Here we take a brief look at the working definition of what crime fiction is: Crime fiction is the genre of fiction that deals with crimes, their detection, criminals, and their motives. Most – though not all – crime novels crime novels share a common structure. First there is the crime, usually a murder; then there is the investigation; and finally the outcome or judgement, often in the shape of the criminal’s arrest or death. This description is taken from findmeanauthor.com website

Modern crime fiction

ozzbooks crime fiction

There’s not a day that goes by when I’m not buying or selling crime fiction. Like the modern authors Janet Evanovich, Patricia Cornwell P D James, James Patterson and I can go on indefinitely, and there are probably hundreds of other authors that I don’t have time to list or maybe I might add a few later.

Classic crime fiction

But people are always asking for classic crime fiction authors like Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Raymond Chandler,

More obscure crime fiction authors

Only the other day I came across little cache of crime fiction with many authors Josephine Tey, W.J. Burley, Jill Churchill, Edmund Crispin, Dell Shannon, Dorothy Simpson, Ellery Queen

Places to find out about crime fiction

There are many places you can find on the internet, here is a small list please take a look.

•  Crime Fiction Lover set up by two journalists who love reading crime stories.
• CrimeFiction.com a database of crime fiction authors, detectives although I’m not sure how often this site is updated.
• findmeanauthor.com  This site is very good for searching for details on crime fiction and many other genre’s.

crime fiction novels

By far most of these books will be sold at the shop or at Maitland Markets or give me a call on 0447 330 911

 

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Kismet is the only thing you can say about AJOBookbinding it only came about through a conversation with a regular customer Eileen Jinks a lady that would frequent my old shop at Warners Bay

some years ago. When browsing my shop for books Eileen would mention to me that her brother was a bookbinder, to which I always replied “I would like to meet him.” Eventually Eileen said she would

tell her brother Rob. On the appointed day Rob drove Eileen down & I got to meet a real live bookbinder. I didn’t realise at that time that I would make such a good friend & mentor.

Over the next 5 years Rob happily instructed me in the art of book repair & bookbinding.

Things change as do & the next piece of luck was a chance encounter with a bookbinder his name by the way is Mark Jarman with over 35 years experience came in looking for work.

I’d been collecting tools and materials over those last five years & with the equipment Mark had it seemed like the perfect idea, open a bookbindery in Morisset in the twentieth century Isaac Asimov

wouldn’t dream of that, but yes that’s what we did. The birth of a new business AJOBookbinding

Over 100 years experience at AJOBookbinding

Using old world tools AJO Bookbinding

Bookbinding is an old world art using tools from past centuries, but tools very similar to the ones I learned to use in my youth working as a carpenter & joiner, when Rob said he would be happy to teach me a little about bookbinding, I took to it like a duck to water

AJOBookbinding for your bookbinding needs

Whether you want an old paperback repaired a family Bible or a thesis you just completed that book you’ve just finished & you need someone to take from a pile of paper

to a finished book that’s just briefly what we do. We take you wants dreams & turn them from a pile of paper to a finished book. AJOBookbinding takes great pride in seeing

peoples written dreams turned into a book that can sit on your shelf

Finding AJOBookbinding

Were only 2 minutes from the F3 Freeway see map AJOBookbinding

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a fraction of the Children's Books

What a beautiful morning, it is the weekend and the rain has stopped.  The sun is shining and is quite warm.  It is a really good start to the day.  A day that children will love.  It is also my granddaughter’s birthday.  Happy Birthday wishes have been sent to her already.    I have given her a selection of children’s books that she loves.  They are little books about sharing and caring and being friends and are just right for her to hold and read.

Dr. Seuss Children’s Books

I have just purchased a selection of Dr. Seuss hard cover children’s books.  These children’s books are pre-loved but are in excellent condition.  They are great with helping children to learn to read.  To remember rhyming words children need to hear repetition and that is exactly what is in these Dr. Seuss children’s books.

