| Into the Night by Sarah BaileyStarring: Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock, who's just moved to Melbourne and is struggling with the changes in her life after leaving her five-year-old son in the custody of his dad in her small hometown.
What happens: In this complex sequel to The Dark Lake, Gemma and her hostile new partner investigate the murder of a homeless man as well as the fatal stabbing of a movie star, whose death took place on camera while filming a zombie crowd scene.
For fans of: atmospheric Australian mysteries and troubled-yet-smart heroines. |
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In the Shadow of the Enemy
by Tania Bayard
Paris, 1393. A masquerade ball at the palace ends in tragedy, with four revellers burned to death. Was it an accident... or did someone deliberately hurl a flaming torch at the dancers? Convinced it was an act of murder and that the king himself was the real target, Queen Isabeau has asked Christine de Pizan to spend time at court in an attempt to uncover the identity of the would-be assassin. With the king struck down by an illness no one can understand, Christine finds the palace to be a hotbed of rumour, suspicion, petty rivalries and dark secrets: a place where no one can be trusted. Could the king's ambitious brother, the Duke of Orleans, be responsible for the deaths? One of his embittered uncles? Or could the killer lie even closer to home...?
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| Lives Laid Away by Stephen Mack JonesWhat happens: In Detroit's Mexicantown neighborhood, August Snow, a half-Mexican and Half-African American ex-cop who won millions in a wrongful dismissal suit, investigates the death of an immigrant teen found dead in the river and dressed as Marie Antoinette.
Series alert: This is the 2nd mystery novel, after the award-winning August Snow, by poet and playwright Stephen Mack Jones.
For fans of: Walter Mosley; Loren Estleman's hardboiled, Detroit-set novels; and David Housewright’s Rushmore McKenzie series. |
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The book artist
by Mark Pryor
When a celebrated artist is murdered during a Montmartre exhibition, Hugo Marston risks his life to prevent a wrongful arrest at the same time an assassin returns to settle an old score. By the author of The Sorbonne Affair. Original
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| A Murdered Peace by Candace RobbWhat it is: a historical mystery set in 1400 York, England, during the tense time after King Henry IV usurped the throne from Richard II.
What happens: Kate, a widow of some means who has three adopted children, offers shelter to a friend whose husband was involved in an uprising against the king and tries to clear her beloved cook's name when he's suspected of murder.
Don't miss: the atmospheric descriptions in this well-researched 3rd Kate Clifford mystery; Kate's delightful Irish wolfhounds. |
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Roses for a Diva
by Rick Blechta
Marta Hendriks finds a bouquet of red roses in her dressing room and the card only says "Roses for a diva", but strange things start happening in her life. After calling in private investigator, Marta is shocked to discover her entire life has been invaded.
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| Size 12 and Ready to Rock by Meg CabotWhat happens: When New York College hosts the first ever Tania Trace Teen Rock Camp, assistant residence hall director (and former teen singing sensation) Heather Wells finds herself trying to stay alive while surrounded by teenage divas in training and working with her P.I. fiancé Cooper Cartwright to catch a killer on the loose.
Read it for: Like the other books in the series, this frothy 4th Heather Wells mystery has a chick-lit feel and plenty of humor. |
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| Fall of Angels by Barbara CleverlyWhat happens: Handsome, well-bred young World War I vet DI John Redfyre begins work with the Cambridge CID in 1923 and attends a holiday concert scandalously headlined by a female trumpeter, who later suffers a suspicious, near-fatal accident.
Series alert: This is the 1st in a new series by the bestselling author of the Joe Sandilands mysteries; the 2nd John Redfyre book, Invitation to Die, comes out in August.
Read this next: If you enjoy this look at Cambridge in the 1920s, try Dorothy L. Sayer's Gaudy Night, which is set at Oxford in the 1930s and also deals with women's rights and poison-pen letters. |
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| The Prague Sonata by Bradford MorrowWhat happens: In New York, musicologist and former concert pianist Meta Taverner is given a partial manuscript of a mysterious 18th-century sonata. The dying old woman who gave it to her requests that Meta find its true owner...who hasn't been seen since World War II. This leads Meta to Prague, where she looks for answers and the rest of sonata.
Is it for you? Pick it up if you appreciate complex historical stories with multiple perspectives and timelines, missing-item mysteries, and lyrical language. |
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| The Beautiful Mystery by Louise PennyThe setup: In a remote monastery, 24 monks should be contemplating nature and God, but one brother's mind -- and hand -- turns to murder.
What happens: Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Inspector Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec arrive to investigate the murder of the order's choir director and meet with the monks, who've taken vows of silence but are the voices on a bestselling album of Gregorian chants.
Series alert: This is the 8th in an elegant, award-winning series; since the well-drawn characters evolve over time, newcomers may want to pick up the 1st in the series, Still Life. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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