Murder still most foul, but the cheesecake’s great at this bookshop

Great mystery bookstores demand great names. There's the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Ariz., one of the five largest mystery bookstores in North America.

Now Henderson is the home of Cheesecake and Crime: Mystery Book Shop and Cheesecake Joint.

The name says it all, combining two great concepts into one physical site. I was eager to check it out "for my readers." (OK, maybe that's a tiny fib.)

After sampling four cheesecakes and buying three books, I left more than satisfied Tuesday, hoping that in today's world where independent bookstores are fading fast, Cheesecake and Crime succeeds. And expands to my northwest neighborhood.

Pamela Mains and her husband, Las Vegas architect Lendall Mains, are the owners. She loves mysteries; he loves cheesecake and has baked them for 30 years. Together they have crafted a bookstore/bakery where you can buy books and cheesecake -- by the slice or whole. (I can personally recommend the Candy Cane, blueberry, chocolate and eggnog cheesecakes.)

The couple met in a church group for divorced people and married 13 years ago. Pamela has lived in Las Vegas most of her life, and her husband has been here 19 years.

People who know him know his cheesecakes. Their three sons were known as the cheesecake boys when they were growing up, not exactly the identity they desired. Lendall's cheesecakes were so popular, you had to know him, or know somebody who knew him. They're sort of like crack cocaine except more addictive.

Pamela said that when their three boys left the nest, she decided to indulge in something she'd always wanted: a genre-specific bookstore that offered more options to fans of mystery, suspense and thriller novels.

Of course, the suspense in this new business, which has been a $400,000 investment for the couple and a "mystery minority investor," is whether it will succeed.

Located at 10545 S. Eastern Ave. in the Eastern Commons Shopping Center, Cheesecake and Crime had a soft opening several weeks ago, and customers were filtering in Tuesday afternoon. Some go for the books. Some go for the cheesecake. Some, like me, go for both.

I wanted to meet Pamela, because even the name of her store made me laugh, so I figured she had a great sense of humor. Most definitely, she does. She asked me to please print that she's a size 5. "I was when I married him," she declared. But that was many cheesecakes ago, and size 5 is just a fond memory for both of us.

She's 44, he's 51, and this bookstore/bakery is their retirement. If it doesn't work, they figured they're young enough to recover. If it succeeds, they're thinking franchise.

Pamela created a logo that says it all. Lola. A sultry, sexy dame holding a boxed and beribboned cheesecake in one hand and a gun behind her back. You can't see Lola's face, don't know for sure if she's a bad girl. "She's my alter ego," Pamela said, laughing for the umpteenth time.

As for her own cooking skills, "I'm known as Princess Push Button," she said, referring to her microwaving skills.

That's not all we had in common. We talked about authors we love, such as Elizabeth George, Elizabeth Peters, P.D. James, Laurie King, Sue Grafton and Dennis Lehane.

I asked her to pick out someone I hadn't read, and she introduced me to the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay, warning me it is dark.

Talking favorite authors with her reminded me of all the suggestions I received from readers responding to a column about Elizabeth George when she spoke in Las Vegas in October 2006. People recommended authors I knew and authors I didn't.

The familiar names were friendly reminders; the new names were gifts from readers, an invitation to visit other worlds by reading writers such as Val McDermid, Sarah Stewart Taylor, Dana Cameron, Jane Dentinger, Robert Crais, Jeffrey Deaver, John Lescroart, Michael Connelly, Stuart Woods, Daniel Silva and Vince Flynn.

While it's convenient to order from Amazon.com, it's just not the same as going to a bookstore and browsing, touching, and, yes, smelling new books

And in my book, a sliver of cheesecake is a most excellent accompaniment to the total mind and body experience.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275.