| 100% | BERTHACOOL | 10 | Detective in books by Erle Stanley Gardner writing as A.A. Fair |
| 46% | BERTHACOOL | 10 | Detective in a series of Erle Stanley Gardner mysteries |
| 45% | CAMJANSEN | 9 | Young female detective in books written by David A. Adler since 1980: 2 wds. |
| 42% | DELLA | 5 | & 15A Secretary to Perry Mason in stories by Erle Stanley Gardner |
| 37% | PRECIOUS | 8 | With 38-Across, young female detective in books written by Alexander McCall Smith since 1998 |
| 36% | DOUBLE | 6 | "A ___ Barrelled Detective Story," short story by Mark Twain that was written as a parody of Sherlock Holmes |
| 36% | BOAT | 4 | "The Girl on the ___," a novel by P.G. Wodehouse published as a book in 1922 |
| 35% | SALLY | 5 | "The Adventures of ___," novel by P.G. Wodehouse first published as a book in 1922 |
| 34% | TRIXIEBELDEN | 12 | Fictional young female detective who first appeared in a 1948 book by Julie Campbell Tatham: 2 wds. |
| 34% | CLARENCE | 8 | Darrow referred to as the "Attorney for the Damned" in a 2011 book by John A. Farrell |
| 34% | LEROY | 5 | ___ Brown, kid detective nicknamed Encyclopedia in a book series by Donald J. Sobol |
| 34% | NATE | 4 | "Great" child detective in books by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat |
| 33% | KHAN | 4 | "Kubla ___," poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge which is also subtitled as "A Vision in a Dream" |
| 32% | TEN | 3 | Number written as a simple cross in Chinese |
| 32% | INSCRIBED | 9 | Wrote words in, as a ring |
| 32% | MEANING | 7 | "Man's Search For ___," self-help book written by Viktor Frankl which chronicles his experiences as a prisoner and his psychotherapeutic method |
| 31% | GARGANTUA | 9 | A giant hero in a book by Rabelais |
| 31% | STACKED | 7 | In a pile, as books |
| 31% | ANNO | 4 | A, as in history books |
| 31% | ESSAY | 5 | Writing in a blue book |
| 31% | BRIEFHISTORYOF | 14 | "A ___Time," 1988 book on cosmology by Stephen Hawking which is written in a non-technical way for the masses: 3 wds. |
| 31% | ELENORE | 7 | 1968 song by 15-Across written as a parody of 32-Across |
| 30% | PIGLET | 6 | Squeaky-voiced companion of Winnie-the-Pooh in books by A A Milne |
| 30% | LIGHT | 5 | "The ___ Brigade," book by Kameron Hurley that is set in a dystopian future |
| 30% | PAGETHROUGH | 11 | *Look for a specific passage in, as a book |
| 30% | ENDER | 5 | Protagonist in a series of books by 11-Down |
| 30% | SMUDGY | 6 | Like words written in ink by a lefty, often |