As noted in yesterday's post, bibliomysteries date back to at least the last quarter of the 19th century. For the first few decades following that period, publication of bibliomysteries was somewhat sporadic. We noted a few of these in yesterday's post. Some other early bibliomysteries include Carolyn Wells' Murder in the Bookshop (1936), which deals with the disappearance of an expensive book; Rex Stout's Murder by the Book (1951), which deals with murders arising from an unpublished novel and features his famous fictional detective Nero Wolfe; and Poul Anderson's Murder in Black Letter (1960), which deals with the loss of a pre-Renaissance manuscript:
Judging by the articles published about this sub-genre in various publications, bibliomysteries began to attract a more widespread audience in the early- to mid-1970s. It was during this period that a number of authors began to publish more than a single book featuring this theme. Examples include Robert Barnard, Thomas Gifford and Charles Goodrum:
Interestingly enough, quite a few writers who are better known for their science fiction (e.g., Poul Anderson and Isaac Asimov) have penned quite a few bibliomysteries. In fact, one of the most popular recent bibliomystery series is unabashedly science fiction:
Recent decades have been a sort of Golden Age for the bibliomystery, blessed by a number of great bibliomystery series (such as John Dunning's Cliff Janeway thrillers) and by increasingly literate bibliomysteries that wind up being turned into equally literate films:
A reasonably up-to-date checklist of articles and books about bibliomysteries (including some tentative bibliographies of this sub-genre) has been compiled by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College in Boston. The school's checklist of its own collection, as well as its wishlist, make for a handy set of online bibliographies for this sub-genre....
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