Ideas For Book Displays and Other Passive Readers Advisory - Crime Fiction Edition

 Crime fiction includes mysteries, thrillers, suspense, and spy novels. All of these have many subgenres and can easily be their own list or display. Remember that readers who enjoy one often will cross over to read another. If you check out the bibliographic record of some crime fiction titles, you will often see mystery, thriller, and suspense listed as genres. 

Again, as with the previous posts, I am going to try to not repeat resources. Keep in mind, many of these resources have information about multiple genres. If you have suggestions, let me know!

Crime Reads is run by Literary Hub and focuses on crime fiction and non-fiction. There are a lot of lists, read likes, interviews, and news about upcoming releases. Beyond fiction, they cover TV, movies, and true crime. 

One annoying thing is that those who eschew other genres will promote crime fiction, even those who believe themselves to read only "serious" literature. Setting aside the snobbery and incorrect attitude about the rest of fiction, The Booker Prize, a literary award based in England, does include crime fiction and has some articles and information about nominees. 

Sisters in Crime was founded to help promote women in mystery. There is information about chapters, an author search, and a page for librarians. There is also a podcast. 

Crime Writers of Color has information about upcoming and recent releases, subgenres, a podcast, YouTube channel, and information about speakers. If you are looking for example, a police procedural to add to a list or display, this is a great place to check. 

For information on crime fiction including awards, authors, series, diversity, genres, debuts, and more - visit Stop, You're Killing me. 

Mystery Scene Magazine is published four times a year. The website features reviews as well as some of the content from the magazine. Reviews can help you find read alike for your book displays and lists. 

The Mystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery and crime writers. Librarians are able to join. There is information about new books by members and more information available to members. The MWA gives out the Edgar Awards every year. There are a number of awards including for non fiction, first novel, and youth titles. 

Bouchercon presents the Anthony Awards every year. The convention, run by the World Mystery Convention, has programming for mystery writers. The Anthony Awards are a great way to curate a book display or list of the best of the genre. The nominees and winners going back to 1986 are available on the site. 

Hands down, the most popular site I ever talk about in a training is Cozy Mystery List. There is information about books, television, and movies that are cozy. There is a definition of what a cozy mystery is, information about new releases, authors, and a comprehensive guide to series by theme. 

Another organization for writers is the International Thriller Writers. They present the Thriller Awards which can be helpful for passive readers advisory. As with other writers groups, librarians can join as associate members. 

Book Display Idea: Use a specific title: White Horse by Erika T. Wurth

White Horse is one of NoveList’s Best of the Year titles for 2022. If you are following or promoting the NoveList 2023 Reading Challenge, it fills the January prompt.  Kari James is an urban Indian, working in bars, reading Stephen King, and listening to heavy metal. She spends her free time with her cousin, Debby, and at the White Horse, an Indian bar. Abandoned by her mother while an infant, Keri is forced to look into her past as well as her family’s past when Debby gives her a bracelet that was her mother’s. The bracelet seems to bring forth visions. It’s a horror novel with heart that dives into the pain and horror in digging up the truth.

It is another title that is a compelling story of women’s friendships and relationships as are The Bandit Queen and Bad Cree. A display filled with books that center the relationships between groups of women would be a great display to use for March and Women’s History Month. The books don’t need to have one tone as families and friendships are complicated. You can look at books like The Girls from Corona del Mar by Rufi Thorpe, The Story Hour by Thirty Umrigar, and Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin for different takes on women’s relationships. This theme would also work for 

Another theme in the book is family secrets. Besides Bad Cree, there are also books like The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig, White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi, Shelter by Jung Yun, and Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng which include complex characters and families with secrets. Remember that if you are working with a them like family secrets or women’s friendships, you aren’t limited to one genre or even just fiction. Starting with a book display theme like that will make the display easier to create and keep filled. The object is to draw attention to hidden gems in your collection rather than to create a perfect display. 

Of course, White Horse is a great title to put on a display or list for a women in horror display as part of Women’s History Month in March as well as a display of Native American fiction or horror. Authors like Stephen Graham Jones, Ramona Emerson, Jessica Johns, Owl Goingback, and Daniel H. Wilson have all written recent, compelling horror novels. There are also authors like Leslie Marmon Silko, Louise Erdrich, Tommy Orange, and Cherie Dimaline who have written recent books that you can check out. Remember you can check your collection for non-fiction and DVDs that can be added. 