Some of the titles of these used children’s books are The Cat in the Hat, Hop on Pop,  Fox in Sox and Green Eggs and Ham

Road Dahl’s Childrens Book’s

As well as these children’s books we also have in stock a selection of Roald Dahl’s children’s books and they appeal to children of all ages.  Some of the titles of these children’s books are The Enormous Crocodile,  Dirty Beasts, Revolting Rhymes and a set of four children’s books  in a pack , titles are Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

A large Range of childrens books are in stock and we take these to Maitland Markets  the first Sunday of every month.  The variety of children’s books are huge with a selection for tots to teenagers.  We have Enid Blyton books and these have been great children’s books for many years.

Walt Disney’s Children’s Books

We also have a huge range of children’s books by Disney,  some of the titles being Beauty and the Beast, Bambi, The Lion King, Duck Tales Webby Saves the Day.

For any further information on these children’s books please phone 0249 735925 and ask for Jim or Anne who will help you with your enquiry.

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Great value & save money

You can always get books from Lake Macquarie Secondhand Books at fantastic prices sometimes up to 70% off Original Book Prices. We have thousands of used books & many hundreds of books at up to 70% off original book prices. From authors such as Sue Grafton Diana Gabaldon John Grisham Joanne Harris, Wilbur Smith. If you can’t find it on-line there’s a very good chance we have in stock at our used bookshop at 3/33 Advantage Avenue Morisset about 3 minutes of the F3 Freeway at the Morisset exit.

OzzBooks and get up to 70% off Original Book Prices

Why pay for a new book when you can buy excellent used books at prices up to 70% off original book prices. Its easy all you have to do is look at our prices you can compare them to Booktopia or QBD booksand find that our price are in lots of cases our books will be much lower for a used book sometimes these books have never been read at all.

Out of print used books at up to 70% off Original Book Prices

Maybe the book you has been republished and you can buy it at the new bookshops around your area in that case your in luck but I think you’ll find that its price will be considerably above what our prices are the you to can save up to 70% off original book prices.

up to 70% off original book prices.

Phone us for up to 70% off Original Book Prices

If you want to talk to us direct then just phone Anne or Jim Owens on 0249 735 925 for fast no nonsense help we can process your credit card or you can do a direct deposit for fast help in most cases the book will be posted the next working day & you can save up to 70% off original book prices.

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Jim Owens

See Jim Owens for used books

Quite often we get used books & rare books  in a foreign language.   These present problems that at first you don’t fully realize. Last week I saved some of these used books from a trip to the dump. Mostly German language used books,  a mixture of fiction and non-fiction and history. There were hundreds of used books on hundreds of subjects from Australiana used books to engineering manuals, electrical theory, books on Lalique glass Millers guides, used books on identifying silver hallmarks.

Well known authors & classic used books

Some of the authors were John Steinbeck, Margaret Mitchell, Charles Dickens, Alexander Dumas, Hammond Innes. There are literally hundreds of used books of all sorts for those lucky enough to read books in another language. While the vast majority of our books are written in English we like books , so used books in any language is of interest to us.

The are other authors from Adolph Hitler Johannes Busch, Goethe and dozens of other authors

These books had me looking for a way to learn about the German or Gothic alphabet. By good luck I had a copy of German made simple by Eugene Jackson & Adolph Geiger it has a copy of the Gothic alphabet that enabled me to at least read the titles

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Another day in the search  for and sale of second hand, rare and used books.

Maitland markets

In our search for and sale of used and second hand books , our day begins at approximately 4.30am.  We are going to Maitland Markets to sell some of our extensive stock of  used books, paperbacks and romance used books, true crime, art and art magazines and children’s books.  We are also going to see what other used book sellers have on offer for sale.

We are almost ready to leave , van won’t start, flat battery.  No worries though, we ring around to see if some one can come and help us and as luck would have it we had a helper ready with a battery pack ready to charge our vehicle.  Job done, van ok it’s off to the Maitland Markets  It is a really cold but very nice morning.

We have for sale today 100′s of used children’s used books, various titles by Enid Blyton and lots of other used books to chose from.  Clive Cussler, James Patterson, Lynda LaPlante, Di Morrissey, Nora Roberts, the list of used books is many.

We arrive at Maitland Markets at exactly 7am, any later you are not allowed in.

