Hinkle, Vernon. Music To Murder By (New York: Leisure Books, 1978), 233 p.

H. Martin Webb is “head librarian of one of Harvard's music libraries” (p.12). He is forced to leave the library in the hands of his assistant, Miss Pinkham, while he investigates three deaths. “It is awkward, at the very least, to have the misfortune, ill timing and bad taste to discover more than one corpse within a three-day period.” (p. 78). Fortunately the police cooperate having learned that, “Mr. Webb … has established himself in scholarly circles … as a superior … detective, having a knack for … uncovering answers … to questions … that baffle his colleagues.” (p. 179).

Hilton, James. So Well Remembered (Boston: Little Brown, 1945) 284 p.

Livia Channing, whose father spent 14 years in prison, develops her own unique values. One day (p. 77-79) she enters the Browdley (Yorkshire) Public Library, and finds a book about her father. Later (p. 105) she starts working in the library, but she has trouble dealing with the public so she is given the task of indexing (p. 110). 

Hilton, James. Random Harvest (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, c1941) 311 p.

Mr. Woburn is a minor character hired to catalog the library of a wealthy businessman. He previously worked at a public library in Lambeth. He writes fiction but admits that he is not very original. 

Hill, Marion Moore. Death Books a Return (Corona Del Mar, CA: Pemberly Press, c2008) 284 p. The Scrappy Librarian Mystery Series.

Juanita Wills is back with her mismatched staff. Once again Mavis and Meador are dueling through Bartlett's and the quotations bulletin board.

Juanita's research into local history stirs up unpleasant memories in the town of Wyndham Oklahoma. Thirty two chapters of mounting tension culminate in a standoff and scuffle in the darkened library stacks.

Hill, Marion Moore. Bookmarked for Murder (Lake Tahoe, Nev.: Fiction Works, 2003) 236 p.

Juanita Wills is the head of the Wyndham Public Library in Oklahoma. Her two assistants are the elderly, flinty Mavis Ralston and the young overweight slacker Calvin Meador. These two do not get along well and compete to one-up each other on the quotation board. Occasionally Juanita begins daydreaming about suitable torture for Mavis whom she finds annoying. Meanwhile Juanita hunts for a gang of criminals.

Hill, Donna. Murder Uptown (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1992) 216 p.

Murder comes to metropolitan Fuller College and naturally the library plays its part. A small part actually, but the library with its manual catalog and circulation system is described on p. 105. The library is the scene of the culprit's capture on p. 205-212.

Hill, Donna. Catch A Brass Canary (New York: Lippincott, 1965) 224 p.

Miguel Campos is a page at an Upper West Side branch of the New York Public Library. The library is his chance to escape the life of gangs and crime that seems his lot as a Puerto Rican in New York. Frank is the unctuous captain of pages. Victoria Davies is a young girl who lives upstairs from the library with her father the janitor. One of the assistants, Pat Burney is in love with the other assistant Sylvan Dietzler, who seems oblivious of her to a comic extent. The staff also includes Miss May Willoughby, the children's librarian; Miss Nell Kettridge; Jennifer Meade, a half time professional trainee; and talkative librarian, Mrs. Ethelbald.

When the Head Librarian Miss Tait is forced to leave for health reasons Miss Kettridge is thrust into the position. She does not want or enjoy this position because she does not like to interact with people.

Wrangles with the public, confusion at the desks, racket in the children's room, damages, losses and fines; envy, dissension and strife, all of it hated involvement with peoples' problems. And where would it lead, anyway? Nell was no career woman. Not aggressive, not witty, not flagrantly intelligent, not striking in height or appearance with her plain brown hair and brown eyes all of a piece, Nell neither wanted nor felt herself destined for success in public life. If she exhibited the conventional manner of a librarian, it was to mask and preserve from challenge the one superiority she acknowledged, her independence of mind. She remained in New York for privacy, to attend exhibitions, converts, the theater, and not for any piddling career in the Public Library. (p. 46-47).

Nonetheless, she turns out to be a very capable head librarian. She encourages Miguel and deals with all the library problems in a level-headed sensible way.

One major library problem is a crazy man who has taken on the mission of protecting society from "bad books" by defacing or destroying the library's copies of these dangerous books. He explains to Miguel while trying to enlist his help:

"Any book can be a perverter of attitudes--history, religion, philosophy have done their share--but literature and ordinary fiction, which are read with trust for pleasure, are the most dangerous. The authors themselves may not be aware of it, but where prejudice exists it comes out and make converts of the unsuspecting readers."

"But what about the librarians?" said Miguel, trying to free himself from the tense grasp. "Don't they watch out for bad books?"

"Well, but busy as they are, they couldn't undertake a study like mine. Then too, you know," Rupert added, confidentially, "they are innocent people, despite what you might think from what happened today. They are lovers of the word, you see, without my experience of the world." (p. 71).