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It’s official: The best indie bookstore in the U.S. is tucked behind a candy-striped awning in Tribeca—and it smells like suspense.
The Mysterious Bookshop, the beloved literary haunt dedicated to all things crime, noir and detective fiction, has been crowned the top independent bookstore in the country by the 2025 USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards.
Opened in 1979 by publishing legend Otto Penzler, the editor, collector and mystery aficionado behind The Mysterious Press and other imprints, the shop is the oldest mystery-specialist bookstore in the country. Step inside and you’ll find floor-to-ceiling shelves stacked with everything from Agatha Christie classics to collectible first editions by James Ellroy, along with a world-class trove of Sherlockiana that would make even Benedict Cumberbatch blush.
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But the store’s secret weapon is its Bibliomystery series—exclusive novellas where books, bookstores or collectors find themselves tangled up in murder. The series has attracted heavy hitters like Michael Connelly and Joyce Carol Oates, and one story even nabbed an Edgar Award.
While it began life in Midtown, the shop moved downtown in 2005 and now lives at 58 Warren Street, where it doubles as HQ for Penzler Publishers and MysteriousPress.com. It also hosts regular signings, readings and newsletter updates for diehard fans looking to keep a pulse on the crime fiction world.
The Mysterious Bookshop beat out buzzy newcomers and beloved community mainstays from across the country (including Nashville’s Parnassus Books and Indianapolis’s Loudmouth Books) to take the No. 1 spot in this year’s rankings. And another local favorite, Brooklyn's romance-only bookstore The Ripped Bodice, helped bookend (see what we did there?) the list by coming in at No. 10.
With cozy reading chairs, rare book displays and a staff fluent in red herrings and locked-room puzzles, the Mysterious Bookshop is a certified shrine to the genre. And now, it has the title to match.
Whether you’re a lifelong Sherlock devotee or just curious about whodunnit, you’ll find your next obsession right here. No need to investigate further.