For those who may live in central New Jersey, I have found another excellent mystery bookstore. It's called "The Moonstone Mystery Bookstore," in Flemington, NJ, and it deals in both new and used books.
Marilyn, who runs the store, has expanded lately - the store shares premises with a quality used bookstore called "Twice Told Tales," but her mystery selection has expanded now that she has taken over a second store next door. There are a lot of good used books (plus the usual run of second-hand bestseller thrillers). Marilyn says she hopes to offer more harder-to-find mysteries - the kind of classics I try to feature here. That would include offerings from the smaller specialty publishers who have begun re-issuing many books by classic authors.
On my visit this week, I found a copy of Rex Stout's "Bad for Business," which is a non-Nero-Wolfe book featuring detective Tecumseh Fox. It's worth noting because it deals with a "gourmet appetizer" called Tingley's Tidbits. I knew that rang a bell. "Tingley's Tidbits" is at the center of the very first Wolfe novella - that is, the shorter stories, not the novels - called "Bitter End," which was later published in "Death Times Three" as well as in an earlier, privately printed collection called "Corsage." The plot, I am told, is the same - but the novel has been boiled down expertly to a much shorter, tighter tale for Wolfe, and Tecumseh Fox's role has been split between Wolfe and Archie. I'll have more to say about this later, after I've had a chance to read the novel.
In the meantime, if you're anywhere near Flemington, may I recommend stopping by The Moonstone (at 12 Bloomfield Avenue). It's a great place to browse. No website, alas - but all those books are beckoning.
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