Secondhand Bookiestore

141A neat find on eBay: someone’s in the last day of an auction on a Harry Stephen Keeler book with a letter from ol’ Harry himself tucked in. Keeler notes one of the more unusual uses for a bookstore that I’ve heard of: he found one of his own books (X Jones of Scotland Yard) in a second hand Chicago bookstore… “which was a front for an elaborate bookie joint!”

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Paul Collins teaches writing at Portland State University, and his work appears regularly in New Scientist, Slate, and The Believer. His next book, The Murder of the Century, will be published in June by Crown.

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