Crime Fiction Heaven
Last week I went to England for a conference in Bournemouth, and I stayed a few extra days to visit Oxford and London (more on both of these later). I had a lot of things on my list as I’d never been to London before, but there was one site that I just knew I had to make time for.
Buckingham Palace was imposing. The National Portrait Gallery was impressive. Foyle’s bookshop on Charing Cross Road was pure heaven.
I may be the only person who’s ever photographed it, but I just had to share this with my mystery loving friends. This picture shows not the crime fiction section, but PART of the crime fiction section. There were two more walls of similar size. I must’ve put 15 books into my basket before I sat down and forced myself to do some difficult prioritizing. I ended up with seven. Plus one for my child and three for my husband (not crime fiction).
The best part about it was, of course, the availability of books we can’t find in the United States. I intended to load up on the Scandinavians, but ended up with only two of those, plus three Brits, an Argentine and one set in Laos (but written by a Brit). In other words, there were even more choices than I expected, and I had to put back a few that I really wanted but didn’t want to attempt to haul around airports and shuttles. So, hmmm. Wonder how I can get back to England for the rest!
Thank you so much for this – we’re really proud of our crime department. We hate to come over all commercial on your site but if you can’t make it back to London anytime soon we can deliver anywhere in the world… (though would much rather see you at Charing Cross Road again).
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Good to know. And I forgot to say the staff were friendly and helpful.
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