You are cordially invited to visit us in person as well as enter your e-mail address so you can receive event updates. Boston has more than our share of well known mystery authors and many of them regularly come for book signings. Some of Boston's hometown authors include Dennis Lehane, Robert Parker, Archer Mayor, Linda Barnes, Halle Ephron, Hank Phillipi Ryan, Susan Conant, Jane Langton, Julia Spencer Fleming, and Joe Finder.

Bringing in Used books for Trade
We encourage you to bring your books in to trade for credit at the store. Please call ahead if you have large numbers of books so that Kate can put some time aside for you, but most small trades can be done as you wait. If there are books that she can’t take because they’re already in stock, she can donate them on your behalf to an organization that sells used books to raise money for kids with disabilities. The most popular genres are British, Historical, Award Winners, New England, Malice Domestic, Sherlock Holmes, Anthologies, Strong Women, and Gay & Lesbian fiction.

History of Kate’s Mystery Books
Kate’s mother had always dreamed of writing children’s books and her brother was a literary agent, so she had an interest in literature from an early age and has been a mystery fan all her life. Kate’s Mystery Books opened in May of 1983 when she retired from Social Work to pursue a longtime dream: a mystery bookstore. Once she decided to open the shop, Kate attended Beloit College in Wisconsin to learn about business, and also spent five months as an intern at Otto Penzler’s famous New York City bookstore, the Mysterious Bookshop. http://www.mysteriousbookshop.com/

"Interning there was really helpful for me," Kate says, "because I found out that I really loved sharing my knowledge and helping others." If you have a question about mystery novels or authors, Kate is the one to ask! "When I opened the store back in 1983, I loved mysteries who featured hard boiled protagonists," Kate adds, "my favorites then were Sue Grafton, Sara Paretsky, and Travis McGee. But now I’ve really expanded my interests and also love especially books from other cultures such as Elliot Patterson’s Tibetan Series, Leighton Gabe’s Brazil themed-books, and Louise Penny who writes Agatha Christie style novels that are based in Canada.

When do New Books Arrive?
Most of the new mysteries come out in the Spring and Winter (just before the holidays) and the store stocks some 8000 hardbacks and softbacks, both new and used. They also host several book signing and discussion events each month which you can find listed on the Events page. "Our customers are pretty much equal between men and women," Kate adds. Kate tries to include every new mystery in stock so that her customers can find whatever they need.

Mysteries of the Building Itself
The building itself was built in 1864 which Kate knows because she found a letter in the wall regarding the building plans from a man to his wife. There are no formal documents of the house being built in Cambridge, so there’s very little official information to go by, although it is known that the property was used as a Blacksmith during the revolution. It also housed the first editor of the Cambridge Chronicle.

Some interesting historical notes about Kate’s include the fact that not soon after opening the store, a bus ran off the road and right into the shop! "That was in 1987, so we had to do some major rebuilding after that dramatic episode," Kate says. The store has also been mentioned in several mystery books including Stephen King’s Shadows & Dreamscapes as well as in one of Carolyn Hart’s early novels.

The store is decorated with interesting and vintage items with a cat theme from Kate’s personal collection which includes more than 1300 decorative and useful objects. "My sister always kidded me that I had to open the store because I needed somewhere to display my cat collection!" Kate adds.