Hobby-Themed Mysteries: Reading

The Burglar in the Library by Lawrence Block

Bookseller and burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr travels to New England to spend a weekend in a mansion where he hopes to steal a rare book. But his scheme is sidetracked by the murder of one of the guests and the burglar turns sleuth.

Death of an Avid Reader by Frances Brody

The search for a daughter. Lady Coulton gave up the baby that would have ruined her marriage, born when Lord Coulton was abroad. Now that her husband is dying, she asks Kate to find Sophia. A haunted library. It is forty years since the ghost of a dead librarian haunted the old library, yet the stories have begun again. Kate does not believe in ghosts but obligingly takes part in a ceremony to expel the restless spirit. Shockingly, there is a body in the basement, strangled, and covered in dusty volumes from a fallen bookcase. It is Dr. Potter, a mathematician. A killer on the loose. Dr Potter's body is taken away. The police find a sick man sheltering in the basement. He is an Italian, Umberto, an organ grinder and owner of a lively Capuchin monkey. Umberto becomes the prime suspect and will be charged with murder. Kate goes with Umberto to the infirmary. But he is too weak to be a suspect. And now Kate must set out to find the real culprit....

A Three Book Problem by Vicki Delany

It's a crisp, early October weekend, and business is slowing down as fall descends at the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium and adjacent Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room. Wealthy philanthropist and prominent Sherlockian David Masterson has rented Suffolk Gardens House, where he plans to entertain his friends in a traditional English country house weekend. As the chosen caterers, Jayne Wilson and Gemma Doyle get to work preparing lavish meals and setting up Sherlockian books and props for entertainment. Meanwhile, police detective Ryan Ashburton has taken time away from his duties to assist in the kitchen. It quickly becomes apparent that David's guests don't like each other--or their host. Plus, some of them aren't even acquainted with the adventures of the Great Detective. Before Gemma can ponder their relationships a poisoned dart sails through the window of the library, presenting Gemma Doyle with a three-book problem.

Booked to Die by John Dunning

Denver homicide detective Cliff Janeway may not always play by the book, but he is an avid collector of rare and first editions. After a local bookscout is killed on his turf, Janeway would like nothing better than to rearrange the suspect's spine. But the suspect, local lowlife Jackie Newton, is a master at eluding the law, and Janeway's wrathful brand of off-duty justice costs him his badge.

Turning to his lifelong passion, Janeway opens a small bookshop -- all the while searching for evidence to put Newton away. But when prized volumes in a highly sought-after collection begin to appear, so do dead bodies. Now, Janeway's life is about to start a precarious new chapter as he attempts to find out who's dealing death along with vintage Chandlers and Twains.

Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Amanda Flower

Emily Dickinson and her housemaid, Willa Noble, realize there is nothing poetic about murder in this first book in an all-new series from USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning author Amanda Flower. January 1855 Willa Noble knew it was bad luck when it was pouring rain on the day of her ever-important job interview at the Dickinson home in Amherst, Massachusetts. When she arrived late, disheveled with her skirts sodden and filthy, she'd lost all hope of being hired for the position. As the housekeeper politely told her they'd be in touch, Willa started toward the door of the stately home only to be called back by the soft but strong voice of Emily Dickinson. What begins as tenuous employment turns to friendship as the reclusive poet takes Willa under her wing. Tragedy soon strikes and Willa's beloved brother, Henry, is killed in a tragic accident at the town stables. With no other family and nowhere else to turn, Willa tells Emily about her brother's death and why she believes it was no accident. Willa is convinced it was murder. Henry had been very secretive of late, only hinting to Willa that he'd found a way to earn money to take care of them both. Viewing it first as a puzzle to piece together, Emily offers to help, only to realize that she and Willa are caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse that reveals corruption in Amherst that is generations deep. Some very high-powered people will stop at nothing to keep their profitable secrets even if that means forever silencing Willa and her new mistress...

