End of an Era

Today my guest is Warren Bull, author, editor, reviewer, and blogger (check out writers who kill)--all in all, a very talented man!

My favorite mystery bookstore, I Love a Mystery, in Mission, Kansas is closing in mid August.  In some ways I’m glad that I will be in New Zealand when it finally happens.  In other ways I am sad not to be able to squeeze in every possible moment before the store closes.  I have similar mixed emotions about attending funerals.

For eleven years I Love a Mystery’s motto was, “It’s not just a bookstore – it’s an experience.”  The store and wonderful staff lived up to the motto with Holiday parties, especially Christmas, author signings and Border Crimes chapter of the Sisters in Crime meetings. 

You could sit in a comfortable chair, under the steely gaze of a raven and sample a new author or relax with the works of an old friend.  It always felt like Sherlock Holmes had just stepped out to smoke his pipe whilst considering the latest reports from the Baker Street Irregulars.  Perhaps the older woman chatting up Becci was really Miss Jane Marple talking about how the cook’s daughter reminded her of something related to her current inquiries. Oh, what was it now?

The Maltese Falcon, sitting smugly on a shelf above a skeleton and a stained dagger waited for the ponderous footsteps of the fat man, and the silhouette behind the door of Spade and Archer seemed ready to do, “What a man’s gotta’ do.”

The shelves held the best of contemporary mystery writing from all over the world. The store was frequently a home away from home for mystery writers as well as readers. 

Thanks to the departed but still loved and never forgotten Karen Spengler, and to Becci West.  Thanks to the wonderful staff who figured out what books I was talking about from the mangled titles and tiny clues I was able to provide.  I will miss you all.

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Warren Bull is the author of more than thirty short stories as well as memoirs, essays a novel, ABRAHAM LINCOLN FOR THE DEFENSE, PublishAmerica, 2003, Smashwords, 2010  and a short story collection, MURDER MANHATTAN STYLE, Ninth Month Publishing, Co, 2010. He has published in STRANGE MYSTERIES 2, Whortleberry Press, 2010, STRANGE MYSTERIES, Whortleberry Press, 2009, MEDIUM OF MURDER, Red Coyote Press, 2008, MANHATTAN MYSTERIES, KS Publishing, Inc., 2005, Great Mystery and Suspense magazine, Mouth Full of Bullets, The Back Alley, Sniplits.com, and Mysterical-E among others.  He was a psychologist for thirty years. He comes from a functional family and is a fierce competitor at trivia games.