Update on Sleuth of Baker Street Bookstore

In January I wrote about my favourite bookstore, Sleuth of Baker Street, in Toronto. At that time the store was preparing to move to a new location at 907 Millwood Avenue not far from its longtime home on Bayview Avenue. Last week I was in Toronto and visited the store on Saturday afternoon with my older son, Jonathan.

For those traveling by car it is easier to park at the new location. Last Saturday, as usual on Bayview, all the parking spaces on the street were full and we had to search for a place on one of the side streets. When we traveled down Millwood to the little strip mall where the new store is located there were numerous open spaces.

Going to the store on Millwood is a destination. There are not the interesting shops and diverse restaurants up and down Bayview. Still with Bayview only a kilometer away it is easy to just go up to the old store neighbourhood.

The new store is smaller in size but there remains a wonderful collection of mysteries and thrillers. To simplify finding books the books are arranged in alphabetical order by author starting with the “A’s” to the left of the entrance and then proceeding around the store to the “Z’s” to the right of the entrance.

There is a shelf of books recommended by J.D., Marian and Cottage Lady.

In the middle of the store are tables with current hardcovers and paperbacks.

There is no change in the warm welcome of J.D.

There is no better selection of mysteries in Canada and few better anywhere.

Despite wanting to take home 1 or 2 boxes I restricted myself. I kept putting down with regret books I wanted to take home. In the end I bought 5 books.

Having enjoyed two books from Qiu Xiaolong’s series featuring Inspector Chen this year I bought the second in the series, A Loyal Character Dancer.

Over the year I have been reading reviews of lots of Australian crime fiction on the Fair Dinkum blog. Leah Giarratano’s books have sounded interesting and I picked up Vodka Doesn’t Freeze.

Marian had highly recommended Noah Boyd’s books. Of the pair on display J.D. suggested The Bricklayer.

I have been interested in reading from Ann Cleeves series set in the Shetland Islands. I purchased Raven in Black the first in the series.

Sleuth is not limited to new books. I had been looking for a copy of Judas Window by Carter Dickson. Searching the computer J.D. said they had 3 copies. None were upstairs. He went downstairs where they have stored a huge number of books and came up with a hardcover 1938 edition of the book.

Sleuth remains a wonderful place for mystery and thriller lovers.