I recently traveled to the NY/NJ area to visit family and paid my first (but definitely not my last) visit to The Mysterious Bookshop, one of the oldest mystery bookstores in the country.

It was perfect, down to the comfy couch in the middle of the room. The staff may still be wiping my drool off the place. 😉 Sadly, The Mysterious Bookshop is one of the last (if not the last) mystery bookstore in Manhattan. Murder Ink, Partners in Crime, and the Black Orchid Bookshop have all closed their doors.

I did find a first edition of Ellery Queen’s Queen’s Bureau of Investigation that was within my not-yet-unlimited book budget:

I also found two other Ellery Queen novels:

I have not read any of these books so I am VERY excited to get started! I actually got hooked on Ellery Queen via the 1970s TV series that I found while channel surfing years ago (I’m thinking A&E, but don’t quote me on that). The show was created by Richard Levinson and William Link, who also created Murder, She Wrote and Columbo (only two of my favorite shows EVER). Jim Hutton (that’s Timothy Hutton’s dad, in case it ever comes up at cocktail parties or during a game of Trivial Pursuit) was exactly how I’d imagined Ellery to be. More fun (to me, and hopefully to you) trivia: David Wayne, who played Inspector Richard Queen, also appeared in the Murder, She Wrote episode, “Murder Takes the Bus.” Now, aren’t you glad you stopped by? 😉

Of course, as a cozy fan, I couldn’t pass this up: 🙂

What are you reading nowadays? I’m always on the lookout for new authors/books and would love to hear from you. If you want to just geek out with me, I’d love to hear from you too!

P.S. If you do get invited to cocktail parties where Murder, She Wrote, Ellery Queen, and similar trivia come up on a regular basis, please let me know. You are clearly my long-lost friend.