The final bookstore we visited on our vacation was Jackson Street Booksellers in the heart of a vibrant and thriving downtown area which was full of mom and pop resturants, boutiques and tons of shopping. We had a blast exploring the area on the hot spring morning before enveloping ourselves in the cool, calm atmosphere of Jackson Street Booksellers.
Jackson Street Booksellers is a labrynthine bookstore filled floor to ceiling with any and every type of used, rare, and antique book you could ever want. It’s basically another world to get lost in and I was so sad that we only had a little while to peruse the shelves, it’s a place where you could visit every day and still discover new wonderful books.
I definetly had to set a budget because Jackson Street Booksellers had all sorts of golden age authors for sale” hardcover Julian Symons, paperback Ellery Queen’s, a smattering of Sayers, and oodles of Agatha Christie’s.
However, I limited by book buying to Nebraskan author Mignon G. Eberhard, whose books were stocked in abundance and a couple lesser found Charlotte Armstrong titles.
Mignon G. Eberhart Mysteries:
Goodreads synopsis:
No sooner had Marny Sanderson arrived from New York to Florida with her employer, Tim Wales, president of Wales Airlines, then she had a premonition of disaster. She had traveled with Tim and André Durant, a job seeker and house guest of Tim’s elegant wife, Judith Wales. Judith and Tim’s daughter, Winnie Wales, have been living in the Wales’ Florida island home.
Once settled in to the home on Shadow Island, Marny swims in the pool and meets Commander Bill Cameron, who is desperate to meet with Tim on war-related issues. Then André appears, and to Marny’s delight, they have a brief romantic encounter in the garden. Marny returns to her room, and finds a young stranger, who identifies herself as Cecily Durant, André’s wife. Marny is shocked to learn he is married. Cecily brandishes a gun at Marny and threatens her for taking André from her. Cecily then gets scared off and runs out into the night. Marny follows, to find her shot dead, and Marny becomes the prime suspect.
Goodreads synopsis:
A beautiful girl thrills to the feel of the perfect diamond at her throat, but still fears it as an ill omen. And when death appears at the first quick master stroke, splitting the magnificent gem, her prophecy of bad-fortune comes true. What human hand strikes repeatedly, causing the murders blamed on the sinister stone?
Also includes novellas.
Goodreads synopsis:
A novel by a Grand Master of thr Mystery Writers of America, who pioneered the trend of women sleuths in fiction. Sudden, shocking murder — a pretty young girl caught in a deadly, top-secret intrigue
Goodreads synopsis:
Myra has lived at Thorne House for so long that she almost feels part of the family. Orphaned at a young age, she has never known another home, and yet it is time for her to leave. She is burning with an irresistible passion for Richard, the man of the house, and she knows that her love can never be fulfilled. For Richard is married to Alice, and Alice is guilty of murder.
Goodreads synopsis:
At dusk, murder rode with the bright-jacketed huntsmen through woods and fields. Among them was young and pretty Sue Poore, involved with an attractive man whose wife had been mysteriously murdered. Already under suspicion, Sue Poore was ripe for murder–either as victim or killer. Death the grim hunter, closed in for the kill…
Goodreads synopsis:
Rose Manders, wife of millionaire Gilbert Manders, is murdered. The suspects abound, as do the motives, and it’s up to Susan, Gilbert’s faithful employee, to solve the crime. The case is difficult enough, but when Gilbert confesses that he loves Susan, will she find that the man who has the golden touch also has the kiss of death?
Sarah Keate Series by Mignon G. Eberhart:
Goodreads synopsis:
The eminently capable Sarah Keate is an impeccable nurse. But when one of her patients, the handsome Lieutenant Parly, is found murdered in his bed, she must become a consummate detective as well. A top-notch mystery novel–out of print for several years–by a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master.
Charlotte Armstrong
Goodreads synopsis:
In a roadside Santa Clara motel, Esther Gardner wakes up to an intruder lurching toward her. No one blames her husband, Tom, for taking him down with a single blow to the head—least of all the stranger himself, an embarrassed real estate broker from Arcadia, who had drunkenly stumbled into the wrong room. Three days later, the poor man dies of a neglected head injury, leaving his wife, Audrey, and her invalid sister penniless, desperate, and in need of a new home. Overcome with guilt, Tom and Esther invite the women to stay with them. But as the temporary stay stretches into months, Esther can’t shake the disquieting suspicion that their grieving, freeloading guests are up to something. The sisters’ whispers are starting to sound conspiratorial. Their stories aren’t adding up. And their smiles are beginning to curl with menace. If it’s all in Esther’s over-burdened imagination, that would be understandable. If it isn’t, that could be terrifying.
Goodreads synopsis:
WEB OF TERROR
Alice Page was very young, very pretty…and very much a bride. And because she was so much in love she did not find it strange that she had first met her husband only two weeks before.
Then on their honeymoon she stumbled on a deadly secret. Only a bit of writing on a scrap of paper, but in the wrong hands it spelled murder.
Now her husband’s life…and hers as well…depended on her silence.
But silence was impossible without deceit, and Alice found it hard to lie. She knew so little of such things. Yet, someone, somewhere, thought she knew far too much.
What a lot of great gothic mysteries I found at Jackson Street Booksellers. I’m sure there are oodles of fantastic golden age mysteries just waiting to be re-discovered there, and I can’t wait to go back.
Golden Age of Detective Fiction 
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