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

The beautifully ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is completely silent one weekday morning, until a woman's terrified scream echoes through the room. Security guards immediately appear and instruct everyone inside to stay put until they determine there is no threat. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers who had been sitting in the reading room get to chatting and quickly become friendly. Harriet, Marigold, Whit, and Caine each have their own reasons for being in the reading room that morning--and it just happens that one of them may turn out to be a murderer. For readers of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, with shades of The Secret History, THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY is an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most dangerous weapons of all.

Murder at the 42nd Street Library by Con Lehane

Murder at the 42nd Street Library opens with a murder in a second floor office of the iconic, beaux-arts flagship of the New York Public Library. Ray Ambler, the curator of the library's crime fiction collection, joins forces with NYPD homicide detective Mike Cosgrove in hopes of bringing a murderer to justice. In his search for the reasons behind the murder, Ambler uncovers hidden--and profoundly disturbing--relationships between visitors to the library. These include a celebrated mystery writer who has donated his papers to the library's crime fiction collection, that writer's missing daughter, a New York society woman with a hidden past, and one of Ambler's colleagues at the world-famous library.

Hitting the Books by Jenn McKinlay

It is murder by the book in the latest Library Lover's Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of Death in the Stacks. When a stack of library material is found at the scene of a hit-and-run, library director Lindsey Norris finds herself dragged into the investigation as the police try to link the driver of the stolen car to the person who borrowed the CDs. Before Lindsey can delve into the library's records, the victim of the hit-and-run, Theresa Huston, suffers another accident, and the investigation shifts from driver negligence to attempted murder. A clue surfaces from the confiscated library CDs that could crack open the case, and it is up to Lindsey to piece it all together. But things are not as they seem in the sleepy town of Briar Creek, and when the driver of the stolen car turns up dead, Lindsey, her staff and her friends have to hit the books before the killer gets the last word...

A Likely Story by Jenn McKinlay

Delivering books to the housebound residents of the Thumb Islands, just a short boat ride from the town of Briar Creek, library director Lindsey Norris has befriended two elderly brothers, Stewart and Peter Rosen. She enjoys visiting them in their treasure-filled, ramshackle Victorian on Star Island until she discovers that Peter has been killed and Stewart is missing. Now she's determined to solve a murder and find Stewart before he suffers his brother's fate.

Silence in the Library by Katharine Schellman

London, 1815. Lily Adler is settling into her new London life when her semi-estranged father arrives unexpectedly, intending to stay with her while he recovers from an illness. Lily is drawn into spending time with Lady Wyatt, the new wife of an old family friend. One morning Lily arrives to find Lady Wyatt's husband, Sir Charles, has died. All signs indicate that he tripped and struck his head late at night, but Bow Street constable Simon Page suspects foul play. With the help of Captain Jack Hartley, Lily and Simon learn anyone who might have profited from the old man's death seems to have an alibi... until Lily receives a mysterious summons to speak with one of the Wyatts' maids, only to find the young woman dead when she arrives.

A Most Novel Revenge by Ashley Weaver

Amory and Milo Ames are drawn into the investigation of a years-old murder by a salacious novelist in the English countryside in the latest installment in this "smart and sophisticated" (Library Reads) series from a bright new voice in traditional mysteries. With two murder investigations behind them and their marriage at last on steady ground, Amory and Milo plan to quietly winter in Italy. The couple find their plans derailed when Amory receives an urgent summons from her cousin Laurel to the English countryside. At Lyonsgate, the country house of Laurel's friend Redinald Lyons, Amory and Milo are surprised to discover an eccentric and distinguished group of guests have been invited, led by notorious socialite Isobel Van Allen. Isobel has returned to England after years of social exile to write a sequel to her scandalous first book, the thinly-fictionalized account of a high-society murder at the very country house the Ameses have been called to. Her second incriminating volume, she warns the house's occupants--all of whom were present when one of their companions was killed years ago--will tell everything that really happened that fateful night. But some bones are meant to stay buried, and when a desperate person turns to murder, it's up to Amory and Milo to sort through a web of scandal and lies to uncover the truth and the identity of a killer.