At 3:45 p.m. Sunday, Mildred "Mama Dip" Council was lecturing on the use of lard in Southern cooking to about a hundred fans at Quail Ridge Books & Music, where celebrity authors from Jimmy Carter to David Sedaris have held readings. As Council's audience faced her with their backs to the cash register, a man in a blue jacket with his hand pulled up into his sleeve presented the cashier a thriller novel and a robbery note.

It was the second time over the weekend that a specialty store near Wade Avenue was robbed. A man with a similar description and methods held up upscale grocer The Fresh Market in Cameron Village the day before.

The note handed to Quail Ridge cashier Nathan Miller, 27, of Raleigh said: "This is a robbery ... Open the drawer, give me all your tens and twenties ... You're being watched ... Don't be a hero and don't [expletive] this up." He knocked a metallic-sounding object concealed in his sleeve on the counter to imply he had a gun, store owner Nancy Olson said.

The man was about 160 pounds and 5 feet, 10 inches tall, wearing a blue or black ball cap and thick glasses, police said. After getting the cash, he left the store -- all without drawing the attention of the crowd.

Store manager Sarah Goddin interrupted Mama Dip's question- and-answer session to inform the baffled crowd that police wanted a tally of all present before they left.

"We didn't have a clue. We were saying: 'Who was robbed? Where?'" said Earlean McCoy, who was at the reading. "We were just mesmerized by [Council]."

Raleigh police cordoned off the store and took the information of a mostly older, female crowd.

Olson stood by the crime-scene tape and consoled her regulars, running inside to get them their newspapers. She assured Mama Dip fans the Southern-cooking savant would be back to sign books.

The store reopened at 5:45 p.m.

A man of similar description robbed The Fresh Market in Cameron Village over the weekend, said Lt. H.C. Miller of the Raleigh police. According to police reports, a blond man in a green jacket and wearing wire-framed glasses brought a box of cereal to the cashier. He told the cashier to give him the money from the register and said: "Don't be a hero."

Although it is the first time the bookstore has been robbed during operating hours, it has been burglarized twice since it moved from North Raleigh, Olson said.

Olson lamented the increase in thefts from her store. "Why didn't he go to a Barnes & Noble and rob them?" she said jokingly.