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Biblio Mysteries
130 Plays22 hours ago
Mysteries about books are a mystery fan and book lover's dream. In today's episode, Brook and Sarah discuss examples of this popular sub-genre. Production note: We ran into technology issues and Brook's sound isn't as crisp as usual.
Discussed and mentioned
Magpie Murders (2016) Anthony Horowitz
The Plot (2021) Jean Hanff Korelitz
The Woman in the Library (2022) Sulari Gentill
The Body in the Library (1942) Agatha Christie
The Christie Curse (2013) Victoria Abbott
The Lost Library (2023) Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass
The Postscript Murders (2020) Elly Griffiths
You Are Fatally Invited (2025) Ande Pliego
Murder by the Book (2018) Lauren Elliott
Booked to Die (1992) John Dunning
Blue Ridge Library Mysteries (2017) Victoria Gilbert
Murder at the 42nd Street Library (2016) Con Lehane
https://mysteriouspress.com/blog/introducing-bibliomysteries-short-tales-about-deadly-books.asp
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Music: Signs To Nowhere by Shane Ivers – www.silvermansound.com
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For a full episode transcript, visit https://cluedinmystery.com/11-3-biblio-mysteries/↗
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Transcript
New Collaborative Mystery Book Release
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome to Clued Mystery. I'm Sarah. And I'm Brooke, and we both love mystery. Brooke. Hi, Sarah. It's so great to be talking to you again.
00:00:23
Speaker
but Before we get into our episode, we have some exciting news to share. That's right. Later this fall, Sarah and I are going to be releasing our very first collaborative mystery that we wrote together.
00:00:40
Speaker
I'm super excited about this, Brooke. ah And we will, I'm sure, talk more about it in future episodes. But we just wanted to put that on everybody's radar that that'll be coming soon.
00:00:53
Speaker
That's right. And, you know, our newsletter subscribers to the Cluedin Chronicle will be getting the first peek at the cover and the title. So you definitely want to subscribe over there to stay clued in.
Favorite Mystery Settings and Introduction to Bibliomysteries
00:01:06
Speaker
So Brooke, do you have a favorite setting for a mystery? I really love anything like in a big old historic building or a historic town. Both of those really, you know, like intrigue me.
00:01:23
Speaker
And those are excellent settings for bookshops or libraries. And for mystery fan, a mystery set in one of those locations or a mystery about books can feel like the best possible combination.
00:01:38
Speaker
We have previously discussed authors as sleuths, but today we will focus more on mysteries set in libraries or bookshops or where books, not just the people who write them, play an important role.
Explaining Bibliomysteries and Otto Penzler's Contributions
00:01:52
Speaker
Like the entire mystery genre, biblio mysteries can encompass several sub-genres. According to Otto Penzler of Mysterious Press and the Mysterious Bookshop, biblio mysteries are either set primarily in libraries or bookshops or the crime involves books.
00:02:08
Speaker
A mystery featuring an author isn't necessarily a bibliomystery, but he does say that if the nature of their work brings them into a mystery or the books or their books are a vital clue in the solution, they probably make the cut.
00:02:23
Speaker
His bookshop commissions short stories from authors and each story features books or those who write them, buy them, read them, collect them, sell them, or are in some way involved with them.
00:02:37
Speaker
And I've read one of his collections and it was such a delight. But Mysterious Press is not the only publisher of mysteries set in the book world. So Brooke, let's discuss some of our favorites. Thanks, Sarah. Oh, I can't wait.
00:02:51
Speaker
I love that he has these collections of biblio mysteries. Otto Penzler is such a influential person in the mystery space. We've learned so much from him and here he here he is again.
00:03:08
Speaker
I was looking through my Goodreads and like just trying to get a handle on how many books I have read that have some connection to books or the book
Examples of Bibliomysteries
00:03:21
Speaker
industry. And it's a lot.
00:03:24
Speaker
like There are a lot of books in this industry. subgenre. And one that came to mind is um Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. So the sleuth is an editor.
00:03:38
Speaker
There's a mysterious death of an author. There's clues in the books that the author wrote. ah It is, I think, a great example of a bibliomystery.
00:03:50
Speaker
Oh, first of all, I think that was a genius move to go to Goodreads because I was just kind of trying to think back to all the books. And and I did review, I keep a spreadsheet of books that I've read per year. And so I went back a couple of years, but Goodreads, that was a great idea. And I agree. Magpie Murders is a fantastic example.
00:04:14
Speaker
Maybe one of the most creative ways to tell one of these stories because it is a story within a story. And those can be just so much fun. Well, and and that's a great point, Brooke, because I think a lot of examples of bibliomysteries, particularly if they ah center around a book, will end up being books within books because there's some clue or some insight that you the you as the reader and the sleuth in the story is meant to get from reading this other book.
