Book Review: Golden Age Bibliomysteries, edited by Otto Penzler

Average Rating: 3.7⭐

Golden Age Bibliomysteries, edited by Otto Penzler, is a carefully curated anthology featuring fourteen mysteries revolving around libraries, librarians, rare manuscripts, antiquarian books and much more. I appreciated the structure of the anthology and that each story is preceded by a brief introduction on the author, the publication history, and screen adaptations if any. Most of these authors were new to me and I enjoyed getting to know more about them.

The Jorgenson Plates by Frederick Irving Anderson (1922) : This wasn’t quite a “bibliomystery” in the true sense of the term but I did like the central theme of a conman and his wife getting their comeuppance. (3)

The Aldine Folio Murders by Lawrence G. Blochman (1940): Several individuals express interest in a rare manuscript soon to be auctioned off. What follows is a sequence of events including, theft, murder, and deception. (4)

Death Walks In Marble Halls by Lawrence G. Blochman (1942): The murder of a Trustee at a Public Library has the library closed off as the police investigate several suspects. This is one of my favorites in the collection. (5)

QL 696 .C9 by Anthony Boucher (1942): A librarian is murdered and the probable suspects include her coworkers and one of the patrons. (4)

Foot In It by James Gould Cozzens (1935): The proprietor of a bookstore is confronted by a relative of a deceased customer over a hefty unpaid invoice. (3.5)

The Missing Shakespeare Manuscript by Lilian de la Torre (1946): During the Stratford Jubilee, 1769 after the rare manuscript of a previously unknown work of the bard goes missing the thief demands a hefty ransom. (3)

State Faír Murder by Frank Gruber (1939): The scion of a publishing house is murdered in public.(3.5)

The Episode of the Codex’ Curse by C. Daly King (1935): An Aztec Codex is stolen from a locked room in a museum. (3)

The Adventure of the Three R’s by Ellery Queen (1946): A college professor and aspiring author goes missing and the details of the case are eerily familiar to the story featured in his new manuscript. (4)

The Unique Hamlet by Vincent Starrett (1920): A Sherlock Holmes pastiche revolving around a missing rare signed Hamlet quarto. (4)

A Volume of Poe by Vincent Starrett (1929): A rare volume of poems leads to murder and mayhem. (4)

The Shakespeare Title-Page Mystery Carolyn Wells (1940): Rare books and a lot of “jiggery-pokery”!(3)

The Book That Squealed Cornell Woolrich (1939): Another favorite of mine featuring a resourceful librarian who follows clues she deciphers from the missing pages of a library book to solve a kidnapping! (5)

The final segment is a puzzle, The Stolen Endymion by Lassiter Wren & Randle McKay, from The Baffle Book, published in 1930.(3.5)

Most of the stories are not too complicated and I could guess a few of the endings. The stories vary in length and pacing. As with most anthologies, some stories were more appealing than others but overall, I found it to be an entertaining read. Those who enjoy mysteries set in libraries and/or bookstores would find this collection interesting in that you can get a historical perspective of the sub-genre. Many thanks to the publisher for granting access to the DRC via Edelweiss+. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Please note that few (not all) stories feature terminology, and/or dialogue and/or characters that do sound offensive (racist/sexist) if viewed from a contemporary perspective. However, as mysteries, these stories do make for interesting reading, if you can accept that these stories were written in a different time period.