Seattle Mystery Bookshop

Specialties

For Mystery Lovers Who Know What They Want, And For Those Who Haven’t A Clue.

We Carry Whodunits, Detectives, Suspense, Thrillers, Spies and True Crime. As Well As New, Used, Signed, Rare and Collectible First Edition Mysteries.

History

Established in 1990.

In the Fall of 1989, while I was working at the Whodunit? mystery bookstore in Philadelphia, Aaron Elkins came in for a book signing, and talked at some length about the need for a mystery bookstore in Seattle. He could not have known that my wife, B Jo, and I had noticed that need while vacationing in Seattle, and were already considering a move to Seattle ourselves.

So in June of 1990, we took the plunge and moved to Seattle, and as I was getting ready for a July 1 opening of the shop when J.A. Jance kindly stopped in to sign our initial stock of her books. While she was here, a customer wandered in and wanted to buy a signed book. I wasn’t prepared yet with small bills and coins to make change, but Judy Jance proceeded to make change out of her own purse, thus completing Mystery Bookshop’s first sale. (As it was a Saturday and banks weren’t open, I had to go door-​to-​door to break the $ 20 bill to give Judy her change back.) and this is the short version of our humble begining.

Meet the Business Owner

J.B. D.

Business Owner

JB reads tougher, darker types of stories that are well-​written and morally complex. Like his jazz, a book’s got to swing, jump or bop to keep his interest. He believes that the Lew Archer books are the ideal when it comes to private eyes; that no one has matched Chandler’s writing for sheer beauty; that the finest contemporary private eye writers are Greenleaf, Lehane and Estleman; that only Ellroy, Burke and Lehane are truly dealing with the issue of societal and personal evil — and the most interesting murder case of all time is the JFK hit (face it — it has it all: botched forensics, political intrigue, red herrings, multiple suspects, questionable witnesses, legal maneuvering — everything required in a mystery or crime novel, all in one case, and no solution!).