I’ve always been a sucker for mysteries that involve rare books or special collection libraries. That’s why I recently jumped at the invitation to write a short essay for CrimeReads about “Seven Great Mysteries about Rare Books and Bibliophiles.”
As I put it, “There’s something about a rare or beautiful book that can ignite the darker human passions. Bibliophilia—a love for books as physical objects—might seem a gentle and even noble affliction, but history abounds with tales of obsessive bibliophilic greed, betrayal, theft, blackmail, fraud, assault, and murder. Can mystery fiction be far behind? (Lured by the puns, if nothing else? A Cracking of Spines? Dewey Decimated? The surface has barely been scratched.”
My own new historical mystery, Relative Fortunes, falls squarely into this camp. My amateur sleuth Julia Kydd is an avid bibliophile who has recently launched her own imprint—Capriole Press—to design and produce short texts by hand in very limited editions. Such care and craft render each copy a work of art. She is caught up in the enthusiasm for hand-crafted books that flourished throughout the 1920s among American and European book collectors.
Time will only tell if some future critic might include Relative Fortunes on his or her own list of “the best of” such bibliophilic mysteries. For now, I’m just happy for the chance to revisit so many of my favorite reads. I heartily recommend every title on the list—and wish I could have included several more deserving authors and books. (Limited to seven selections, I tried to convey breadth and variety by including women authors, non-Western settings, different historical eras, and so on.) But then book lists are never static; the best ones are always growing and changing.
Any favorites you’d add to a list of mysteries about rare books and bibliophiles? I’m always keen for new reading recommendations.
