MBTB SECTIONS

Murder by the Book codes each title because our store is divided into different sections, to allow us to group together mysteries similar in style, structure, or type of detective. Once you get familiar with our system, you can use these codes to browse our site for the types of  mysteries that interest you most. Following is the key for the codes, with the section title and a brief description. Authors without links are available mostly used but in generally generous quantities.  Use our query page to request more info about what we have available.  

CHER = Cherchez La Femme (by & about Modern Women):  Includes most or all series titles by prolific popular authors such as  Nevada Barr, Diane Mott Davidson, Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton, Margaret Maron, and Marcia Muller,  as well as hard-to-find titles by such authors as Linda Barnes, J.S. Borthwick, Denise Danks, Frances Fyfield, Alex Matthews, Marlys Millhiser, Nancy Pickard, Marissa Piesman,  Judith Van Giesen, and many many more.

CRIM = Criminal Pursuits (Suspense and Crime Fiction):  Home of such authors as David Baldacci, Greg Iles, Andrew Klaven, Lawrence Saunders, Dan Simmons, and Stuart Woods. 

EOS= Enemies of the State (Political Thrillers):  Fans of The Da Vinci Code should enjoy Steve Berry, Jack DuBrul, and Lewis Perdue.  If you like John LeCarre, give Alan Furst, John Lawton or Charles McCarry a try.

FC=A Fair Cop (American-style police procedurals):  Includes almost everything by James Lee Burke, Michael Connelly, Faye and Jonathan Kellerman, Ed McBain, and T. Jefferson Parker, plus such great but lesser-known writers as C.J. Box, John Connolly, K.J. Erickson, Jamie Harrison, Michael Malone, and Marco Villatoro.

GOLD = The Butler Did It (Classic writers from Mystery’s Golden Age): Great selection of titles by Margery Allingham, Nicholas Blake, John Dickson Carr, Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner, Michael Innes, Ngaio Marsh, Mary Roberts Rinehardt, Dorothy Sayers, Rex Stout, Patricia Wentworth and more.

HIGH = HIGH CRIMES (Literary Mysteries):  Mostly non-series works emphasizing character and style more than detection,  from such masters of British psychological suspense as Robert Goddard and Minette Walters to elegant espionage by the likes of John LeCarre, Robert Littell and Anthony Price.  

HB=Hard-boiled Heroes (Private Eyes and other Tough Characters): We’ve got everything from the early classics – Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, John D. and Ross MacDonald – to such modern successors as Lawrence Block, Robert Crais, Jeffrey Deaver, Dennis Lehane, Robert B. Parker, and Randy Wayne White, with a few Brits like Dick Francis and Jonathan Gash sprinked in.      

HOR=Horrors! (Supernatural thrillers):  Lots of used titles by Ramsey Campbell, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Bentley Little, Peter Straub and more.                        

IA=Illegal Aliens (Science fiction or Fantasy mysteries):  From early innovators like George Chesbro and Anne Rice through sci-fi takes on traditional mysteries by such authors as P.N. Elrod, Glen Cook and Tanya Huff, to today’s irreverent “paranormal romance” by the likes of Mary Janice Davidson, Yasmine Galenorn, and Shirley Rousseau Murphy.       

MED = THE CUTTING EDGE (Medical Mysteries):  Includes forensic pathologists like Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta and Kathy Reichs’ Temperence Brennan, plus a great selection of medical thrillers by Robin Cook,  Michael Palmer, and many more.

NOIR = THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY (Classic and Modern Noir): From James M. Cain through Charles Willeford and James Ellroy to Norman Green and the terrific Hard Case Crime originals.

ONCE=Once Upon a Crime (Historical Mysteries):  From Ancient Egypt (Lynda Robinson, Lauren Haney) and Rome (Lindsey Davis, John Maddox Roberts, Steven Saylor); through medieval France (Sharan Newman), England (Ellis Peters, Margaret Fraser, Candace Robb), Ireland (Peter Tremayne), China (Robert Van Gulik) and Japan (Laura J. Rowland); though Victorian/Edwardian times (Miriam Grace Monfredo, Robin Paige, Anne Perry); to World War II (Kate Kingsbury).

OTW = OFF THE WALL (Offbeat Humor):  Before Carl Hiaasen there was Donald Westlake. Now they’re joined by the likes of Tim Dorsey,  Bill Fitzhugh, Christopher Moore, and Brian Wiprud.

PTC=Prime Time Crime (Related to Movies or TV shows):  We carry many used Murder She Wrote titles, some Rumpole, and pretty much anything mysterious on TV or in theaters this month.

RD = A Reasonable Doubt...at a reasonable price! (Legal Thrillers): Includes most titles by Linda Fairstein, John Grisham, John Lescroart, and many more.            

REF=Reference works:  Biographies, handbooks on writing mysteries, encyclopedias of mystery fiction, and various checklists.

SB=Soft-boiled Sleuths (Cozies with Amateur Detectives):  We’ve got pretty much everything in your favorites cat series (Lilian Jackson Braun, Rita Mae Brown, Carole Nelson Douglas [Midnight Louie]), plus many classic older writers like Elizabeth Daly, Harry Kemelman, and Phoebe Atwood Taylor, and plenty of such modern masters as Robert Barnard, Martha Grimes, Lee Harris, Jane Langton, and Sharyn McCrumb.

SHER=Sherlockiana (Books by Arthur Conan Doyle or about Sherlock Holmes):  The complete canon, of course, and an array of pastiches, including Laurie R. King and Carole Nelson Douglas [Irene Adler].              

SHOT=Shot on Location (featuring Other Cultures, both Foreign and Native American):  Mysteries from the indiginous Southwest (Peter Bowen, Margaret Coel, Tony Hillerman, Kirk Mitchell) to Scandinavia (Henning Mankell, Sjovall and Wahloo, and a slew of newly translated writers), Scotland (Quintin Jardine, Denise Mina, Ian Rankin), Italy (Michael Dibdin, Donna Leon, Magdalen Nabb) and on to the Far East (Eliot Pattison, Sujata Massey, James Melville) – plus just about anywhere else you can think of!

TALL = TALL, DARK & DEADLY (Women in Jeopardy & Romantic Suspense): Great selection of mostly used titles by Sandra Brown, Mary Higgins Clark, Karen Harper, Tami Hoag, Elizabeth Lowell, J.D. Robb, Laura Van Wormer and many more.

YB=Yardbirds (British police detectives):  From the classic writers (Colin Dexter, P.D. James, Ruth Rendell) to modern greats like Deborah Crombie, Elizabeth George, and Reginald Hill, to new voices like Stuart Pawson and Hilary Bonner.

 LP = Large Print

MBTB = MBTB Picks:  In the store, we display some of our favorite mysteries here;  titles with MBTB listed as the section are shelved here only.