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DEATH AMONG THE BOOKS
Bibliomysteries for Booklovers

 

Banbury, Jen - Like a Hole in the Head - Jill, wise-cracking part-timer at the Bitter Muse used bookstore, has just made a quick profit turning over a first edition Jack London. The real excitement begins when the original seller returns (with his assassin friend) and demands return of the book. Fans of Janet Evanovich take note . . .zany characters and action packed.

Block, Lawrence - The Burglar in the Library - In a weak moment, bookseller (and recovering book thief) Bernie Rhondenbarr sets off to Cuttleford House, a cozy inn known for its library of rare books, one of which Bernie would dearly love to call his own. Before he can get his hands on it though, he's dealing with a dead body or two.

Breen, Jon L. - Touch of the Past - Rachel Hennings, owner of a small Los Angeles bookstore, learns of a writer's plans to sell his collection of vintage mysteries; but on the day of the sale, the writer is murdered. With the help of her reporter friend, Rachel delves into the writer's past as she tries to piece together the events leading to his death.

Christie, Agatha - The Body in the Library - When the body of a young woman is found in the library of a wealthy resident of the quiet village of St. Mary Mead, elderly, but able, Miss Jane Marple, with the help of the police, puts her investigative skills to work to find the killer and solve the mystery.

Dereske, Jo - Miss Zukas Shelves the Evidence - This amusing series, featuring Bellhaven, Washington, librarian Helma Zukas and her six-foot tall bohemian friend, Ruth, also includes: Miss Zukas in Death's Shadow, Final Notice, Out of Circulation, and Miss Zukas and the Library Murders.

Dunning, John
- Booked to Die : A Mystery Introducing Cliff Janeway - Cliff Janeway, Denver homicide detective and collector of rare and first editions, has a long-standing ambition to own a bookshop. When pursuing a suspect in a murder case, Janeway's off-duty crime solving methods create major problems in his professional and personal life. The sequel is The Bookman'sWake.

Gill, Bartholomew - The Death of an Ardent Bibliophile - Booklist called this mystery "an erotic macabre tale of murder". When bibliophile Brian Herrick, who has charge of Dublin's famed Jonathan Swift's library, is found dead at his home, Chief Superintendent McGarr and his colleagues look into the bizarre circumstances surrounding Herrick's death.

Goodrum, Charles A. - A Slip of the Tong - When Nelson Brooks, director of the prestigious Werner-Bok library, heads to the West Coast leaving colleague Crighton Jones in charge of the library, things run amuck and bodies are found in the Asian room. Jones enlists the services of emeritus Yale Librarian, Edward George and Crighton's old flame, Steve Carson, to help in the search for the killer. Also, look for Goodrum's Dewey Decimated.

Hart, Carolyn - Yankee Doodle Dead: A Death on Demand Mystery - An obnoxious northerner is shot during the Fourth of July fireworks display on Broward's Rock, a small South Carolina resort island, and Annie Darling, proprietor of Death on Demand mystery bookshop and cafe, once again finds herself playing the role of amateur sleuth.

Hess, Joan - Strangled Prose - Following a book-signing hosted by bookstore owner Claire Molloy, the featured author is found strangled to death, and Claire finds she is a prime suspect in the crime.

Holt, Hazel - Mrs. Malory and the Fatal Legacy - Fiftyish British writer and amateur sleuth Sheila Malory travels to London to attend a literary gathering of old chums, but she does not expect one of them, a famous novelist, to die suddenly. When she is appointed her friend's literary executor and an American researcher is killed, Mrs. Malory begins to suspect foul play in her friend's demise.

Kaewert, Julie - Unsigned: A Booklover's Mystery - Alex Plumtree, avid book collector and publisher, is shocked when McKinley Montague, famous author of serial-killer novels, fails to show up at a scheduled book-signing and is subsequently found to be the victim of a fatal boating accident. It isn't long before Alex suspects Montague's death may not have been an accident after all. Look for more booklover's mysteries in this series.

Macdonald, Marianne - Death's Autograph - Driving home from a buying trip, London antiquarian book dealer Dido Hoare suspects she is being followed when her car is forced to the side of the road. Then her retired father receives a threatening note, her shady ex-husband unexpectedly shows up and her apartment over the bookstore is ransacked. Now Dido knows someone must be after her! Thus begins the first of the Dido Hoare mystery series.

Meredith, D.R. - Murder in Volume - The first installment of this cozy mystery series introduces reference librarian Megan Clark, who has a passion for reading mysteries and leads a mystery discussion group. When a member of the group is murdered, Megan and friends put their analytical crime-solving skills to use in helphing to solve the crime. Others in the series include By Hook or By Book and Murder Past Due.

Monfredo, Miriam Grace - Seneca Falls Inheritance - Set in Seneca Falls, New York, the site of the first Women's Rights Conference, this charming mid-nineteenth century mystery introduces Glynis Tryon, reference librarian and budding activist. When a woman in search of her mother's friend is murdered, the independent-minded Glynis and her friend, deputy Jacques Sundown, an Indian, become involved in tracking down the killer.

Stallwood, Veronica - Oxford Exit - Novelist Kate Ivory investigates the disappearance of university books and the murder of a young library trainee.

Thornton, Betsy - High Lonesome Road - Chloe Newcombe, Cochise County victim's advocate, investigates the brutal slaying of the local bookmobile driver, a woman with a troubled past, and friend of Chloe's late brother, in this second mystery set in Arizona's high and lonely desert country.

Van Gieson, Judith - The Stolen Blue - First in series featuring Claire Reynier, amateur sleuth and librarian/archivist at the University of New Mexico's Center for Southwest Research. Next in series: Vanishing Point.

More Bibliomysteries
Alexander, Bruce - Murder in Grub Street
Barnard, Robert - Death of a Mystery Writer
Dobson, Joanne - Cold and Pure and Very Dead
Gur, Batya - Literary Murder
Kaminsky, Stuart - He Done Her Wrong
McGaughey, Neil - And Then There Were Ten: A Stokes Moran Mystery
Murder By the Book
- edited by Cynthia Manson
Neri, Kris - Revenge of the Gypsy Queen
Simonson, Sheila - Meadowlark
Skom, Edith - The Charles Dickens Murders, The Mark Twain Murders
Westlake, Donald - The Hook

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11/2001