The Mysterious Bookshop is now located in Tribeca, on a block that doesn’t immediately hint at its significance in the literary world. It's situated next to a Le Pain Quotidien and a few doors down from a 7-Eleven. The store originally opened on 56th Street in Manhattan, in a building Penzler owned because it was more affordable to buy property back then—New York was different in those days.
Mysteries have always captivated audiences, but they haven't always garnered respect. Otto Penzler has played a crucial role in changing that perception. He's arguably the most influential figure in mystery fiction history who has never penned a mystery story himself.
To reach Otto Penzler’s New York office, you pass through a door in the Mysterious Bookshop, the world’s oldest and largest bookstore dedicated to mystery, crime fiction, espionage, and thrillers. The entrance is marked by a large X of yellow police tape reading "CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS." Descending a flight of stairs, you find his office—a cozy basement cube with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on all sides, filled with anthologies, first editions, and an eclectic mix of mass-market hardcovers and paperbacks. If this office were a standalone store, it would rank as the second-best mystery bookstore in the world.
Penzler owns the Mysterious Bookshop, founded in 1979, and established The Mysterious Press, a publishing imprint, in 1975. He also runs mysteriouspress.com, his ebook publishing platform. Throughout his career, he has published many of the greatest names in mystery and crime fiction, including Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, James Ellroy, Ross Thomas, Patricia Highsmith, Ross Macdonald, and Ed McBain. Those he hasn’t published are likely his good friends.