As always, using a book like White Horse to inspire a book display or list is a great way to see what you have in your collection, both in physical and eBook form as well as what you are missing. Remember to include information about your digital collection in a physical book display as well as links to your collection. 

Other Resources:
Brightly had a list of female friendships: Ups, Downs, and Everything In-Between: 11 Great Books About Female Friendships

Goodreads has a list of books shelved as female friendship books. 

From Book Riot, 12 Female Friendship Books for Galentine’s Day. 

Books on Goodreads shelved under Family Secrets.

23 Books with Family Secrets We Still Can’t Believe on Epic Reads. 

8 Novels About Family Secrets Lurking Right Under Your Nose on Book Riot

The Horror Writers Association has a series of interview with Native American Authors.

The Seattle Public Library has a list of recent novels on their Native American Fiction list. 

Books shelved as Native American Fiction on Goodreads. 

Theme to Explore - Blending Genre in Book Displays

 Setting aside any libraryland debates about genre spine labels, genre filing on the shelf versus interfiling and so forth, I thought I would talk about how to use books which cross several genres or are genre blended as a theme for an online list or book display. Many books have crossover appeal. You can use this to gently suggest to your readers that there are books outside their usual lanes that they will enjoy and perhaps create another entire world of books for that patron to explore. 

The easiest option is to do a "If you liked this... Try this" book display/list. You can go outside of the usual similar titles in the same genre and instead match up a memoir or biography with a fiction title. Pick someone who lived in the same era or a biography with a fictional depiction of that person. A recent idea from the news and popular culture would be a novel about the British royal family with a biography of a British royal. Pair a book like Children of Chicago by Cynthia Pelayo with non-fiction books about Chicago, Chicago travel books, and DVDs about Chicago. 

The Chicago Public Library has a convenient list of fiction set in Chicago. 

This is a simple version of blending genres in a book display - pick a setting or character and grab materials from your location, regardless of genre of type. 

Another option using Children of Chicago?  It's also a police procedural so look for romantic suspense, mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction which are also police procedurals in part. There are plenty of titles in other genres which focus on a single police detective. Try adding them to a display. The fact that some are romantic suspense while others are historical mysteries shouldn't matter. Let your patrons explore and trust their curiosity. 

The truth is that while it was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for best novel, Children of Chicago is not only a horror novel. As was mentioned before it's a police procedural, urban fantasy, modern fairy tale, and serial killer thriller. There are plenty of books in your collection which share these descriptions. Gather them up and put them on a display. 

You can use this sort of display to introduce patrons to the idea of genre blending in novels. Use a picture of a blender on a sign and put up materials from your collection that cross genres. Romance fans are already familiar with this idea due to the proliferation of subgenres in romance  - romantic suspense, historical romance, inspirational romance and so forth. There are also mysteries which are also historical fiction, horror which is also comedic, and science fiction which has elements from thrillers blended in. 

One theme you can use is literary fiction/genre fiction. There are plenty of titles which combine aspects of literary fiction including complex language and a character driven plot. Literary fiction giants like Colson Whitehead (Zone One) have written horror while horror authors like Stephen Graham Jones and Andy Davidson would definitely appeal to literary fiction lovers.
 
While examples of literary genre fiction in all genres can be found, I would caution you that romance readers do expect a central love story and a happy (at least for now) ending. Books that have romantic elements could be called love stories on a display or list. 

Below I have some lists and articles that should help you in your exploration of genre blending and blended genres. Use them as a start to introduce your patrons to books outside their usual reads!

More resources: 

Goodreads has a list of genre blending fiction. 
Books shelfed on Goodreads as Literary Romance.
More from Goodreads with Best Literary Mysteries
Bookriot has several lists: genre-blending literary fiction, genre-blending historical fiction,      redefining romance in literary fiction, best literary mystery
ALA Publishing published The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Blends. 
This article from Writer's Digest talks about cross pollination which would be a cute theme for a genre blending display. 
Tor.com has Five Genre-Blending Young Adult Books. 
Five Books in Which Unexpected Romance Sneaks Up On You from The Atlantic
The Millions has The Case for Genre Fiction: A Guide to Literary Science Fiction and Fantasy

Book Display Idea: Use a specific title- How To Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

 This month Grady Hendrix's new title, How To Sell A Haunted House, is published. He is a best selling horror author whose books have a lot of crossover appeal to readers who don't necessarily seek out horror. Even if you have a holds list for the book, you can harness his popularity to draw attention to other titles on your shelves. 

