Finding a great independent bookstore is thrilling, and that is exactly how I felt when I discovered Mysteryscape, a full-scale mystery
bookstore in Overland Park, KS.
Open since May, Mysteryscape
has appeal not only for whodunit, paranormal, foreign intrigue, detective
series and legal suspense fans, but for anyone who loves books.
One of the seating areas
A very relaxed vibe greets you when you enter Mysteryscape. Soft jazz plays in the background and a pair of comfortable-looking leather chairs
beckon to you, “Come sit down and read.”Plus the decor has an intriguing modern Agatha Christie/early silent movie era feel to it.
Toward the back is a miniature coffee/refreshment bar with lounge-like seating tucked in nearby. For sale is fresh-brewed coffee, hot or cold tea, soda, water, brownies and other items if you are thirsty or feel like snacking.
A gathering/seating area
SkullGirlz T-shirts
On the other side of the store is a small gift area.Some of the items available for purchase include SkullGirlz
t-shirts, which are designed locally by Michelle Hoffine, purses,
intriguing board games, coffee blends, mugs and teas.
Begin browsing through the used books at Mysteryscape, and you'll see that theyare in very good condition, well organized and reasonably priced.
Items from the gift area
Mysteryscape
also offers new book releases and current top sellers.Even better, it is possible to pre-order certain
upcoming titles and receive a ten-percent discount.
If you need a book suggestion, the co-owners, Acia Morley and Cheri LeBlond, are both
highly knowledgeable about the mystery genre and can make some great
recommendations.
And if that's not enough, Mysteryscape
now sells new and used BBC and PBS mysteries, dramas and cooking shows on DVD, and their
collection continues to grow in size and variety.
A glimpse inside Mysteryscape
The store contains all the popular sections for mystery fans…thrillers,
crime fighters and so on…but the areas that caught my interest the most were Twisted
(crafting mysteries with some great names!), the $1 books, collectible first
editions, and across the pond selections.
The only section that I did not see that would have been nice is true
crime.According to Mysteryscape, though, they are working on that area.
As far as activities, Mysteryscape
fills up the calendar.They have
five active book clubs including“Passport to Murder” and “Women of Intrigue.”There are monthly game nights, workshops, speakers
and author events as well as other frequent fun happenings.
The local chapter of Sisters In Crime also meets regularly
at Mysteryscape.This Saturday their speakers will be
Steve Paul, editor of Kansas City Noir, a
recently released book of dark short stories with local connections,along with local authors and contributors
to Kansas City Noir, Linda Rodriquez,
Nancy Pickard, and Catherine Browder, who will all read excerpts from the book.
If you would like to visit Mysteryscape, they are located at 7309 W. 80th St. in
Overland Park.Their phone number is
913-649-0000, and their hours are:
Tues. & Wed. - 11 am to 5 pm
Thurs. & Fri. - 11 am to 8 pm
Saturday - 9 am to 5 pm Sun. & Mon. - Closed
November 22 - Closed
Dec. 25 - Jan. 1 - Closed
To find out more aboutthis enigmatic bookstore,
how to trade in gently-used books or to view Mysteryscape’s current events calendar, visit their website
at mysteryscape.com.
Disturbing, fascinating and insightful is an accurate way to
describe the Glore Psychiatric Museum in St. Joseph, MO, about an hour north of Kansas City.
Named after George Glore, who worked for the Missouri
Department of Mental Health for most of his 41-year career, the museum focuses
on the history and evolution of mental health treatment.
Located on the grounds of the old State Lunatic Asylum #2 (a.k.a. State Hospital #2 and St. Joseph State Hospital), which
opened in 1874, the museum successfully captures the feelings of fear, helplessness
and internal confusion that a mentally-ill patient might experience. It also gives a great overview of how much the
treatment of mental health has advanced.
Today, the State Lunatic Asylum #2 no longer exists.A new mental health facility, the Northwest
Missouri Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center, stands across the street from the
old asylum buildings, which have been converted into the Western Reception,
Diagnostic, and Correctional Center, a state prison facility.
The Glore Psychiatric Museum began its existence in one of
those old asylum buildings, but now resides in a newer building on the
property that was completed in the late 1960s.This newer building was used for hospital admissions and as a patient
clinic before the rehabilitation center across the street opened.
