Book Soup in West Hollywood, Calif., is closed temporarily following a water main break on July 16. While the bookstore was not directly damaged, the break created a large sinkhole on Sunset Blvd. and spilled approximately 17 million gallons of water, per the Los Angeles Times.

Over the weekend, the Book Soup team wrote: "We are unfortunately closed indefinitely. While we remain hopeful that we will be back open very soon, safety is the utmost priority for our employees and our customers. Which is why we are remaining closed for the time being.

"Thank you to all who have asked if we’re okay and have checked in about the store. We sincerely appreciate the love and support. We’re very glad we haven’t suffered any damage thus far and we hope it stays that way!

"We’ll be back soon with more information about when we can open, but until then stay cool out there and get your lists of 'to buy' books ready. We can’t wait to see you." 

With the closure ongoing, Book Soup has postponed some events and relocated others. A Monday night event featuring David Beard, author of All Summer Long: Conversations with the Beach Boys from Surfin' to SMile (Bloomsbury Academic), in conversation with Dennis Dieken, was held at the Beverly Hills Public Library.

The L.A. Times noted that although progress has been made repairing the ruptured pipe, a portion of Sunset Blvd. remains closed to traffic and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has not provided an estimate for when work might be completed or the street reopened.

In an update posted Monday, the Book Soup team said the store will be back soon. "We remain closed today, but are looking forward to hopefully opening this week!"

Violet's Book Exchange in Claremont, N.H., changed hands in April, with new owner Denise Best buying the bookstore from retiring owner Laurel Eaton, the Vermont Journal reported.

Located at 28 Opera House Sq., Violet's Book Exchange spans two stories and sells new and used titles for all ages, along with greeting cards, puzzles, and other gifts. Prior to buying the bookstore, Best was a longtime customer and earlier was a physical therapy assistant. In 2021, a wrist injury made her consider a career change, and she began talking to Eaton about taking over after the latter retired.

Best officially became the owner on April 18 and has been learning as she goes. She's kept the store's layout unchanged and has not altered the trade-in credit policy. She has a few author events in the works, and she would like to start hosting regular book club meetings. 

Best told the Vermont Journal she is intent on making sure the bookstore is "welcoming to everyone. This is like neutral territory; you can come in, browse with your friends, ask me questions, [or for] suggestions."

Violet's Book Exchange first opened in 2002, and Eaton purchased the bookstore in 2005.

Sashi Arumugam has been named v-p, distribution technology and intelligence, Hachette Book Group US Distribution. He has extensive experience leading distribution technology, warehouse management systems, and enterprise technology programs. Most recently, he led distribution technology and programs at Steve Madden.

Sashi Arumugam

Hachette Book Group US Distribution CEO Michael Shoults said that Arumugam "brings deep technical expertise along with a humble, people-first approach that will strengthen our culture and further our commitment to distribution excellence. His strong foundation in distribution logic and his extensive experience with enterprise-level WMS systems will be an invaluable addition to our team."

Arumugam said, "I am thrilled to join Hachette Book Group at such a historic and meaningful moment. As Hachette Livre celebrates its remarkable 200th anniversary, books have never felt more important as vessels of ideas, culture, and human connection. The combination of world-class distribution infrastructure, an extraordinary team, and the inspiring vision that Mike Shoults and Matt Wright have set for the future made this an opportunity I could not pass up. I look forward to partnering with this exceptional team to ensure our books reach every reader efficiently, reliably, and at scale."

In his new role, Arumugam will, the company said, head "the strategy and execution of HBG's distribution technology and intelligence, driving the evolution of the company's warehouse management systems and distribution platforms. He will advance HBG's distribution expertise by strengthening technology capabilities and improving cross-functional team collaboration. Sashi will oversee key technology initiatives, including the upcoming SQL Server migration, and the shaping of HBG's Distribution AI strategy, with a focus on turning usage into measurable ROI and capability."

Canadian author Gail Bowen, best known for her long-running mystery and crime novel series centered on a character named Joanne Kilbourn, died June 25, CBC News reported. She was 83. Bowen was born in Toronto and eventually moved to Regina, Sask., where she became an English professor at the First Nations University of Canada before retiring from teaching. 

Kelley Jo Burke, who knew Bowen for more than 25 years as a neighbor, friend, and later professionally, producing several of her pieces for radio, said most people were familiar with Bowen because of the world she created in her novels, which were set in Saskatchewan: "She was Canada's national treasure and one of the most successful mystery writers in the country.... She traveled around the country promoting her books and was the most rigorous, relentless writer that you have ever seen.... Gail's work ethic was unbelievable. She got up at 5, she did yoga, she did rewrites, then she had breakfast, and she did it every day."

