Stephen King Spooks Bookshop Staff

Stephen King recently dropped by an Australian bookstore and autographed a few copies of his own works—without telling anyone he was coming, or who he was. Nervous sale staff alerted management to a man vandalizing books, the BBC reports. It wasn't until King had wandered off, and someone checked out the damage, that they realized who the desecrater was.

Store manager Bev Ellis caught up with the thriller writer at a supermarket down the street. "Well, if we knew you were coming we would have baked you a cake," she told him. She said the author of '"Misery" and "Carrie" was "very nice, charming." Most of the books he signed will be donated to local charities; one of them was bought by a lucky customer in the store at the same time as King. (More Stephen King stories.)