The Story Of… The Mysterious Bookshop in New York (Part II)

Exclusive Interview by Karen Beishuizen

In 1975 Otto Penzler bought a building behind Carnegie Hall with a down payment of $2,000 and opened a bookshop at the ground level and called it The Mysterious Bookshop. His shop owns the largest collection of Sherlock Holmes books and prints limited editions of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series. His love for books started at a young age and has never stopped. Being a devoted fan of mystery books, his favorite writers are Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Wilkie Collins and Michael Connelly. If you are in New York and you love books, and especially mysteries, step inside Otto’s bookshop: You will feel like a kid in a candy store!

KB: Tell me how the Mysterious Book Shop was founded.

The Mysterious Press, the publishing house I began in 1975, was having too much success for me to continue being a one-man company. I lived in an apartment in the Bronx so thought I needed to move to Manhattan so I could get some help. I found that I couldn’t afford the rents so, with a partner, bought a building in Midtown Manhattan, right behind Carnegie Hall. It sounds crazy, but it was a bad time in New York in 1978, so my down payment was $2,000. Once my partner and I owned the building, I had a lot of space and thought it would be fun to open a bookshop at the ground level with a spiral staircase to the second floor.

KB: Did you always love books?

Yes, always. My mother read to my brother and me, and I learned to read at an early age, and read pretty much all the time as a child, as a teenager, and as a young adult—unless I was playing sports, which I did until it got dark and then I read until bedtime.

KB: The store also has a publishing department?

Well, the publishing came first. The store is 44 years old; the press is 48. I spend more time as a publisher now, though I still handle all the rare books in the store, as well as the very large Sherlock Holmes section.

KB: Do you have a favorite mystery or crime author?

I have many; it’s impossible to pick one. Of famous writers, I love Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Wilkie Collins (The Woman in White is my favourite novel of all time), Conan Doyle. Of contemporary writers, I am a devoted fan of Michael Connelly, Thomas H. Cook, Thomas Perry, James Crumley (no longer with us, I’m sorry to say). Each of these writers had to tell good, compelling stories, but also needed to create memorable characters with a prose style that approached poetry. I want to read an author who tells me something in a way I’ve never heard before.

KB: Your store owns the largest collection about Sherlock Holmes. Tell me about your fascination with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

It’s a question asked of all Sherlock Holmes aficionados. The juxtaposition of a rational being who also is eccentric is fascinating, and there is a great comfort in going to 221B Baker Street, the fire going, and two friends having a drink, talking, and then being interrupted by a visitor with a fascinating problem to be solved.

KB: I read you are printing a limited edition of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series. Tell me about it.

Lee Child, one of the great gentlemen in the world of letters, is a friend and I am a great fan of him and Jack Reacher. We often produce beautiful, limited editions of new books by authors for collectors who want something more special than just the new book. But these books have such a lasting appeal that thought I’d like to honour them with marbled boards and leather bindings. They’re very limited, only 100 numbered copies and 26 lettered copies. Lee wrote a new introduction to each book and signed it. We’ve done the first 18 books and will eventually do them all.

KB: How did your store survive the Covid pandemic? A lot of places went out of business.

I know a lot of stores died because of the pandemic, including some of my favorite restaurants. We continued to publish, and I continued to edit anthologies, and the money went into the store. When it ended, a lot of people were happy to get back into a real store, with people who could give them good recommendations, where they could handle books again instead of relying on algorithms.

KB: You have an obvious love for your store. Can you explain it to me?

Can anyone explain love? I created it. I didn’t know anything about how to run a store but liked the idea because I loved books. I don’t have children, so the bookshop is one baby, and my
publishing house is another. I’m proud of them.

KB: Why should people visit your store?

Anyone who likes books will be comfortable there because how can you not be if you’re surrounded by books? But mystery fans will be especially happy there, like a kid in a candy store, because there are so many books to choose from (we have more than 20,000 titles) and with a staff who can give guidance. You tell us two books you’ve liked, and we can recommend ten similar ones.

Check out the bookshop’s website: HERE
Find it on Twitter: HERE
Find it on Instagram: HERE

Read Part I  The Story Of… H. C. Andersen Museum in Odense, Denmark  

 

Click Here to Order Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime By “Bad” Brad Berkwitt