Burke described Bowen's works as cozy mystery novels that are also about being a woman who is a mother, a lover, a friend, and involved in the lives of children. Writing them was about making that kind of person important, Burke told CBC News. 

Anthony Bidulka, a crime novelist and friend, said Bowen's works inspired him to be an author: "She became my mentor, she became my friend and she became my colleague... You know she's a master at storytelling and writing, but more than that, when you read a Gail Bowen book, you know who she is. You know what's important to her.... She was someone who's a champion of equality for all, and justice. She was a supporter of diversity. She was someone who really cared deeply about her community, about her city, about her province, about her country. Probably above all, though, she was someone who cared deeply about family."

In her last interview with CBC's Saskatchewan Weekend last November, Bowen said: "I mean, it's been over 35 years and some of the readers say to me, you know, 'They're like friends to me.' I think I could write another one now because I'm so excited about it, but I mean, I did say it was [the last]. The other thing too is you have to accept the fact that we are all human and that means that we don't live forever."

The final Joanne Kilbourn novel, Homecoming, will be published posthumously. Her son, Nathaniel Bowen, said, "It does end with Joanne's very strong feelings about extended family, that you bring people into your life, you don't exclude them. If there was a message there, that would be it because we do, I think, only connect. We do need each other."

At the most recent Shelf Awareness Presents webinar, veteran booksellers discussed selling books in polarized times and shared valuable advice on a variety of topics. Several authors then made in-depth presentations about their books. Watch a recording of the session here.

The webinar kicked off with a conversation between Kelly Justice, Fountain Books, Richmond Va., and Catherine Weller, Weller Book Works, Salt Lake City, Utah, who touched on drop-in titles; store curation and identity; staff concerns, and even a "do-not-try-this-at-home" bonding moment for Justice and her staff.  Kelly and Catherine both had strong positive opinions about the strength of sales in nonfiction. 

Authors Melissa Dalton-Bradford (How to Save Democracy, Familius), Darin Johnson (Digital Coup, Broadleaf Books), and Nazanin Agange Ford (My America Blooms, illustrated by Fateme Mokhles, Beaming Books) followed in conversation with each of their publishers. Their powerful message simultaneously offered warnings and hope for the future.

Would you like to be involved in a future webinar as a bookseller? Would you like to sponsor your own webinar as a publisher? Please reach out to Shelf Awareness publisher Matt Baldacci, and we'll work together to create a useful and powerful presentation.

It's the Summer of Stephen King at Brazos Bookstore, Houston, Tex., which has been celebrating by reading three King classics and watching the film adaptations, followed by discussion of the book and film; the series concluded with Carrie. Lead bookbuyer Keaton Patterson and his prom date, Murder by the Book bookseller Chesli Lobue Zimmerhanzel, sported matching corsage and boutonniere as they posed with chaperone Mr. King.

Congratulations to Bound to Happen Books in Stevens Point, Wis., which will celebrate its fifth anniversary on Saturday, August 1. 

Per the Point/Plover Metro Wire, the anniversary festivities will include a daylong block party with live music, giveaways, appearances from local vendors and makers, and activities for all ages. It will also coincide with the conclusion of this year's Find Waldo program.

When owner Lyn Ciurro opened Bound to Happen Books in 2021, it began as three bookshelves inside of a local general store. Now it occupies its own space at 1008 Main St., carries some 17,500 books, and has a staff of 10 booksellers. 

"Sometimes it feels like we’ve been here forever, other times it feels like we just opened last week," Ciurro told the Point/Plover Metro Wire. "The support we've received from the Central Wisconsin community has been an immense honor, and we hope to continue to meet the strong expectations we've set. The future isn't always very clear, especially in the big 2026, but if the next five years are anything like the last then I can't be anything but grateful."

Ingram Academic & Professional will provide print distribution services in the U.S., Canada, and the Latin America/Caribbean region, as well as manage Canadian sales, Amazon sales in the U.S. and Canada, and e-book sales globally for the University of Texas Press, effective September 1.

Founded in 1950, the University of Texas Press publishes about 90 new titles annually and maintains a catalog of more than 4,000 works. It is widely recognized for its strengths in academic fields—including history, Latin American studies, media studies, and architecture—while also building a strong trade presence in music, food, photography, art, and regional interest titles.

UTP Director Robert Devens said, "We have long enjoyed a productive relationship with Ingram as a wholesale partner, and we are thrilled to expand our collaboration into distribution. Ingram shares our commitment to the broad dissemination of scholarly and trade titles, to strong customer service, and to the smart use of technology. We look forward to working with Ingram on the shared goal of getting UT Press books into the hands of as many readers as possible."

