Chapter Member
Spotlight Profile
March 1999
Chapter MemberSpotlight Profile
March 1999
Kathy Phillips,
LootSister and Steering Committee member
Our guest this month is Kathy Phillips, a woman of many, many trades. Not only is she our LootSister, on the steering committee, a PR gnome, keeper of the chapter directory (as ChapDir@sinc-ic.org), but a lawyer and part owner of Spenser's Mystery Bookstore as well. Not shy. Has opinions. Knows her books. And you know the fine print on the manufacturer's warranty or software license agreements we tend to toss out? Bet she could write it in her sleep. If she still wanted to. But now she wants to read, and read, and read. And maybe do some selling and writing about books, too. So, for all those who wanted to know a friendly book seller--here you go! But she doesn't do RAM.
"Dorothy Arnold, society girl member of New York's Four Hundred and niece of United States Supreme Court Justice Rufus L. Peckham, was last seen at two P.M. on the chilly afternoon of December 12, 1910. She was at that moment twenty-five years old, five-four in height, weight somewhere between 135 and 145, just about right for a fashionable young lady of the time."Dorothy was not a kick-up-your-heels, madcap type of post-debutante. It is only necessary to look at her wide, placid face to realize that she was inclined to be studious rather than frivolous. Dorothy had been graduated cum laude from Bryn Mawr five years before and still retained the serene manner of the ultra-serious collegian. . . .
"On the day of her disappearance she was expensively and modishly dressed, a fact which would make her highly conspicuous in those days when class distinctions in female dress were sharp. The suit she wore was richly tailor-made: a blue serge coat, cut in at the waist, with a matching tight hobble skirt to the ankles. Her shoes, the high-button shoes of the era, boasted high heels and stylish tops halfway up her calves."
-- "The Girl Who Never Came Back", Allen Churchill, The American Heritage,
Spring 1960
IC
My goodness! 1960! Tell us why this has such significance to you.
Kathy
I was completely entranced -- not only that someone like Dorothy Arnold could have disappeared from the New York streets, but that I could be made to actually see her as she left her home for the last time. What a wonderful conceit -- what happened to her? Why did she vanish? No one ever found out.The story triggered a life's obsession and was a precursor of things to come. At the end of the article was the small note that this article was to be a chapter in Churchill's forthcoming book They Never Came Back to be published by Doubleday in October, 1960. I know because I copied it into a notebook I used in English that year -- I was fourteen -- and I've looked for that book almost continuously ever since. I located it just a month ago, through Bookfinder.com, at a book dealer located in Montclair, New Jersey -- about four miles from the spot I grew up and first read the story.
IC
When did you know you wanted to be a lawyer?
Kathy
My route to law school was somewhat unconventional. I had already worked for seven years (and acquired a Master's in English from Boston College) when I found myself unemployed in the summer of 1974. Anyone around then remembers that we were all firmly planted in front of our televisions watching the House Judiciary Committee investigation of Watergate. And who was more impressive than Barbara Jordan? So when I learned that she had gotten her law degree at Boston University, I did a bit of humming and hemming about it.I had worked as a researcher and analyst for Alliance Capital Management Corp. between 1970 and 1974, so I'd thought about business school, too. I got better scores in the Law exams than I did in the Business School exams, so I went to law school. Short question, long answer.
IC
Which lawyer did you view as the heir to Barbara Jordan during the recent House Judiciary Impeachment Hearing or Senate trial, if any?
Kathy
You are kidding, aren't you?
IC
What was your favorite class in law school?
Kathy
Probably Torts. In retrospect, the professor was a certified psycho pervert, but he was a challenge. I enjoy a challenge. Actually, I think I wasn't ever any happier than I was in law school. It was a blast.
IC
What was the least favorite?
Kathy
Property law -- which was really the law of descents and title. I enjoyed the subject matter, but the professor (who was younger than I at that time) fancied himself a minor league John Houseman who had made such an impression in The Paper Chase. His rudeness and sarcasm failed to impress me. Actually, in retrospect, the law of descent is what so many of the classic English mystery writers used to such good effect in the Golden Age -- Cyril Hare, Henry Cecil, and Henry Wade, for instance.
IC
So then, which area of the law did you go into and which did you like the best?
