Case Study:
Bringing a Cozy Mystery to Life Through Movement
In March 2025, Read & Run Tours founder Allison Yates traveled to Salt Lake City.
Her mission? Bring to life local author C.J. Connor’s cozy mystery Board to Death: A Board Game Shop Mystery.
Partnering with Kensington Books and The Kings English Bookshop, Allison sought to find a creative way to introduce this queer cozy mystery to new audiences while forging a deeper connection to Salt Lake City.
Opportunity
Creative Approach
Using Read & Run Tours’s signature book-themed guided run, Allison designed a three-mile route beginning at The King’s English Bookshop and weaving through the Sugar House neighborhood, the story’s real-life setting. Along the way, runners stopped at key story locations like a flower shop and a game shop. Guided discussion prompts at each stop invited participants to connect themes of friendship, belonging, and community found in the novel.
After the run, participants returned to The King’s English for browsing and conversation while enjoying snacks featured in the book. Although the author's talk was cancelled due to illness, the immersive experience stood on its own as a meaningful and memorable event.
Results
The event drew a mix of local runners, readers, and bookstore patrons — introducing Board to Death to an audience who might not otherwise have discovered a queer cozy mystery. Through coordinated Instagram and Facebook promotion, including giveaways and behind-the-scenes content, the collaboration strengthened awareness for Kensington Books, C.J. Connor, and The King’s English Bookshop while reinforcing Sugar House’s identity as a literary and inclusive community hub.
By transforming a novel’s setting into an interactive shared experience for readers, Read & Run Tours demonstrated how using our signature format to connect with an unlikely audience – runners – can become a strategic marketing angle connecting publishers, authors, and readers.