Plattsburgh Haul at the Corner Stone Bookshop

I had to drive to the border to do an interview to get a Nexus card.  My original plan was just to do the interview and come back, but for some reason all the employees at the Border protection office for some reason all had barbecue.  It was some kind of celebration.  They didn't offer me any which was lame (it's a weird scene there) and the smells triggered a pavlovian response in me so I did a google search and then drove a half-hour out of my way to a decent BBQ spot in upstate NY.  Once there, I thought I might as well see if there are any used bookstores in nearby Plattsburgh.  I found two.  Sadly one is now empty but the second one, The Corner Stone Bookshop, turned out be an excellent store.  It's right downtown, which like a lot of these older northeastern cities looks to be struggling.  It was clearly a well-run store, clean and organized, with good sized mystery and sci-fi sections and lots of non-fiction categories.  I had high hopes which started to sag as I literally found nothing in either section.  However, there was a basement and going underground revealed a rich vein of paperback mysteries.  Some great finds here!  I left quite a few on the shelf that I might have picked up had they been the only one in the store, but my pickings were so rich I could afford to be discerning.  I believe most of these titles speak for themselves.  And the entire thing cost me $27.50.  I'll need to find an excuse to come back here someday. 

I've been looking for the first Mars book forever.  It's weird that it is so hard to find as there must be quite a few copies and versions.  They actually had the first 5 but missing #2 so I didn't think it would be so bad to just get the first one.  A new Duncan Kyle is always welcome, as his are hard to find in North America.  I wish I had a pre-movie Get Carter, but I'll take the movie tie-in as it's the writing that counts.  I had just realized that Haggard wrote his Charles Russel stories right up into the 80s so it was cool that I found these two.  Finally, All the King's Men is not a hard find but something on my list and since it's not in the categories I usually search in, I never find it.  This time I asked the helpful and informed woman working the desk and she found me two copies right away.

Here are the real scores!  It's crazy that you have to go back to original paperbacks to find some Dorothy Hughes.  Her stuff should be reprinted as much as "the big three".  Two more Latimers also a nice find (yet Solomon's Graveyard remains ever elusive) and finally a Charles Williams!  Yes!

with the jury-rigged crossbow!

High Citadel I've already read several times, it's arguably one of my all-time faves, so I couldn't resist this Fontana beauty. It's in good condition but the glue is dried and cracked when I opened it, so this will go right on the shelf, maybe even bagged.  I'm not a big collector guy, but there are plenty of copies of High Citadel that can be read so I'm happy to make a museum piece of this beauty.

I've worked hard to reduce my on-deck shelf.  My original goal was to empty it of all but books for which I need the one before (I have several part 2's of series there), but there is more than enough space to fit these beauties.  One has to be flexible with one's goals when opportunity arise.  

Thanks Corner Stone Bookshop!