Murder By The Book

A Curated List Of Chilling Murders Set In A Library

The following post is part of a Seed Pod collaboration about libraries. Seed Pods are a SmallStack community project designed to help smaller publications lift each other up by publishing and cross-promoting around a common theme. We’re helping each other plant the seeds for growth!

Welcome to the latest edition of Only Murders In The Inbox! If you’re a regular reader, thanks for returning; if you’re new, we’re happy to have you! Every week, OMITI covers murder mysteries in literature and entertainment. We delve into the ways the Mystery genre is significant in pop culture. You’ll also find curated suggestions and lists here so if you’re looking for a particular kind of read, I’ve got you! New subscribers, here are two popular editions to check out:

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There’s More To Mystery Than Christie: Brilliant Black Detectives In Crime Fiction

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Today’s edition of Only Murders In The Inbox is dedicated to the long line of librarians in my family: the first-ever librarian in Washington County, Florida, more than six generations ago; my clever great-aunt who was a library director for many years in Jackson County, Florida; and my sister, the best librarian any girl could hope to have!

Image Courtesy of the fantastic librarians at the Normal Public Library in Normal, Illinois

Professor Plum. In the Library. With a Rope. The board game Cluedo wasn’t the first time a murder took place inside a library, but it quickly became the most well-known. The classic game in the 1940’s, later known as Clue in North America, set the stage for the popularity of the library as the location for untimely demises and puzzling deaths. Since that time, mysteries seem to go hand in hand with rows of bookcases, magnifying glasses and the Dewey decimal system. Intriguing tales set among darkened corridors, halls of novels, rolling ladders and ancient texts are fun to imagine, especially where crime is concerned. Libraries house a collective wealth of knowledge; for clue-seekers, as Hermione Granger said, “When in doubt, go to the library.” Because a library functions as the place for answers, it is the ideal setting for mystery. Whodunit authors and cozy mystery writers in particular seem drawn to the library, either through characters or by locale. Some murders even take place in bookmobile! All this, not to mention that no one can create a punny library title quite as well as a mystery writer. Checked Out. Chapter and Curse. The Broken Spine. Librarians also make compelling amateur detectives; Charlaine Harris’s librarian Aurora Teagarden is one of the most well-known amateur sleuths in popular mysteries.

The first library to hold a special place in my heart: The Washington County Public Library in Chipley, Florida. Photo Courtesy of Washington County’s Chamber of Commerce.

If nothing intrigues you more than a good mystery set among stacks of books, there’s a smorgasbord of fun dastardly deaths in fiction awaiting you. Here’s a list of stand-alone mysteries set in libraries. If you want even more, here’s a short list of series with librarian detectives as well. Happy reading!

Cover Image Courtesy of HarperCollins

The Body In The Library by Agatha Christie As far as memorable library whodunits go, this novel set the standard for decades to come, with its first edition published in 1942. In this Miss Marple mystery set in St. Mary Mead, the Bantrys wake up one morning to discover the body of an unknown woman in their library. Mrs. Bantry, stunned but excited for a mystery, contacts her dear friend Miss Marple for advice (“Oh, I don’t want comfort. But you’re so good at bodies.”). That initial hook — a stranger dead in someone’s personal library — turned The Body In The Library into one of the most popular Miss Marple mysteries for its unusual premise, cast of characters and plot twists as the amateur detective unraveled the chain of events that lead to the stranger’s death. Who was this mysterious victim? Where did she come from? And if the Bantrys were involved, then how?

Silence In The Library, A Lily Adler Mystery by Katharine Schellman In the second book in this historical mystery series, Lily Adler, having proved herself as a formidable sleuth in her first case, is drawn into the mysterious death of a family friend. Sir Charles accidentally hit his head in the middle of the night, or did he? Constable Simon Page suspects foul play, and soon Lily uncovers that Sir Charles was, indeed, murdered. Readers who love historical fiction will enjoy this Regency London mystery, a perfect library whodunit.

Murder In The Locked Library by Ellery Adams In Storyton Hall, Virginia, there’s a new spa being built at a resort. When construction begins, a body is found buried with the tattered pages of an old book. Jane Steward is intrigued by the facts surrounding the murder and decides to investigate. Soon attendees at the nearby Rare Book Conference are eager to help Jane solve the crime — until suddenly one of them is discovered dead inside the Henry James Library. Are the murders connected? Will Jane find the killer before another body is discovered?

Image Courtesy of SourceBooks

The Woman In The Library by Sulari Gentill Aussie award-winning author Sulari Gentill crafts a clever whodunit set in the Boston Public Library. When a body is discovered among the books in the ornate reading room, four library patrons become the main suspects, each with a different reason for being in the library that day, and each with a connection to the victim. This Edgar Award nominee is a story within a story, and told with a unique narrative style and correspondence at the end of each chapter. If you’d like an unconventional take on a mystery in a library, start here.

Libraries In A Series

The Cat In The Stacks Mystery series by Miranda James Charlie is a town librarian with a Maine Coon cat named Diesel who plays Watson to his Sherlock — “to paw around for clues.” This hilarious crime solving duo have been featured in ten books so far in silly but fun mysteries. Two Cat In The Stacks worth checking out are Murder Past Due and File M For Murder.

The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries by Charlaine Harris Southern mystery writer Charlaine Harris is best known for her Sookie Stackhouse vampire series, which was later adapted for television as the immensely successful HBO show, True Blood. Her second most popular series of books, however, are her Aurora Teagarden Mysteries. Aurora Teagarden is a librarian in small town Georgia, who, with her realtor mother, love interest and library reading group, solves mysteries. These are light, easy reads that made their way onto television through the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel and quickly became recognized as the network’s most-watched original mystery series starring Candace Cameron Bure. The movie series has been recast with a prequel featuring Skyler Samuels in the title role.

The Library Lover’s Mystery Series by Jenn McKinlay Lindsey Norris is a librarian in Briar Creek who gets entangled in mystery after mystery. Her staff and her Crafternoon Club members assist Lindsey in her investigations. There are fifteen Lindsey Norris books, with punny titles like Due Or Die, Book Line and Sinker, On Borrowed Time, and Death In The Stacks. These comfy mysteries are easily devoured in an afternoon and are great short escapes.

The Larkspur Library Mysteries by Leah Dobrinska Greta Plank is a library director in small-town Wisconsin coming to terms with her sister’s death and a bad breakup. While she’s struggling with her personal issues, she stumbles upon a dead body, and suddenly her problems take a backseat to her curiosity about the victim. With the help of her mom (who happens to be a lawyer) and her staff and patrons, she tracks down killers in these small-town, closed-door mysteries.

The Haunted Library Series by Allison Brook Agatha Award nominee Marilyn Levinson, under the pen name Allison Brook, writes one of the most popular cozy mystery series set in libraries. Carrie Singleton is in charge of a spooky library being haunted by a ghost named Evelyn, who helps her solve strange and unusual murders in her quaint Connecticut community. These are the sort of novels that are good shared with a grandmother who loves mysteries as much as you do! There are eight books total in the Haunted Library series.

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Song of the Day: “Whodunit” by Tavares