A Death in Westwood

Although many small independent bookshops continue to do a healthy business around the United States, it’s those that are forced to close that receive the most press attention. Word of another casualty, The Mystery Bookstore on Broxton Avenue in the Westwood Village section of Los Angeles, has been making the rounds today. Owners Kirk Pasich and Pamela Woods sent the following note to authors:

We have very much enjoyed owning the Mystery Bookstore in
Los Angeles.

We’ve enjoyed your books and getting to know you, and the kindness and generosity of spirit you’ve shown us--as well as your visits and signings. Unfortunately, we, too, are going the way of too many independent bookstores. We simply cannot compete with the Amazons of the world and the impact of the economy. We love the bookstore and mysteries and the relationships we’ve formed with authors and publishers and agents and publicists. But, we do have retirement to think about (not in the near future!), and family and, well, all of those things that require money. So, it is with considerable sadness that we announce that The Mystery Bookstore, Los Angeles, will--after many years (and as apparently the last-standing bookstore in Westwood, other than UCLA’s student store)--be closing.

Our last day will be January 31, 2011. We plan to have a “good-bye” and “thanks for the memories” party that evening, starting at 6:00. If you’ll be in town, we’d love to have you join us one last time--and love to have you leave one last signature and comment in our “jailhouse register.”

Thank you again for everything and for the privilege of selling your books and hopefully broadening your reading audience. We, of course, wish you nothing but bright futures, success, and many bestsellers--and we look forward to spending many an hour of reading enjoyment with your future works. While the Mystery Bookstore might continue only in the nether regions of the Internet, your books and your support will always be close to us.

“This is so disheartening,” Southern California novelist Jeri Westerson writes in her blog. L.A. Observedl’s Mark Lacter adds, “The decision to close comes just as the Borders store in Westwood is in the process of shutting down. That leaves Westwood without any bookstore, chain or independent. I also believe it’s the last mystery bookstore in L.A.”

READ MORE: “The Mystery Bookstore Will Close,” by Carolyn Kellogg
(Los Angeles Times); “The Mystery Bookstore to Close,” by Wendy Werris (Publishers Weekly); “Losing a Legend,” by Eric Beetner; “Some Mystery Bookstore Memories,” by Lee Goldberg (A Writer’s Life); “Somebody Kick the Fat Lady Back in Her Dressing Room,” by Stephen Blackmoore (L.A. Noir); “Grim-Lit Serial Killer Strikes Again in Westwood!” by Denise Hamilton (L.A. Observed).