November:

THE THREE COFFINS, by John Dickson Carr – or any “Dr. Gideon Fell” mystery by Carr

“Among all the locked-room crime mysteries, better known as the “howdunits,” the 1935 crime novel, The Three Coffins, also published under the U.K. title The Hollow Man, is considered to be the apex of the genre and writer John Dickson Carr its master.” – Rachel Sonis, Time magazine

Stop by the Reference Desk after October 9th to pick up a copy of a Carr title, or check out the catalog listing HERE.

Supplemental Reading:

Rian Johnson (“Knives Out”) on “The Genius of John Dickson Carr”  (Crime Reads, Jan 2024)

“Subverting Expectations: Why ‘The House in Goblin Wood’ (1947) Is a Masterpiece” – (Suddenly at His Residence, Aug. 2019)

Book Club Background:

Join us in person or online to look at the history of Mystery as a book genre.

It has been almost 200 years since the publication of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” and since then, mystery as a genre has exploded in form, length, language, and more. From The Lady in White, Wilkie Collins’ novel that is considered the first of the genre, through the serialized adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the Golden Age of Agatha Christie, the advent of noir, the rise of thrillers, romantic suspense, and an international cast of characters ranging from retired police officers to meddling sleuths, some famous twins, and armchair detectives.

TIME MAGAZINE PICKS THE 100 BEST MYSTERY NOVELS OF ALL TIME

Each month we might read an article, a short story, a book, or a selection from the same author or the same country. We’ll look at award winners and debut novelists, the standard bearers and the rule breakers. We may talk about movies and TV, too.  We’ll work our way through the decades, looking at similar themes, exotic settings, and recent innovations in a genre that is both familiar and new.

Some of the authors we’ll cover: Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Mary Higgins Clark, Alexander McCall Smith, Jo Nesbo, and more!

Check out the recent Edgar Award winners HERE.

We’ll run this group as hybrid, so anyone can join. If you’re new, please click below to register for the program, and either request the Zoom link, or indicate if you’ll join us in person. Returning readers do not need to register unless they need the Zoom link.

At the end of the day, the butler may have done it, but we’ll decide if he was justified!

REGISTER HERE: