Bookhavens around the world – The Mysterious Bookshop – NYC

Submitted: 18th June 2018

A fun new series starts today and quite aptly at the start of Independent Bookshop week in the UK. Now I’ve been lucky enough to visit many a bookshop across the world and so am revisiting my favourites and those not yet visited to showcase that wherever you are in the world, there’s a bookshop to visit and call home!

And in the first of the series, we’re off to New York for a visit to the oldest and greatest mystery fiction speciality store…

Welcome to The Mysterious Bookshop

The Mysterious Bookshop opened for business on Friday, April 13, 1979, on 56th Street in Manhattan, near Carnegie Hall. In 2005 we moved to our current location in Tribeca, on Warren Street. But no matter where we are located, we are the oldest & best shop specializing in crime fiction!

What kind of books do you have?

Carrying all manner of new and vintage detective, cop, espionage, suspense, and psychological thriller books along with true crime tales. Many of our books are signed by the authors. There really is something for everyone here! We have author events scheduled regularly throughout the year and make numerous recommendations daily depending on the specific request of the customer. For example, tomorrow we expect Martin Walker to sign his latest, not a scheduled event, just a drop-by signing; Friend of the Shop Joyce Carol Oates will be in soon to sign HER latest, and many more down the road.

Why is your store special?

We have, besides the owner of the shop, five full time employees and one part timer. We are located on the ground floor of a building four blocks north of the World Trade Center and two blocks west of City Hall. One giant rectangle comprises our sales floor and we have office space downstairs. There is a real down home feel in our shop, from the variety of music we usually have playing, to the rolling ladders used to access the upper shelves, to the much-too-comfy sofa in the center of the shop, to our personable staff, always ready to put good books in the hands of readers of distinction and taste.

Mike enthralled in an Ian Rankin book (c) Mysterious Mike

Favourite part of the store?

The books! Personally I prefer vintage writers and titles for the most part; I’m particularly fond of the Dell mapback series and similar vintage mass market paperbacks, but really enjoy the stuff from yesteryear in general. Of course everyone has their own tastes and preferences so it depends on who you ask. Every now and then one of my colleagues pushes a book in my hand and says ‘you have to read this,’ and so I do, and every single time it’s really been a corker! This is what I aim at whenever I give a recommendation, although I usually get carried away and mention thirty titles and thoroughly confuse the customer!

Any Mysterious mascots?

Just as in sports, mascots are lame. Personally I would like to have a store cat, but many people are allergic nowadays, plus we are closed Sundays so any store pal would be neglected one day a week and we can’t have that!

Literary festivals

There are several book fairs in and around NYC each year; some of the most interesting and exciting are the antiquarian fairs, most notably in April which always showcase extraordinary collectibles.

Funny stories?

I can’t think of anything laugh out loud funny at the moment besides the usual, ‘I’m looking for a book, it has pages, and the outside is blue–do you have that?’ we get lots of visitors to NYC from all around the world, many of which have heard about us from word of mouth or online and make it a point to visit. We have had many film projects and television shows shoot here, and number several well known people among our regulars.

Thanks Mike for a very memorable mysterious tour!

If you can’t get to New York and its mysterious bookstore right now, never fear, as there is social media ways of reaching out to this fine book haven. Mike is always availible for as many book recommendations as you can handle. Now THAT is the sign of a top bookwizard!