BIRTHDAY THEMED CRIME FICTION //BIRTHDAY MYSTERIES

Today is my Birthday! Celebrate with me by reading one of these Birthday Themed Mysteries -- or, keep the list for your own Birthday! Every year I get older, and every year this list gets longer. Any titles missing? Make a comment below, and I'll add it to the list! Have a favorite? Let me know!

Birthday Crime Fiction

Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer

Happy Birthday, Turk! by Jakob Arjouni and Anselm Hollo
A Birthday to Die For by Frank Atchley
Cranberry Crimes by Jessica Beck

Birthdays Can be Deadly by Cindy Bell
The Birthday Murderer by Jay Bennett
The Birthday Party by Halini Boland

Birthday Can Be Murder by Joyce Cato

Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark
Berries and Birthdays by Leena Clover

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
A Catered Birthday Party by Isis Crawford
The Birthday Gift by Ursula Reilly Curtiss
The Birthday Party: Family Reunions Can Be Murder by Chari Davenport
The Whole Enchilada by Diane Mott Davidson

The Party by Elizabeth Day
The Birthday Girl by Melissa de La Cruz
There's Something about Mary by Wendy Delaney
A Birthday Secret by Nickolas Drake
The Birthday Party by Wendy Dranfield

Birthday Pie Burial by Diana Dumont
Murder Can Botch Up Your Birthday by Selma Eichler

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

The Birthday Girl by Sue Fortin
Birthday Cake and Bodies by Agatha Frost
Birthday Sprinkle Murder by Susan Gillard
Aunti Poldi and the Sicilian Lions by Mario Giordano
The Nanny by Dan Greenburg
The Happy Birthday Murder by Lee Harris
They Found Him Dead by Georgette Heyer
Birthday Cake Waffle by Carolyn Q. Hunter
Birthday Girl by Matthew Iden

Death in the Garden by Elizabeth Ironside
Happy Birthday, Marge by Shari Hearn
The Birthday Treasure Mystery by Kaylee Huyser
Birthday Party by Marne Davis Kellogg
Murder with a Twist by Tracy Kiely
Birthday Party by C.H.B Kitchin and Adrian Wright
Spiced by Gina LaManna 

The Birthday Girl by Stephen Leather
The Birthday Murder by Lange Lewis
Creme Brulee Murder by Harper Lin
The Old Die Young by Richard Lockridge
The Birthday Killer by W. Kay Lynn
Birthdays for the Dead by Stuart McBride

False Scent by Ngaio Marsh
The Birthday Mystery by Faith Martin
The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier
Birthday Party Murder by Leslie Meier 

Birthday Cake Bloodshed by Addison Moore

Many Deadly Returns by Patricia Moyes
The Body in the Casket by Katherine Hall Page
A Birthday Murder by Olivia Page

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett 

21st Birthday by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro 
Birthday, Deathday; The Cannibal Who Overate by Hugh Pentecost
The Birthday Club by Jack Peterson

Murder and Meringue Cake by Rosie A. Point
The Birthday Party by W. Price
Birthday Dance by Peter Robinson
Birthdays are Murder by Cindy Sample

The Birthday Bash by Elizabeth Sorrells
Don't Scream by Wendy Corsi Staub
The Quitters Club by Jessica Strawser
Birthday Cake and a Murder by Kathleen Suzette

Sharpe Turn by Lisa B. Thomas
The Day After the Party by Nicole Trope

Fear in the Sunlight by Nicola Upson
The Other Half by Charlotte Vassell

The Birthday Present by Barbara Vine
Cakes for Your Birthday by C.E. Vulliamy

The Birthday Surprise by Clara Vulliamy (Children's) 
A Birthday Lunch by Martin Walker
The Birthday Girl by Sarah Ward

The Birthday by Elizabeth Wells
The Mortician's Birthday Party by Peter Whalley
Birthday Girl by Niko Wolf

The Fortieth Birthday Body by Valerie Wolzien
Happy Birthday Murder by Rachel Woods
The Birthday by Carol Wyer
The Birthday by Margaret Yorke

Short Story:

"The Birthday Dinner" by Donna Andrews in Death Dines In, edited by Claudia Bishop & Dean James

Children's: 

    Cam Jansen and the Birthday Mystery by David A. Adler, Illustrated by Susanna Natti
    The Birthday Party Mystery by Fran Manushkin

CARTOON OF THE DAY: FAN PETITIONS

 From the amazing Tom Gauld:

DOVE AWARD: Popular Culture Society

Here's an award that's near and dear to my heart. I received the Dove Award from the Detective/Mystery Caucus of the Popular Culture Association in 2016. The Dove Award recognizes the contributions to the serious study of mystery, detective, and crime fiction. 

