My g/f and I love to watch mystery programs on TV together, especially British shows and movies.

She reads a lot of mystery novels as well, though I not so much because I read for a living as an editor and do a lot of blogging here. I just don’t have a lot of time to be reading novels. But that is about to change. I’ll be making time now.

Another thing my g/f and I share is a love for supporting small, independently-run businesses. We shop at small boutiques in Ste-Adele, Quebec; Vankleek Hill, Ontario; Ottawa and more.

So, my interest was piqued recently when I was contacted by the owners of Stonewall, an LGBTQ bookstore in Ottawa who have just revamped their business and launched a website showcasing many of the titles they offer. I was delighted to see two sections on their site devoted to mystery novels: Lesbian Mysteries and Gay mysteries. They offer much more, of course: from New Releases to Biographies to Young Adults to Transgender to History, Culture & Gender Studies to Gay & Lesbian Fiction and more.

Each book on their site is accompanied by a photo of the cover as well as a description of the story and, often, some info on the writer.

So, I found five books I felt my g/f would love — and that I would like to read, too — and ordered them online Wednesday night. They were delivered by Canada Post to my community mailbox on Friday, less than 48 hours after they had been ordered.

I will be ordering more: I had seen at least 10 I wanted to buy in the Lesbian Mystery section, and I barely glanced at all the other sections on Stonewall’s site.

The prices are decent, and these are books you can’t buy in your average bookstore. Among the classics I bought is Spring Fire, a groundbreaker first published in 1952 and reissued 40 years later.

So, instead of pointing you to newspaper articles today, I’m pointing you to Stonewall’s site, where there’s good literature to be bought from some independent business people who also are making some contributions to the LGBTQ community in their town. You can read more about that on their site.

Bravo, Stonewall!

About Sunday Reads posts: This is a weekly feature giving us all a chance to point to an article or two or three that we found interesting in the preceding week, or the morning of. They can be offbeat, humorous, weighty commentary, whatever. So, if you have any recommendations, please point to them in the readers’ comments section below.

— Jillian

Top photo: Cover of reissue of Spring Fire. Publisher: Cleis Press