The museum was created when Glore, with the help of other
hospital staff and patients, decided to build “full-size replicas of 16th,
17th, and 18th century treatment devices.”Glore wanted to make the public more aware of
mental health issues and reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness.
Over the years, Glore continued building popular displays
and began collecting everything to do with mental health treatment.Today, the museum has grown to four floors of
captivating exhibits and memorabilia that will do nothing less than unnerve
you.
The Morgue/Autopsy Room
The basement is actually a good place to begin a self-guided
tour of the museum, where a morgue and autopsy room awaits you at the end of
the hall. The morgue was once used to
house the bodies of patients until families could make arrangements for them.
Additionally, the state of Missouri used the morgue/autopsy
room anytime there were suspicious deaths, bodies pulled from the nearby river,
or deaths involving foul play.It was
even used to house a Northwestern Missouri family of four after they were
murdered.
Although the morgue is no longer in use today, the
refrigeration units, which can hold up to four bodies at a time, still work and
are kept at an average temperature of 40 degrees.
Rugs being created in the weaving shop
Other museum highlights on the basement level include a
therapy room and examples of items created by patients while working in various
occupational areas of the old hospital, including rugs made in the weaving shop
and an artificial leg made in the cobbler shop.
Artificial leg made at the hospital
Moving up to the first floor of the Glore, you will find a
gift shop, old photos and letters from the asylum, and even a prescription log
from 1927-1930 which shows alcohol as the medication given for anything from
the flu to cancer.
Staircase from 1880
Toward the back of the first floor is also an exhibit
showing the lower portion of the grand staircase from the asylum’s
administration building, which dates back to 1880.
Stomach contents of patient
On the second floor of the museum is one of the strangest
exhibits you will ever see, the artistically displayed stomach contents of a
woman who was a patient at the hospital in 1929.She suffered from an eating disorder and
complained of stomach pains.When the
doctors performed surgery on her, they found 1,446 items inside her stomach,
including nails, safety pins, buttons, carpet tacks, thimbles and a nail
file.Unfortunately, the woman died
during surgery.
Restraint Cage
The second floor also displays scenes with authentic
equipment that was used for different therapy methods on mental health patients
throughout the years, including hydrotherapy, wet sheet packs and electro-convulsive
therapy.There is also a room with original examples and replicas of various containment devices used in the past to subdue
mental illness sufferers, including a restraint cage and a tranquilizer chair.
Tranquilizer Chair
Walking up to the third and last floor of the museum, you
are greeted by a row of antique wheelchairs and a collection of crutches.These are examples of what would have been
used in the hospital during its more than130-year history.
A row of wheelchairs
Moving down the hall, rooms with exhibits explaining the use
of music therapy in the hospital, what church services were like, how the
kitchen worked and meals distributed, and a replica of what a patient room
would have looked like at the hospital are fascinating windows into the world
of the mentally ill at the old hospital.Patients at the facility had very little privacy, and the rooms in some
buildings were crammed with up to four beds.
Replica of a patient room
Eggshell Mosaic
Also housed on the third floor is artwork created by
patients during therapy.Some of the
artwork, including an eggshell mosaic is beautiful, while other things like a
life-sized cloth doll named Robert are a bit creepy.All of the art, however, is interesting, revealing, and seems to be screaming out for a sense of mental balance.
The most memorable items on this floor are a collection of
100,000 cigarette packages which a patient believed he could redeem for a new
wheelchair, a television set stuffed with papers and letters that a patient
possibly thought would be transmitted if they were placed inside the TV, and a
framed embroidered sheet which a mute, schizophrenic female patient used to
communicate.Instead of speaking, she
embroidered words and phrases into the sheet.
Robert the Doll
100,000 cigarette packages
Not accessible to the public on your visit are the underground
tunnels that once connected the Glore Museum building to the other buildings still standing on the old hospital grounds.
These tunnels were once used to transport patients from
building to building without having to go outside.Today, however, the tunnels connecting the museum
building to any of the nearby prison facilities have been walled up for security
reasons.
TV stuffed with letters and notes
Embroidered Sheet
If you go to the Glore Psychiatric Museum, it will be unlike
any museum you have ever experienced before, and it is filled with many more
fascinating items and exhibits than I can possibly describe in this blog.
