Four Great Reads, One Beloved Bookshop

Kay Zimmerman has owned the Used Bookery on Market Street for 26 years, and her shelves reflect it with a wide, well-organized mix of paperbacks and hardcovers, from children’s books to true crime and nearly everything in between. Prices are affordable, and you can bring in gently used books for store credit.

If you get the chance to chat with Zimmerman, she has plenty of Wilmington stories—like the time she discovered an old photograph from her own wedding tucked inside a box of books brought into the shop. Even though she always loved collecting books, she credits James Patterson’s Alex Cross series with turning her into a devoted reader “later in life.” All types of readers are welcome here.

For something a little more exciting this season, she recommends four very different escapes: a Southern Gothic true-crime classic, a twisty modern domestic thriller, a cinematic WWII leadership chronicle, and a warm small-town family romance about second chances. 

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

On a humid Savannah night, a gunshot inside the grand Mercer House cracks open a world most visitors never see. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil follows antiques dealer Jim Williams after he kills Danny Hansford—then spends nearly a decade fighting for his freedom through four riveting murder trials. But the real spell is Savannah itself: moss-draped squares, whispered secrets, and a wickedly funny chorus of socialites, con artists, a voodoo priestess, and the unforgettable Lady Chablis. True crime that reads like Southern Gothic folklore.

The Tenant by Freida McFadden

Blake Porter’s life is already cracking—newly fired, mortgage looming, wedding plans wobbling—so renting a room in his brownstone feels like a lifeline. Enter Whitney: polished, charming, seemingly perfect. Then the house turns sour. A stubborn stench of decay lingers. Noises skitter in the night. Small incidents pile up until Blake can’t tell what’s real and what’s being staged. As friends and fiancée begin to doubt him, Whitney tightens the screws—quietly, expertly—until Blake suspects she isn’t just a tenant. She’s a reckoning. The Tenant is a fast, twisty spiral into paranoia, secrets, and revenge.

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

Erik Larson turns history into a page-turner, dropping you into Winston Churchill’s first year as prime minister—when Britain stood alone and London burned night after night. From May 1940 to May 1941, Larson tracks the Blitz in vivid, ground-level detail while showing the high-wire politics unfolding behind blackout curtains: intelligence briefings, propaganda battles, and the urgent push to win U.S. support that leads to Lend-Lease. Just as riveting are the private pressures—Clementine’s strain, the children’s turmoil, the “secret circle” of advisers—revealing how leadership looks when the world won’t stop falling.

Balancing Act by Emily March

In “Balancing Act” (Lake in the Clouds, Book 2), Genevieve Prentice is finally building a life in the Colorado mountains—one that’s hers, not defined by motherhood—when her estranged daughter, Willow, shows up with two children and a suitcase full of secrets. As old wounds resurface, both women are forced to reckon with what they never said, and what they can’t outrun. Meanwhile, Willow’s wary attraction to her firefighter neighbor, Drew, offers a spark of hope—and a reminder that second chances require honesty. Warm, emotional, and quietly transformative, it’s a story of multigenerational healing and new beginnings.

Stop by the shop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.