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Title: The Haunted Bookshop
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Author: Christopher Morley
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Review of The Haunted Bookshop

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Comments for The Haunted Bookshop

• Posted on 2010-05-31
  A charming story
  
  I thoroughly enjoyed this charming cozy mystery. It called up simpler times and even during the most suspenseful parts, there was the reassuring sense that all would turn out well somehow.
  
  The book is centered in Roger Mifflin's large, cluttered but cozy secondhand bookshop, behind which he lives with his wife. It's part meditation on bibliophilia, and book lovers will likely salivate over the descriptions of Roger's bookstore and his cozy sitting room lined with his most cherished volumes. Roger himself is quite a charming character, if sometimes long-winded on his favorite subject (books, of course).
  
  Onto this cozy canvas of biblio-bliss unfolds a mystery: a volume keeps disappearing and reappearing from Roger's shop, strange noises are heard, and suspicious characters start to turn up. The mystery was suspenseful and enjoyable, but for me, the most charming thing about this novel was its atmosphere. I was delighted to find there is a "prequel" to this novel, and look forward to checking it out.
  
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• Posted on 2010-03-02
  What Happened ?
  
  What happened to the delightful storyline and the quaint but congenial prose of "Parnassus on Wheels?" The prose of "The Haunted Bookshop" is preachy and the storyline dark. Where "Parnassus" is cheery and light, "Haunted Bookshop" is sinister and the events shadowy. It is as if Morley tries to regain the feeling of the first book but the mood escapes him. Here is what I think happened: "Parnassus" was written prior to 1914, "Haunted" in 1919. What intervened on the world stage that could have resulted in Morley's less than sunny mood? The First World War. You will find mention of it in "The Haunted Bookshop." You will feel the "loss of innocence" and the onset of hopelessness the war brought to many people in America. Actually, reading "Haunted" left me sad. I wanted to regain the optimism and positive energy of "Parnassus on Wheels" and was blindsided by Morley's change of tenor and mood. I am a little sorry I read "Haunted Bookshop." I could escape to a simpler and better time in "Parnassus." "The Haunted Bookshop" brought me back to earth with a crunch.
  
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• Posted on 2010-02-04
  Disappointed!
  
  First Line: If you are ever in Brooklyn, that borough of superb sunsets and magnificent vistas of husband-propelled baby-carriages, it is to be hoped you may chance upon a quiet by-street where there is a very remarkable bookshop.
  
  A couple of years ago, Christopher Morley's Parnassus On Wheels was one of the books I enjoyed reading the most, so I was very happy to obtain a copy of the follow-up to it. The Haunted Bookshop follows Roger and Helen Mifflin to Brooklyn, New York, where Roger has a dream come true: he opens his own bookstore.
  
  In short order, the couple find themselves with a mysterious disappearing and reappearing book; a rich friend insists on sending his daughter to them so she can work in their store and learn the value of hard work and a paycheck; and a young man in the advertising business becomes involved with the mystery book and falls in love with the beautiful young heiress.
  
  All this could've been great fun. The young man in particular could be very amusing because most of his thinking was heavily influenced by ad copy and the popular magazines and movies of the day:
  
  "For one terrible moment he thought she was going to cry. But he remembered having seen heroines cry in the movies, and knew it was only done when there was a table and chair handy."
  
  
  But the humor was buried under Morley's insistence in having Roger Mifflin-- formerly a very caring and observant character-- spout speech after speech on his views of truly great literature, war, and peace. Although I did agree with Morley's viewpoints on almost every topic, I did not appreciate being continuously beat over the head with his opinions.
  
  If those diatribes had been excised from this book, it would have been a charming sequel to Parnassus On Wheels. Oh well. You win some... and you lose some. My advice would be to read Parnassus On Wheels and give The Haunted Bookshop a miss.
  
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• Posted on 2010-02-01
  The Haunted Bookstore (1919)
  
  I picked up my copy of this book from the library and was utterly transported into another world, both the post-WWI world and that of a charming bookstore whose owner claims is haunted by the literary ghosts of the past. The characters are dimensional; the plot is carefully worked out to sustain interest; and the descriptive writing "to die for." Morley was a well-known author and journalist in America and wrote more than 100 books. This one in particular, his second book, will keep you amused and engaged, especially if you love a good mystery. A delightful read just before retiring after an eventful day.
  
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• Posted on 2009-07-25
  Not bad
  
  Ok story, but I think the title has been mis-named. :)
  
  I didn't think the bookshop was haunted at all. There was a love story wrapped around all of it and it was sort of a mystery so not bad all in all, but just a different writing style...it was written in the early 1900's
  
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