All the time and energy George Glore put into creating this
museum and educating the public about the history of mental health was well
spent.The Glore Psychiatric Museum will
horrify you, captivate you, and maybe even give you a feeling of empathy for
those afflicted with mental illness.
This attraction is definitely not geared toward children,
but for adults who go, I doubt you will be disappointed. It is worth the admission charge.
VIDEO BY ST. JOSEPH MUSEUM
The museum is located at 3406 Frederick Avenue in St.
Joseph and is part of the St .Joseph Museums, Inc. system.They are open Monday – Saturday
from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m, Sundays from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., and
closed on major holidays.
Admission is:
Adults - $5.00
Seniors (60 and above) - $4.00
Students (ages 7-18) - $3.00
Children under 6 – free
Group rate – (20 ore more) - $4.50
Museum members receive free admission
Guided tours can be arranged for groups by calling 1-800-530-8866
or 816-232-8471.
One a side note: For your $5 admission to the psychiatric museum, you also have access to the other exhibits throughout the building that are not part of the Glore. They include a great exhibit on Civil War medicine plus a small Jesse James area and a decent-sized doll display.
Kansas City native, self-professed cat lover and Midtown
resident Julie Tenenbaum has never seen herself as an artist, but over the past
year, that is exactly how others have begun to view her.
Julie is the creator of“Benny Cat,” a wonderful, whimsical, embroidered cat who seems to be
popping up on coffee shop walls and in venues all over town.
The Benny Cat Inspiration
Benny was “born” a few years ago when Julie was learning to
embroider. She was wondering about what
to make and remembered a pottery piece with an adorable cat face she had seen at
Urban Mining Homewares.She pulled out a
simple drawing she had made of the cat, put her hands and creative spirit in
gear, and before she realized it, Benny had entered the world.
Since then, Benny has blossomed and developed a unique feline
personality all his own.According to
Julie, “Benny is intelligent, fearless and full of adventure.He will go places no other cats would dare to
go.”
Baker Benny
Benny is also quite a chameleon in his appearance.Sometimes he is purple or pink.At times he has stripes, and he may or may not have whiskers.“You never know with
Benny,” says Julie.
Benny’s environment often changes as well.He may pop up in a trash can, in a bowling
alley, in the rain, in a chair reading a book or just about anywhere else you
could imagine.He’s a very mobile and
versatile cat.
The whole “Benny movement” has been quite surprising for
Julie who, when she isn’t creating new artwork, owns and runs a secretarial
service, is a yoga enthusiast who taught the exercise technique to beginners
for 12 years and holds a B.A. in psychology from Washington University.
To satisfy her creative streak, Julie has always enjoyed
sewing and has gone through phases of knitting, crocheting, drawing and
painting small wooden objects and Altoid® boxes.
Something about embroidering and Benny Cat, however, grabbed
Julie’s inner artist, and she has never looked back.From a beginning sketch to matting and
framing, Julie enjoys the entire creative process, even when tackling large,
detailed pieces, which can take up to two months to complete.
Benny In The Bathroom
Julie and Benny’s first public show was in November 2011 at
the St. James Lutheran Church in North Kansas City.Since then Benny has found a permanent
display home at The Rainbow Pet Hospital and can also be seen this month at One
More Cup, a coffee house in Waldo.
So what’s next for Julie and Benny?Julie is busy checking into licensing and
merchandising Benny along with expanding her artistic side while Benny is busy
exploring life and making people smile.Together, they want to see as much of the world and meet as many nice
folks as possible.
If you would like to learn more about Julie,
Benny pieces for sale and other additional information, visit Julie’s website at catstitchstudio.com.
In the near future, there will also be a “Benny Cat at CatStitch
Studio” page on Facebook where you will be able to “like” Benny.
Local author Linda Rodriguez offers readers a strong female
protagonist, an intriguing mystery and a local setting in her debut novel, Every Last Secret.
As the story begins, Marquitta “Skeet” Bannion” has had all
she can take of big city life.The
stress of being the highest ranking woman and a homicide detective in the
Kansas City Police Department, dealing with a jealous ex-husband who keeps
popping up in her life, and the disgrace of having her alcoholic father retire
from the police force under suspicious and possibly immoral circumstances force
Skeet to seek a calmer and quieter life.
