the “Pout Pout Fish” books, and asked her.  She’s presented at many of our bookfests in our Children’s area, she’s adorable, and she said yes right away.

And what of Simone’s panel?  I asked her at Bouchercon and she agreed, and then it took a couple more months to hear back as she figured out her schedule.  Meanwhile, I went to the board and said I *really* wanted Susan Elia MacNeal.

Who else?  I asked Tasha Alexander, who lives in Chicago, is beloved by readers, and who has been to he bookfest and the store many times.   She said yes.  And then I read The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig and loved it so much I asked her.  She said yes in an eyeblink and was possibly the lowest maintenance author of the entire day.  

Who to moderate?  I wanted Anna Lee Huber, who lives close-ish, but knew she had a baby on the way.  To my surprise she also agreed and one of the joys of bookfest last year was that many of these women, while fans of each other’s, hadn’t met.  

OK, easy panel out of the way.  What next?  I often do a  

“guy” and a “girl” panel as far as mysteries go (sexist but true) and  the basis for the guy panel was Michael Harvey.  He’d been to the store  and I was so entranced by him I asked him on the spot.  He agreed and I built the panel around him, which eventually included Edgar winner Theresa Schwegel; newbie and local author Elizabeth Heiter, and frequent bookfest speaker and buddy, Loren D. Estleman.  I asked an old friend and mystery fan to moderate and he was on board immediately.  He couldn’t believe all those writers were going to be in the same place, and I have to say, that’s my programming goal in general. So mystery panels set.  

What else?  We often use the Michigan Notable Book Winners list as a template and one of the first people off the list all of us wanted was Matt Phelan, whose book, Bluffton. was a Notable winner.  We built a graphic novel panel around him, eventually including Jim Ottaviani, Dave Coverly of Speedbump fame (Dave and Jim are both local and had been with us before). At the last minute I substituted in Matt Faulkner when another author had to cancel.  As it happened, I had heard Matt on NPR talking about his book Gaijin: American Prisoner of War, and had dreamed of booking him.

Moderator? Knowing he was a comic book geek,  I asked local NPR talent Michael Jewett. Luckily I know his wife, a former bookseller and a mystery fan - she made him agree, and he was fabulous.

The rest of the festival - ten panels, a children’s area, and a book arts specific area - are programmed in a similar way, using the expertise and connections of my fellow programmers; Lynn Riehl, an events coordinator at a large independent bookstore in town (Nicola’s) and my buddy. PR maven Bill Castanier, who has connections all over the state.

Each of us get wild hairs, are approached by authors we know with ARCs, run into people at parties or conferences, and before we know it we’ve programmed the day.  I was happy to include newbie mystery author Sam Thomas as a moderator on an historical biography panel, for example.  Another example: having drinks with Tim O’Mara after the Edgars in May, he suggested being a “writer in residence” at the store for the day.  We transferred his idea to the bookfest and Tim was booked all day talking to would be writers.

The day of the festival (this coming year September 13, 2015) we welcome about 4,000 visitors with our panels being vigorously attended.  For me the day passes in a flash as I run around trying to make sure everything goes smoothly, along with selling books.  Thankfully we divide bookselling duties - several stores share out the panels.

Then I go home exhausted at the end of the day and somehow, start to think about the next year.  This coming year my “seed” is Denise Swanson.  Tune in and see who joins her!

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Robin, thank you so much for giving us a look backstage! What else can you tell us about the 2015 KerryTown Book Fest? 

Readers, have you ever been to a book festival? Are you surprised by how much work goes on behind the scenes to pull such a complicated event off? Please let us know in the comments!

Aunt Agatha’s

213 South Fourth Avenue

Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

734.769.1114

Hours of Business:

Monday - Thursday 11-7

Friday & Saturday 11-8

Sunday 12-5

store@auntagathas.com

Remember bookstores??

ROSEMARY HARRIS: I certainly remember bookstores. I was a Waldenbooks bookstore manager in Lawrenceville, NJ and then I was transferred to manage the "big" bookstore in Brooklyn, NY. At the time it was the highest volume store in the chain. It was one of my favorite jobs ever and I often refer to my five or six years managing bookstores as my version of an MBA - I learned so much. In addition to learning about book marketing - bomb scares, shoplifters, employees, um, making out in the stock room - I learned how to handle a lot!

But now that I'm on the other side of the book gondola, so to speak, - where have I been in the last nine days? A library in Greenwood, IN, a mystery conference in St. Louis, a street book festival in Brooklyn, NY, a casino in Uncasville, CT and a five state fair in West Springfield, MA. Nary a bookstore in sight. It isn't that I don't still love them and wouldn't go in a heartbeat if invited, but as bookstores disappear non-bookstore venues are becoming my bread and butter. I don't mind sharing space with gamblers and people selling chamois mops (what ARE those things and why do people need so many?) if it means that I can meet readers and chat them up.

Maybe the fact that I used to be in Special Markets Sales when I was in the video business prepared me for this. I sold adventure travel videos to sporting goods stores, fine arts videos to opera houses, puppy videos to pet stores! Never sold to video stores.

A very sweet woman actually said to me today (at the Big E) "wow, how often do you get to meet a real writer?" And a father said to his three daughters "this woman wrote all these books!" Forget the ego boost - wait a minute, let's not forget the ego boost, there are far too few of those in life - when people see your books and hear a few words about them they BUY them.

Yes, I know I could "sell millions online for 99 cents" in my jammies, from the comfort of my living room. But for how many people is that really working ? Four? Five? One hundred? And how many thousands more are deposting $10 checks from Amazon because no one knows they exist.

Of course, I'd like to do it all - be an online hit, see my books stacked a mile high at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square and have them fighting to get into Aunt Agatha's in Ann Arbor to hear me speak. But tomorrow, I'm heading back to The Big E where I'll stand in the Connecticut bldg. I'll bring my little "show in a basket" - bookmarks, signs, badge holder, biz cards, etc. and talk to hundreds of strangers, many of them carrying chamois mops.

What's the strangest place you've ever sold books or seen books being sold?