From Mystery to ‘Dark Fantasy,’ It’s Here

The name of the bookshop in the mini-shopping center on north Tustin Avenue in Orange gives no indication of the type of books that line the store’s oak bookcases.

But the sign on the glass front door of Book Carnival is a dead giveaway.

In bold white letters it announces, “Thomas and Associates: Archer, Marlowe, Spade and Spencer.” And below that it reads, “Outer Space Associates: Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein.”

Archer et al are, of course, among the more famous names in the American pantheon of fictional detectives; Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein are legendary authors of some of the biggest best-sellers in science fiction.

Book Carnival, owned by Ed and Pat Thomas of Yorba Linda, is Orange County’s only combination mystery/science-fiction specialty bookstore.

The store, which deals primarily in first editions and out-of-print books, carries an inventory that is about 70% mystery and 30% science fiction, with a smattering of horror, or as Thomas calls it, “dark fantasy.”

Several glass-enclosed cases contain the shop’s true treasures: first editions by authors such as James M. Cain, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Ray Bradbury; and autographed books by Asimov, mystery writer Ross McDonald and a host of others. Although the paperback shelf carries books for as little as $1, Thomas last year sold a first-edition copy (with its original dust wrapper) of Raymond Chandler’s “The Big Sleep” for $1,500.

The narrow store with the red carpet, antique bookcases and framed mystery movie posters on the wall is four doors down from Book Carnival’s former location. After running Book Carnival as a general bookstore for seven years, the Thomases switched to a specialty shop 1 1/2 years ago.

Thomas said part of the reason they decided to specialize in both mysteries and science fiction is because they sold the most books in those two areas: “I thought why not combine the two and see what happens? It’s turned out, we feel, to be very successful.”

With the exception of an ad in “Armchair Detective” magazine, the mystery reader’s bible, advertising for the speciality bookstore has been strictly word-of-mouth. Thomas now has more than 500 people on a mailing list who are kept informed of sales and book signings.

Book signings, in fact, have become something of a Book Carnival speciality.

Last year, 28 authors did signings there, including Bradbury, Tony Hillerman, Ross Thomas, James Elroy, Tim Powers, James Blaylock, Larry Niven, Kim Stanley Robinson, John L. Breen, John Ball, Ann and Evan Maxwell and Dean Koontz.

Koontz, the prolific “Master of Menace” who lives in Orange, holds the store record for the length of time it took customers to wait in line to get an author’s autograph: 2 1/2 hours.

“He was scheduled to sign from between 1 and 4 in the afternoon, but he didn’t leave until 7:30 that night,” said Thomas, seated in an oak chair next to the cash register.

A tall, friendly man with thinning gray hair, Thomas said he never knows who might turn up in the store.

During the store’s book-signing for mystery writer Tony Hillerman in June, Thomas was surprised to read the name on the check of an older woman who was buying several books. It was, he said, Dorothy B. Hughes, a famous mystery writer of the ‘40s and ‘50s who now lives in Newport Beach.

Koontz, who stops by about once a week to buy books, is among a group of well-known regular customers. Another is John Ball, author of “In the Heat of the Night,” who stops by periodically, as does former major league pitcher Ken Brett, who is a mystery collector.

Peering through wire-rimmed glasses at his book-filled domain, Thomas appears to be a contented man. And he is.

“I just love what I’m doing,” he said. “I’m one in 100,000 who really enjoys what he does for a living. I enjoy books.”

For Thomas, 55, owning a bookstore is the stuff that dreams are made of.

A lifelong reader and a longtime book collector, Thomas made the transition to bookstore owner as a result of a mid-life career change. Eight years ago he was sales manager for a Long Beach corporation that manufactured folding cartons.

“I was in the business 26 years and, in all honesty, the last six years was sheer torture,” said Thomas. “I was burned out . . . I guess you could say the drive wasn’t there to sell another folding carton. I thought, ‘What a dream to be in the book business.’ . . . Well, you never know unless you try.”

Unlike many independent bookstores that are fighting for survival competing with the chain stores, Book Carnival was doing well as a general store, Thomas said, because it dealt primarily with out-of-print books.

The reason Thomas switched to a shop specializing in mysteries and science fiction was a personal one: He was simply tired of stocking all the cook books, art books, history books and general fiction that general bookstores must carry.

“I had no feeling for them,” he said, adding that when someone would ask him to recommend a good cook book, all he could do was tell them the name of the store’s best-selling cook book. “Now if someone says, ‘What have you read that’s good?’ I can make suggestions.”

Indeed, Thomas is an avid mystery reader who became hooked on mysteries while serving aboard a Navy cruiser during the Korean War. He said his mother would send him paperback books, mostly Mickey Spillane and John D. MacDonald novels.

He still devours about five mysteries a week.

“One of the things I like about the mystery is--this sounds so simple to say this--but mysteries have a beginning, a middle and an end: The mystery is solved and they come to a conclusion. There are types of writing today where you get to the end and say, ‘What was that all about?”’

Customers frequently ask Thomas if he’s read a good book lately. The following are some of the mystery titles on Thomas’ recommended summer reading list.

Eugene Izzi’s “Bad Guys” (St. Martin’s Press). “He’s an author who’s not real well known, but I enjoyed it a lot. . . . A hard-boiled, gritty, well-written novel.”

James Lee Burke’s “Neon Rain” and his latest, “Heaven’s Prisoners” (Holt), both of which are set in Louisiana and feature the recurring character of a Cajun detective. (“I like the setting and the (Cajun) dialogue. It’s something you don’t usually hear.”)

Jeremiah Healy’s “Swan Dive” (Harper and Row), the latest in a series of suspense novels about Boston-based detective John Cuddy. “I like the uniqueness of Cuddy himself: He’s a down-to-earth type of human being rather than a Superman like Mickey Spillane’s tough-as-nails Mike Hammer.”)

Tony Hillerman’s “A Thief of Time” (Harper and Row), the latest in a series of of mysteries set on Indian reservations in Arizona and New Mexico. (“He’s a marvelous writer . . . He just seems to get stronger as he goes along. All his books are excellent.”)

Asked if he wishes he had made the switch from selling cartons to running a bookstore at a younger age, Thomas leans back in his chair and grins: “Only every day.”

“I wonder sometimes if I had made this decision in my late 20s or early 30s what would have happened. After eights years I’m still learning. Thank God I came to the conclusion I really wanted to give this a try. When I get away for a few days, I’m always anxious to get back. When I was in the packaging business, it was never long enough.”

Books & Authors appears every other Saturday in Orange County Life.