MAY DAY CRIME FICTION: May Day, May, and Morris Dancing Mysteries

"What potent blood hath modest May."- Ralph W. Emerson

For the past few years, I've posted a list of May Day Mysteries. I love May Day with its Morris Dancing and the Maypole, dating back to pagan Celtic times. And, although May may seem idyllic with its flowers and showers, it can actually be murderous! Later this month, I will have an updated list of Cinco de Mayo Mysteries, Mother's Day Mysteries, and Memorial Day Mysteries. All take place in May.

I've expanded my May Day list to include a few other May mysteries. Let me know if I've forgotten any titles. Be sure and check out the Morris Dancing Mysteries at the end of the list.

May Day Mysteries

The Art of Betrayal by Connie Berry

The May Weeks Murders by Douglas G. Browne
Five Days in May by Paul Eiseman
The Nutting Girl by Fred DeVecca
30 Days in May by Wayne Hancock
Five Days in May by Christopher Hartpence
Seven Days in May by Fletcher Knebel 
The Moonlit Door by Deryn Lake  
May Day by Jess Lourey
May Might Mean Murder by Bill McGrath 
A Hearse on May-Day by Gladys Mitchell  
May Day in Magadan by Anthony Olcott 
The Merry Month of May by Elvi Rhodes
A Hot Day in May by Julian Jay Savarin
May Day Murder by Julie Wassmer
The May Day Murders by Scott Wittenburg

Morris dancing is one of the Great English Mysteries, like cricket and warm beer. 

--Rosemary Edghill, mystery writer, in Book of Moons


Morris Dancing Mysteries

The Case of the Missing Morris Dancer: A Cozy Mystery Set in Wales by Cathy Ace
As the Pig Turns; Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate; Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton
Murder of a Straw Man by Robyn Beecroft
Blind to the Bones by Stephen Booth
Thieves by Hannah Dennison
Dumb as Morris Dancing by Scott Hunt
The Moonlit Door by Deryn Lake
The Shortest Day by Jane Langton
Stone Cold Sober by Rebecca Marks
Death of a Fool (Off with his Head) by Ngaio Marsh
Dead Men's Morris by Gladys Mitchell 
The Death-Cap Dancers by Gladys Mitchell
The Lazareth Pit by Elizabeth Patterson
All of a Winter's Night by Phil Rickman

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May Day also has a more Activist meaning. For more information and a great list, check out Molly Odintz's Radical Noir: 26 Activist Crime Novels on CrimeReads.