SHOP OWNER'S LIFE OF INTRIGUE : BOOK LOVER SELLS MYSTERY NOVELS.

Byline: Victoria Giraud

Audrey Moore said she opened the Mysteries To Die For bookstore in Thousand Oaks four years ago because she was bored and needed something exciting.

Moore got the idea for opening a mystery bookstore during a visit to Colorado, where her daughter was getting a master's degree in English literature. Audrey stopped at a mystery bookstore that was advertising for a part-time clerk and suggested that her daughter apply. As part of the employment process, applicants had to identify 10 mystery authors and their protagonists. Audrey's daughter wasn't a mystery fan and failed to get the job.

``I could have gotten that job,'' said Audrey, chuckling. ``I did the next best thing and opened my own store a year or so later.''

Audrey has loved mysteries since she was a child more than 50 years ago. She started with Agatha Christie, whose work is suitable for youngsters, she said. ``There's always a nice puzzle to unravel.''

Audrey reads five or six books a week, a hobby that helps her in her business. ``When you own a bookstore, you're a true lover of books,'' she said. She wants to be familiar with all the books in stock, not only so she can advise customers but also so she can review each new book in her bimonthly newsletter.

Competition with the large bookstore chains doesn't worry Audrey, whose store carries thousands of hardbound and paperback volumes. ``They can't carry this many mysteries, and they don't want to bother with small publishing houses,'' Audrey said. ``If you're a true fan of mysteries, you belong in a mystery bookstore.''

Mysteries come in all varieties: hard-boiled and soft-boiled, detective, suspense, thrill, light-hearted, historical, police-oriented and even cozy.

Male authors used to dominate the mystery field, but the growth of female mystery writers has been phenomenal, Audrey said. During the 1970s, fewer than 300 women were writing mysteries that got published. The number grew to more than 1,100 in the early 1990s. Audrey also speculated that more women than men read mysteries, and many of them will read only books by female authors.

Audrey arranges for authors to come and autograph their books every other weekend, but the authors don't just sit behind a table signing books. Instead, they can read from their work and answer questions from their fans. ``First-time authors get a chance to explain what they're all about,'' she said.

Audrey recalled one autograph session with author Bob Crais. ``He cut himself shaving (earlier that morning) and he bled through the whole signing,'' she said.

Author Bruce Jones, whose latest book is ``Maximum Velocity,'' will be autographing his works at noon Dec. 7 at the store, 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd. And for the store's annual Christmas party, scheduled for 11 a.m. Dec. 14, award-winning authors Richard Barre and Gar Anthony Haywood have written original short stories that will be given to the first 50 visitors.

Audrey, a mother of six children, moved to Thousand Oaks 11 years ago when her husband got a job transfer. When she first thought about opening a bookstore, she feared she would be overwhelmed by the work.

``I knew I would be working six days a week, but the shame of it is, I wish I had done it many years ago,'' Audrey said.

Audrey plays bridge twice a month, but books and her customers are her real passion. ``I really like people, and I love every minute of it,'' she said. ``There's something going on all the time.''

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Photo

Photo: As owner of the Mysteries To Die For bookstore in Thousand Oaks, Audrey Moore gets to indulge her love of reading mystery novels.

Tom Mendoza/Daily News