Farewell, Prime Crime

After twenty-four years in business, my hometown mystery bookshop, Prime Crime, is shutting its doors. Its last day of business, according to the store's website, is March 14. "A sincere thank you to our many customers and supporters over the years," said owner Linda Wiken in a statement. "It's been a true pleasure to talk mysteries with you and to help you keep on top of the latest from our wonderful Canadian authors, as well as from around the world."

The Ottawa Citizen followed up with a longer story, revealing that the store has been on the block for a year, with no takers. Mary Jane Maffini, who bought the store with Wiken in 1995 (but left several years later to focus on her own writing career) emphasized the store serving as a meeting place for crime writers and readers. "There are other bookstores in town that also do a very good job on mysteries, but this is a special place for us, a special place in our hearts," she said. "It's been the heart of the mystery-writing community for a long time."

Now, I must be frank: it's people like me who contributed to the end of Prime Crime, by which I mean, I hardly ever shopped there when I was living in Ottawa. I remember making a rare trip in the late 90s and asking after a book that wasn't in stock and I knew was available at the chain store near my parents' house. I was told it wouldn't be available for another two months because it had only just been ordered. Which struck me as weird, and voila, the Pinecrest branch of Chapters got my business.

But I also know things have changed somewhat in the intervening years, as Ottawa's crime fiction community grew more established (in large part thanks to the critical and commercial success, at least locally, of Barbara Fradkin, Mary Jane Maffini, Alex Brett, and others.) And even though the commercial redevelopment of nearby Lansdowne Park drags on and will change the Glebe, losing Prime Crime does strike another needless blow to local business and neighborhood community.

So between this and the end of Indiana's The Mystery Company, all that can be said is: don't be like me. Shop at your local mystery indie. Because when they disappear, there is no replacing them.

Comments

[suzanne]

Amen to that! I've watched women's bookstores close one after another, and now mystery-oriented bookstores. Living in Indianapolis, The Mystery Company was a meeting place for writers and at the party on Saturday, we looked at one another and asked where will we meet to exchange news and views? With publishing in so much tumolt, e-mail just doesn't do it.

The thing that really bothers me is where do we browse the independent publishers? What happens to their outlets? To their readers?

[J. Mark Bertrand]

Sad news ... I envy people with a local mystery bookstore, I really do. One of the hard parts about leaving Houston, my adopted hometown, was saying goodbye to Murder by the Book, one of those stores that doesn't just sell you books but nurtures your tastes.

[Kevin Burton Smith]

Ohhhh noooo.

Not PRIME CRIME!

I live 3000 miles away now, but every time I did make it back to Montreal, I'd try to detour through Ottawa and buy something there. Sure, Ottawa has the Parliament Buildings and the National Gallery and the market and all that, but mostly, for me, it had PRIME CRIME.

Partly it was simple sentimentality. PRIME CRIME was the first mystery bookstore I ever went to, way back before Mary Jane and Linda owned it. But it was more than that. It was just a great store.

I forget the original owner's name, but he helped me along the way with my P.I. obsession, turning me on to Peter Corris and Loren Estleman. And I remember he had a photocopy of Benny Cooperman's P.I. license from the province of Ontario on the wall. Sheesh. How Canadian is that?

And one of my all-time favourite mystery-related evenings was going out to supper with Linda and Mary Jane and Kerry Schooley and several other mystery writers when we were doing a signing for ICED.

PRIME CRIME was a small store, a funky little don't-blink-you'll-miss-it sandwiched between a pretty good pub and a barber shop. It was tiny compared to some of the elephantine mystery stores I've run into since, but it had a whopping big amount of heart and soul. They probably loved mysteries and crime fiction even more than their customers.

It will be missed.

[Amused]

Anytime a local independant bookstore closes I shed a little tear. For SF, last year it was Stacy's. I try to shop local as much as possible but it is hard because they just can't seem to compete!

[Ryan Hunter]

I hate to hear about independent bookstores shutting down. We have one here that I stop into regularly and I'd be sad should it ever shut its doors. It's the sense of community, of being friends with the owner (who's always there) that sets these bookstores apart.

[Ayo Onatade]

I am so sorry to hear this because Prime Crime was always my first port of call when I was in Ottawa visiting my grandmother. It is always disappointing when independent bookshops close!