The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Cozy Mystery Librarians…

No, I don’t mean Librarians who work in Cozy Libraries! I mean…. cozy mysteries that feature sleuths who just happen to be librarians, also. (Or should I say sleuths who sometimes are librarians?!?) Here is the list of the cozy mystery authors (on the Cozy Mystery Site) who keep us entertained with librarians:

Jeff Abbott:  His Jordan Poteet Series features a librarian in Texas.

Deborah Adams:  Her Jesus Creek Mysteries feature volunteer librarians.

Lydia Adamson:  The Lucy Wayles Series features a retired librarian.

Claudia Bishop:  Hemlock Falls Series has one less librarian, and one more inn.

Lillian Jackson Braun:  No, The Cat Who *** Series is not about a cat librarian… but Jim’s friend Polly fills that part.

Allison Brook: Haunted Library Mystery Series – Carrie Singleton is the head of programs and events at her Connecticut library.

B.B. Cantwell:  The Portland Bookmobile Mystery Series feautures Hester McGarrible as its sleuth.

Elizabeth Lynn Casey (aka Laura Bradford): Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series… Tori Sinclair is a librarian/sleuth who is also a member of the Sewing Circle in South Carolina.

Laurie Cass write the Bookmobile Cat Mystery Series. Minnie Hamilton and her rescue cat Eddie are on the bookmobile (and the case!)

Elizabeth Spann Craig (aka Elizabeth Craig & Riley Adams) pens the Village Library Mystery Series which features Ann Beckett, a librarian in a small town.

Shirley Damsgaard:  Ophelia of the Ophelia and Abby Series fills the librarian position.

Jo Dereske:  Helma Zukas of the Miss Zukas Series is the librarian in this series.

Amanda Flower: The India Haye Mystery Series features a college librarian.

Eva Gates: The Lighthouse Library Mystery Series features a North Carolina librarian.

Victoria Gilbert: Blue Ridge Library Mystery Series – Amy Webber is a former university librarian who now manages a public library in Virginia.

Jeanne Glidewell: The Lexie Starr Mystery Series features an assistant librarian.

Charlaine Harris:  Her Aurora Teagarden Series revolves around Aurora, a librarian.

Patricia Harwin:  The Far Wychwood Mysteries‘ retired librarian moves to England to be close to her daughter.

Marion Moore Hill: Scrappy Librarian Mystery Series

Miranda James (Honora Hartman, Jimmie Ruth Evans, & Dean James): Cat in the Stacks Mystery Series

Sofie Kelly: Magical Cats Mystery Series

Mary Lou Kirwin: Librarian Mystery Series

Jess Lourey:  Her Murder by the Month Mysteries feature a librarian/reporter

Charlotte MacLeod: Her Peter Shandy Mysteries quickly added Helen, the librarian, to the list of main characters.

Jenn McKinlay (aka Lucy Lawrence): Library Lover’s Mystery Series

D. R. Meredith:  Megan Clark, from the Murder by the Yard Series, is the librarian.

Miriam Grace Monfredo:  The Seneca Falls Historical Mystery Series features a 19th century librarian.

Shirley Rousseau Murphy:  Her Joe Grey Cat Series features Dulcie, the library cat.

Nora Page (aka Amy Myers) Bookmobile Mystery Series – Cleo Watkins is a septuagenarian who drives the “Words on Wheels” bookmobile in Georgia.

Elizabeth Peters (aka Barbara Mertz, Barbara Michaels): The Jacqueline Kirby Series features an ex-librarian who now is a romance novelist.

R. T. Raichev: Antonia, from the Country House Mystery Series, is not only an author, but also a librarian.

Ian Sansom: The Mobile Library Mystery Series follows sleuth Israel Armstrong in Northern Ireland.

Secrets of Blue Hill Library Mystery Series is a Guideposts Cozy series written by Emily Thomas. Anne Gibson (the sleuth) converts an old Victorian into her town’s library.

J. B. Stanley:  The Supper Club Mystery Series features an ex-professor who currently is a librarian/sleuth. (She is re-releasing this series as Ellery Adams.)

Fran Stewart: The Biscuit McKee and Marmalade Mystery Series has a librarian/sleuth.

Judith Van Gieson: The Claire Reynier Mystery Series

Gayle Wigglesworth: Claire Gulliver Mystery Series

Eric Wright:  The Lucy Trimble Brenner Series revolves around a librarian who inherits a detective agency.

♦To access more Cozy Mysteries by Theme click on this link.♦

Comments

  1. Don’t forget R. T. Raichev’s Country House Mystery series. Antonia is a librarian in the Military Club when we first meet her in “The Hunt for Sonya Dufrette.”

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  3. I have just finished the fifth Megan Clark book by D.R. Meredith. Do you know if she is still writing these? I do like the wasy she has written the series. Thanks.

