The Mysterious Bookshop
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The Mysterious Bookshop
@mysteriousbookshop.com
25K followers 580 following 650 posts
The world's oldest mystery fiction specialty shop, located at 58 Warren Street, NYC. Home to Penzler Publishers and all its imprints, Mysterious Press, Scarlet, Crime Ink, and American Mystery Classics.

Voted USA Today's #1 Indie Bookshop 2025
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November 24, 2025 at 7:42 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
Heads up! We’ll be closing early next Wednesday and all day on Thursday, so act now to get your turkey day murder mysteries lined up.

New arrivals here: mailchi.mp/mysteriousbo...
November 21, 2025 at 6:09 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
The verdict is in: A CHRISTMAS WITNESS by @charlestodauthor.bsky.social is officially “readworthy”: www.bookbub.com/readworthy/b...
November 21, 2025 at 4:17 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
Nice pile o’ Willeford on the cataloging desk today
November 20, 2025 at 7:11 PM
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Staff picks Wednesday with store manager Ryan! Check the alt text for his thoughts on James Lee Burke
James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux series stands as one of the great achievements in American crime fiction, blending gritty mystery with the lyricism of Southern literature. The very first novel, The Neon Rain (1987), introduces Robicheaux with an unforgettable mix of action, moral complexity, and character development that sets the tone for the series. Burke’s gift is in creating a detective who is as haunted as the crimes he investigates, and the early books strike a balance between tense, cinematic action scenes and deeply human storytelling. Few crime writers can match Burke’s ability to make violence crackle on the page while also grounding it in the emotional lives of his characters. Black Cherry Blues (#3) and A Morning for Flamingos (#4) stand out as particularly excellent thrillers, with plots that surprise, add up beautifully, and keep the reader gripped until the final pages. Revisiting A Morning for Flamingos now, I’m struck by just how electric and assured it feels. The opening is shocking—tense, atmospheric, and devastating—and it sets off a chain of events that feels both plausible and relentlessly suspenseful. The novel drips with local color: lowlifes, criminals, and so-called heroes who could only exist in Louisiana, rendered with Burke’s unsparing eye and poetic prose. You can sense Burke riding the creative high of having just won the Edgar Award for Black Cherry Blues (1989), and the result is a book that hums with confidence and intensity. Having just been in New Orleans myself, I’m amazed at how vividly the city and surrounding bayou country come alive here; the atmosphere is so tangible it’s almost a character in itself. Later standouts like The Tin Roof Blowdown (#16), Robicheaux (#21), and The New Iberia Blues (#22) prove that Burke never lost that power, with character development and insight into Louisiana life that only deepened over time. Even Burke’s “worst” is still ten times better than much of today’s popular crime fiction.
November 19, 2025 at 7:17 PM
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Noirvember at American Mystery Classics: mailchi.mp/mysteriousbo...
November 19, 2025 at 5:37 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
Well folks, our tenure as USA Today’s Best Independent Bookstore of 2025 is nearing its end. Anything we should do before the title passes on to another deserving bookseller?
November 19, 2025 at 2:52 PM
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Mysterious Press cover for a 1984 issue of Publishers Weekly
November 18, 2025 at 6:30 PM
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Hand above belongs to Stephen Colbert
November 17, 2025 at 11:34 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
Catch up on James Comey’s career as a crime writer by ordering FDR DRIVE (his best mystery yet), here: www.mysteriousbookshop.com/products/jam...
November 17, 2025 at 11:34 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
The lineup at the bookshop’s 1985 Edgar Awards celebration is the stuff of legends
November 17, 2025 at 2:38 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
Here’s some very cool ephemera with extremely niche appeal: American Magazine insert advertising S. S. Van Dine’s THE SCARAB MURDER CASE
November 17, 2025 at 2:27 PM
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November 16, 2025 at 3:42 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
Here’s what’s new at the shop this week: mailchi.mp/mysteriousbo...
November 15, 2025 at 4:18 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
Question: What is your favorite Joyce Carol Oates novel?

I’m a long-time fan but I think the outstanding, mesmerizing and immersive FOX from earlier this year is one of her recent best.
November 14, 2025 at 11:29 PM
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First edition Chandler on this week’s rare list. See more here: mailchi.mp/mysteriousbo...
November 14, 2025 at 6:41 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
Funny, He Doesn’t Look Mysterious
November 13, 2025 at 9:18 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
Digging in the archive today for a piece on Otto and the shop turned up some very old mysterious photos and clippings
November 13, 2025 at 9:15 PM
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www.abebooks.com/signed-first...
November 9, 2025 at 12:53 AM
mysteriousbookshop.com
Good morning, NYC! Beautiful fall day on Warren Street today. We’ll be here 11-7 for all your murder mystery needs..
November 8, 2025 at 3:53 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
JUST ANNOUNCED:

An Evening with Writer, Director, and Producer @rianjohnson.bsky.social

“Mystery Fiction and the Knives Out movies”

The Mysterious Bookshop, 12/10, 7 PM
58 Warren St., NYC

Tickets/details here: www.mysteriousbookshop.com/products/an-...
November 7, 2025 at 7:04 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
Mark Z. Danielewski signed copies of TOM’S CROSSING
November 7, 2025 at 5:08 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
Always exciting when a David Goodis first edition comes through the shop. Absolutely stunning condition here 😍
November 7, 2025 at 3:44 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
Here’s Rian Johnson calling for a John Dickson Carr renaissance and praising Gideon Fell as “his favorite fictional detective” after last night’s screening of WAKE UP DEAD MAN.

🎥 @oliviarutigliano.bsky.social
November 3, 2025 at 5:03 PM
mysteriousbookshop.com
We had the immense pleasure of attending an advance screening of WAKE UP DEAD MAN last night, followed by a Q&A with Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig. Simply put, it’s a masterpiece: both gripping and funny, with emotional depth, atmosphere, & a perfectly clued impossible crime plot. Recommended 10/10
November 3, 2025 at 1:37 PM