After setting up our own used books and settling in, I went to check out what the other used books the other stall holders had for sale.

As luck would have it I found  purchased a used copy of Mallawindy by Joy Dettman.  Joy Dettman is an Australian author who writes really good “Aussie” stories.  I am quite looking forward to reading these used books.  I found several other used books that I was looking for and purchased those as well.

 A cold but nice day selling used books at Maitland Markets

The weather remained perfect for the day while we enjoyed buying and selling used books.  Quite a few customers put in requests for used books that they have been unable to locate  We will scout around through the week and see if we can locate any of the used books they requested.

See our next story about where the things we do to find more used books

The search for good used and second hand books continues.  Tomorrow is another day and I am looking forward to what the used book wants will be. All the crew will be on deck tomorrow, Michael, Kerrie & Mark the bookbinder the fixer of old rare & used books, will be back from his trip to Alice Springs I’m sure he will have a few tales to tell.

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Here at Lake Macquarie Second Hand Books at Morisset, we have gone from major disappointment to happiness overnight.  We were contacted to peruse second-hand & used books on Thursday evening at Sunshine.

A mini jackpot in used books

There was an excellent selection of used books in very good condition to choose from.  There were Local History used books, art,

Monet a Retrospective

art magazines, fiction and Australiana used books.

We purchased a selection of these used books at a fair and reasonable price.  In fact some of these used books  looked like they had never been read.  Very nice to browse.

A many & varies haul of used books

Out of the second hand & used books for sale that we purchased were a couple of  “The Australians” series.  These couple of used books will add to the collection we are gathering so as to have a complete set .  What a great read,  these used books are written by William Stuart Long (Vivian Stuart) .  Book One in the series is called the Exiles and it is the story of Jenny Taggart , driven as a child from her rural Yorkshire home, seeking refuge in the slums of eighteenth-century London, then shipped as a convict to distant savage Australian shores.  There are twelve books in this series.

A small selection of the used books

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Now everyone knows I love looking for rare & used books. You never know when your going to find a little treasure, I have been lucky in my quest for rare and antique & used books. I’ve met many interesting people, I have thousands of stories too many to write about here.

a sunny day at ozzbooks

The bad in used books

But today I have to tell you about the down side of looking for used books, it started like any normal day me at work sorting used books being nice to everyone. The phone rings its not a sultry voiced girl that Sam Spade or Mike Hammer would enjoy but a sleazy real estate salesman you know the sort the type that asks you how do you price your used books, my answer is simple the same way you price real estate. Reluctantly I made an appointment to look at the mentioned used books all in very good condition. The time was tight but I hoped it would be a fruitful search, I’m eternally hopeful its my disposition to be enthusiastic.

The ugly in my quest used books

Eventually we arrived at the address, Munmorah to be exact that place famous for nothing much (according to Google) more than being situated between the Tasman Sea & Lake Macquarie, close to the highway Wyong & Swansea. It was right on dark when we were ushered into the room where the used books were. A quick look at the books strewn all over the floor, the smell had my mind working overtime, what is that smell? I started to look for stains in the carpet for the evidence of where a corpse had been or maybe where a bed had been.

It was way past rank, maybe I watch to many late night movies but the smell would as Fat Bastard would say “Gag a Maggot.” I eventually picked a few books but my heart wasn’t in it, I offered the gentleman an amount I thought fair for just a few of the cleanest of the used books the rest being foxed stained with cockroach excreta  & smelly, then I was informed I could take the lot for a figure ten times my offer for only a hand full my partner answered quick smart to leave them for the cockroaches. We don’t do those type of dirty used books ever.

Exit stage right for more not so dirty used books

As we exited the premises it was a great relief to breath clean air again out of that cloistered space where those used books will eventually end their days in the local landfill, but I still felt dirty I needed a shower my nostrils couldn’t clean the smell quick enough, I needed a shot of rum or three to hide the smell of those dirty stinky used books. I hope I don’t have to do that again, tomorrow is another day more used books will come and go that’s my job dirty, clean, old, rare, antique used books. Strange Days Indeed when I’m doing anything else.

