Growing up in the neighborhood, I have some really vivid childhood memories of drifting around the stacks at Murder By the Book while my dad exchanged an armload of murder mysteries for a different armload.

It's such an unimposing little gem of a store, and it's been an anchor of the neighborhood since well before the good times hit the inner east side.

Mind you, this was back when Hawthorne/Belmont was a vaguely literate Dickensian England, and we were all plucky chimney sweeps who liked murder mysteries.

Walt, I'm putting a check in the mail for you tonight.

I met Walt down at KBOO, where he does the Talking Earth show. Great guy, had no idea he was such an icon until the news about the fire.