"Spending my money on iced coffee and books to avoid the diarrhea plague." Odd Bird Bookshop in Bel Air, Md., offered some sound health advice to avoid the latest plague sweeping the nation, noting: "Go grab a drink from @coffeebar_belair and then head over to see us at Odd Bird Bookshop (right around the corner) for some treats that are well deserving of your lettuce money."

Tomorrow:
Today: Melissa Ben-Ishay, author of Come Eat: 100 Nourishing Recipes to Eat Every Day (Harper Influence, $35, 9780063451636).

Tamron Hall repeat: Babs Costello, author of Did Your Mother Ever Tell You?: Words of Wisdom, Wit, and Love (Zonderkidz, $19.99, 9780310167662).

French Canadian actress Sophie Nélisse (Heated Rivalry, Yellowjackets) "has booked the first major role" in the upcoming book-to-TV adaptation of This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune for Netflix, Deadline reported. Production will begin in Prince Edward Island and Toronto later this summer.

From creators and showrunner Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart, the series, "is a simmering, sun-soaked romance set across multiple summers on Prince Edward Island about Lucy, a young woman navigating her 20s and her first real love with her best friend's brother, the one person she was never supposed to fall for," Deadline noted.

The series is executive produced by Dane Clark, Linsey Stewart, Fortune, and Jennifer Kawaja (Sort Of, Wayward) and Elise Cousineau (Cardinal, Small Achievable Goals), and Samantha Levine for Sphere Media.

Rebecca Perry won the £5,000 (about $6,725) 2026 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize for her novel May We Feed the King. The company wrote, "A dreamlike adventure in history, imagination and the human heart, May We Feed the King follows a curator tasked with bringing a medieval palace to life for its 750-year anniversary. Reeling from a personal loss, she delves into the house's archives and is drawn deeper into the mystery of one of its former occupants: a reluctant ruler, surrounded by courtiers scheming to replace him.

"Asking how we view the past and how to reconcile with what is lost, Perry’s mischievously clever novel blends curiosity with compassion and rare lyrical power to deliver a beautifully haunting, ever-relatable tale about our relationship with the past, truth and each other."

Bea Carvalho, head of books, Waterstones, added: "May We Feed the King stood out for its crisp, cool prose, and its playfully enigmatic approach to storytelling. With a poet's eye for detail and a keen sense of humor, Perry grapples with the slippery nature of memory and the burden of power."

Among stunningly prolific Japanese mystery writer Jiro Akagawa's 650-plus books is the Casebooks of Mikeneko Holmes series, comprising more than 55 titles and still expanding. The intriguing first volume, originally published in 1978, arrives in the U.S. as A Game of Cat and Killer, smoothly translated by Haydn Trowell. Akagawa writes with a charming nonchalance reminiscent of the popular cozy mystery genre, but the body count--and the related causes--may disqualify this title from those shelves.

Akagawa opens with a quick first murder: a student using sex work to make fast money is killed by her client. Katayama, 28, is the Tokyo Metropolitan Police detective assigned to the case, although he's "squeamish at the sight of blood" and even more afraid of women: "If I get near a group of them, I get headaches, dizziness, nausea... sometimes even hives," he laments to his boss when he realizes he's being sent to a women's university. But go he must to the office of Tomoo Morisaki, dean of the Faculty of Letters, who alerts Katayama about a potential prostitution ring on campus. Katayama also meets Holmes, Morisaki's cat--whose unusual calico coloring is "believed to bring good luck." Morisaki's conviction that "cats may understand people far, far better than we think" proves prescient, especially after Morisaki is murdered and Holmes chooses Katayama as her next person. With a paw, a tail flick, a plaintive meow, Holmes knows exactly how to move an investigation along. Katayama is also not without a human ally; despite his professed fear of women, student Yukiko (who reveals herself to have been Morisaki's lover) is surprisingly helpful--for a while. But more murders happen before Katayama and Holmes figure out who's done what to whom and why.

Katayama's bumbling-but-possibly-brilliant persona is undoubtedly endearing enough to launch a series, although it's his feline accomplice who remarkably and readily remedies what he may lack in investigative (and people) skills. "Life has thrown a lot at you, hasn't it?" his aunt comments at the story's end. Indeed, amid the multilayered, didn't-see-that-coming revelations, Akagawa also presents Katayama with first love, sibling secrets, family legacy, and more. At least he'll now have lucky Holmes by his side. --Terry Hong

Shelf Talker: Jiro Akagawa's extensive detective-and-kitty mystery series finally gets an English debut of the intriguing first volume, A Game of Cat and Killer, almost 50 years after its 1978 Japanese publication.