Barbara Latz Unger, owner of what was once Dallas’ largest, one-store independent book store, died last week after a battle with lung cancer. The DMN’s obit quotes her family as calling her the “ultimate caretaker”. That’s exactly what she was to the patrons of House of Book, which operated at Preston and Royal.
Unger and her best friend Jean Eisenberg built the store’s reputation on personal service, going out of their way to find books that fit customer’s preferences. The store eventually closed in 1988 after bigger retailers moved in and made it impossible to compete.
Some may remember Unger’s quarterly journal, “Mostly Murder”, that she published in the 1990s, reviewing mystery and crime books. It had more than 50,000 subscribers.
