re - mystery novels set in museums.
 
Try:  Fergus Hume, "THE JADE EYE", John Long, London 1903.
 
It's surely one of the worst novels ever written, (by the author of
"The Mandarin's Fan; The Crowned Skull; Hagar of the Pawnshop; etc.
etc. etc.).  But no question, it's a mystery story set in a museum.
 
David Phillips
Art Gallery and Museum Studies, History of Art, University of
Manchester