Dear Booksellers and SinC Members, Happy New Year! In this issue, Jennifer Young, Vice President of the new chapter of Sisters in Crime for the UK and Europe, selects her favorite bookshop—Falmouth Bookseller in Cornwall. I am also pleased to announce the We Love Bookstores January 2022 winner of $500 is Blair Books & More in Chester, Vermont. |
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Falmouth Bookseller by Jennifer Young |
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In 2019, I moved to Falmouth, a town on the southwest coast of Britain. The main shopping street of the town runs alongside the sea. Here you find the Falmouth Bookseller, Falmouth’s independent bookshop. Started in 1995 by Ron Johns, the Bookseller is a marvel – a small, multi-tiered bookshop expertly filled with far more books than you’d think they could fit into the space. With a till area festooned with ‘decolonize your bookshelf’ stickers, they have amazing staff who can help with any book query. They have an excellent section promoting local authors, and in fact, Ron Johns founded Mabecron Books Publishing, as he felt there was a lack of books being published that had a strong Cornish identity. For us crime writers, crime novels are regular features in the windows and there’s a great section inside. And for writers (and any visitors), the floor above the Bookseller is a tearoom, wine house and gin palace, so there’s always somewhere to take your new books and read with a libation of your choice. The Bookseller carries out this clear sense of community through all aspects of the business. They offer a summer scheme for local schools, where parents and children can purchase a text they wish to see in the school’s library, and the Bookseller delivers the books to the school. Throughout lockdown, the Bookseller offered a collection service, and the window display changed regularly for those out on their daily walks. Their beautiful windows were an inspiration in a difficult time, as well as their determination to keep a local bookshop presence for locals. |
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In 2021, they were a key sponsor and partner for the new Falmouth Book Festival. The festival, which will occur yearly in October, brings to light the wealth of literary talent in Cornwall, along with guest writers from around the UK. Many books were signed inside the Bookseller! Most shopping streets in the United Kingdom have a chain bookstore, but Falmouth Bookseller is a real gem – a local, independent bookstore for the local community. |
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Jennifer Young is the Vice President of Once Upon a Crime, the new chapter of Sisters in Crime for the UK and Europe. Despite having lived in the United Kingdom for the last twenty years, she calls North Carolina home, as well as Falmouth. She writes historical thrillers. The last novel in her Cold War trilogy, A Little Switch, will be out in 2022. The trilogy, including Cold Crash and A Running Lie, is published by Cinnamon Press. In her daily life, she’s a single mom to an 8 year old and the Head of Writing and Journalism at Falmouth University. In Falmouth, she’s found not just a great bookstore, but an amazing family of writers and creatives. Website: https://www.maxfalkland.com/news/Twitter: https://twitter.com/maxfalkland |
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Would you like to write an entry for We Love Bookstores News about your favorite shop or something else? Did you put together or see an amazing display? Submit your ideas to Susan Hammerman, Library Liaison at librarian@sistersincrime.org |
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The We Love Bookstores January 2022 Winner: Blair Books & More Chester, Vermont! |
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Located in Chester’s historic Village Green District, Blair Books & More is housed in a charming Victorian building from 1848. It is the only bookstore in town, and the only one within a twenty-mile radius of Chester. Pictured above, owner Vicki Thornton mentioned that she pays attention to her customers’ reading preferences and purchases books with them in mind. On her WLB application, Vicki explained that as a former employee, she purchased the bookstore from the previous owners, who planned to close the store. She wrote, “The bookstore has been in town for 30 years and was going to close. [I bought it in the summer of 2019 to] keep it running. Then six months later, we were shut down due to Covid. I have since reopened, but we stick to a tight budget. I have something for everyone, so the focus is to bring reading, books, and what I can to the community around me. I love what I do, and every community should have a bookstore.” |
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Apply for the We Love Bookstores Award |
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To find out more about all SinC offers, including live webinars, please visit our website. Thank you for all you do for your community. Sisters in Crime loves bookstores. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2022! Susan Hammerman Library Liaison Susan Hammerman, a former rare book librarian, is the Library and Bookstore Liaison and coordinator of the We Love Libraries program. Susan writes crime and neo-noir short stories. Her stories have been published by Mystery Magazine, Dark City Mystery Magazine, Blood and Bourbon, Mondays are Murder, and Retreats From Oblivion. We Love Bookstores Coordinator Robin Agnew owned the Raven Award-winning bookstore Aunt Agatha’s Bookshop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for 26 years with her husband Jamie. Robin writes a review blog at auntagathas.com and the cozy column for Mystery Scene Magazine. WLL and WLB News Editor Gail Lukasik’s latest book, White Like Her: My Family’s Story of Race and Racial Passing, was named one of the most inspiring stories of the year by The Washington Post. She is also the author of the Leigh Girard Mystery series and the stand-alone mystery, The Lost Artist. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, such as The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, and The Georgia Review. Gail appeared in the documentary, History of Memory, which is available on Amazon Prime. Website: www.gaillukasik.com Sisters in Crime is the premier crime writing association focused on equity and inclusion in our community and in publishing. Our 4,500+ members enjoy access to tools to help them learn, grow, improve, thrive, and reinvent if necessary. They also gain a community of supportive fellow writers and readers, both peers to share the peaks and valleys of writing, and mentors to model the way forward. |
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Sisters in Crime hosts LIVE webinars each month. Webinars last 60-90 minutes depending on the topic and the audience questions! These webinars are open to all. |
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We've put our member books in a spreadsheet that we'll update every month, and send as part of this newsletter. This month's releases are on a separate worksheet. Feel free to sort by author name, book title, or author location. |
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