Dear Booksellers and SinC Members,

 

Happy New Year! In this issue, the award-winning author Patricia Skalka recommends Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee. With nearly 50,000 titles in the shop, it seems like an ideal place to spend hours browsing for the perfect book. If you don’t happen to live near Milwaukee, the bookstore has an excellent online catalog with advanced search terms. Please see Patricia’s excellent article below!

 

I am pleased to announce the January 2023 We Love Bookstores Award winner is Reasonable Books in Lafayette, California

In Milwaukee, the name Boswell is synonymous with books. At Boswell Book Company, named after the eighteenth-century British Biographer James Boswell, some 48,000 mostly new but also second-hand and bargain volumes fill the bookcases that line the periphery and dot the 8,000 square foot space. Mystery, true crime, and thrillers occupy most of the back wall but books of every stripe and interest round out the eclectic and ever-changing selections. One display highlights the store’s top 25 best sellers of the week; another features local book club selections while stacks of New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal best sellers fill two tables; and children’s books get their own section.

For writers, Boswell is a literary paradise. Posters for upcoming author events paper the windows and entrance. In-person and virtual appearances soar into the stratosphere. In the previous twelve months, the bookstore either hosted or organized nearly two hundred and fifty authors!

Daniel Goldin is the man behind the Boswell magic. He established the business fourteen years ago when the venerated Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop closed its doors. Goldin reads some 100 titles annually, seems to remember every book that’s ever passed through his hands, hosts one of the store’s four book clubs, and often can be seen chatting with customers, recommending a title or author. If he is a book lover at heart, he is also a shrewd businessman. At Boswell, customers come first. The store discounts book club selections, offers “Boswell Bargains,” and sponsors its own loyalty program called Boswell benefits.

 

You can find Boswell Book Company on the city’s East Side. Oh, and I should mention, there’s a coffee shop next door.

 

Address: 2559 N. Downer Avenue, Milwaukee WI 53211

Phone: 414-332-1181

Website: https://www.boswellbooks.com/opening-letter-0

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boswellbooks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/boswellbooks

 

 

 

Website: http://www.patriciaskalka.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/patriciaskalka?lang=en

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 bookstore display? Submit your ideas to Susan Hammerman, Library and Bookstore Liaison at librarian@sistersincrime.org 

Reasonable Books is owned and operated by Rudy and Betty Winnacker. (Betty is pictured above.) 

 

From the store came this origin and mission story:

 

“Reasonable Books opened its doors in September 2020 with a simple concept: to build a community bookstore with a bias toward enduring titles and thoughtful literature, and then to follow our customer relationships where they lead. This has turned out to include partnerships with a variety of community-based organizations as well as a vibrant relationship with local authors. Last year, we welcomed and promoted works from eighteen local authors and hosted eight in-store author events, in addition to food drives, animal adoptions and children’s school art displays. We’re looking forward to continuing these efforts and are excited about improving our children’s area and events."

 

Website: https://reasonable.online/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReasonableBooksLafayette/

 

It is easy to apply for the $500 Sisters in Crime We Love Bookstores award. Winners are selected every other month. Find details and the application here:  https://www.sistersincrime.org/page/WeLoveBookstores

 

Contact Robin Agnew (WLB@SistersinCrime.org) if you have questions about the application process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Library and Bookstore 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 appeared in Mystery Magazine, Dark City Mystery Magazine, Blood and Bourbon, Retreats From Oblivion, and the Stories (Within) anthology. Website: www.susanhammerman.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shammerman1

 

 

 

 

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. Her fifth mystery, The Darkness Surrounds Us, a Gothic, historical mystery, will be released in Fall 2023. Website: www.gaillukasik.com