I’m back in Ohio. After
five days in Cleveland for the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, the two
days I spent in NYC sent me scooting back to the Buckeye state. Why, you say?
No, not because it’s currently ground zero for every imaginable form of
Presidential political campaigning and will be until the first Tuesday in
November, but because one year ago at the St. Louis Bouchercon Convention I
made a promise to attend a book event in Westerville, Ohio.
Say what? Or rather, “Where?”
Westerville. You
never heard of it? It’s just northeast
of Columbus—Ohio’s capital city located in the middle of the state and home to Ohio
State University. Still no bells ringing?
Well, let’s put it this way.
A lovely lady asked me if I would be willing to appear at her bookshop
there, and being the party guy that I am I said sure. Besides, it was a year away…until last
Wednesday.
That’s when I had to find my way to Foul Play Mystery
Bookshop, 27 East College Avenue, Westerville, Ohio.
I’ve been to “out of the way” book signings before, and many
times it’s just the owner, the cashier, a cousin of the cashier, and me. Plus a cat or two. But, book tours are about building
relationships and lots of interesting folks live in places many of us never
heard of. Besides, a promise is a promise.
So, I flew out of LaGuardia, landed in Columbus, and headed off in search of
Foul Play.
It was nothing at all like what I expected. Imagine magnificent fall foliage, bright blue
skies, crisp apple picking weather, well maintained two-story brick buildings
with cleanly finished wood trim, and a grassy churchyard filled with neatly
stacked pumpkins at the ready for the local Boy Scout troop’s annual weekend pumpkin
sale.
And in the midst of all this Norman Rockwell charm sits the Cross
clan’s Westerville gem of a bookstore.
Judy Cross, her brother John, and his wife, Toni, run Foul
Play today as they have for nearly twenty-five years, fifteen years at its
current location. It is the sort of
place Harry Potter would chose if he were a bookseller. A snug, brick and gabled two-story escape
from the digital world crammed with 30,000 REAL books and two special effects
cats. Special effects I say because it’s
hard to imagine they are of mortal form; more like T.S. Eliot’s Macavity in the
Broadway’s musical Cats, but on
steroids.
John and Toni Cross live above the shop, and somewhere
betwixt and between the floors lives the ghost—a “she ghost” they say.
Harry Potter, welcome to Ohio.
Foul Play is blessed with dedicated, longtime customers who
support not just their bookstore, but the authors who come to visit as well.
Early Wednesday evening two-dozen mystery junkies braved a frosty night to sit talking
about books. Many were Bouchercon
veterans with distinct opinions on who and what they’d seen and read, and
frankly, I learned far more listening to them than they possibly did from
me.
Hours later, when we moved en masse to a neighboring Italian restaurant for dinner and more
talk, I realized this was not just a group of fans who loved the genre. These were people who cared very much about
each other in camaraderie born out of murder and mayhem.
I’m sure Hannibal Lechter would be pleased.
Bottom line: If you’re an author who enjoys touring, do not
miss Foul Play. It’s set in another
time…yet only only twenty minutes from the Columbus Airport.
Now it’s on to Pittsburgh, for a family get together of a
different sort at my home town Mystery Lovers Bookshop hosted by it’s new
owner, the incredible Laurie Stephens.
Can’t wait!
Jeff—Saturday
