bibliomystery means A genre of mystery novels which have books as the central theme of the plot. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “bibliomystery” is a great word
A mystery novel in which books, libraries, or the book trade are central to the plot. Its form emerges from the combining form biblio- (from Greek biblion, "book") + mystery (from Latin mysterium, via Anglo-Norman, "secret rite or hidden thing"). Unlike the "whodunit" (which pivots on a corpse in a drawing-room) or the "caper" (which delights in the mechanics of a heist), the bibliomystery is a crime of and for the literary mind. It is the scent of foxed paper in a locked-room library, the sinister weight of a mis-shelved incunabulum, and the cryptic marginalia in a stolen grimoire—a genre where the victim is often a reputation, the weapon a forgery, and the final revelation a quiet testament to the dangerous gravity of the written word.
Etymology
From biblio- + mystery.
noun
- A genre of mystery novels which have books as the central theme of the plot.“Marco Page's Fast Company is probably an early example of the bibliomystery in English (the first ever bibliomystery is from 1874: Scrope, or, The Lost Library by Frederic Perkins, followed by The Colfax Bookplate, 1926, by Agness Miller) while the movie adaptation of Fast Company is most likely the first bibliomystery in cinema.”