The Haunted Bookshop

by Christopher Morley

Paperback

First published January 1, 1919

About the author

This is the disambiguation profile for otherwise unseparated authors publishing as Christopher Morley

See also:
Christopher Morley, 1890-1957
Christopher Morley, Classical critic for the Birmingham Post
Christopher J. Morley, author of Jack the Ripper Suspects

Reviews

[Steve Gores · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most of Christopher Morley's books, this one is littered with his notions and witticisms about books and tobacco, his favorite passions. The Haunted Bookshop is also about early 20th-century Brooklyn, though he uses author names like Gissing, Wordsworth, etc., in place of the real street names. This is a follow-up novel to Parnassus on Wheels, in which Roger Mifflin piloted a bookshop-wagon around the countryside; here he has set himself up with a brick and mortar shop. The plot--such as it is--revolves around an heiress named Titania who comes to work at the bookshop, where a young advertising salesman falls in love with her. Aside from this very slow love story, the final third of the book is dominated by strange goings on about an old copy of Thomas Carlyle's Cromwell, which keeps on disappearing and reappearing on the shelves. Believe it or not, it's connected to contemporary events: the Armistice ending WWI having been signed, President Woodrow Wilson is steaming off to a peace conference in Europe, where Germany's fate will be decided. The heroic actions of the advertising salesmen propel him into Titania's good graces. That's all I can say without spoiling the ending! This is very light reading, but you have to like used books and not mind all the references to smoking.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually bought this at a used book shop that would have made Mr. Roger Mifflin ‘s heart happy. Who wouldn’t buy a book called the Haunted Book Shop in such a place? Anyway I enjoyed it all except for one part which was unnecessary and probably wouldn’t make it into a book today.