This post about my love of second-hand bookshops was originally written for my publisher, Boldwood Books, to mark the publication of my latest novel, the eighth Sophie Sayers Cozy Mystery, Murder in the Highlands.
Continue reading “In Praise of Second-hand Bookshops”
Tag: bookshops
The Serendipity of Secondhand Books
In my column for the September 2020 issue of the Tetbury Advertiser, I’m musing about my love of secondhand bookshops and the unexpected treasures to be found in them.
Ah, the joy of browsing through secondhand books! – one of the few things I missed about not having a summer holiday this year. Wherever we go, we always end up in vintage bookshops. They’re my main source of holiday souvenirs and more besides.
Last August in Norfolk, the proprietor of The Old Station Bookshop in Wells-next-the-Sea introduced himself to us as Harry Potter’s potter. Some years before, a film company’s properties scout had spotted the bookseller’s side-line in ceramics, nestled between the books. A few days later an order arrived, presumably delivered by owl, for two sets of matching pots in different sizes – one small version for Harry Potter and chums, the other scaled up for Hagrid the giant.
The film scout had clearly adhered to
my golden rule of second-hand bookshop shopping: never look for anything in particular.
On no account take a shopping list because you won’t find what you’re looking for. Instead, browse the shelves with an open mind, and let the books find you.
Timely Reading
The best second-hand books leap out at me with extraordinary timing. A vintage copy of Where No Mains Flow, Rebecca Warren’s witty memoir of restoring an old cottage, kept my sense of humour intact as we did up our own place.

Just after I’d joined a VE Day 75 committee, the first book I saw at the Bookbarn near Wells was a slim hardback of The White Cliffs, Alice Duer Miller’s novel in verse written in 1940. (Yes, it predates the Vera Lynn song.) I’d never heard of it, but in its heyday it sold a million copies and was even credited with bringing the Americans into the Second World War.

Just after my sixtieth birthday in January, I decided to reread Graham Greene. On my next visit to a secondhand bookshop, I picked up A Burnt-out Case. Wondering when it was published, I opened the book at the copyright page: 1960, same vintage as me. Suddenly I felt very old.

For the Love of Covers
Then there are the books I’ve acquired simply for the sake of their covers. Naturally, it was during Storm Ciara that a vintage hardback of Joseph Conrad’s Typhoon leapt out at me, its cover so atmospheric that you can practically hear the wind roar.

Best of all are the curiosities bought as talking points. Who could resist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Return of Sherlock Holmes printed entirely in Pitman shorthand? Now all I need to be able to read it is an old copy of Teach Yourself Pitman Shorthand. But I’d better not go searching, or I’ll never find one.

