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GSLIS BiblioMystery - Introduction

Mysteries in which books, manuscripts, libraries of any kind, archives, publishing houses, or bookstores occupy a central role, or mysteries in which librarians, archivists, booksellers, etc. are protagonists or antagonists (and preferably the location or occupation is important to the plot or theme). Not academic mysteries or mysteries which happen to be about journalists, authors, or literary figures unless libraries, books, manuscripts, archives, and so on, are important to the plot.

The physical collection exists in the Simmons College Library, 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115-5898. For more information, contact Candy Schwartz (candy.schwartz@simmons.edu, or 617-521-2849).

Imprints are based on our collection, which is primarily paperback (used), and there is no attempt to capture complete bibliographic history. Where available, annotations are given. Annotations are either created by the list maintainer and her cohorts, or by Marsha McCurley (late and greatly missed keeper of the BiblioMystery website), or by the late Seth D. Bartner. Annotations for unannotated materials would be appreciated.

All suggestions and donations are gratefully accepted and gifts are acknowledged with a bookplate. Financial support from the Library & Information Science Students' Association is gratefully acknowledged, as are the help and material contributions of GSLIS Librarian Linda Watkins, alumnae Laura Reiner and Lee Wohlers, and the Marsha McCurley collection donated by her husband. Mail books to Candy Schwartz, Graduate School of Library & Information Science, Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115-5898.

Permission to reproduce in any form (with copyright notice) is freely granted.

Bibliography, sources, etc.

Ballinger, J. (1982). Collecting bibliomysteries. American Book Collector, 3, 2, 23-28.
Ballinger, J. (1985). Collecting bibliomysteries. Armchair Detective, 18, 2, 127-139 and 18, 3, 282-301.
Bibliomysteries. (1989). Mystery Readers Journal [special issue], 5, 4.
Bibliomysteries.(2005). Mystery Readers Journal [special issue], 21, 3 [Featuring Biliomysteries at Simmons College, by C. Schwartz, pp. 9-10.]
bibliomysteries.com/. The original site, Bibliomysteries, was maintained by the late Marsha McCurley, and was revived in 2006 by Simmons alumna Valerie McKay.
Buckingham Books has a Bibliomystery catalogue.
Burns, G. (1998). Librarians in fiction. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
The Fictional World of Archives.
Filstrup, J. M. (1978-1979). The shattered calm: Libraries in detective fiction, parts I and II. Wilson Library Bulletin, 53, 320-327 and 53, 392-398.
Goodrum, C. A. (1977). Writing the library whodunit. American Libraries, 8, 194-196.
Goodrum, C. A. (1979). An (overdue) tribute to the librarian. In D. Winn(Ed.), Murderess ink (pp. 269-271). New York, Workman Publishing. [Beatley PR830. D4W5.]
Gwinn, N. E. (1992). Library mysteries: A Hallowe'en sampler. Washington, The Center for the Book, The Library of Congress.
Hall, A. (1992). Behind the bun, or Batgirl was a librarian. Canadian Library Journal, 49, 345-347. [This is the published version of the essay that started it all, way back when.]
Hall, A.. Library Mystery list maintained on listserv@kentvm.kent.edu.
Keen, S. (2001). Romances of the archive in contemporary British fiction. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
Mackler, T. (1991). Murder by category. Metuchen, Scarecrow Press.
Martin, M. S. (1993). Books, libraries, and murder. Collection Management, 17, 3, 51-59.
McCurley, M. (1999). Murder in the stacks: Defining the academic bibliomystery. In P. Nover (Ed.), The great good place?: A collection of essays on American and British college mystery novels, Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang
Menendez, A. (1986). The subject is murder. New York, Garland. v. 1: Quiet please: Bookshops, libraries and murder (pp. 179-191 and Addendum p. 290); v. 2: Books and libraries (pp. 43-45).
Nehr, E. (1994). If the book is a mystery and the mystery is about a book, then it's a bibliomystery. Firsts, 4, 22-26.
Nover, P. (Ed.). (1999). The great good place? A collection of essays on American and British college mystery novels. Frankfurt, Peter Lang.
Oak Knoll Press. (1992). Catalogue 143: Books about books; Bibliography; Biblio-mysteries. New Castle, Oak Knoll Press.
Olderr, S. (1987). Mystery index. Chicago, ALA.
Oleksiw, S. (1988). A reader's guide to the classic British mystery. Mysterious Press.
Pankin, M. F. P. (1978). Librarians in mystery stories. West Virginia Libraries, Winter.
Plotnik, A. (1977). Reading the library whodunit. American Libraries, 8(4), 196.
Potter, J. L. (1999). Library milieu. In R. Herbert (Ed.), The Oxford companion to crime and mystery writing (pp. 267-268). New York, Oxford University Press.
Reiman, L. (2003). Solving the mystery: What makes the fictional librarian such a good sleuth? Unpublished honors thesis, Washington State University.
Rosenberg, B. (1979). Booked for murder. Glendale, Battledore Press.
Rosenberg, B. (1981). Bibliomania, or, Bound to kill. Glendale, Battledore Press.
Rosenberg, Betty. (1982). The letter killeth. Los Angeles, Karmiole.
Rosenberg, B. & Herald, D. T. (1991). Genreflection (3d ed.). Englewood Cliffs, Libraries Unlimited. [Lists under Bibliomysteries, Libraries and Librarians, Book Trade and Publishing.]
Smith, S. E. (1992). The growing interest in bibliomysteries. AB Bookman's Weekly, 1992, 1718-1722.
Vesper, V. (1994). The image of the librarian in murder mysteries in the twentieth century. Murfreesboro, TN: Middle Tennessee State University.
Weir, J.L. (1953). The librarian and the whodunit. Library Review, 14, 13-19.
Williams, L. W. (198?). Libraries and librarians in murder-mystery-suspense fiction, 1931-1980: A content analysis. Master's thesis, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

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