Hoping she will finally find peace, she resigns from the
KCPD and heads for the fictional small town of Brewster (which sounds very
similar to Parkville), located just outside of Kansas City, to take a position
as the chief of a college campus police force.
Everything seems to be going well for Skeet until the
student editor of the college newspaper is found murdered in his office.What unfolds for Skeet is a death
investigation filled with a pool of unlikeable suspects, layers of academic
bureaucracy, and all of her old problems resurfacing with a powerful vengeance.
Whether she likes it or not, Skeet knows she must put her
former homicide detective skills to work and unravel the dark secrets of the
university and the seemingly perfect small town of Brewster in order to solve
the gruesome and heinous crime.
As the body count rises and the case grows more dangerous,
Skeet also realizes she needs to stop avoiding her own problems and face her
demons back in Kansas City once and for all.
Released in April, Every
Last Secret is a recent winner of the Malice Domestic Best
First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition and a good read, but from a
critical point of view, this first attempt at the mystery genre by Linda
Rodriguez would grab even more attention if the characters were more atypical
and the plot not quite so predictable.
The story needs a bigger dose of
originality and surprise to make it a true hard-to-put-down, “I’m not going to
get any sleep until I finish this book” page-turner.
Also, the novel would benefit from an edgier,
grittier writing style which would help its audience not just read about the
danger and tension pulsating from the devious plot, but instead almost feel the
disturbing emotions jumping off the pages and into their minds.
That being said, if you are from the Kansas City area, you
will probably find this is a fun read because of the familiar locations described
in the book.Downtown, Westport and the
Plaza are mentioned along with Union Station and Jack Stack Barbecue in the freight
district.
Additionally, if you read and enjoy Every Last Secret, you’ll be glad to know that Rodriguez is
currently working on a second Skeet Bannion book.So, who knows – maybe this will be the first
selection in an evolving mystery series with a big spoonful of Kansas City
flavor. We’ll just have to wait and see…
Heading to Kansas City's Crossroads District for First Fridays is a great way to spend an evening...a little art, a little entertainment, and some really good food.
But what has made First Fridays even better over the last year or so are the numerous food trucks that are now allowed to set up shop (you can find them all at approximately 21st and Wyandotte) and serve anything from tacos to snow-balls.
On one recent trip to First Fridays I decided to try the offerings of the KC BBQ truck. First of all, it was hard to miss. It was a huge red truck with flames on the side. But what really drew me to them were the free pulled pork and brisket samples they were handing out - yummy!
The KC BBQ Truck At First Fridays
As I ravenously checked out their menu, not only were my taste buds pleased with their delicious "teaser" meat samples, my nose was happy as well. Coming from their truck was the irristible smell of fresh smoked meat.
On the menu that evening was either a pulled pork or brisket sandwich with chips and a pickle for $7 or a rib basket with either potato salad or coleslaw for $8.
They also offered several kinds of soda, bottled water and frozen lemonade. The side items by themselves (potato salad and coleslaw) were $2.
Lots of BBQ Sauces To Choose From
I ordered the brisket sandwich with chips, and it was delicious. I also had my choice of four different BBQ sauces - mild, sassy, zesty and hot. Additionally, they had onion and pickle slices available to top off their sandwiches.
After I wolfed down my food, I told the gentlemen working on the KC BBQ truck how much I enjoyed my meal and that I was going to write about them in my blog. They were nice enough to answer questions about their business and give me a tour of their truck.
Inside The KC BBQ Food Truck
When I stepped inside, the first thing I noticed was how clean it was. I also noticed that besides a full kitchen, they had two built-in smokers in the truck. And when they opened those smokers, the smell made me want to eat all over again.
I also learned that KC BBQ has been catering for aproximately eight years. They work most First Fridays, state fairs, and cater for many special events in the area.
Imagine How Good This Smells!
I found their brisket to be juicy, flavorful and a choice I would make again. They also stressed to me they only make and serve what they call "honest food." That means their premium cuts of meat are minimally processed, the rubs they use are MSG free, they don't believe in using fillers or "mystery solutions" to enhance taste, and they only use fresh, natural ingredients for all of their dishes.
So, with First Fridays coming up again at the end of this week, if you find yourselves in the Crossroads and hungry, consider giving KC BBQ a try. I don't think you'll be sorry, and you might even find yourself heading back for more!
