Twenty-two years after opening in a small location at 2109 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee's only crime-focused bookshop, Mystery One Bookstore, is turning its final page.
Richard Katz opened Mystery One in April 1993 at a time when indie bookselling still thrived. The big out-of-mall chains hadn't arrived yet and places like Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops was opening new stores on what seemed like a regular basis.
Katz's shop had the feel of a classic indie bookstore, too: an owner with a passion for his inventory – which he knew like the back of his hand – tightly packed with towering bookshelves and regularly home, briefly, for visiting authors, on hand to sign books and chat with fans.
Katz will continue to run an online store and sell books at events like the Murder and Mayhem in Milwaukee festival, according to CrimeSpreeMag.com. But the loss of yet another bookshop in Milwaukee feels painful for those of us who still cherish words printed on paper and bound between two covers.
The shop will close at the end of a three-day event, Aug. 27-29, during which everything in the shop will be discounted.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
