Suspense sells: a Black-owned bookstore in Pennsylvania targets readers of mysteries, detective stories and crime fiction. (market buzz).

Juanita Koukoui thrives on intrigue. For five years, she has provided a haven for hundreds of sinister characters. Known plotters of all kinds have been welcomed at her place in a quaint area of Yeadon, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia.

But neither the authorities nor Koukoui's neighbors seem overly concerned by her activities at It's a Mystery to Me, a bookstore that specializes in mystery, detective and crime fiction, and located in a largely African American suburb of approximately 12,000 residents.

The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association (IMBA), an international organization, lists about 60 member-stores in its directory. It is unknown if any IMBA-member bookstores or those listed in the directory are black-owned. Koukoui, who is not an IMBA member, says she does not know of any other African Americans who specialize in the genre, either.

Koukoui opened It's a Mystery to Me in 1999, as a "retirement business." She had been silk-screen printer for 19 years and a former art teacher in Philadelphia schools. In the mornings, she operates Special Effects, a silk-screen printing company she opened in 1984. In the afternoons, she then heads off to the bookstore to relieve her daughter, Ingrid Gibson-Porter.

Koukoui, a longtime resident of Yeadon, says she opened the bookstore because she saw a need and wanted to give something back to the community. The store also allows her to indulge in her literary passion. "I am an avid mystery and suspense fan," says Koukoui. She recalls that she got started as a child with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, a part of C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series.

As an adult, she discovered a wealth of good mysteries, many of them by African American authors. "Many people don't know we write in that genre," says Koukoui. (See TRIBUTE, page 63, for a profile of the first-known black mystery writer Rudolph Fisher.)

Paula L. Woods, author of the Charlotte Justice mystery series, agrees. "The increased popularity of African American writing, affected all kinds of writing--literary fiction, mystery, romance and science fiction.

"And, while it's an old story, Walter Mosley's recognition by President Clinton (as one of his favorite writers) also got a lot of people to thinking about the black perspective on crime--not just as perpetrators or victims, but as heroes," says Woods. "Not that there weren't African Americans writing crime novels along with or even before Walter, but the much deserved recognition he received made a lot of people hungry for more crime stories told from an authentic black perspective."

It's a Mystery to Me carries a variety of other titles, but about 65 percent of the store's retail space is devoted to the mystery genre, by black writers and others. Koukoui also stocks other African American fiction and nonfiction works.

One quarter of the store shelves are devoted to children's books, including mysteries. Author Evelyn Coleman has written two American Girls History Mysteries that feature African American characters, and she is happy to see children exposed to mysteries.

"The mystery genre encourages critical thinking, attentiveness to details, stimulates memory, provides new paradigms for children to explore, and introduces cutting-edge science or exposes history," Coleman says

It's a Mystery to Me offers a carpeted playroom for the little ones, while their parents shop. There are two rules: No books and no shoes are allowed in the area.

"I am a community store. I am always creating special events and activities because I see It's a Mystery to Me as a destination," says Koukoui. In addition to author signings, she holds mother-daughter and father-son book discussions, puppet theater and a Halloween costume party. In the summer, she has an outdoor "Ugly Book Fair" which offers remainders, damaged and hurt books. Koukoui is currently developing annual Black Mystery Month activities. Schedule to launch in February 2004.

What's hot? Koukoui says two novels by Sam Greenlee are among the store's most popular, she calls them "oldies," as well as sleepers: Baghdad Blues (Kayoda Publications, ISBN 1-879-83102-3) and The Spook Who Sat by the Door (Lushena Books, ISBN 1-930-09727-1). The Sister Sleuth series by Valerie Wilson Wesley, Barbara Neely, and the late Nora DeLoach also sell well.

--Gwendolyn Osborne, who writes the Market Buzz section for BIBR,/s also a senior reviewer for The Mystery Reader (www.themysteryreader.com).

It's a Mystery to Me Bookstore 723 Church Lane, Yeadon, PA 19050 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; Website: www.itsamysterytomebookstore.com