CHECK IT OUT:Intrigue in the stacks

Libraries are considered quiet places of reading, reflection and study for the most part. Mystery writers love to break this stereotype with suspenseful plots using the library as a repository of havoc and mayhem.

The Newport Beach Public Library has a separate mystery section for hardcover titles that will please fans of shifting alliances and hidden motives. Mystery titles in paperback and large type are also available for those who prefer these alternate reading formats.

Some of these books are older titles, but all shatter the image of the shushing and silencing librarians who discover bodies and skulduggery in their neatly organized, well-maintained libraries.

“Murder at the Library of Congress” by Margaret Truman: Imagine Librarian Cale Broadhurst’s surprise when a renowned scholar is found murdered in a carrel at the Library of Congress. The untimely death seems to revolve around the alleged existence of an unknown diary dealing with Christopher Columbus’ voyages written by a certain Bartholome de Las Casas.

“The Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco: Sean Connery starred in the movie version as a monk investigating a series of deaths in the monastery library. Of course, there are hidden secrets linking the killings lurking in those dusty, unwieldy tomes. Brush up on your Latin with this title. Umberto Eco isn’t a serious Italian professor and scholar for nothing.

“Miss Zukas” series by Jo Dereske: Miss Zukas is a no-nonsense librarian who doesn’t cotton to untidy bodies left cluttering up her strictly cataloged, Dewey Decimal-ordered stacks. Have fun with clever titles such as, “Out of Circulation,” and “Miss Zukas Shelves the Evidence.” This series is available in paperback for reading anywhere.

“The Cruellest Month” by Hazel Holt: Yikes, part-time librarian Gwen Richmond is actually killed when the Encyclopedia Britannica falls on her. Critic Sheila Malory knows how to deal with heavy literature, but this is ridiculous! Oxford University’s Bodleian Library is the scene of the crime in this older thriller.

“The Grand Complication” by Allen Kurzweil: New York Public Library librarians are nationally known for their research skills, but bibliophile Henry James Jesson III takes it to a new level when he hires Reference Librarian Alexander Short to identify a missing object. Plays on words and librarian witticisms keep the reader intrigued.

“The Chill” by Ross MacDonald: One of the old guard in the mystery writer department, MacDonald has Det. Lew Archer hunt for librarian Dolly Kincaid when she disappears during her honeymoon. Maybe she should have stayed shelving books in California’s mythical Pacific Point College Library instead of marrying that suspicious husband.

“Gaudy Night” by Dorothy L. Sayers: Amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey’s love interest, Harriet Vane, returns to her alma mater for a reunion (a “gaudy”) at the fictitious, all-female, Shrewsbury (get it?) College set in England’s Oxford University. What she finds is poison pen letters, dangerous pranks and missing manuscript proofs from complaining Librarian Miss Burrow’s library.

The last title is a classic, even though the murder takes place in a grand mansion’s private library, rather than a public or academic one.

“The Body in the Library” by Agatha Christie: Miss Jane Marple, the intrepid, elderly “spinster,” solves the murder of a beautiful, young ballroom dancer who is found dead in the library of her friend. Re-reading this seemingly normal, pastoral country-life, sleepy-English-village thriller will remind you why Christie remains at the pinnacle of mystery-writer achievement and why the greatest mystery award an author can receive is called the Agatha.

is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public Library. This week’s column is by Mary Ellen Bowman. Use your Newport Beach Public Library card to reserve these titles at www.newportbeachlibrary.org or call (949) 717-3800 and press 2 for more information.