Book Quest: John King Books (Detroit, Michigan)

Article by Jordan S.

Most grand tales commence with a noble quest or two, and so it was with Kaiju & Gnome in the days of yore. In a time long past, Kaiju and Gnome embarked upon a valiant journey into the wilds of Chicagoland, driven by the noble pursuit of collecting as many tomes as possible, each to be graced by the signatures of their illustrious authors at an impending literary gathering. Thus began one of our most cherished annual rites: The Book Quest.

On these storied Book Quests, now undertaken several times each year, we set forth with grand designs, charting the treasures we seek to uncover and daring to traverse the wilds in pursuit of our lofty aims. This column shall stand as a testament to these epic adventures and as chronicles of the bookstores we encounter along our path. Welcome, dear reader, to Book Quest!

Some bookstores are epic in scale and scope. Whether it’s the size of their property, their inventory, or just the organization, there are bookstores that defy strategy and pre-planning. No matter what I set my goals for ahead of visiting them, those quests pale in comparison to the actual amount of effort it would take to actually find the books in those stores. If these are used bookstores, this can become doubly challenging. Long ago, I personally adopted the adage that going to some used bookstores, looking for a specific book - especially if newer, can be futile. In response to that, I adopted my two-pronged approach. I would go seeking a specific book and then seeking a specific vibe. However, there are some bookstores where even this two-pronged approach is difficult to pull off. 

Enter John King Books in downtown Detroit, Michigan. 

I first visited John King Books a year ago on my first visit to Detroit. I’d never been in the city before and a visit to the bookstore was suggested by my now-fiance as being very much my speed. However, she gave me a warning ahead of our visit. It was an overwhelming bookstore in terms of its physical size and scope. She told me that before going she would always choose one book to look for and if she didn’t find it, she’d leave immediately because otherwise you could spend hours, if not days, searching through the bookstore. 

I’m a librarian by profession so I’m used to being surrounded by lots of books. But even my fiance’s warnings were not enough to prepare me for John King Books. As we approached Detroit, she asked me what my quest was going to be. My traditional used bookstore quest is as follows: I’m looking for hardcovers of Nero Wolfe mysteries by Rex Stout and paperback copies of Steven Brust books. Most of the time this quest does me good and usually I get to leave a bookstore with something in hand. 

I left John King Books with nothing in hand on that first visit. It wasn’t that the selection was lacking - despite it not having any Rex Stout or Steven Brust. It was that the sheer enormity of the selection made it not only an epic challenge finding the Science Fiction/Fantasy and the Mystery sections but made just reaching them a quest in their own rights. 

John King is huge from the outside. It’s a four story warehouse, south of downtown Detroit and from it you can see the Detroit Skyline to your north. However, when you first enter and ascend entryway stairs into the bookstore proper, it feels narrow and tight. There are book shelves immediately visible but due to what I presume are logistic reasons they are more tightly packed around that entryway than you’d expect from the outside. And you are immediately hit with that beautiful used book scent. Around the entryway and checkout counter, it’s a tight fit but once you venture into the large room of the first floor or the upper floors, the bookstore opens up and you can take in its enormity. 

It is a four story warehouse where each floor is just full of books. Shelves for as far as the eye can see. Shelves along the outer walls. Shelves along the aisles. Shelves at the end of some aisles. Shelves on top of shelves. Fortunately, John King Books is like any great fantasy realm and there are maps at the entrance to help you navigate it. 

Fortunately for my fiance and I, our quests intersected on that first visit together to John King books. She was looking for antique maps for art purposes and I was looking for hardcover mysteries and paperback science fiction/fantasy books. Those are both on the third floor. We wentup the stairs and entered the massive third floor. Our map tells us that her maps are along the northern external wall and indeed we find little shelves underneath the windows facing the Detroit skyline that are full of maps, atlases, and gazetteers of all sizes and shapes. We find ourselves going through little boxes full of old road maps, state maps, maps of rivers and churches, and maps of places that I’m not entirely sure exist anymore, if ever. After we found her some maps, I sought out my sections. While both robust, I was unable to find any of my questing books and since we had made a deal, I left John King books empty handed. 

However, like any great legacy dungeon in a Soulsborne game that leaves you broken after your first attempt, I vowed that I would return to the bookstore and finally accomplish my goals. 