Kathy
I worked for The First National Bank of Boston for a number of years after law school, but contrary to what most people think, I didn't do much corporate law. Thankgawd. I developed a specialty in the Uniform Commercial Code which governs, among other things, the paying and clearing of checks, the assignment of security interests, and making and paying promissory notes. (Impressive that I can still reel this stuff off so smoothly, huh?) I left the bank to work for Computervision Corporation, the company that developed CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design/Manufacturing -- we were just moving into CIM, Computer Integrated Manufacturing, where robots do the work based on the drawings). Hot stuff. I "lawyered" the deals -- CV made the hardware then, and they entered into contracts to acquire software or intellectual know how. I actually liked parts of both jobs equally well: I very much enjoyed the intellectual challenge of the UCC, but I was excited and stimulated by the negotiations, translating business and technological details into English and putting them into an agreement that could be put into effect. Look, you don't have to know RAM from a disk drive to know how to write a software license or maintenance agreement which explains why I don't know RAM from a disk drive.
IC
What's the worst thing your cat(s) has ever done?
Kathy
Well, my partner is peering over my shoulder and supplying various answers that would do -- such as throwing up on the bed with her in it, or killing a bat in the attic and leaving it for us as a little gift. Since we have three cats now and have had something like six others before these three, there are any number of possibilities. Samuel Peppermint, named by my three-year-old nephew, was only a couple of months old when she took a running leap at one of the shades in the dining room -- the lovely, horizontally, pleated kind, made of a sort of rice paper. And there I am, talking on the telephone, unable to do a thing. Like I could do something.Actually the best worst -- I'm not sure you want to reprint this: Kitty Carlisle discovered a tampon in a suitcase one day, and from then on she dug into any cabinet, dopp kit or box to uncover the things. She'd then worry them until they came apart into their component parts. We'd find paper, cardboard and cotton bits around the house for days after. One day we were sitting in the back porch, sipping beverages with friends, when Kitty came trotting through the door, with a fluffy bit of cotton batting hanging by a string from her mouth. If a cat has ever had a smug look on her face.
IC
Do you remember what kid annoyed you when you were ten and why?
Kathy
Sure -- Wendy Packer, the wimpy kid who lived up the street. She could never get her act together to do anything. She especially couldn't hang out with the boys when I wanted to, even though they had all the fun. I never got over thinking she was the biggest drip.
IC
Which of these animals most appeals to you and why: a panda, koala bear, or zebra?
Kathy
The koala bear -- only because someone I once knew said I reminded her of one. I suspect it's because of the round cheeks and general placidity.
IC
What do you prefer to read: cozy, hardboiled, police procedural, or suspense?
Kathy
I usually prefer the hardboiled or procedural style, although I'm a sucker for the traditional English mystery with clever plotting and devious denouement.
IC
What do you like most about Boston?
Kathy
That's hard. Probably its English-like ambience and, not infrequently, its English climate. Or its proximity to Maine and Vermont to the north and the Cape to the south. Or the Red Sox.
IC
What was your favorite book as a child?
Kathy
Half Magic by Edward Eager.
IC
You are part owner of Spenser's Mystery Bookshop, an independent. How did that come about?
Kathy
While working in Boston at the bank, I discovered Spenser's soon after it opened and I got to know Andy Thurnauer, the proprietor, and his assistant Jim Huang. I agreed to write for The Drood Review of Mystery (Jim's publication) relatively quickly -- and before I knew it I'd agreed to take over Jim's buying duties when he left for Michigan. Ironically, the three of us are all refugees from North Jersey -- make of that what you will. Anyway, I've been working with Andy a fairly long time now and suggested we broaden our horizons -- so I joined up to help with the broadening.
IC
I've read that the most profit one can expect from running an independent book store is from one to two percent. Is that true?
Kathy
I haven't any idea. We've made a bit and we've lost a bit -- no one does this for the income, believe me.
IC
What is unique about Spenser's?
Kathy
Boston in particular and New England in general has a dozen or more mystery authors. We keep up with all of them and with our customers' preferences. Between us, Andy and I cover most of the mysteries available in most genres. Not to mention a fondness for the classical writers. And we maintain both new and used stock in sufficient numbers we can recommend new avenues for customers to pursue and satisfy their interests.Because most of our used hardback books are first editions, we can appeal to the collectors and offer service with the product.
IC
With the rise of the conglomerate stores and the internet entities such as Amazon.com, would you do it all over again?
