I was sitting at my desk at Simon & Schuster 15 years ago when Mum and Dad announced they were buying Whodunit. I had been there on occasion over the years, particularly when tracking down harder to find series in used (I’m thinking here particularly of Lauren Henderson’s excellent ‘Sam Jones’ series) and suddenly it was the epicentre of our family life. And while Michael could not have envisioned having so much to do with the store, I couldn’t have envisioned having so little to do with the store now, to my regret. Life comes at you fast though, or in the case of the last two years, very very slowly. But my work and building my own family in Toronto has taken me further away from the day to day of the bookstore than I would have liked. That’s why I continue to edit this newsletter, to stay connected with you all and the books constantly streaming into the shop. This time last year I still didn’t know when I would be able to come home again, since July I’ve been home seven times, which is much more back to normal.
Things are different now, of course, than 15 years ago. We have a beautiful new larger space. We have Laura and Aaron helping Mum and Michael. And there is still a wheelchair shaped hole in the store that all the returns in the world can’t fill. I still wonder what books Dad might yet have pressed on me and what he would have thought of things like the TV adaptation of Slow Horses (Mum, “Oh, he wouldn’t have liked it. Well. No. Maybe he would have. You never knew with him.”)
But there are still books. So many books. And not just mysteries! Mum and Michael have done an amazing job growing our offerings to respond to the needs of the neighbourhood. And that pivot means that I can start to talk about some of the non-mystery books that I’ve been loving.
An Instagram recommendation brought me to Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis and I just inhaled it on a recent work trip to Vancouver. I don’t know much about science, but I am very well-versed in academia. This was such a fun, lovely, and heartwarming book whilst taking into account actual social issues facing female academics particularly. We’ve got the trade paperback in store. She has a second book in the series, Love on the Brain, coming in August and I cannot wait.
I went to a lovely independent bookstore in Atlanta and picked up A Lady’s Formula for Love, first in Elizabeth Everett’s ‘Secret Scientists of London’ series. It’s marked as Historical Romance, but it’s as much of a mystery as some things we’ve had before and features intrepid lady scientists with some romance on the side. If you liked Darcie Wilde’s ‘Rosalind Thorne’ series, Manda Collins ‘Ladies Most Scandalous’ series, or Deanna Raybourn’s ‘Veronica Speedwell’ series, you’ll like this one. Book #2, A Perfect Equation, is in the store in TP now with a third book coming in January.
Speaking of Deanna Raybourn, I finished An Impossible Impostor. This is book #7 and there is always a point when you get on in a series where narrative arc must commit to staying the same or veer a different direction. This could be a veering? I don’t love a cliffhanger, but Veronica made some very human choices and I’m curious where those decisions will lead her. The next book is not yet scheduled, but she has a proper thriller called Killers of a Certain Age coming out in September about lady assassins in their 60s which sounds quite intriguing.
It is always a good day when there is a new Ben Aaronovitch and I loved Amongst Our Weapons just like the previous eight books. I’m thinking of a reread because I’m curious to go back and reexperience the first books. Book #10 doesn’t have a date yet, but we’ve got the whole back catalogue in new mass market as well as some of the graphic novels if you likewise want to reread or catch up what you’ve missed.
I am trying to read beyond my comfort zone a bit, so when I saw The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox on the table with a quote from Deborah Harkness, I decided that was as good a leap as any. I’m not done it yet. It’s an intense and weird book. The sort you’re not sure if you like it but you keep reading. I’d be curious if anyone else has dipped their toe in.