That opportunity presented itself this past weekend. I’ve since moved to Michigan to live closer to my fiance and my parents were visiting for the first time. I got my book-loving gene naturally so my parents asked if there were any bookstores we could go to. Immediately, John King Books came to mind. It was time for a second attempt at the quest. 

This time I went questless. I went seeking nothing short of a better understanding of John King Books. The others I went with had quests. My fiance was seeking books of iconography of saints for an art project. I have some personal interest in the completion of one of these art projects so I told her that I would help seek out iconography of a specific saint. My mother was seeking out a couple of specific books but I warned that finding them in the sheer sprawl of the store would be tricky. I’m not sure she believed before seeing John King but I think believes me now. 

We entered up those entryway steps and immediately found ourselves in those hallowed halls of John King books. I’m pretty sure my mother immediately understood all my warnings and foretellings of the sheer size of the bookstore. I grab one of the maps and scan it. Books on saints are on the fourth floor. My battle plan comes quickly. I’ll make my way up to the fourth floor with a quick stop on the third to scan for any Rex Stout or Steven Brust. Also books about trains on the third floor so I figured I’ll stop by and see if there are any old railroad history books that look interesting. My father goes off towards the sports section on the first floor, though I’m unsure if that was specifically where he was going or if he was just starting on the first floor. My mother inquires with one of the workers and finds that Christian fiction, the genre she is looking for, is mixed into general fiction and is on the third floor. My fiance seeks out the first floor religion section. Later she told me she didn’t even think of looking for a section specifically about saints. We split up and go our separate ways. 

I stop by the railroad history section first. It’s along the rear wall of the floor and while interesting, it doesn’t quite have anything I’m looking for. I turn around and the hardcover mysteries are right there as well. I searched and there’s only one hardcover book related to Nero Wolfe/Rex Stout and it’s a “Nero Wolfe Mystery Cookbook” that isn’t by Rex Stout. Not what I’m looking for so I turn and go to the hardcover science fiction section. No hardcover Steven Brust and no books to fulfill my recent backup quest of looking for hardcover copies of Wild Card volumes. Despite the failure of my hunt so far, it’s exhilarating and I’m having as much fun as I’ve ever had in a bookstore. I make my way back across the floor, passing my parents. My mom informs me that now she understands my portents and warnings and has given up on her own quest. She’s in it for the vibes now, which I think is a healthy choice. I make my way to the paperback science fiction/fantasy section and again find nothing related to Steven Brust. I feel a moment of disappointment before looking and seeing that the hardcover horror section is nearby. On a whim of hope, I walk over thinking that I might find something. I roll for success and get a nat 20! I find a hardcover, early edition of Stephen King’s Eyes of the Dragon. It’s one of the Stephen King books that I’ve never read before despite it being my father’s favorite. I grab it and feel a surge of pride. I’ve succeeded in John King Books!

I then made my way up to the fourth floor, again leaving my parents behind. At this point, I have no idea where my fiance is. The fourth floor is much like the third, yet less occupied currently. Honestly, I think I’m probably the only person up there as I make my way to the books about the saints. Despite my solitude, I feel like someone is following me and turn to find no one. I now think John King Books is probably haunted .  I find what I want pretty quickly, with a nice icon on St. Jerome, the patron saint of librarians. I grab it and make my way back to the third floor, hunting for my family. 

I can’t find them on the third floor. To be clear, that’s not the same as them not being on the third floor. There is a good chance that they were just in another section and I didn’t see them. It’s a big store, after all.I skip the second floor (which I actually don’t think I’ve ever visited so I’m guessing that will be on my next foray to John King books) and go back to the first floor. As I reach the floor, I send the group a message saying that I’m now on the first floor in the sports books section. My dad is immediately there and so is my mom. They both have no books in hand. My fiance appears shortly, books about religious art and icons in hand. She asks me where I got mine. I tell her the saints section. She tells me she went to the religious art history section for her. 

As we go to checkout, I have a moment to think about this place I’ve found myself in. It’s a massive, beautiful, and overwhelming bookstore. It’s epic in a way that most fantasy books would probably be jealous of. I’m leaving with something this time but I still haven’t completed my quests. I helped my fiance complete hers and am leaving with a random book that I look forward to but wasn’t anything I was seeking out. In most ways, the legacy dungeon has beaten me again. However, I leave smiling. And knowing that I fully plan to return again. Hopefully with an Ed in tow.