If life imitated art, then David Hyde Pierce would be up to his neck in Mickey Spillane novels and Playbills.

But Pierce – formerly and forever known as the finicky Nils Crane of “Frasier” – is more than the singing (and dancing) detective he plays in “Curtains.”

Granted, he prepared for the role of the theater-loving Boston gumshoe by reading “lots of Holmes” – both Sherlock and Rupert Holmes, who cowrote the book on which the Kander and Ebb musical is based.

And it may have helped, since the role won Pierce a Tony, something that eluded him on his last Broadway outing, in “Spamalot.”

But his literary preferences lie elsewhere.

“I normally read non-fiction,” he tells The Post’s Barbara Hoffman. “I hate reality television, but I like reality reading.”

The following selections would seem to bear him out.

The Letters of Noel Coward

by Noel Coward, edited by Barry Day

I couldn’t put it down, which made driving difficult.

Strong at the Broken Places

by Richard Cohen

Richard’s a friend and these interviews with five people dealing with chronic illness [are] very bracing, very inspiring.

Japanese Death Poems

compiled by Yoel Hoffmann

There’s a whole tradition of Japanese monks and poets somehow sensing that death is near, and writing final poems that usually mention blossoms falling, snow, etc. I’ve always thought a good death poem would be, ‘I wonder what this button does? Oh.’

The Rest Is Noise

by Alex Ross

A funny and very readable explanation of how 20th century music got all weird.