Sneak Preview of Developments in Wendlebury Barrow

Such is my love of secondhand books that in my Sophie Sayers Village Mysteries series, I’m planning to make Hector Munro to start a vintage section in Hector’s House, the bookshop at the heart of this series. He already has a large private collection of what he refers to as his “curiosities”, and these occasionally play a part in my stories, such as a festive short story that I wrote last year – you can read it here for free if you can bear to think about Christmas just yet!
His curiosities collection also gets a mention in my new book, The Clutch of Eggs, the next in my Tales from Wendlebury Barrow Quick Reads series, which will be out in October – more news of that to follow shortly. (You can join my Readers’ Club mailing list here if you want me to notify you of the publication date.)
Then in the eighth book in the Sophie Sayers series, one of his “curiosities” will be at the heart of a mystery that takes Sophie and Hector from Wendlebury Barrow to the Scottish Highlands. But first I must write the seventh – Murder Lost and Found, my November project, for the first draft, anyway!
Thinking Outside the Box about Bookmarks
This post was originally written for the Authors Electric collective blog.
Call me old-fashioned, but I love a good bookmark, and I have a large collection ready for action whenever I need one. Some of these have been made for me by those too young to read my books yet…
I have some that I’ve treasured since I was very young – I’ve had these two since I lived in California at the age of 8…
Some are souvenirs of bookish events I’ve enjoyed or at which I’ve spoken…
Bookmarks make great low-budget souvenirs of places that I enjoy visiting as a tourist…
So when I decided to produce some swag to promote my growing Sophie Sayers Village Mystery novels (four and counting…), a good bookmark was the obvious choice.
But as to the design, I was stumped. I love the gorgeous book cover designs produced for me by the wonderful Rachel Lawston of Lawston Design, but with three more books to come in the series, and three more spin-offs planned, if I featured the covers on my bookmarks, I’d either have to wait till I’d written the whole lot, or be stuck with bookmarks that didn’t feature the latest additions to the series.
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Beautiful book covers by Rachel Lawston of Lawston Design |
Then came a light-bulb moment from an unlikely quarter. It was when I was planning the most recent Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival, the fourth of which took place last Saturday. (Diary date for the fifth one: Saturday 27th April 2019.
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Gosh, Festival bookmarks – bet you didn’t see those coming! |
In previous years, I’d used my dad’s watercolour of our best-known local landmark to promote the Festival, but this year, when adding a new venue to our programme, Hawkesbury Primary School, I shared a photo of it on Facebook.
Next evening, I was pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful sketch that one of the Festival authors, Thomas Shepherd, had produced, entirely unsolicited.
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Hawkesbury Primary School – Copyright Thomas Shepherd |
Ever the opportunist, I immediately sought and was granted his permission to use the image (which remains his copyright) in Festival publicity, putting it on the printed programme and on the website. He also kindly offered to provide a high quality print, which I bought as a thank-you gift for the School, which they liked very much.
“Do you take commissions?” was my next question, as my plot began to hatch…
A New Episode for Sophie Sayers
As anyone who has read any of the books in the Sophie Sayers series will know, the stories take place in a pretty Cotswold village similar to the one where I’ve lived for the last twenty-seven years, and one of the focal points in each book is the village bookshop, Hector’s House, where Sophie works and falls in love with the charming, enigmatic proprietor, Hector Munro.
Thomas’s drawing gave me the idea of commissioning a picture of Hector’s House to go on a bookmark that purports to promote my fictitious bookshop – though there’s also be a line on there to promote my books more subtly than simply displaying the covers.
“Can you send me a photo of what you have in mind?” asked Thomas, which sent me scurrying around the Cotswolds looking for a building that matched my mental picture of Hector’s shop.
The closest I could find was Nailsworth Computer Shop, which needed a few architectural adjustments to make it right.
Long story short: the drawing that Thomas produced was lovelier than I could possibly have imagined, and he even added touches of his own, such as Hector’s personalised numberplate – and he’s given me strict instructions to write into the series a mysterious event taking place in the hayloft above the garage!
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Hector’s House – Copyright Thomas Shepherd |
As you can probably tell by now, I was thrilled – and enormously grateful – and immediately ordered a simple bookmark that shows it off in all its glory, leaving the flip side blank so I could also use it as a compliments slip or correspondence card.
So if you’re also a fan of bookmarks…
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A fan of bookmarks (ho ho) |
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Thomas Shepherd and Katharine E Smith at the Hawkesbury Upton Lit Fest last weekend (photo by fellow Festival author Kate Frost) |
To order a copy of Murder by the Book, visit viewbook.at/MurderByTheBook – now available in ebook and paperback around the world.
To find out more about the Sophie Sayers series, visit the series page at viewbook.at/SophieSeries – or visit my website’s fiction section.
To commission your own drawing by Thomas Shepherd, contact him via his website: www.shepline.com – and tell him that Hector Munro recommended him!
FOOTNOTE
When I was sharing this experience with some local writer friends, one of them told me that the Nailsworth Computer Shop, on which the drawing was based, used to be a bookshop – how spooky is that?!
Like to Listen to my Podcast for Stoneham Press?
A link to my latest podcast appearance, in which I’m interviewed by Tim Lewis of Stoneham Press about bookshops

I was happy to take time out earlier this week from writing my latest guidebook for the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) to be interviewed about its subject – how to sell self-published books through bookshops (bookstores to you, my North American friends!) – by Timothy Lewis of Stoneham Press for his regular podcast series, Begin Self-Publishing. In it I talk about ALLi’s #Authors4Bookstores campaign and cite examples of fellow ALLi members’ success stories, as well as sharing top tips from the other side of the bookshop counter. Continue reading “Like to Listen to my Podcast for Stoneham Press?”
My Interview on the Prestigious Creative Penn Website
A new post about my appearance on Joanna Penn’s Creative Penn website/podcast/videocast

Not 15 minutes of fame, but 45 minutes for me today, as my recent interview with the author and entrepreneur Joanna Penn goes live on her fabulous Creative Penn website.
Joanna invited me to appear on her prestigious online show to talk about the work I do with the Alliance of Independent Authors, the not-for-profit global organisation of whose advice blog I’m Commissioning Editor, and for who last year I co-authored an important book facilitating better relationships between self-published authors and the book trade: Opening Up To Indie Authors. We’re both members of ALLi and our paths often cross at events and online in the world of self-publishing.

Joanna, who was an early adopter and trailblazer of self-publishing in its modern form, is a seasoned podcaster, with a back catalogue of over 200 podcasts available on her website, but for me this was a first.
Although I really enjoyed chatting with Joanna online, I was nervous of how the final podcast would turn out, knowing it was going to run as both an audio and a video broadcast. This is not least because I am never entirely on top of the technology with my computer, hence the slightly ghostly look to me in the video, while Joanna is wreathed in a much healthier golden glow!
However, I’m really pleased with the result – and astonished at how much information we fitted in to the session, which seemed to fly by on the day. Big thanks to Joanna for her time and attention, and for this opportunity to share ALLi’s messages and my own thoughts on her prestigious platform.
VIDEO LINK
To watch the video on YouTube, click here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xofWBleDf4
PODCAST LINK
To read a summary of the key points and listen to the audio podcast, click here:
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2015/02/26/bookstores-debbie-young/
MORE ABOUT JOANNA PENN
If you’re an aspiring authorpreneur in search of a great role model, follow Joanna’s blog and read her non-fiction books here:
www.thecreativepenn.com
If you love to read supernatural thrillers, check out her fiction site here:
www.jfpenn.com