A First Edition to Die For: A Bookish Cozy Mystery of Literary Rivalry, Rare Bindings, and a Secret Worth Shelving Forev

A rare book festival.

A missing first edition.

A murder no one wants catalogued.

Ashworth Public Library needs a fresh start.

After the scandal that nearly shattered the town’s beloved library, collections librarian Clara Vale is determined to help restore public trust. The new Ashworth Festival of First Editions should be the perfect answer: author talks, bookshop displays, rare volumes, tea, scones, and enough literary enthusiasm to make even the sternest trustee smile.

But when celebrated collector Edmund Rook is found dead in the locked stockroom of Wren’s Nest Books, the festival takes a dreadful turn.

Even worse, a valuable first edition has disappeared.

The missing book may contain more than a collector’s prize. Clara suspects it holds a clue linked to the elusive Ashworth folio, the long-lost collection of writings and records her father was tracing before his death.

Now suspicion falls across Ashworth’s literary circle: a visiting author with a bruised ego, a bookseller hiding debts, a dealer with a flexible relationship to ethics, a scholar whose career depends on one discovery, and a patron determined to keep old family papers out of public hands.

With Detective Inspector Rowan Hale handling the official case and Clara noticing what only a librarian would, the investigation leads from bookplates and bindings to river maps, old inscriptions, and a first edition whose provenance has been rewritten by someone with everything to lose.

Perfect for readers who love:

Bookshop and library cozy mysteries

Rare book puzzles and literary clues

Amateur sleuths with quiet wit

English market-town atmosphere

Clean mysteries with fair clues

Slow-burn character dynamics

Series arcs involving hidden family history

A First Edition to Die For is Book 2 in the Ashworth Library Mysteries, a warm and atmospheric cozy mystery series by Miriam Alderwick.

In Ashworth, every book has a story — but some editions are worth dying for.