More Bibliomysteries and Middle-Grade Novels
00:04:51
Speaker
Exactly. And for bookish people, it's just like so satisfying to you know need to flip through the pages and find the clues.
00:05:02
Speaker
I think that this a subgenre also lends itself really well to what we call the unusual format book, because many times you get pieces and parts of that diary or old book within the text.
00:05:20
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah, another book within a book story that um that I thought of was The Plot by Gene Hunt for Corlitz, which is about an author becoming very, very successful, but after having um stolen the work of another author, I really enjoyed it when I read it.
00:05:43
Speaker
So it came out in 2021. And I probably read it in either late that year in 2022.
00:05:50
Speaker
um But yeah, that that book within a book trope, I think works super well. Another one that is a book within a book is The Woman in the Library from Solari Gentile. It's this author ah who's writing a book, but there's some clues in that book that that she's writing and she's writing it in the library and hears this um really distressing sound and and the the story kicks off from there. i highly recommend it.
00:06:21
Speaker
I remember when that one was kind of hot off the press and how and how its title harkens back to a golden age biblio mystery, The Body in the Library, which of course is a Agatha Christie from 1942.
00:06:36
Speaker
um So I thought that was really great to be to be able to make that connection to the golden age because really we've been enjoying biblio mysteries since the very beginning. That's right.
00:06:48
Speaker
And that reminds me of a book that I read relatively recently called The Christie Curse, which is the start of, I believe, of ah of a cozy series.
00:07:00
Speaker
um And that book centers around a researcher who's been tasked with finding what is meant to be a previously unknown Agatha Christie play.
00:07:14
Speaker
And so there's a lot of, you know, um visiting old booksellers and and trying to track this down. And there's, you know, a whole whole mystery around it. um And it was it yeah it was it was quite a ah cozy read.
00:07:32
Speaker
Yeah, I've read that one too. And i that's one of the things we find in Biblio Mysteries is a lot of times they're searching for this object, this book.
00:07:44
Speaker
So it makes it a little bit of a treasure hunt feel many times. And and you know that just adds that layer of kind of adventure to the mystery. And you know that can be really satisfying as well.
00:07:56
Speaker
I just started listening to a middle grade novel called The Lost Library. So a little free library appears in this little boy's town. And he chooses two books and discovers that there's some real mystery behind them and mystery behind this little free library. And i think it's just such a fun premise.
00:08:19
Speaker
And so it's written by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mauss. They've co-authored it. Oh, that sounds fantastic. I happen to have my own little library in the town that I live in.
00:08:33
Speaker
My writing partners and I put one up outside of the coffee shop that we often visit and ah registered it. And so little libraries are near and dear to my heart. So I wonder if ours is magical. That sounds really fun.
00:08:49
Speaker
Well, one just um over the summer came up ah in our neighborhood and I love walking by it. I go, I walk by it almost every day and it's so fun to see the books entering and leaving. And sometimes there's books in there that I think like who on earth is going to want to read this? And then when I come by, even if it's 20 minutes later, the book is gone. so There is somebody on earth who wants to read that. And so there's, they are such a wonderful idea.
00:09:20
Speaker
They are so fun. And I would agree with that completely. i will think, oh my gosh, we're going to have to change these books out. And no, they circulate and people love them. And I think they're a wonderful addition to a neighborhood.
Mystery Series with Book-Centric Themes
00:09:35
Speaker
So again, when I was, you know, searching through my through my Goodreads, Brooke, I thought of this series by Ellie Griffiths. um One of the books is the Postscript Murders.
00:09:47
Speaker
But I think most of the books in that series that I've read have something to do with authors or writing or books. Does that am I am I making that up?
00:10:01
Speaker
No, I think you're right. To be honest, I've only read one in that series, but it's definitely on my radar and I enjoyed it completely. In fact, I think you and I both said, why haven't we read more Ellie Griffiths?
00:10:14
Speaker
But I love that she uses that series to maybe like really savor that love that we all have, the idea of the mystery based around the books and the people who write them.
00:10:28
Speaker
One book that I know both of us read recently is Your Italy Invited. would you consider that to be a bibliomystery? It has authors.
00:10:39
Speaker
um It's more of a um domestic thriller or more of a thriller type setup. But I don't know.
00:10:51
Speaker
i don't know if I would put it in this category. Yeah, I'm not sure that it completely meets Mr. Penzler's criteria, but it's definitely on the edge of that. And part of why I loved that book so much is the fact that these all these authors get together and.
00:11:13
Speaker
And there there are lots of little references to writing or writer's block and things like that that made the story really fun for somebody who is also an author but a book lover.
00:11:29
Speaker
So another cozy series is the Beyond the Page Mysteries written by Lauren Elliott. And the first book in that series is Murder by the Book. And sad news, over the summer, we learned that Lauren Elliott actually died.