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  4. Hi Dennis,

    I tried to find out about D. R. Meredith, and came up with nothing, nada, zilch… Sorry about that! Hopefully, a site reader will know the answer.
    (I always feel bad when I am not able to track down information… But, I have found that actually writing the author’s last known publisher is not very fruitful… actually, it’s not at all fruitful!)

    Reply

    • As an elementary school librarian who just (happily) happened upon your site, I agree with your comment about weekly visits to elementary school libraries helping to create book lovers. Sadly, these visits are on the endangered species list as we are being phased out in favor of technology. I can’t wait to share your wonderful website (and the librarian book list!) with my colleagues. Thanks for all of your hard work.

      Reply

      • Pat, I’m really sorry to hear about schools having to cut out the weekly library visits. Both of my children are voracious readers, and their library visits were always a treat.

        P.S. I hope none of your librarian friends are as prone to find bodies as the librarians on this Cozy Mystery list! 😉

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  7. How about adding a “law enforcement” theme..police officers, lawyers, judges, bounty hunters, park rangers, private detectives?
    You might add “and educators” to librarians. When I was helping at the circulation desk at our library a woman was checking out a “Miss Zukas”. I told her that series was one of my favorites, and although she agreed it was good, she said she preferred a series about a college professor. Because the library was so busy, we didn’t have a chance to chat, and all the information I got was that the professor was an older man. I have not been able to find a series about a college professor, and I would like to read something like that.

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    • Professor Peter Shandy’s wife, Helen, is an assistant librarian and “Curator of the Buggins Collection” at Balaclava College (founded by Balaclava Buggins) under Librarian Peter Porble. They are all regular characters in the series, and live on-campus.

      Reply

  12. Sarah Shaber does an academic cozy about a college professor in Raleigh, North Carolina. They are called the Professor Simon Shaw mysteries.

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  17. Whatever happened to Jo Dereske? I love her books (both series), but it’s been a long time since there was a new one. (Of course, I want a new book each month by my favorite authors. lol) Thanks!

    Reply

    • Janie, I just went to Jo Dereske’s home page and this is a direct quote:

      “FAREWELL,MISS ZUKAS, the twelfth and –gulp – final Miss Zukas mystery will be available in June, exact date to be determined. It will be available in both paper and as an ebook.”

      Reply

  18. I can’t remember the author or the name of the main character, but she’s a retired librarian who lives outside a town in Ohio. She has a horse that she keeps in a corral on her property. She has a good friend who is also retired–I don’t think there’s a romance between them but he helps her solve mysteries. It’s very well written & there are several books in the series. Sorry that I can’t recall any more info’.

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    • Ann, I have copied and pasted the information you gave us into my “blogs to write” list. Hopefully, I will get to it soon…

      Reply

  19. A new series: Miranda James writes Cats in the Stacks with a librarian and cat. 2 books have been published so far.

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    • Thank you, Alicia, for reminding me to add Miranda James to the list. Good grief! I am getting more and more forgetful now that my piles of notes are getting higher and higher.

      Thanks, again… I am going to go add Miranda James to the lists of librarians… and cats!

      Actually, I just checked and see that at least I remembered to add Miranda James to the Cats in Mysteries list…

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  20. Hoping someone can help me. I’ve been searching for years for a book I read around 1969 or thereabouts. A woman goes in search of her sister, taking her cat with her. The cat likes a saucer of beer once in awhile. The woman develops pleurisy and has her ribs taped up. When she finally locates her sister, it turns out that the sister is the ‘bad guy.’ The woman might be a librarian (not sure) and she drives an old car (might be a volkswagen, not sure).

    Reply

    • Dell Shannon’s character “Louis Mendoza” would give one of his cats a shot of rye! These were great books. I loved these books and the story lines. The characters were down to earth. The plots were very interesting. The character building were great. This was a great series of crime solving by people that did become my friends. I hated when some of them were either killed off or moved on. Great seriers. One of my all time favorites.

      Reply

    • Sue, the mystery book you have described doesn’t ring a bell for me, but I have copied your comment and put it into my “BLOG” file. I will post a future entry asking for help on your specific book.

      Reply

    • Linda, I don’t know if Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct series is Cozy or not… I haven’t read any of them…

      Reply

      • Danna, I don’t think the Ed McBain series could be classified as ” Cozies” either. I found.this author listed in the police proceedure section of murder mysteries on the internet. But I started reading these several years ago. This series has a very good character development theme to it. Dell Shannon also wrote this type of series. I enjoyed both of these series very much.

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  22. What do you know about:
    Linda S. Bingham – What the Librarian Heard
    Thanks for any information. I enjoy your blog!!!
    I was a childlren’s librarian in Pittsburgh and Honolulu over 50 years ago. Then a special education teacher.