Kathy
I don't think this is really applicable -- the super stores demonstrate all over again that specialty stores and personal service can survive and do as well as ever. None of the super stores can handle the kind and variety of stock in the genre fiction that a specialty store can. And the internet is really what drew me to invest in the shop -- mail order business is drying up and the internet will provide our future growth. Sure, from time to time we'll lose a sale to Amazon, but that will be in the newest publication, not in the classics. Customers looking for used titles can do much better with the specialty used bookstores; Amazon can't compete in price or availability in used stock that the specialty stores can offer.
IC
What do your customers say led them to an author new to them?
Kathy
A guess -- men read about new authors, women are told about them by friends.
IC
As a bookseller, what have you found works best as author promotion?
Kathy
The best idea is to get the reps to see that galleys are delivered to the stores sufficiently in advance of publication that we can read them -- if we like books, we sell books. If the reps don't do it or the publisher doesn't print enough to satisfy the demand, print a chapter or two and salt the specialty stores. Check out the stores and see what their best selling titles are and how your book can appeal to their client base. Target one or two stores where you know the owners or sales help or where you've developed good rapport; it's better to find one or two shops who are keen to push your book than to get a lukewarm reception from a dozen shops.
IC
What prompted you to join SinC?
Kathy
I wrote Barbara Paul a fan letter -- there's no other way to describe it -- thanking her for writing about two strong, intelligent women in The Renewable Virgin. I was impressed that someone would actually write about women becoming friends rather than adversaries, a more common dynamic beween strong women in mysteries. Anyway, we corresponded, met at Malice Domestic, and she suggested I join.
IC
Does the chapter's LootSister job require huge satchels and a revolver?
Kathy
No, but it requires enough legal savvy to take on the banks' inability to clear a Canadian check without charging $20 to collect $10.
IC
Who was your favorite author when you were in your teens, your twenties, and your thirties?
Kathy
Arghhh! Please, that's like trying to pick a favorite opera -- that is very definitely going to depend on my frame of mind and what day of the week it happens to be. And what's my favorite now. In retrospect, that's even a tougher proposition. But I'll try:In my teens I was particularly fond of Mary Renault -- I read The King Must Die every year for two decades. But I also devoured Thomas Wolfe -- and there is no other time in your life that Wolfe is readable. But most of my teen years were devoted to poetry, particularly Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay. And E.M. Forster's "The Celestial Omnibus."
In my twenties, the books that made the greatest impression on me were Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet. [Justine, Balthaza, Mountolive, Clea] Left me breathless, and I've never forgotten them. But my favorite author was probably Jack Finney -- Time and Again, of course, but his short stories in The Third Level are nothing short of exquisite.
By the time I was in my thirties I had been seduced by the mystery genre. I had already read all of Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayres and Rex Stout, but I hadn't developed much sophistication in distinguishing what made one title good and one somewhat less than adequate. But I found in Cyril Hare, Michael Gilbert, Desmond Bagley, Nicholas Blake, and Ross Thomas a more sophisticated approach to the genre. My favorite book then was either Edward Grierson's The Second Man or Thomas's Chinaman's Chance.
In my forties (you didn't ask but I have to get there for obvious reasons) I discovered that women can do what men do as well or better. I discovered Ruth Rendell and P.D. James -- and Barbara Paul was my favorite author, and Kill Fee was my favorite book. I bet you didn't think I'd admit to having that fourth decade, did you?
IC
Nope. Hee Hee. Tell us about the bird you have in Spenser's. Has he/she a name and does it leave droppings?
Kathy
No. No name, no droppings. And we manage to ignore it rather effectively. It's the disembodied hand sitting next to it, alongside the stuffed pigeon, that is more distracting.
IC
Last words?
Kathy
OK, as the LootSister and former bank counsel, I have the following advice: don't stop payment on a check that is lost in the mail or otherwise goes astray. It costs somewhere between $10 and $20 and only protects the bank. If the check is paid over a forged signature, notify the bank -- they are required by law to credit the money to your account and to charge the money back to the bank it paid. Ultimately, the bank that took the check would take the hit. The only time it makes sense to stop payment on a check is if you give a check for a product that is defective or for work that is not performed or is not performed in accordance with the contract terms or in reasonable workmanlike fashion. Otherwise, let the banks take care of themselves.
Thanks, Kathy. Good advice.This interview was conducted late February 1999 by Louise Guardino.
Read an earlier Spotlight Profile.
