Gary Shulze, the former owner of Once Upon a Crime Bookstore in Minneapolis, Minn., who "knew just about everything there is to know about local writers and mystery writers and the wonderful, delicate art of selling books," died Wednesday, the Star Tribune reported. He was 66. Last month Shulze and his wife, Pat Frovarp, sold the store they had owned for nearly 14 years because of his declining health. In 2011, the bookstore was honored by the Mystery Writers of America with a Raven Award.
"He was a kind man, and he would listen to you, even when things were busy," said mystery writer and long-time friend Carl Brookins. "He'd give you his full attention. He was a vast reader. He read all kinds of things, mostly in the mystery and crime fiction area, but he also read in other literature, and so he was knowledgeable about many of the past authors who've come and gone. He was not wedded to a particular genre or sub-genre."
Frovarp and Shulze bought the store in 2002 and were married there five years later. The Star Tribune noted that for the occasion, they "wore their standard uniform of white T-shirts and black jeans. Shulze's T-shirt read 'Shop Locally.' Frovarp carried pink roses. They said their vows standing between a giant cardboard revolver that hung on the wall, and mock crime tape that bisected the back doorway."
"I think Gary was ready. The last few weeks had been pretty bad," Frovarp told the Pioneer Press, which added that she "believes her husband died at peace because they were able to complete the sale of their store at 604 26th St. W. on March 31, when Schulz signed the papers in his hospital room. She said they were happy to leave the bookstore in the hands of new owners Dennis Abraham and his wife, Meg King-Abraham."
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Swedish poet Lars Gustafsson, who was also "a renowned novelist, philosopher and cultural critic" and "one of Europe's leading literary figures," died April 2, according to his British publisher, Bloodaxe Books. He was 79. Gustafsson's books include The Death of a Beekeeper, Stories of Happy People, The Stillness of the World Before Bach, Selected Poems, A Time in Xanadu, A Tiler's Afternoon and Elegies & Other Poems.
Bloodaxe noted that Gistafsson produced "a voluminous flow of poetry, novels, short stories, critical essays and articles from the 1950 onwards, gaining international recognition with literary awards such as the Prix International Charles Veillon des Essais in 1983, the Heinrich Steffens Preis in 1986, Una Vita per la Litteratura in 1989, and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for poetry in 1994, as well as a Nobel nomination."