‘Moody’ Author Opening Bookstore

If you happen to walk past the storefront at 111 S. Cedar, just south of Fitzbillie’s downtown, you might be intrigued at what you can see through the window.

In the darkness loom a few tables, a counter, some shelves and a number of books. As it turns out, most of the books are used, and most of them are mysteries.

Which isn’t surprising, not when you consider that, beginning Aug. 10, the doors will open to reveal Dark City Books, a new/used bookstore owned and run by novelist Steve Oliver.

Never heard of the name? Well, Oliver has the distinction of being one of the few novelists who has created a mystery series set in the Northwest. In fact, his first book - “Moody Gets the Blues” - is set in Spokane.

His second book, due in November from St. Martin’s Press, is called “Moody Forever.” It is set in a fictional town in the Spokane Valley.

Oliver’s third book, which he is still writing, will put the series protagonist - private eye Scott Moody - in Seattle. But Oliver, a former Seattle resident who once wrote a novel titled “Clueless in Seattle,” won’t cater to the modern trend of Seattle worship. Fact is, he can’t stand the place.

Oliver started his writing career as a self-published author before graduating to the New York publishing world thanks to the “Moody” series, the first installment of which St. Martin’s has reissued in a bright orange paperback edition (248 pages, $5.99)

That book boasts one of the more readable first paragraphs you’re apt to find: “The cab barreled down Division Street. My passenger, a drunken Unitarian, slumped in the back seat. An April rain streaked the windows and blackened the street. It was 2 a.m. and I was just beginning to wake up.”

As for “Moody Forever,” it’s already attracting good book blurb.

“Scott Moody is the most original sleuth to appear in decades,” wrote novelist Roderick Thorp (“Die Hard”). “He’s nuts and knows it. Everything he says is true, but is also so side-splittingly funny that you’re helpless to do anything but read on and wish you had more after the last page.’

As a bookstore owner, Oliver plans initially to be open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. If business warrants it, he may expand the hours. If not, he’ll just stay glued to his word-processor.

After all, “Moody” demands it.

Just for collectors

Rare books expert Phillip J. Pirages will deliver a lecture titled “Understanding and Appreciating Rare Books” at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Meeting Room 1A of the downtown branch of Spokane Public Library, 906 W. Main.

Pirages, who earned a doctorate in English literature from the University of Michigan, will cover such topics as what makes a book valuable, what constitutes an appraisal and how best to market your collection. The lecture is free and open to the public. For further information, call 444-5312.

Another summer read

As August looms (stop the calendar!) in the near distance, Bellingham, Wash., author Sara Donati might have the book you need to fill out your summerreading schedule.

“Into the Wilderness” (Bantam, 691 pages, $22.95) is a tale set in New York of 1792. Donati’s protagonist, the unmarried Elizabeth Middleton, comes from England to teach school. In the process, she faces conflict between her father (who wants her to marry a rich landowner) and the man she comes to love, a Mohawk-friendly white man named Nathaniel Bonner.

If nothing else, the book should help readers deal with hot weather. It’s set in the frigid Northeast winter.

Between the aisles

Singer/songwriter Mary Dolan will perform tunes from her CD “Grow” at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington. For further information, call 838-0206.

The reader board

Betty Lynley, author of the recipe collection “The Best of Mayberry,” will sign copies of her book from 3 to 5 p.m. today at Auntie’s Bookstore.

Steven M. Yedinak, author of “Hard to Forget: An American With the Mobile Guerrilla Force in Vietnam,” will read from his book at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Auntie’s Bookstore.