Name:

Richard Reynolds.

Bodies in the Bookshop founding date:

8th July 2024.

Where is home?

Cambridge.

What did you do before setting up Bodies in the Bookshop?

I worked at Heffers for 41 years specialising in Crime Fiction, retiring in September 2022 to help Jon Gifford, owner of the Oleander Press, with his reissues of Golden Age (written between 1919-1952 ish) detective fiction - with 25 reissued so far.

What made you want to open your own Crime Fiction Bookshop?

Insanity. But seriously — I’d always wanted to open a specialist outlet here and with Jon’s encouragement and the interest in the genre being so great, I felt I could do with retiring from retirement and joining him in pursuing our hobby!

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

A bookseller!

Favourite part of the job?

For us both it’s all enjoyable though speaking to customers, finding out what they like reading which in turn feeds our buying of the stock, comes right at the top of the list!

Least favourite?

I can’t think of anything!

Have you had any celebrity customers?

We regularly have well known authors visiting but a highlight was Ian Rankin.

Why did you pick Cambridge? 

Because I've lived here for 43 years.

Favourite spot in Cambridge?

The Round Church.

Favourite author?

Too many! Though Agatha Christie is still top of the list with Raymond Chandler, Josephine Tey, and Charles Todd pretty close...

Last book you read?

Alison Bruce's Because She Looked Away and I am just reading a debut, A St. Ives Christmas Mystery by Deborah Fowler.

What is top of your recommendations list?

• Andrew Kurkov's Death and the Penguin.
• Raymond Postgate's Verdict of Twelve.
• Christina Koning's Murder in Cambridge.
• George Birmingham's The Hymn Tune Mystery.

If you could send a message to all the students here, what would it be?

Keep your appreciation of crime fiction...