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I have been extra busy buying & selling books, opening a bookbinding business, the events in our bookshop that happen everyday,  from fixing computers or machinery,  organising & arranging stuff , wow this book world is a busy place,  it seems the longer I go the fun I have meeting the best people, I always hear the best bookshop stories.

Stories in the bookshop

The people I’ve met since my last foray into writing for my bookshop blog is truly mind boggling. Sometimes I think that the stories I hear in the bookshop stories are what its all about

I can’t remember the last blog that I uploaded but I have written lots of bookshop stories about the people that I meet, here is a list of just a few of them.

The partial cast of bookshop stories

1. Troy the collector of all things Elvis, retro cloths & furniture this fellow should be a stand up comedian easily as funny as any Saturday nigh live comedian I usually get two or three bookshop stories from Troy.
2. Mick the military fan with an extra keen eye for those rare books I find, very interesting conversations about Australia’s presence in many theatres of war.
3. David collects the best rare titles from bookshops all around the world, he has an eagle eye for those truly rare books he could do my job so much better.
4. George the collector of Carter Brown  other books from the pen of  Allan G. Yates and his many other Caroline Farr, Tom Conway, Paul Valdez, Dennis Sinclair, Sinclair McKellar
   books those short vivid stories from the late 40′s through to the 80′s and beyond.
5. Hazel or Audrey with passion of all books Georgette Heyer  & Jean Plaidy I have many of these that I simply never get a chance to list, give me a call if you happen to want one of these titles.
6. Graham & Jim two different people but fans of Ion L Idriess collector always looking those rare Australian titles of yesteryear

Not only do I meet people from my local area in our bookshop, but I get to meet many travellers from around Australia & many other countries.

Chatting & Bookshop Stories

Why just yesterday I had a quick chat with a retired bookshop owner from the United Kingdom. Talking to people from India, Nepal, the United States & The Philippines talking about many things from machinery & books.

All to do with my work and bookshop stories about subjects from fiction, fantasy and all things to do with books, book publishing and bookbinding.

we are in

AustralianPlanet

NSW Newcastle Area

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used books at abebooks

Nearly everyone knows of AbeBooks, the best website in the world to look  for used books, if they don’t they will soon learn. There are a few things you have to learn to make your searches more effective. Go to my help use  find used books blog . You can checkout their history at AbeBooks timeline. For a  guide on how they came into being. I found them by accident maybe you did as well, I always like to here about how people found them. Drop me an email to contact me Jim Owens to tell me about your experience.

When you want used books at Abebooks

It is the fastest place to look,  there are dozens maybe hundreds of other sites but only one AbeBooks. Nothing else comes close, sure as with any business you have new booksellers that are always trying to get a share of the market.  New boys like the book depository are certainly making major waves for booksellers around the world. But the thing that makes buying used books at abebooks is that they have a broader selection of books,  the used & rare titles spread around the world works in Abebooks favour. It also allows you to cherry pick books as the rates tumble.

 The giant killer is used books at abebooks

When your looking for used books at abebooks, all you get is books you don’t get toys or tools like some of the other & bigger websites.   its where the serious used and rare book collectors congregate.

Results are what you get when you sell used books at Abebooks. So it stands to reason when you want to buy books then used books at abebooks is the best place to make a start.

Sure you can find them at the other places but for convenience nothing beats get your used books at Abebooks

The best place to look for used books is at Abebooks I know I sell my used books at Abebooks & lots of other sites but Abebooks is by far the best. Of course you can go to my website and buy books there,  my post rates are cheaper not to mention that my prices are cheaper so why don’t you go and look for yourself.

How many used books at AbeBooks have I looked for?

I’ve looked for used books at AbeBooks , it scares me to think but it must be well over 150000 used books using the conservative figure of 30 books p/day by 15 plus years. I met a man the other day & he told me that his time was too valuable to waste looking on the internet, “Oh I thought,  are you the Prime Minister” he looked rather like John Howard but with out the dress sense. I just had to inquire what his job was, turns out he was a retired headmaster,  glad I never went to his school,  the clincher for me was he was short person. What was that song again by Randy Newman?

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