Book of the Week

Howdy Book Lovers!

Beginning today I will begin a new Book-of-the-Week feature. Nothing pedestrian here but rather something reasonably interesting that you do not see every day even in the collectable book world let alone the mass-market.

It may be nothing more than an interesting title or dust-jacket art, but more than likely it will be the genre, the quality of the work itself, the author, or some other aspect of the book. Now, I said earlier, "reasonably interesting", (...and I say it a lot), because there is nothing here that will cure the common cold or give insperation to the reader to become an author. But just hopefully interesting enough to at least garner a second look. And of course, it will be a book that is currently available for purchase. (Naturally)

To get things going, I figured I would start off with a bang and talk about a book that has all sorts of intersting aspects., Max Allan Collins' lovingly titled, "Kill Your Darlings".

The title of course is a head turner for this 3rd installment of Collin's Mallory; the vietnam vet-cum-Mystery Writer- cum-crime fighter. But for Max Allan Collins, (the immensely prolific mystery/crime author, who may best be know for "The Road to Perdition", made into the Academy Award winning film with Tom Hanks), it was another example of a very interesting, (to me), sub-genre called Bibliomysteries.

Now, if you are an avid mystery reader/collector you will know the term for sure but I am amazed when talking to customers at bookfairs how many are not familiar that the category even existed. The most general definition is simply a subset of mystery novels focusing on books as the main theme. However, this broadens to include plots that include author's, libraries, rare books, rare book dealers, ... you get the idea.

So if you collect mystery books, not just read them, then you have a huge world of great reading ahead of you.

The title and the genre of this book are both reasonably interesting inmy opinion but the reason why you may want to actually buy THIS copy is its association with not just the patriarch of the Bibliomystery sub-sunre but perhaps one of the most important men for the entire Mystery genre over the last 30 years or so. That would be the VERY interesting Otto Penzler.

If you live in the New York area and read mysteriesm you almost certainly have heard of Otto. Founder of still very active and vital The Mysterious Press, Otto helped launch the careers of some very important writers; publishing their very first works on their way to stardom. He is also the proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop, the absolute mecca of mystery. Located just up the street from the new Freedom Tower in lower Manhattan, it is an absolute must for any visiting mystery lover.

As a side note but not really, The Mysterious Press has published, and continues to add to the list, a full library of Bibliomysteries by some of the most noted mystery writers of today and yesterday. He also has edited multiple volumes of Bibliomystery short-story anthologies as well as short-story collections of the general mystery genre.

So THIS particular copy of "Kill Your Darlings" has been inscribed and signed by Max Allan Collins to Otto Penzler as well as signed on the title page. A quite interesting copy indeed and a terrific association.

You can find the full details of this very cool item by clicking here. Or copying pasting this link. https://www.brennersbooks.com/pages/books/004370/max-allan-collins/kill-your-darlings-association-copy-from-the-personal-collection-of-otto-penzler

If you are interested in other Bibliomysteries, not to mention other Otto Penzler association copies, I have plenty. Just click or copy this link. https://www.brennersbooks.com/searchResults.php?orderBy=mostrecent&action=browse&cat_conj=or&category_id=229

Thanks much for reading this week's feature.