If you consume any kind of media these days, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll find some level of meta contained within it. Movies about movies? Just ask Steven Spielberg and his newest release The Fablemans how it’s done. TV shows about TV shows? My recent favorite Reboot proves that there’s plenty of entertainment to be found when the writers poke fun at their own industry.
Books about books are no different. Because we’re all readers to begin with, we tend to be drawn to stories that revolve around libraries, bookmobiles, book stores, and book clubs. After all, these are the spaces where we collectively thrive. Who among us hasn’t dreamed of uncovering a dead body interred in the floorboards of the bookstore we’re renovating or discovering a library book with clues to a real-life murder hidden in the pages?
In most cases, unfortunately, we’re not likely to undergo a life-changing journey of discovery and adventure while buried in a book. (If you’re like me, the most that will happen is you drop your Kindle in the bathtub or spill coffee all over your signed copy of Legends & Lattes.) That’s what makes cozy mysteries with a bookish theme so much fun. Not only do you get to fall into a world that’s familiar to you, but you get to do it with a bit of murder on the side.
If you’re looking for a way to combine all things bookish with the best that cozy mystery has to offer, you’re in luck. When it comes to authors looking for ways to “write what you know,” book-themed plots will always come out on top.
Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carlisle
The Bibliophile Mystery Series kicks off with this great installment that introduces a professional book restorer in San Francisco. In addition to the ubiquitous murder, we get to learn a little more about the work that goes into preserving books for future generations.
Murder is Binding by Lorna Barrett
You can’t get much more on meta than a main character who opens a mystery bookstore, which is exactly what you’re in for in this Booktown Mystery Series. Not only is there a murder to solve, but mentions of other great mystery reads will have you reaching for your pen to jot down your next good book.
By Book or by Crook by Eva Gates
After reading about book restorers and bookstore owners, what’s next but a librarian? In the Lighthouse Library Series, we follow along with an assistant librarian who not only gets to work in a lighthouse that’s been converted to a library, but she gets to live in the lighthouse apartment, as well. (There’s also a cat because, well, cats and books are another of those things that just go hand-in-hand.)
A Dark and Stormy Murder by Julia Buckley
One bookish profession not yet mentioned on our list is a writer—or in this case, an almost-writer. In the Writer’s Apprentice Mystery Series, we discover an aspiring author who takes a job helping a more established one…until the bodies start showing up.
The Christie Curse by Victoria Abbott
For our final bookish murder book, you can’t get more on brand than the Book Collector Mystery Series. These books not only follow a recent college grad who collects rare manuscripts for her boss, but each one is “themed” around a different real-life mystery author. As the name suggests, the series kicks off with Agatha Christie, but expect bookish works from other famed authors Dorothy Sayers, Rex Stout, Dame Ngaio Marsh, and Dashiell Hammett.
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