APRIL MYSTERY READING LISTS: Crime Fiction set during April Holidays!

April has so many holidays and that means many crime fiction 'holiday' lists. I share these lists on the Mystery Readers website and on this blog, but maybe you've missed them? Or maybe you have some titles/authors to add? (Make a comment below).

Stay tuned for May lists: May Day, Mother's Day, Cinco de Mayo, Nurses Week, Memorial Day, and More!

Subscribe to Mystery Readers Journal for 'themed' issues filled with articles, reviews, and author essays on specific mystery themes. 2025: London Mysteries II; Retail Murder; Northern California Mysteries; Cross-Genre Mysteries. 

So here are links to my April Mystery Lists. Enjoy!

April Fool's Day Mysteries

National Library Week: Librarian Mystery Series

Bookmobile Day: Bookmobile Mysteries 

Passover Crime Fiction

National Gardening Day: Gardening Mysteries

Death & Taxes: Tax Day & Accountant Mysteries

Easter Crime Fiction 

Earth Day Mysteries: Environmental/Ecological Mysteries & Drowned Towns

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Subscribe to Mystery Readers Journal for 2025: 

Themes: London Mysteries II; Retail Murder; Northern California Mysteries; Cross-Genre Mysteries.

Back issues of Mystery Readers Journal are available: printed & PDF download. 

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Subscribe to Mystery Readers Journal for 2025: Themes: London Mysteries II; Retail Sales; Northern California Mysteries; Cross-Genre Mysteries.

 

APRIL FOOL'S DAY CRIME FICTION

April Fool's Day Mysteries: I love any chance to celebrate a 'holiday,' so even April Fool's Day fits the bill! Here's a short list full of foolish and not so foolish mystery and murder that takes place on and around April Fool's Day! As always, let me know if I've forgotten a title!

The first of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fools' Day.
But why the people call it so,
Nor I, nor they themselves do know.
But on this day are people sent
On purpose for pure merriment.

--Poor Robin's Almanac, 1790 
 
APRIL FOOL'S DAY CRIME FICTION

The Marsh Madness by Victoria Abbott
Maple Fools' Day by Virginia K. Bennett

The Case of the April Fools by Christopher Bush
April's Fool by Edna May Ciesclwicz 
A Body on April Fool's Day by Steve Demaree

April Fool by William Deverell 
The April Fool by Robert J. Fields
April Fool's Day by John Greenwood
April Fools’ Day Murder by Lee Harris
April Fool Dead by Carolyn Hart 
A Remarkable Case of Burglary by H. R. F. Keating
April Fools by Jess Loury
The Confidence Man by Herman Melville
April Fool’s Day A Novel by Josip Novakovich (not quite a mystery but with mystery elements)
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
April Fool's Day by Jeff Rovin

Short Stories:
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 3: The April Fool’s Day Adventure and The Strange Adventure of the Uneasy Easy Chair by Anthony Boucher and Denis Green.

YA:  
The April Fool's Day Mystery by Marion Markham

Children's:  
April Fool's Day by Carolyn Keene (Book #19 of Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew)

Meg Mackintosh and The April Fools' Day Mystery by Lucinda Landon

APRIL FOOL'S DAY CRIME FICTION

April Fool's Day Mysteries: I love any chance to celebrate a 'holiday,' so even April Fool's Day fits the bill! Here's a short list full of foolish and not so foolish mystery and murder that takes place on and around April Fool's Day! As always, let me know if I've forgotten a title!