This year's  (2026) recipient is Stewart King, associate professor of European Languages at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia). King, a specialist in Spanish and Catalan crime fiction, has edited or coedited 6 books (e.g., the Cambridge Companion to World Crime Fiction, 2022), produced 35 book chapters and 28 articles, as well as coedits the journal Crime Fiction Studies. He previously served on the editorial board of Clues: A Journal of Detection. 

Previous Dove honorees include Martin Edwards, Barry Forshaw, David Geherin, Douglas G. Greene, P.D. James, H.R.F. Keating, Margaret Kinsman, and Elizabeth Foxwell.

HT: Elizabeth Foxwell

Cartoon of the Day: Dog Wisdom

Lambda Literary Awards (aka the Lammys) Finalists

The Lambda Literary Society, a champion of LGBTQ+ books and their authors, has announced the 2026 Lambda Literary Awards (aka the Lammys) Finalists. Congratulations to all. There are many categories, but here are the Finalists in the Mystery Category:

LGBTQ+ MYSTERY

• A Queer Case // Robert Holtom. Titan Books
• Every Sweet Thing Is Bitter // Samantha Crewson. Crooked Lane Books
• Girl Falling // Hayley Scrivenor. Flatiron Books
• Mirage City // Lev AC Rosen. Minotaur Books
• The Case of the Missing Maid // Rob Osler. Kensington Publishing Corporation 
• 
  
• The winners will be announced on June 12 at the 38th Annual Lambda Literary Awards Ceremony in NYC.

For other categories and finalists, go here.

Hat Tip: The RapSheet

News: ANNE PERRY'S FINAL DANIEL PITT MYSTERY

Completed posthumously by Anne Perry’s close friend and longtime collaborator Victoria Zackheim, DEATH TIMES SEVEN, the final in her Daniel Pitt mystery series, is a moving farewell -- rich in intrigue, moral complexity, and courtroom drama, and a fitting final chapter. Publication date in April 14.

About the Book:  Two violent crimes challenge the investigative skills of young Daniel Pitt and his wife, Miriam, in the final novel of iconic mystery writer Anne Perry's beloved Daniel Pitt series.

1913: Junior attorney Daniel Pitt must step in for his friend, fellow attorney Toby Kitteridge, whose parents have been brutally attacked. Toby's mother is dead and his father, a village vicar, is barely alive. With Toby returning to the family home in rural Ipswich, struggling with grief and disbelief, Daniel remains in London to substitute for Toby and defend Peter Ward, on trial for the sexual assault and murder of a young woman.

Daniel is convinced that Ward is innocent, yet the evidence seems to prove otherwise. Eager to assist, his pathologist wife, Miriam fford Croft, offers her forensics expertise and exposes a community of fellow pathologists who may have purposefully omitted information from their autopsy reports. Despite Miriam’s involvement in the case, Daniel finds himself distracted by his desire to help Toby, who is too distraught to investigate the attack on his parents. And when the evidence points to Toby’s father as the killer of Toby’s mother, Daniel faces two of the greatest challenges of his young career: proving the innocence of both Peter Ward and Reverend Kitteridge. One mistake in London and a blameless man will hang. One mistake in Ipswich and Toby’s father will go to prison for life.

Daniel is convinced that Ward is innocent, yet the evidence seems to prove otherwise. Eager to assist, his pathologist wife, Miriam fford Croft, offers her forensics expertise and exposes a community of fellow pathologists who may have purposefully omitted information from their autopsy reports. Despite Miriam’s involvement in the case, Daniel finds himself distracted by his desire to help Toby, who is too distraught to investigate the attack on his parents. And when the evidence points to Toby’s father as the killer of Toby’s mother, Daniel faces two of the greatest challenges of his young career: proving the innocence of both Peter Ward and Reverend Kitteridge. One mistake in London and a blameless man will hang. One mistake in Ipswich and Toby’s father will go to prison for life.

Death Times Seven, the seventh and final novel in Anne Perry’s Daniel Pitt series, was completed by Victoria Zackheim, an author and editor as well as Perry’s close friend. 

About the Authors
Anne Perry was the bestselling author of two acclaimed series set in Victorian England: the William Monk novels and the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels. She was also the author of a series featuring Charlotte and Thomas Pitt's son, Daniel, as well as the Elena Standish series; a series of five World War I novels; twenty-one holiday novels; and a historical novel, The Sheen on the Silk, set in the Byzantine Empire. Anne Perry died in 2023.

Victoria Zackheim is the author of two novels, including The Curtain Falls in Paris, and editor of seven anthologies. Zackheim is also an essayist and playwright and teaches creative nonfiction and memoir in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. She is a frequent conference speaker and writing instructor.