    Reply

    • A small-town library shares quarters with the police station, and library patrons hear more than they want. When police radios shatter the hush with dispatches about a string of violent murders, librarian Elinor Woodward makes an odd connection between the present crime wave and a lost child.

      1st in series. 2001 pub date. listed on amazon. Set in Oklahoma. Paperback only no digital that I’ve found. I think I’ve read it & have copy somewhere.

      Reply

  23. New one to me. Truth Kills: An Angelina Bonaparte Mystery [Paperback]. Cozy cat press 2013
    Nanci Rathbun (Author)
    From amazon:
    In TRUTH KILLS, librarian-turned-private-investigator Angelina Bonaparte is a woman on a mission––to ferret out cheaters and lowlifes and bring them to justice. Angie has plenty of experience with such men––and not just because her former husband was the king of the lot. As a P.I. in Milwaukee, most of Angie’s work is tracking down deadbeats and exposing unfaithful spouses. But, now she’s been asked by a betrayed pregnant wife to prove her cheating husband, Anthony Belloni––aka Tony Baloney––innocent of the murder of his kept mistress. Angie’s heart tells her to let the skunk rot in prison, but her head convinces her that adultery is not grounds for incarceration. During the investigation, Angie encounters so many people who wished the victim dead that she has to develop a chart to keep track of them all. She also encounters hunky police detective Ted Wukowski, who is still reeling from the death of his former female MPD partner at the hands of a narcotics gang, and thinks women don’t belong in the path of danger. As they work toward the same goal––discovering the dead woman’s killer––Angie and Detective Wukowski realize their attraction for each other and must decide whether they are strong enough as individuals to work through her lack of trust and his fear of loss.

    Nanci Rathbun retired early from a career at AT&T to pursue her dream of writing. A short story with a romantic theme, What’s in a Name?, was published in Woman’s World magazine. She wanted to focus on the kind of book she loves to read – the mystery. Her first novel, Truth Kills: An Angelina Bonaparte Mystery, is due out in August from Cozy Cat Press, in both paperback and ebook formats. Biography
    Nanci has spent many years in workshops and coaching with AllWriters’ Workplace & Workshop, and is presently a member of the Murfreesboro Writers Group.
    She is a longtime Wisconsin resident who recently relocated to Tennessee to be closer to her granddaughters – oh, and their parents. No matter where she lives, she will always be a Packers fan.

    Reply

  24. I just finished reading BY BOOK OR BY CROOK by Eva Gates,a paperback just published in February. Lucy leaves her job of ten years at Harvard as a librarian of rare books mainly to get away from her family who wants her to marry the son of a partner. She goes to the Outer banks where her aunt & uncle live and gets a job as assistant in the local library which is in an historic Lighthouse. Bertie the librarian has managed to borrow 5 first editions of Jane Austen for the summer which has caused an increase of tourists. But the head of the library board is killed the night of the reception showing the collection. Then one of the books is stolen from the locked cabinet, and Bertie is the chief suspect for the murder. Lucy has of course started to investigate as well doing lectures on Jane Austen which are very popular with both residents and tourists. Then another first edition is stolen ….
    This is first of a series and the next one will be in September BOOKED FOR TROUBLE. a true cozy.

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  25. I don’t know if you want to consider her a librarian, but Victoria Abbott writes a series about a young lady who assists her wealthy employer to find rare books. Titles include Christie Curse, Hammett Hex. Also, there was apost I saw the other day wondering about a series involving 3 uncles who are former mobsters, who have gone staright. This young girl has such uncles. I do enjoy the series.

    Reply

      • Agreed. I believe I said that…but I could not place her series, which I deem enjoyable and worth noting to others, in any other category. Certainly not “bookstore owner, publisher’ nor “Professional organizer,” which also includes such things as home builder/renovator, interior designer. A conundrum. Thanks.

        Reply

        • Thanks for the kind words about the Book Collector mysteries. Jordan isn’t a librarian in the traditional sense, although I (as half the writing team of Victoria Abbott) was! We did put a sexy male librarian in our books! Yes, I’ve met many of those. There are lots of librarians who have turned to fictional murder for next careers. We’re everyone. Thanks for keeping excellent cozy discussions going.

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  27. There is a new author I discovered recently: Holly Danvers and her book is called the Murder at the Lakeside Library. A young woman comes home to get through her grief and ends up taking over the community rural library. And of course she becomes engrossed in the mystery of one of the communities murder.

    Reply

  28. Please checkout the Greer Hogan Mystery Series by M.E.Hilliard. It is a relatively new series featuring Greer as the librarian sleuth. There are currently three published books in the series with a fourth to be available in June 2024.

    Reply

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