The first of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fools' Day.
But why the people call it so,
Nor I, nor they themselves do know.
But on this day are people sent
On purpose for pure merriment.
--Poor Robin's Almanac, 1790 
 
APRIL FOOL'S DAY CRIME FICTION

The Marsh Madness by Victoria Abbott
The Case of the April Fools by Christopher Bush
April's Fool by Edna May Ciesclwicz 
A Body on April Fool's Day by Steve Demaree

April Fool by William Deverell 
The April Fool by Robert J. Fields
April Fool's Day by John Greenwood
April Fools’ Day Murder by Lee Harris
April Fool Dead by Carolyn Hart 
A Remarkable Case of Burglary by H. R. F. Keating
April Fools by Jess Loury
The Confidence Man by Herman Melville
April Fool’s Day A Novel by Josip Novakovich (not quite a mystery but with mystery elements)
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
April Fool's Day by Jeff Rovin

Short Stories:
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 3: The April Fool’s Day Adventure and The Strange Adventure of the Uneasy Easy Chair by Anthony Boucher and Denis Green.

YA:  
The April Fool's Day Mystery by Marion Markham

Children's:  
April Fool's Day by Carolyn Keene (Book #19 of Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew)

Meg Mackintosh and The April Fools' Day Mystery by Lucinda Landon

APRIL FOOL'S DAY MYSTERIES // APRIL FOOL'S DAY CRIME FICTION

April Fool's Day Mysteries: I love any chance to celebrate a 'holiday,' so even April Fool's Day fits the bill! Here's a short list full of foolish and not so foolish mystery and murder that takes place on and around April Fool's Day! As always, let me know if I've forgotten a title!

The first of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fools' Day.
But why the people call it so,
Nor I, nor they themselves do know.
But on this day are people sent
On purpose for pure merriment.
--Poor Robin's Almanac, 1790 
 
APRIL FOOL'S DAY CRIME FICTION

The Marsh Madness by Victoria Abbott
The Case of the April Fools by Christopher Bush
April's Fool by Edna May Ciesclwicz 
A Body on April Fool's Day by Steve Demaree

April Fool by William Deverell 
The April Fool by Robert J. Fields
April Fool's Day by John Greenwood
April Fools’ Day Murder by Lee Harris
April Fool Dead by Carolyn Hart 
A Remarkable Case of Burglary by H. R. F. Keating
April Fools by Jess Loury
The Confidence Man by Herman Melville
April Fool’s Day A Novel by Josip Novakovich (not quite a mystery but with mystery elements)
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
April Fool's Day by Jeff Rovin

Short Stories:
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 3: The April Fool’s Day Adventure and The Strange Adventure of the Uneasy Easy Chair by Anthony Boucher and Denis Green.

YA:  
The April Fool's Day Mystery by Marion Markham

Children's:  
Meg Mackintosh and The April Fools' Day Mystery by Lucinda Landon

APRIL FOOL'S DAY CRIME FICTION // APRIL FOOL'S DAY MYSTERIES

April Fool's Day Mysteries: I love holidays--any chance to celebrate--and that's not an April Fool's joke. Here's a short list full of foolish and not so foolish mystery and murder that takes place on and around April Fool's Day! As always, let me know if I've forgotten a title!

The first of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fools' Day.
But why the people call it so,
Nor I, nor they themselves do know.
But on this day are people sent
On purpose for pure merriment.
--Poor Robin's Almanac, 1790 
 
APRIL FOOL'S DAY CRIME FICTION

The Marsh Madness by Victoria Abbott
The Case of the April Fools by Christopher Bush
April's Fool by Edna May Ciesclwicz 
A Body on April Fool's Day by Steve Demaree

April Fool by William Deverell 
The April Fool by Robert J. Fields
April Fool's Day by John Greenwood
April Fools’ Day Murder by Lee Harris
April Fool Dead by Carolyn Hart 
A Remarkable Case of Burglary by H. R. F. Keating
April Fools by Jess Loury
The Confidence Man by Herman Melville
April Fool’s Day A Novel by Josip Novakovich (not quite a mystery but with mystery elements)
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
April Fool's Day by Jeff Rovin

Short Stories:
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 3: The April Fool’s Day Adventure and The Strange Adventure of the Uneasy Easy Chair by Anthony Boucher and Denis Green.

YA:  
The April Fool's Day Mystery by Marion Markham

Children's:  
Meg Mackintosh and The April Fools' Day Mystery by Lucinda Landon