On the last day of May, I began a long road-trip that would take me from South Bend, Indiana across the United States to La Jolla, California and then back. The purpose of my trip was to attend the graduation of one of my granddaughters from UCSD. To get there, I decided to drive and visit several independent bookstores along the way. I took a stack of my books with me and, by way of introduction, gave one to the representative of the bookstores that I visited. In addition to placing my book, “The Dark Narcs,” in some great indie bookstores, I had the pleasure of browsing the shelves and buying something for myself.

May 31, 2022


I left South Bend early on I-80 to I-294 to I-88 and finally to US 30 that took me across the Mississippi River into Iowa at Clinton. From there I went north along the Mississippi to Bellevue, Iowa and the Bookworm Bookstore on the main street there. 


Bookworm Bookstore, Bellevue, Iowa

This is a charming little store packed with interesting books of quite a variety of genres and titles. If it were in my town, I would be a regular customer. I picked up a new (to me)  Louise Penny, “The Madness of Crowds.”






Riverlights Bookstore, Dubuque, Iowa






A wonderful, independent bookstore, in a great location, in a beautiful small town. This store has everything, including a number of bookclubs, and could be the envy of any town, especially a town this size. Very knowledgeable staff. So many enticing titles prominently displayed that I could not narrow my choices down to one so instead I purchased some novelty, book-lovers' socks for my wife. She loved them!


The Soul Book Nook, Waterloo, Iowa



I really wanted to make contact in this place but unfortunately it was closed when I arrived and my schedule would not allow for a visit the next day. It is important to me as a Black-owned bookstore and I look forward to contacting the owners in another way. I will make sure that a copy of "The Dark Narcs" makes its way into this store and community.



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