{"id":710898,"date":"2026-04-07T11:25:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/710898\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T11:25:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:25:32","slug":"mystery-romance-bookstore-opens-in-north-center-amid-rise-of-specialty-shops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/710898\/","title":{"rendered":"Mystery-romance bookstore opens in North Center amid rise of specialty shops"},"content":{"rendered":"

During COVID, Jeff Morse realized reading could be an excellent way to cope with the doom and gloom of the pandemic shutdown. He dove deep into the world of mystery, horror and thriller novels with the encouragement of his wife, Amanda Morse, an avid romance reader.<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s combined book tastes have culminated in the opening of the new North Center bookstore, Partners in Crime. Fittingly, the romance-mystery bookstore at 4105 N. Lincoln Ave. opened to the public on Valentine\u2019s Day, with a line out the door throughout the day.<\/p>\n

Jeff and Amanda moved to Chicago from Dallas the day much of the city shut down, in March 2020. Amanda, 39, and Jeff, 35, turned to reading during the pandemic amid remote work.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t until Amanda was laid off from her job and faced an unfriendly market in 2024, that the couple decided it might be time to pivot to a longtime dream.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"BOOKSTORE_2603130154.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Amanda Morse, co-owner of Partners in Crime Bookshop, says \u201cI love romance, but there\u2019s already romance bookstores … [we thought] maybe we need to find a different niche.\u201d <\/p>\n

Manuel Martinez\/Manuel Martinez\/WBEZ<\/p>\n

\u201cI had always talked about wanting to have a bookstore,\u201d Amanda said. \u201cWe kind of talked about it more and more, and we\u2019re like, \u2018well, now maybe it\u2019s the time for this dream to come true.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The two are the only employees working at the genre mashup bookstore, and Jeff still works full-time as a copywriter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the partners in crime,\u201d Jeff laughed.<\/p>\n

The niche business theme mirrors growing trends in bookstores. The number of indie bookstores<\/a> increased by 18% in 2024, the American Booksellers Association reported.<\/p>\n

Specialty bookstores were projected to lead<\/a> the global distribution market with 37% share in the global book market in 2024, according to a report by Fortune Business Insights.<\/p>\n

But genre-specific bookstores have been brewing for a while.<\/p>\n

A mashup of personal tastes <\/p>\n

Mystery bookstores were prominent throughout the 1970s and the 1980s in the United States, with the first opening in New York City in 1972.<\/p>\n

In 2016, the first romance book store<\/a>, Ripped Bodice, opened in California, the first in the Northern Hemisphere; the only other was located in Australia.<\/p>\n

Others soon followed. In Chicago, The Last Chapter Book Shop, a romance bookstore also in North Center, opened in 2023. Afterglow Books in New York, which combined the romance and fantasy genres<\/a> with a Taylor Swift theme, opened in 2024.<\/p>\n

While other genre bookstores have opened \u2014 such as Chicago\u2019s own horror store Bucket O\u2019Blood Books & Records \u2014 the popularity of the romance and mystery genres has prevailed.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"BOOKSTORE_2603130140.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Views of Partners in Crime Bookshop in Chicago, Illinois on March 10, 2026. | Manuel Martinez\/WBEZ<\/p>\n

The mystery and romance genres have dominated the book market industry in recent years, a key reason the Morse couple tapped into the mashup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love romance, but there\u2019s already romance bookstores … [we thought] maybe we need to find a different niche … I love romance, love a happy ending, but then when I need a break, I\u2019m like, let\u2019s go to gruesome true crime,\u201d Amanda said.<\/p>\n

The couple noticed a growing trend that they thought could pave the way for Partners in Crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve noticed there\u2019s definitely been a kind of mashing of the two genres … it\u2019s a romance story, but also a mystery,\u201d Jeff said.<\/p>\n

And the urge to create a space the couple themselves wanted to shop at contributed to the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re gonna make a store, we have to make one that we can both shop at,\u201d Jeff said. \u201cAnd so many couples have come in and done that, husband will go over here and [the wife there].\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"BOOKSTORE_2603130118.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Throughout the store, book lovers will find stickers, postcards, candles and notebooks tailored to their interests. <\/p>\n

Destination for the neighborhood<\/p>\n

Since opening, the 1,500-square-foot space has been a destination for families. A corner of Partners in Crime is dedicated to children\u2019s books.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was important for us that we were still a bookstore for the neighborhood,\u201d Jeff said. \u201cBecause, not everyone reads romance, not everyone reads mystery, but we hope \u2026 since we\u2019ve got true crime, nonfiction, a young adult section, a kids\u2019 section. \u2026 There\u2019s something for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amanda was excited to platform many indie writers \u2014 self-published and from smaller publishers \u2014 who are often overlooked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gravitated toward a lot of the indies and the smaller authors, just because there are a lot of people that aren\u2019t out there, that we\u2019re not hearing their voices,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are so many underrepresented Black authors and things like that. And I\u2019m just like, we want your voice. We want to hear you.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in Partners in Crime, the two genres are broken down even further into subgenres, such as romantic suspense, cozy mystery and romantic fantasy, making it easy for readers to find what they\u2019re looking for.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big bookstore chain… [is] just focusing on stuff that sells really well, which then ultimately, I think, hurts readers, because they\u2019re not going to bump into a lot of books that are mid-lists,\u201d Amanda said.<\/p>\n

So far, business has been positive and encouraging, Jeff said. A book club is planned, as well as other community events.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just happy it\u2019s doing well enough that I\u2019m like, OK, we can stay open… we can pay our bills,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Throughout the store are stickers, postcards, candles and notebooks tailored to book lovers. Seating in the back was chosen to make all customers feel welcomed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s because that\u2019s the big thing about romance, is that anybody can see themselves in it,\u201d Amanda said. \u201cAnd everybody\u2019s represented.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During COVID, Jeff Morse realized reading could be an excellent way to cope with the doom and gloom…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":710899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-710898","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116363180811465033","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=710898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}