Puns, Murder, and Murder Puns
A look at the genre with the best titles
Every genre has titles that are designed for that specific genre. Young Adult fantasy has a lot of titles from the formula a/the _________ of _________. Young Adult fantasy is the most obvious, but for many books, you can tell what genre the book is in. Some genres have better tropes than others.
The genre with the best titles and possibly the most creative ones is cosy mysteries. Cosy mystery titles have two main features: puns and death-related words. Sometimes the titles have both a pun and a death related word. I work in a bookstore, and I love shelving cosy mysteries because of how great the titles are.
Come on a journey with me as I share some of my favorite cosy mystery titles (the actual titles, I have not read most of these books). I found these titles by scrolling through all 50 pages of the cosy mystery section on Barnes & Noble’s website.
Examples of Punny Titles
- Booked for Trouble by Eva Gates
- For Whom the Book Tolls by Laura Gail Black
- No Grater Crime by Maddie Day
- On Borrowed Crime by Kate Young
- Crust No One by Winnie Archie
- Title Wave by Lorna Barrett
- Prose and Cons by Amanda Flowers
- Last Pen Standing by Vivian Conroy
- For Letter or Worse by Vivian Conroy
- The Glitter End by Vivian Conroy
Examples Featuring the Words Related to Death
- Caramel Pecan Roll Murder by Joanna Fluke
- Death Among Rubies by RJ Koreto
- Under the Cover of Murder by Lauren Elliot
- Fatal Fiction by Kym Roberts
- Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P Manansala
- Murder with Oolong Tea by Karen Rose Smith
- Apple Cider Slaying by Julie Anne Lindsey
- Little Bookshop of Murder by Maggie Blackburn
- Decaffeinated Corpse By Cleo Coyle
- Color Me Murder by Krista Davis (this series has covers that you can color)
Examples with Both
- Howloween Murder by Laurien Berenson
- Murder Most Fowl by Donna Andrews
- To the Tome of Murder by Lauren Elliot
- Nacho Average Murder by Maddie Day
- A Death Long Overdue by Eva Gates
- The Grim Reader by Kate Carlisle
- A Murder Yule Regret by Winnie Archer
- A Study in Murder by Callie Hutton
- A Waffle Lot of Murder by Lena Gregory
- Purrder She Wrote by Cate Conte
- Roast Mortem by Cleo Coyle
Ellie Alexander
Almost all of these books feature a fantastic pun, so they get their own section.
- A Batter of Life and Death
- The Pint of No Return
- Chilled to the Cone
- Beyond a Reasonable Stout
- Nothing Bundt Trouble
- Without a Brew
- Crime and Passion Fruit
- Caught Bread Handed
- Another Bites the Crust
- On Thin Icing
As long as this list is, I do not think that I could shorten it. Then again maybe it is not that bad given I went through 50 pages of books. I hope these book titles brought some joy into your life.
What titles out of this list are your favorite?
What genre do you think has the best titles?
