The Mysterious Bookshop | Literary Destinations

Small bookstores are places of intrigue and charm, with stories just waiting to be discovered luring perusers to the furthest corners of the shop. For all readers and book lovers, there is something special about bookstores, something indescribable about their familiar comforting atmospheres. In some bookstores, it seems as if you could simply disappear around a bend in the towering stacks of paperbacks, though perhaps it’s only those of us who like to imagine something lurking around every corner—intrigue, adventure—who see the possibility of mystery amongst the shelves.

Among the never-ending bustle of New York City streets, The Mysterious Bookshop invites passersby into a space dedicated to readers who like their books with more than a hint of the unknown. Opened in 1979 by a man named Otto Penzler, The Mysterious Bookshop is the oldest bookstore specializing in mystery in the United States. The bookstore was born of Penzler’s love for the mystery and crime fiction genre that began when he was a young reader. Born in Germany, Penzler and his mother moved to the Bronx when he was five years old after his father passed away. Though he had read and enjoyed mystery fiction as a young reader after his first dabble in the genre with a Sherlock Holmes story, it was only once he had graduated college, where he studied English literature, that Penzler returned to the genre. Post-college, Penzler went back to New York and began writing about sports for local newspapers. He’d had enough of the heavy literature that comes with studying English: “I wanted to keep reading, but I didn’t want to hurt my head anymore.” He turned to mysteries, forever changing his life and the genre he loved so much.

The mystery genre gained popularity in the 19th century with authors like Arthur Conan Doyle, who became incredibly popular on both sides of the pond, along with some help from the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries for young readers. The Golden Age of mystery, the 1920s and ’30s, were ruled by names like Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. Though perhaps overshadowed by classics in the minds of many readers, pulp fiction and hardboiled mysteries were also gaining popularity around the same time.

Despite well-loved and highly respected pioneers and mainstays like Christie, Conan Doyle, Poe (who wrote the first detective story), and Wilkie Collins (who wrote the first detective novel) at the foundation of the genre, mystery didn’t escape the shadow of the sensational, cheaply printed pulp fiction for decades. Quality was not a priority for magazine publishers or writers, and the general impression of pulpy mysteries stained the whole genre with the impression of mystery being lesser quality, throwaway stories meant to momentarily shock and entertain, not real literature meant to be taken seriously. Penzler saw the genre differently. Reading authors like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett opened his eyes to the quality of the work that existed within the genre: “And I suddenly realized, this is literature. It’s not just puzzles, it’s not just telling a nice story. This is every bit as serious as Fitzgerald and Hemingway and the other great 20th-century writers.” 

The bad taste the pulp fiction books of the 20s and 30s (which were named for the cheap, low-quality wood pulp used to make the paper they were printed on) left in the world of literature held strong and was still reflected in the physical quality of mystery books printed as late as the 1970s. They were still terrible—printed on bad, cheap paper and bound with bad, cheap glue and graced with cover art that did little to improve their impression on the world. That changed with Penzler. In 1975, he opened The Mysterious Press and began publishing mystery novels with the same treatment and attention to quality that books of other genres had always seen. The details mattered to Penzler, who wanted to make the mystery genre one that was not only widely enjoyed, but widely respected. He printed the novels he published on fine quality paper that would last, used sewn bindings instead of glued, and commissioned talented artists for cover art. Special editions for some novels were also offered, as well as signed editions. Over the decades, his work to elevate the genre—which wasn’t elevating the novels themselves so much as the quality with which these books were produced and the public’s reaction to the genre—made him one of the most well known names in mystery, despite not being an author. He’s had his hands in nearly every element of the genre—publishing, curating, editing, and, of course, bookselling.

Just four years after starting The Mysterious Press, Penzler opened The Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan. Though the bookstore no longer resides in its original home (a building Penzler owned because buying the building was cheaper than paying monthly rent at the time), passersby in Tribeca cannot mistake the hanging sign outside the shop, with its dagger for a T, as anything but the intriguing welcome to an even more intriguing store.

With walls lined with dark wood shelves that can only be reached by sliding rail ladders and floors covered by dark green carpeting with matching tufted green leather chairs, The Mysterious Bookshop captures something of the atmosphere associated with a classic mystery, perhaps the type of mystery featuring the comfort of a well loved study in a manor where the revelation comes as no true shock but with a familiarity that is welcome (it was the butler in the study with the letter opener). Mystery, suspense, and crime novels line those shelves, as well as the small shelves and carts that fill the floorspace. There are spaces dedicated to Sherlock Holmes and Sherlockania, and the bookstore even celebrates Arthur Conan Doyle’s birthday each year with an open house. Modern first editions, rare collectible editions, and copies of long out-of-print detective magazines also fill the bookshop, alongside a section dedicated to a subgenre of mystery written with book lovers in mind: bibliomysteries. 

With story elements including rare books, libraries, book collectors, bookstores, and more, bibliomysteries are the ideal read for those who love to see their interest in literature and collecting books reflected in stories. Each year, a new bibliomystery is written exclusively for The Mysterious Bookshop and is available only at the bookstore for some time before becoming available through other outlets. Special editions—including 100 signed hardcovers with illustrated dust jackets and 26 lettered and signed editions—are offered as well as paperbacks.

Since its opening, The Mysterious Bookshop has been nothing short of an ode to mystery, not only drawing mystery readers to its doors but offering readers the opportunity to discover new authors and begin building collections of special editions for themselves. This began with a subscription club the bookshop offered that allowed subscribers to receive signed first editions from popular mystery novels. Over the years, many book clubs have been formed including the Crime Collectors’ Club, the Hardboiled and Noir Club, the Psychological Suspense Club, and more. Members of clubs receive signed first editions every month. 

In addition to the annual bibliomysteries, The Mysterious Bookshop has also commissioned an annual Christmas mystery that is published by The Mysterious Press each year since 1993. The stories must be set at Christmastime and must include The Mysterious Bookshop itself somewhere within its story. These tales are printed in pamphlets and are given to customers with any purchase in store or online for free during the festive season. The first eighteen Christmas tales were bound together in a special collection in 2010 called Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop. 

With such an alluring atmosphere and the dedication to the mystery genre Otto Penzler has shown through his publishing house and his bookstore, it’s no wonder The Mysterious Bookshop has surpassed the simple bookstore classification of charming and set itself apart as a true beacon within the genre. Not only has the bookstore created a space for mystery lovers to gather and discover new books, but it created a vast web of readers, authors, and collectors and fostered the relationships between them, elevating the genre in the process. There’s a focus on community and quality in everything Penzler touches that has transformed the mystery genre, just as he set out to do. “Otto has been a beacon of encouragement and enthusiasm for countless writers,” as Joyce Carol Oates put it. “His presence has become legendary.”