Library and Information Science Commons^™

Rare Books In Detective Fiction: Information As Object, Mary Freier

Mollie Freier

Library mysteries written since 1970 often depict intrigue surrounding the theft or threatened theft of rare books. Charles Goodrum, a director of the Library of Congress, once wrote that when he decided to write a mystery novel set in a library, he spent an evening coming up with ideas for such a novel. He said that he came up with dozens, but settled on a plot about rare book theft because he thought it would be more accessible to general readers. Many other mystery writers have made the same decision. Although these mysteries are often considered library mysteries and frequently …