Who We Are
Grave Matters was founded in 1986. Although Grave Matters was originally conceived by John to be our retirement business, our catalogs came more frequently each year until we printed one each month. Searching for interesting books to fill those catalogs was much fun. We enjoyed meeting the unusual and literate people who populate the book world, and we finally took the steps necessary for both of us to become full-time booksellers.
Soon we started exhibiting selections of our better books at antiquarian book fairs. In 1994 we co-sponsored the Ohio Valley Mystery Book Fair and attended the first Magna cum Murder in Muncie, Indiana. As the years passed we enjoyed attending many mystery conventions including Bouchercon, Left Coast Crime, Mid-Atlantic Mystery Convention and many others.
In the summer of 1997 we posted our first listings on the internet sites of Bibliofind and Advanced Book Exchange and soon thereafter our books were available on Alibris as well. At the same time we also started our own web site and in March of 1998 we added a searchable database with secure shopping cart technology. At this point our selections can be reached by links on the Catalog page.
Through the years we have particularly enjoyed selling mysteries written in the Golden Age of Detection. You will continue to find those authors represented in our stock. We have been dedicated to supplying customers with used and out-of-print mystery and detective fiction and related reference material. From our stock of 20,000 volumes, you can choose from fine first editions or inexpensive paperbacks for your reading pleasure.
We have continued attending mystery conventions through the years and we issued print catalogs until John died in May of 2011. Alice Ann is continuing Grave Matters by selling our books through ABE, Alibris and Bibliofind. You can reach these links through our Catalog page. Thank you for your continued support of Grave Matters through these 25 years and we hope we can again provide you with the mysteries you want to read and collect.
Alice Ann Carpenter
September 2011
John Leininger
John died on May 1, 2011, after a three week bout with a very aggressive liver cancer. He spent the last week of his life in ICU trying chemo to give us some time, but the cancer was just too advanced. The speed of this devastating disease has left his friends and family in shock.
We both had a good time at Left Coast Crime in Santa Fe in March—he was doing what he loved—helping Tom and Enid from Rue Morgue sell their books. John loved to read and he loved to sell books. We were also able to spend several mornings bird watching—some new birds for our list from New Mexico. It was so good to spend time with friends there.
Grave Matters was his idea 25 years ago and he dedicated much of his time to it. He also loved his family very much. His step-daughters Maureen and Jenny and his grandchildren Jocelyn, Alaina and Devlin were very important to him. His wonderful sons-in-law, Chris and Donal continue to be helpful to me. His younger brother Fritz, our sister-in-law Ginny and twin nieces, Kate and Sue, were also very important to him. I couldn't have made it through these last weeks without Ginny's help in translating the medicalese. I feel very fortunate that he chose to spend the last 38 years of his life with me and that we could work together on something we both enjoyed very much. We liked traveling to buy books, attending conventions and taking the occasional day to watch the birds or be tourists.
John was a gentle man, a dedicated pacifist his entire life and he believed deeply in the causes of peace and justice. He also loved mathematics and did number games in his head while he made origami sculptures. I miss him very much and will not make hasty decisions about Grave Matters or anything else. For the present I intend to continue selling books through our web site and through ABE, Alibris, etc. John did all of the technical parts and I need help with those now. Family and friends are already working to give me assistance. I won't be able to do many of the special catalogs John created, but we have nearly 25,000 books here and it would give me pleasure to be able to continue our relationship with our customers.
-Alice Ann Carpenter
A Grave Matters Photo Album: family, cats & flowers:
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