Matthew Sullivan received his MFA from the University of Idaho and has been a resident writer at Yaddo, Centrum, and the Vermont Studio Center. His short stories have been awarded the Robert Olen Butler Fiction Prize and the Florida Review Editor's Prize for Fiction and have been published in many journals, including The Chattahoochee Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Fugue, Evansville Review, and 580-Split. In addition to working for years at Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver and at Brookline Booksmith in Boston, he currently teaches writing, literature, and film at Big Bend Community College in the high desert of Washington State. The author of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, he is married to a librarian and has two children.

"With Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, Matthew Sullivan has written--with great panache and suspense--a smart, twisty crime novel filled with compelling characters set in a world that book-lovers will adore."--Jess Walter, # 1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins

"There is a clever, erudite puzzle plot in this bookish mystery, along with whip-smart writing. Matthew Sullivan's debut is stylish and entertaining."--Ellen Crosby, author of The Champagne Conspiracy

"This quirky debut novel will have particular appeal for puzzle solvers and booklovers." --Booklist

"Though darker than other beloved novels set in bookstores, this story will appeal to fans of Gabrielle Zevin's The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and Katarina Bivald's The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend. Mystery readers will also appreciate the clever connections between the characters and the crimes." --Library Journal

"A strong debut. . . powerful, intricate tale of broken friendship and family loyalties." --The Seattle Times

"Twisty and dark, Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore is a remarkable debut that will leave readers unsettled and probably yearning to pay a visit to their local bookstore." --BookPage

"Shocking, charming and thrilling . . . With compelling characters and rich descriptions, Sullivan's writing is spot-on. Sullivan nails it, delivering a captivating conflict plus masterfully executed prose." --Associated Press

"Readers will find that Sullivan had a bright idea, indeed." --St. Louis Post Dispatch

"A quick, enjoyable read." --The Muskogee Phoenix

"I couldn't resist Matthew Sullivan's Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, an appealing first novel. . . . The oddball characters and layered plot make this puzzle mystery both charming and challenging." --The New York Times Book Review

"Quirky characters and a keen sense of place distinguish this multi-generational tale of abandonment, desperation, and betrayal . . . inventive and intricately plotted." --Publishers Weekly, (starred review)

"An intriguingly dark, twisty story and eccentric characters make this book a standout." --Kirkus Reviews

"This book ticked all the boxes for me: an engaging heroine, an intriguing premise, interesting characters and a plot that involved books, readers and the very darkest human passions. A fantastic, assured debut."--Elly Griffiths, author of The Crossing Places

Publisher: Scribner Book Company

Pub date: 2018-01-09

Length: 352 pages