The Mysterious Night at the Bookstore

That sounds like a great title for my very own mystery, although my love of reading is really no mystery at all.

I always have a book started, sometimes more than two, my nose buried deep in the pages, as I try vacuuming or folding clothes, anxiously reading the last chapter. I do not recommend trying this multi tasking, as things can go seriously wrong. (Did I just vacuum up a toy? Oh no, I put my underwear in the linen closet again.)

Last Wednesday, I was checking my Facebook feed, you never know if you’ll miss some important news, and discovered my good friend, Isabel, was looking for company at the Bay Books author night that evening at 7 p.m. It had been years since I had gone to an author event and they can be very fun and a chance to meet others that love reading.

I looked at my calendar and realized I had not one thing planned for any of the evenings that week. No book club meetings (I’m in two) and no Bunco parties (I’m in two of those, too) and definitely no dinner out with the girls.

Then I found out who the authors were and I was sold like a mouse to a lion’s den. Rhys Bowen and Penny Warner are two of my favorite local mystery authors who are entertaining as anything you’d find on TV and make me want to travel to Europe and host a catering party, although I would hope no dead bodies show up.

Bookstores have always been my favorite place to shop. I buy so many (I try to buy used books) that occasionally I have to make a trip to the donation box at the library to clear my shelf for more books.

I also love the library, as I’m sure my husband does too, since it helps our budget. The budget line for Elaine’s books gets pretty big if you read as many books as I do (sometimes two or three books a week).

These two local authors are a hoot and it was so entertaining to listen to them speak about their books, as well as their personal lives, including how they began writing. It was definitely a good decision to come to the event that night. Did I mention there was free wine, snacks and the books were all signed by the authors? Oh, and now I have two books on my stack to read. I hope it’s not bad I put them on the top of my growing stack of “to be read” books.

Rhys Bowen was the first author to speak and with her British accent and her funny antecdotes about her characters, we were all giggling. She spoke about her main characters (she has three different series she is currently writing) as if they were real people. I fully expected Molly Murphy or Lady Georgie to show up at the shop at any minute and let you know what they thought of the wine, of which I did notice Penny was guarding.

Rhys shared her writing schedule and how and where she likes to write to keep on her schedule of releasing a book every six months. (That’s a tough schedule.) She also had to actually do some research for her current book Naughty in Nice, set in the French Riviera. Rhys spent some time “researching” the area before she began writing the book... life is very hard, but I’m glad someone does the “dirty, sunny” work.

The Molly and Georgie books, set in different parts of the world, make the stories entertaining as she weaves history and local lore into the novels. Molly lives in New York and is an aspiring detective, while Georgie is a penniless heiress, trying to make her way in England during the turn of the century, when making a living was hard for unmarried women.

I love reading Penny Warner’s books for the opposite reason I love Rhys’s books. Her plots reference places I haunt and know well. Her catering stories feature parties in various locales in California, including San Francisco (Alcatraz, spooky place for sure), San Jose (the Winchester Mystery House is haunted, I swear) and now Colma, her latest book takes place in a cemetery.

Presley Parker (the main character) manages her event planning service somewhat successfully, even with things always seeming to go wrong, usually because a dead body turns up at her event. I love reading about local landmarks I am familiar with and learning a bit about our part of the country as well, although really I would never, ever attend a party in Alcatraz. Yikes!

I declared the night a success as I left the book store, clutching my two signed copies of Naughty in Nice and How to Party with a Killer Vampire.

This is usually the feeling I get after a trip to Bay Books, where I’ve been known to get lost for hours, browsing racks of cookbooks, mysteries and biographies. Bay Books is an independent bookstore, family owned and operated in San Ramon for years. Located on the corner of San Ramon Valley Blvd and Crow Canyon, I hope you get a chance to stop by and find that perfect treasure, whether it’s the latest release by your favorite author or a rare, old book. There’s something for everyone.

Off to read my collection now! Happy reading!