00:11:46
Speaker
um But we can all enjoy her books still. That is something wonderful about art in any form is that we can still honor those people who created it. So that's a wonderful suggestion, Sarah.
00:12:04
Speaker
Well, one series that I've recently decided that I want to reread is the Cliff Janoway novels by John Dunning.
Cozy Mystery Series Appreciation
00:12:13
Speaker
And the first one in that series is Booked to Die. it released in 1992.
00:12:19
Speaker
And these a very detective feel because ah Cliff Jannaway is our a detective who ends up leaving the force to become a rare and collectible book dealer. And all the i believe there are five books in the series, and all of the stories revolve around and locating some mysterious or collectible rare book. And again, we talked about the clues that are within the text and they're just really fantastic. And as I said, I've i've reread Booked to Die and I'm going to work my way through this series.
00:12:55
Speaker
Oh, that sounds really fun, Brooke. um And I also think it's great to mention the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series by Vicki Delaney. She is, of course, a past guest.
00:13:06
Speaker
And this is going to meet the criteria because it's set in the bookstore. All the mysteries don't necessarily have to do with books, but you're in this...
00:13:18
Speaker
bookstore that you and I both said, man, I wish that was a real place. It's the Sherlock Holmes bookshop in Emporium. They have like the connected cafe that what is Mrs. Hudson's cafe, I believe, where they have, you know, bakery goods. And yeah Vicki Delaney just creates this little world that I think we would all love to live in But her sleuth is Gemma Doyle. and who she might be related to Arthur Conan Doyle himself. So just a wonderful connection to to those older stories and a really fun series.
00:13:57
Speaker
That's right, Brooke. And that's a ah great example of BiblioMysteries. And absolutely, I would love to visit that shop if it existed.
00:14:11
Speaker
Well, I found a couple of books to add to my TBR while I was researching this week. And one of them is the Blue Ridge Library Mysteries, which are written by Victoria Gilbert.
00:14:26
Speaker
And they feature librarian Amy Weber solving crimes connected to, again, books, rare documents, and the library she manages in a small town. So that's going to be a cozy book.
00:14:38
Speaker
read for me. And then that is called a Biblio Noir. i think this sounds so good. The first book in this series is Murder at the 42nd Street Library. This is by Con Lahane, and it's a contemporary murder mystery series.
00:14:58
Speaker
rooted in the New York Public Library system. And the cover features, you know, those great lion statues on ah at the front of the New York Public Library. So as I mentioned at the top of the show, I'm a sucker for those big old buildings and especially library.
00:15:20
Speaker
I love that idea of a um noir set ah the at the New York Public Library. I also recently read The Library Game, which was published this year, 2025, Pandian.
00:15:37
Speaker
It's a locked room and closed circle mystery. It's, I think, third or fourth in her series. um And I hadn't read the um the earlier books, but I was able to figure out who was who.
00:15:50
Speaker
um she does a good job of kind of catching the reader up. Um, and, uh, it's all set in this library, this old house that, uh, the owner has recently died and in his will instructed that his extensive book collection be made available as a library.
00:16:12
Speaker
and um, he loved puzzles and so wanted it to be, um, you know, kind of filled with, hidden, um hidden mysteries within the library. And it was it was i really enjoyed the book. It was quite clever.
00:16:28
Speaker
Oh, that sounds fantastic. I love the idea of somebody who has built this, you know, personal library, then sharing it with the world. It's a little bit like the concept of the little free library, just on a grander scale.
00:16:43
Speaker
Exactly. And what a great legacy to leave for your community, you know, if you had amassed this collection of books, and, you know, they wouldn't, they didn't need to build a new facility because it was his his home that was being turned into this library.
Transforming Book Collections into Communal Libraries
00:17:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's great. Maybe it's an excuse to have a gigantic book collection so that you can say, well, hey, one of these days, I'm just going to let everybody come and share in on this.
00:17:14
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's a great idea. and And that will be the reason that I justify future book purchases is that I'm just, this is this is part of my legacy.
00:17:25
Speaker
That's right. We're just building a legacy.
Joy of Discussing Book-Related Mysteries
00:17:28
Speaker
Well, thank you, Brooke, for this conversation. It's always fun to talk about mystery. It's especially fun to talk about mysteries about books.
00:17:39
Speaker
Thanks, Sarah. It has been so great. And until next time, everyone, thank you for joining us on Clued in Mystery. I'm Brooke. And I'm Sarah.
00:17:50
Speaker
And we both love mystery. Clued in Mystery is written and produced by Brooke Peterson and Sarah M. Stephen. Music is by Shane Ivers. If you liked what you heard, please consider telling a friend, leaving a review, or subscribing with your favorite podcast listening app.
00:18:07
Speaker
Visit our website to sign up for our newsletter, The Clued in Chronicle, and get mystery news, podcast updates, and bonus episodes. We're on social media at Clued in Mystery.