The Mystery Company
233 Second Ave SW
Carmel, IN 46032

Phone: 317-705-9711

Publication date: Dec. 2009

Organizing Crime is an original publication of Crum Creek Press, the publishing affiliate of The Mystery Company.

Organizing Crime: The Mystery Company's Guide to Series
Edited by Austin Lugar & Jim Huang

"What's the first book in a series?" "What comes next?" "Have I read this one yet?" As booksellers who specialize in mysteries, these are the questions we hear every day. In this book, we provide answers. Organizing Crime takes over 3100 titles in over 350 popular, active mystery series and puts them in order. These handy checklists will help you manage your reading and your book collection. This guide also includes 42 "Five Great" lists, categorizing mysteries to help you find new series that will become favorites.

Here's the introduction to the book:

Jim Huang: Hello, everyone. I’ve been a bookstore owner for many years now and one of the major things customers ask me is where certain books fall in their series.

Austin Lugar: You mean The Mystery Company?

Jim: What?

Austin: The store where you get questions…

Jim: What are you doing?

Austin: I just wanted to get the store’s name out there. Let people know about it.

Jim: The book is called Organizing Crime: The Mystery Company’s Guide to Series.

Austin: So you think they know?

Jim: They know. Now we have a new book out that I think will be very helpful to all mystery fans.

Austin: All right, pitch it to me.

Jim: What? You worked on this—

Austin: I know, I’m just doing this—

Jim: Oh, for the—

Austin: Yeah, so they can—

Jim: Okay so I see where you’re—

Austin: Yeah.

Jim: Right, sorry. What we did was we collected our customer’s favorite active mystery series and put the books in the right canonical order.

Austin: Is that the right use of “canonical”?

Jim: Yes…

Austin: I always used that to describe things that were like a cannon.

Jim: No, that’s…like what?

Austin: Like “that canonical Super Soaker injured the two-year-old with its awesome water power.”

Jim: I’m in awe.

Austin: Thank you. Now what’s an “active mystery series?”

Jim: It's a series where there are still regular entries and—

Austin: Hey, what’s up with these boxes?

Jim: Which boxes?

Austin: (flips through the book) All of these boxes to the left of the titles.

Jim: How can you be holding a copy of the book when we’re just doing the intro now?

Austin: Why are you avoiding the question?

Jim: I’m not! The boxes are whatever you want them to be.

Austin: That’s a cheat.

Jim: No, it’s not. You put checkmarks in them for different tasks. Like you can have the left box be “Read It” and the right box “Own It.”

Austin: Or “Read It” and “Featured an Alcoholic.”

Jim: I guess…

Austin: Or “Death Count Was Over 15” and “Protagonist Solved Entire Crime in Two Days.”

Jim: I suppose. Again, it’s all up to you.

Austin: How about “Prominently Featured Sewing” and “Solved It Before the Detective”?

Jim: Actually, I like that one. You know, people can race their friends to who can finish series first.

Austin: You know what that means?

Jim and Austin: Buying multiple copies!

Austin: Exactly. Now how about this blank line at the end of each series?

Jim: That’s for you to add in new titles when new books come out.

Austin: Wait, how up to date is this?

Jim: All the books listed have been or are scheduled to be released in the United States in 2009.

Austin: So when do you think we’ll update this book?

Jim: Well, we want to have it out every year.

Austin: Oh I get it. We don’t want to hog all the fun. We want the readers to experience the joy of meticulously looking up each series and recording the latest entry while keeping in consideration the exact wording of the title.

Jim: …

Austin: …

Jim: Yes.

Austin: Now what else is in this book?

Jim: You want more?

Austin: Well, I know there is more so I feel okay about asking.

Jim: Okay then. After we finish the series, we have a collection of lists, mostly ways to find new series and recommendations.

Austin: That sounds absolutely phenomenal.

Jim: Well, I’ll say it’s a fun resource.

Austin: Oh, come on, Jim. I’m saying it’s a beautiful book. Can I blurb that? Are we allowed to blurb our own book?

Jim: Okay, stop that. We hope everyone enjoys the book. It was a lot of fun to put together. If you find any errors or have any complaints at all please email us at Austin@TheMysteryCompany.com If you have any praise about the content or the packaging send those emails to Jim@TheMysteryCompany.com

Austin: Right. Wait…

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