the town: murder is easy
a mysterious riverdale reading list
Welcome back to the town of Riverdale <3
This is the second supplemental Riverdale reading list, where we talk about the books and literature that inspired, were ripped off by, or appeared within the world of television’s Riverdale. Previously, I shared my top seven Riverdalian novels, and this week, we’re discussing seven more books1, this time all dealing with one of the most important town topics: crime and mystery!
Every season of Riverdale has featured a major mystery storyline (often several will be solved throughout the season) so it’s no surprise that mystery as a genre has had a massive impact on the show. Across the seasons, we’ve seen inspiration taken from mysteries, with novels appearing on screen or being discussed by characters, and much more; so below are seven recommended readings for Riverdale related mysteries, full of essential authors and stories in the world of crime fiction.
1. The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie is known as the queen of mystery for a reason, and it makes sense to start a list of mystery stories with her work. In Riverdale, Jughead is a major fan of Christie’s work, and early in the show he compares his own murder-filled high school experience to her writing.
A few works get referenced throughout the show, including in season 7 when Jughead and Veronica mention Murder on the Orient Express, possibly the best known of Christie’s Hercule Poirot mysteries. Another iconic novel, And Then There Were None, is referenced by the show as well, and is a likely inspiration for one of the fictional Baxter Brothers stories.2
Out of all of Christie’s mysteries, the recommendation I’ve selected isn't one that was directly referenced, but which feels the most Riverdalian - The ABC Murders. This Poirot mystery follows a series of murders with a curious pattern following the letters of the alphabet. While Christie’s serial killer character in this story may or may not have had the serial killer genes, this makes for a great mystery that challenges the great detective Hercule Poirot just as much as it would Betty and Jughead.
2. The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene
Speaking of the Baxter Brothers, two real world beloved mystery series, The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, had a major impact on the Riverdale world.
Many aspects of Riverdale’s Betty Cooper are inspired by the classic teen detective Nancy Drew. In the universe of the show, Betty grew up reading the Nancy Drew(later retconned to an in-universe equivalent, Tracy True) mystery novels, and the teen detective character within sparked her interest in solving mysteries in early seasons of the show. The books often return as important clues, such as when a serial killer uses a cypher taken from the stories to write coded messages, or in season 4 when Betty and Jughead learn about the ghost writers behind the novels. Betty also credits the books for teaching her some of her signature ‘teen detective’ moves, like picking locks with a bobby pin.
My recommended book is The Hidden Staircase, the second book in the Nancy Drew series and a classic mystery story that follows the titular teen detective as she learns about the secrets behind a supposedly haunted house where strange occurrences and missing items point to an important secret. Aimed at young readers, there is nothing particularly complex about this story, but it is a really fun read and highly influential on future generations of teen detective characters and young adult mystery stories.
3. The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
Riverdale draws a lot on the classic noir subgenre of mystery stories, and one of the key inspirations I think we can see is from the work of novelist Dashiell Hammett. Throughout the series, his characters and stories are mentioned and this style is parodied and referenced a few times. While The Maltese Falcon is a book mentioned in the show that might be a bit closer to the classic noir mystery, I’m recommending another of Hammett’s novels to appear in Riverdale(Jughead and Veronica bond over their love of it and its incredible film adaptation in the seventh season) - The Thin Man. This book follows charming leads Nick and Nora Charles as they get caught up in and must find their way out of a murder mystery, and it is incredibly funny and draws you into the zany, rotten, bizarre world of crime in 1930s New York City.
4. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
The Big Sleep is another classic noir story, this time starring Los Angeles private detective Philip Marlowe, yet another famous detective figure who Jughead gets compared to in the show. This is another really fun one to read, and Chandler’s narrative voice is unique and humorous as it follows a series of stranger and stranger crimes, linked by bizarre clues and red herrings with plenty of hard boiled detective-ry and beautiful dames along the way. Highly recommend this(and, again, its excellent film version!) for anyone interested in this genre and a quintessential crime story!
5. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote3
Perhaps a work of true crime at its finest, Capote’s In Cold Blood is another classic mystery that is worthy of recommendation for Riverdale readers.
We learn in the first episode of the show that Veronica is a Truman Capote fan, comparing her impression of Riverdale to the small town murder mystery within this book, and his writing comes up a few times in the world of Riverdale. This is the only book I’m recommending on this list that is not a novel and is instead (mostly) non-fiction, but it is a work with a lot of pop cultural weight and was definitely an influence on some of Riverdale’s own crime stories, making it a worthwhile inclusion when thinking about the mystery influences of the show.
6. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
This novel is an epic work of literature with a dark story of violence, guilt, and morality, packed with complex characters and philosophical themes. There’s crime, there’s punishment, there’s an incredible detective character, etc. What more could you want?
Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment appears in season 4 of the show when it is assigned to Jughead’s class as part of their murder mystery writing assignment(which is wild considering how long this book is), and the group discuss the ethical questions posed by the novel about the justification of murder, providing foreshadowing for the murderous machinations that will play out among the group.
7. The Maple Murders by Micol Ostow
Did you know that there is a series of mystery books based on television’s Riverdale? After recently finding out that they existed I felt obligated to read one and see what Riverdale content I might be missing.
The third book, The Maple Murders is very much a typical contemporary YA book, with a pretty simple mystery storyline. This novel takes place midway4 through the third season of the show, and prominently features several members of the main cast, including Betty, Jughead, Cheryl, Kevin, Josie, Veronica, and Archie, all of whom are participating in an old Riverdale tradition that is being revived by Mayor Hermione Lodge called the Riverdale Revels, which takes an unexpected turn when a time capsule buried during the last festival decades previous is opened and another of the town’s dark secrets comes to light.
Some of the ideas about Riverdale that come up in this book, such as the Riverdale Revels and the pageant that is held, kind of mirror things that actually ended up happening in later seasons of the show, which makes it fun, and there are plenty of references to characters and stories from earlier seasons.
While it has some Riverdalian charm, this is a pretty underwhelming book, and the mystery itself is not particularly interesting, with a very disappointing resolution. Stylistically, the writing is YA oriented and while the epistolary elements(including diary entries, text messages, etc.) makes it somewhat interesting, even within different sections the writing is pretty bland, and the characters perspectives and voices blend together. All told, it’s not a book I would recommend in any other case, but given that this is the Riverdale mystery recommendations list, I had to mention the fact that this book and the series are out there and a part of the genre!
Thanks for reading! If you have any mystery recommendations, requests for future lists, or thoughts on any of these stories, I’d love to hear from you!
I have a few future Riverdale newsletter supplements in mind, so stay tuned. I’m thinking the next edition might be a horror themed reading list … everybody get scared :)
your riverdale detective,
isobel
I’m pretending this is justified because the seven recommendations go with the seven seasons of the show? In actuality the first time I just chose seven because it seemed like a satisfying number for the list, but now I’m going to try to stick to lists of seven when making these.
A reference to a nursery rhyme which shapes the plot of the novel, “ten little soldiers”. Or, for the darker reading, you can look up the publication history of what is now And Then There Were None, but be warned: it is real racist!
FULL DISCLOSURE I have not finished reading this yet! My library copy expired :-(
Apparently the author intended the timeline of this story within the show to be “ambiguous”, but I actually think it pretty unambiguously takes place in between “Bizarrodale”(Kevin and Josie’s relationship as soon to be step siblings comes up a lot in the book, and this is the episode where they find out their parents are getting married) and “Requiem for a Welterweight”(the episode where Gladys and Jellybean Jones return to Riverdale, neither of whom appear in the book). Other elements of season 3’s plotline come up throughout the novel, including the presence of the Farm and Evelyn Evernever pretending to be a student, mentions of Gryphons & Gargoyles and fizzle rocks, mentions of Hermione and Hiram Lodge’s schemes, discussion of the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, etc.