By Collections Manager Aly Wepplo
“It is the brain, the little gray cells on which one must rely. One must seek the truth within—not without.” ~Agatha Christie (as Hercule Poirot)
May is National Mystery Month, a time to celebrate the brilliant detectives, atmospheric settings, and red herrings of one of our favorite genres. Mysteries engage our brains in a unique way. They invite us to take part, to pull out our metaphorical magnifying glasses, as we pore over the pages. Mystery master Anthony Horowitz said, “I can’t think of any genre in which the main character and the reader, or the viewer, are more closely connected.”
The scope of mystery is massive, and its list of subgenres is long: cozy, noir, courtroom, police procedural, locked room—there is a mystery for nearly every reader.
These stories satisfy a universal need to be curious, to take a closer look.
In every mystery, we are presented with a world; that world is upset by a crime or a secret, and balance must be restored. Memorable worlds and characters fill in the details. Put it all together, and mystery pulls off an incredible feat: it is at once a relaxing retreat and a mental workout.
Here at The Community Library, every month could be Mystery Month. In the last year, our patrons checked out nearly 4,000 mysteries—about eleven books a day. That’s no surprise to me, having seen patrons work their way through every book in the New Mystery section one volume at a time. We love long-running series from C.J. Box, Louise Penny, and Michael Connelly. We delight in the discovery of new favorites, like Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club. And we’re always searching for new puzzles.
If you’re on the lookout for your next mystery read, you’re in luck:
The Edgar Awards, established by Mystery Writers of America and named for Edgar Allen Poe, are announced in April. These awards honor excellence in mystery writing. Find the 2026 Edgar nominees for best mystery novel here. Or check out this list of must-read mysteries from NoveList Plus, a book recommendation database provided by the Idaho Commission for Libraries. All these recommendations are available for checkout through the Library.
Happy Mystery Month! If you need me, I’ll be sitting outside with a book, piecing together clues.
