July 2026 Dear Booksellers and SinC Members, In this issue of the We Love Bookstores News, we are pleased to announce the June 2026 We Love Bookstores award winner is Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This issue also features an essay by author, musician, and SinC member Gerald Elias. Take advantage of these events and other opportunities at SinC this summer: - Through July 31: SinC members can join five Summer Scrawl write-ins per day on Zoom. Meet your writing goals with us!
- Through July 31: Submit your entry for the Pride Award for Emerging LGBTQIA+ Crime Writers! You don't have to be a SinC member to apply.
- Through September 30: Use the code SUMMER26 to join SinC for 50% off a Professional or Active membership!
Plus webinars: |
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Author & Musician Gerald Elias Loves Bookstores |
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Author and musician Gerald Elias Indie bookstores are the lifeblood of a community. They’re gathering places on a personal scale where folks exchange ideas or simply shmooze, discover books about worlds real and imagined, and rub elbows with visiting authors––some famous, some yet-to-be famous. Staffs are friendly, regardless of how busy they are, and personally escort you to just the book you’re searching for. Though indies share common characteristics, they’re each unique with their own distinct personalities. Here are three indie bookstores I’ve come to know well, having lived in each of their neighborhoods over the years. Paper Boat Booksellers in West Seattle, Washington, is where I live now. The store has blossomed under the family ownership of Desirae Wilkerson and Eric Judy. Their goal is “to create a cozy, inspiring space for book lovers to get together and feel more connected to their community through books, events, family reading time and so much more!” After their first few years in business, they outgrew their cramped quarters and have expanded to a spacious, more centrally located shop. They now have room dedicated to children’s books, where they have weekly readings, and space for more author events. The Bookstore in Lenox, Massachusetts, has been a Berkshire cultural icon since the 1960s, lovingly guided for over 40 years by its legendary owner, Matt Tannenbaum. Just a mile from the Boston Symphony’s famed summer music festival, Tanglewood, The Bookstore’s shelves feature an admirable selection of books on the arts in addition to a comprehensive variety of fiction and nonfiction. Matt’s wine bar is a tasty complement to browsing and author events––Matt’s double entendre is “Get lit”––with the store having hosted hundreds of local authors over the years, including such luminaries as Maureen Corrigan and William L. Shirer. Hello, Bookstore, a heartwarming film about The Bookstore, was named one of the best documentaries of 2022 by Variety magazine. The King’s English Bookshop has been a mainstay in Salt Lake City, Utah, since its opening in 1977. Anne Holman, part-owner and store manager, started working at there in 2000, and I have a feeling that she knows every book that was ever written. Meandering through their warren of enticing aisles, from cookbooks to thrillers, is always an adventure. Their full events calendar includes some of our country’s most famous authors, and I’ve had occasion to do readings on their outdoor garden patio, entertaining local friends and book lovers. Calvin Crosby, the other part owner, reminisced that the first time he set foot in The King’s English, “it was like walking into Narnia. I went through that small little door and the world opened up for me.” Amen. |
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The author’s books on display at Paper Boat Booksellers Gerald Elias has brought joy to mystery fans and concertgoers alike for decades. His dozen novels include the critically acclaimed Daniel Jacobus mystery series, set in the dark corners of the classical music world. His Western mystery, Roundtree Days, was a Killer Nashville Silver Falchion finalist. Elias’s short stories have appeared in prestigious magazines and anthologies. An all-new collection, Murder on Vacation, published by White City Press was released in 2026, featuring the crime-fighting duo, retired NYPD Police Chief Maury Gross and his perspicacious wife, Bobbi. A former Boston Symphony violinist, Elias has also been conductor of Salt Lake City’s Vivaldi by Candlelight concert series since 2004. Elias divides his time between the shores of Seattle’s Puget Sound and the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts, where he continues to expand his literary and musical horizons while enjoying the outdoors, travel, coffee, sports, cooking, and most of all, being a devoted grandpa. |
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June ’26 We Love Bookstores Winner:
Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania! |
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Staff member Cassie Kreider holding The Black Wolf by Louise Penny, Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy, Death and Dinuguan by Mia P. Manansala, and Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess We Love Bookstores winner: Pocket Books Shop, Lancaster, Pennsylvania!
From the WLB application: “Pocket Books Shop is an independent feminist bookstore committed to the idea that bookstores are places for communities to share knowledge, wisdom, resources, and connections. We stock an intentional and eclectic selection of books that we hope will help customers feel safe exploring something new. Pocket Books is a place where people find support for their ideas and interests, and a place where readers discover new things to care about. “As a queer-owned business at a time when the LGBTQ+ community locally and nationwide is under siege with an epidemic of anti-LGBTQ+ violence, rhetoric, and legislation, it is important to us to create a space for the queer community where they feel affirmed and safe. On a daily basis, parents, aunts/uncles, teens, and kiddos come into the store asking to see themselves and their family members represented on the page. Whether it’s so that they can be more supportive of the people in their lives or so that they can explore some of their own questions about their identity, one of the first things we knew before we opened the store was that we wanted to be that resource for our customers. “That we continue to have the opportunity to share writing that has made us feel seen, that has helped us make sense of the world or ourselves, and that has helped others show up more open-heartedly is one of the key contributions we hope to continue making. The idea that we are the place some people go with their most vulnerable questions and anxieties and that they know we will hold them in that keeps us showing up every day for our community.” |
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Apply for the We Love Bookstores Award 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 on the website. Write for We Love Bookstores News! 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 librarian@sistersincrime.org |
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Thank you for all you do for your communities. Sisters in Crime loves bookstores. Happy reading! Kaylyn Groves
We Love Libraries and We Love Bookstores Program Coordinator |
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Find our members' books through a searchable database on SinC's website. |
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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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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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574E Ritchie Highway, #271
Severna Park, MD 21146, United States |
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