First, as always, put up signage promoting your holds list. Don't assume that everyone knows how easy it is and what the notification options are. If you have any of his titles as part of your eBook collection, add information about that as well. The purpose of a book display or online booklist is to promote your library's collection. Don't get hung up on specific titles; it's not a homework assignment. Unless you post pictures online, no one is going to grade you. Just search for subject headings and look for titles that are close enough. It's a great way to become more proficient with your searching. 

Grady has a backlist which are the easiest titles to add to a book display or book list. Most libraries have copies of: Final Girl Support Group, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, We Sold Our Souls, Paperbacks From Hell, My Best Friend's Exorcism, and Horrorstör. Remember to check your collection for large print copies and audiobooks.

Because different readers will approach the same title from different directions, there are always a variety of ways to use an individual title as the basis for a book display. A blog post or online list can include several of the themes in any one book. Haunted house is the most obvious start as it's part of the title and is also a significant plot point. There are also plenty of films about haunted houses. 

Local haunted houses, ghost stories, and creepy buildings is a way to work non-fiction into your display/list. Add books from your local collection and more general books from non-fiction. For online resources, add links to reputable sites detailing local haunts and ghost tales. Every place has some local ghost stories. You can bring in a local historian to assist with a program about local haunts if you want to tie a program to the release. Remember horror is not just for October. 

Some Florida examples of local haunts?
 Campus Haunts: The spookiest spots at UF - hosted on the University of Florida's website, this is an article about ghosts and haunted places on the University of Florida's Gainesville campus. 
Creepiest places in Florida guaranteed to haunt your dreams - A Jacksonville TV station's roadmap for a haunted tour around the Sunshine State. 
Best Florida ghost stories from Tampa's most haunted places - A Tampa news story about the most haunted places in Tampa, Florida. 

I've set up displays with "Not So Happy Home Sweet Home" on a sign and included horror titles and suspense titles. The display focused on both haunted houses and dysfunctional families. A display like that would use another aspect of How To Sell A Haunted House - dysfunctional families and sibling relationships. 

Finally we come to creepy dolls, puppets and clowns. Some people have strong feelings about these creepy subjects so be forewarned. This is a great direction to go if you want to include DVDs as there are horror films with that general subject. It's also a way to make a companion youth display. While younger readers are unlikely to pick up Grady's new book, there are plenty of juvenile fiction titles that include creepy dolls and puppets. Look for read alikes for the Goosebumps classic Night of the Living Dummy. Putting youth materials outside of the youth services department is a way to remind your patrons that you do have them in your collection. Also, many kids love spooky books. 

More resources - 

RA For All Horror: Haunted House Label - Becky Spratford's blog focusing on horror. These are posts with a haunted house label including book reviews and read alikes. 
RA For All Horror - Bonus annotations: Ghosts and Haunted Houses - with the third edition of The Readers Advisory Guide to Horror, Becky added bonus content on her blog including book suggestions. 

The Readers Advisory Guide to Horror, 3rd Edition - This series is vital for anyone who does readers' advisory, especially in genres that you don't personally read. There is a lot of great horror content including suggested titles in subgenres, podcasts, horror movies, TV shows, historical information, and key authors. 

30 Haunted House Books That Will Give You The Creeps - Book Riot's 2019 list includes some classics, modern gems, and youth titles. 

Goodreads' list of haunted house books is 1700+ titles long 

Living Dangerously: 13 Haunted House Novels: This list from the NYPL is includes because it strays from just straight horror. It shows how you can mine your backlist and get those books circulating 

The 20 best haunted house films of all time: This list from Entertainment Weekly should give you a good start if you want to add DVDs to your display or list. 

Goodreads has a 6000 + list of books with dysfunctional families. 

8 Mysteries and Thrillers About Dysfunctional Families:  Book Riot's list includes some good examples from the most popular genre. 

Home for the Holidays: Eat Together, Stay Together: The LineUp had Mother Horror, Sadie Hartmann, put together a list of family horror books. 

5 Horror Books That Are All About Family: Tor Nightfire has a 2019 list of family horror. 

Goodreads' list of Creepy Dolls books 

String Pullers: 6 Books Featuring Creepy Dolls and Puppets: A Tor Nightfire list that again shows how broad you can go when featuring a theme in a horror novel. 

Toy Story in Hell: 10 Books Featuring Creepy Dolls: Another Book Riot list that does include some youth materials.

Edgar Award Nominees

These are Edgar award nominees from the Mystery Writers of America. I always post the list with any display about awards as well. It can be filed in with other books by the nominated authors as well as winners and nominees from previous years.