Adams’s novel blends the conventions of two distinct mystery subgenres: the cozy mystery and the bibliomystery. Cozy mysteries “harken back to a literary era between World Wars known as the Golden Age of Detective Fiction when writers (often British) like Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, and Ellery Queen published classic ‘whodunnit’ detective novels. Their work playfully misleads readers while simultaneously encouraging them to solve the crime alongside the protagonist” (“The Cozy Mystery Explained.” PBS). The cozy-mystery genre traditionally features an amateur sleuth in a small, close-knit community where violence occurs off page.

Classic examples include Agatha Christie’s Murder at the Vicarage (1930) and G. K. Chesterton’s The Innocence of Father Brown (1911), with more contemporary examples such as Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala and The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman following in their footsteps. The Secret, Book & Scone Society adheres closely to this formula. Its setting, Miracle Springs, is an idyllic small town described as an “oasis” and a “respite from a noisy, frantic, demanding life” (19). The sleuths are not police officers but four local businesswomen, and the murders of Neil and Fenton happen off page. The story attempts to ensure that readers of the genre “won’t be so disturbed that [they] need to sleep with lights on” by providing the satisfaction of a solved crime without graphic descriptions of violence (“The Cozy Mystery Explained”).

Adams’s novel is also a bibliomystery, a subgenre in which books and the literary world are central to the plot. Penny White, Kent University curator of special collections and archives, noted,

As they grew in popularity […] the bibliomystery began to feature libraries and bookstores as the setting, as well as the bibliophile as sleuth or suspect. While the earliest-known publications date back to the late 19th century, the bibliomystery remained a relatively unknown mystery sub-genre until its surge in popularity in the 1970’s (White, Penny. “Bibliomysteries: Bound by Crime.” Kent University Library, 2012).

Adams’s series sits in conversation with other books in this genre, such as Meg Shaffer’s The Wishing Game and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

In the open chapters of Adams’s novel, Nora asserts that books contain our “communal story” and can force readers “to grapple with the hardest truths” of life (4). Her bookstore, Miracle Books, isn’t just a setting but a sanctuary where characters find refuge and redemption through reading. By combining the comforting structure of a cozy mystery with a deep reverence for literature, Adams creates a narrative that appeals to both mystery fans and avid readers.