In the golden age of Amazon.com and with a megalith of a bookstore on campus, most students don’t venture out to book-and-mortar shops these days. Last weekend, however, I did just that—and boy, am I glad I did.

Tucked into a small storefront on North Euclid Avenue in the Central West End (across the street from the Drunken Fish) is Big Sleep Books. This gem of a bookshop is a mystery-lover’s paradise. Self-described as “specializ[ing] in Mystery, Detection, and Espionage books,” this shop certainly lives up to its depiction.

Located on Euclid Avenue in the Central West End, across the street from the Drunken Fish, independent bookstore Big Sleep Books specializes in “mystery, detection and espionage books,” ranging from murder mysteries to spy novels.

When I first arrived at the store on a Saturday afternoon, there was a handwritten sign on the door noting that the clerk would be back in 10 minutes—this was my first clue to the old-school charm of the shop.

Luckily I wasn’t in a hurry, so I grabbed a coffee across the street and meandered back after a few minutes. Once inside, I entered a single room bursting with books overseen by a man sitting at a desk near the back (who I later learned was one of the owners).

I was the only customer in the store, and I received a soft greeting and an offer of any needed assistance. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the depth of selection, I asked for some suggestions.

I started by offering a few mysteries that I had read over the summer and enjoyed, and the conversation began to flow. The first suggestion was a mystery based in Bangkok involving a police officer and a mysterious death by a rattlesnake.

Beyond just suggesting the book, the owner offered the entire story of how he came upon the obscure novel in the first place. It involved a customer deciding to read the single hardback copy he had in the store and then returning two months later to insist that the owner himself read the book.

At first I was a little surprised by the story, because who would really be so invested in a book or store that they would do that? Eventually, however, as our discussion about the Thai murder mystery turned to the time I had spent living in Singapore, the contradictions of Buddhism in Eastern Asia and the study of history, I began to fully understand why customers felt such a strong connection to the books they purchased and the store itself.

I find that it is quite rare these days to leave a store fully satisfied with the service, let alone genuinely enhanced by your experience there, but Big Sleep Books certainly did that for me, and I can’t wait to enjoy the four (couldn’t narrow it down) books I left with.

Do yourself a favor and go check this little shop out—especially if mysteries are your secret passion (like they are for me). Go for the expertise of the staff, the quaintness of the shop and the reminder of what it’s like to truly get excited about opening up a book because you want to and not because your syllabus demands it.