Library patrons frequently call upon staff for what we in the profession call “readers advisory” that is, they’d like us to recommend a title, an author or a type of book they might want to read. The questions usually go something like...
“Do you have any mysteries that take place in Montana?”
“Are there any books where the police detective is Hispanic?”
“What comes after ‘The Cat Who Wasn’t There?’”
You don’t have to be a librarian to use one very useful website, www.stopyourekillingme.com. Although confined to mysteries, SYKM is a terrific way to find just the book you want.
In addition to the standard alphabetical title and author lists, as well as recent award winners, SYKM also has a unique set of search parameters on the left side bar. You can search by 14 different criteria, including location, diversity, historical time period, and read-alikes (“I want more books like Janet Evanovich.”).
BTW: after searching SYKM, the answers to the above patrons’ queries are:
- There are 14 listed authors whose mysteries take place in Big Sky Country.
- 20 mystery writers on the site have Hispanic main characters.
- The Cat Who Went Into The Closet”
www.stopyourekillingme.com is a great place to find the answer to all of your mystery questions. But it’s also a fun place to browse. Did you know that Dan Fesperman writes police procedurals that take place in war-torn Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzogovina? Or if you like Janet Evanovich, you might also like Donna Andrews, Carolyn Hart, Joan Hess and at least 5 others?
Now that’s something I could only have found out on www.stopyourekillingme.com.
