Publisher: W.W. Norton
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/15/2014
ISBN-13: 9781605985534
ISBN-10: 1605985538

Mystery. Living in her childhood home in the village of Fjällbacka, Sweden, it's only natural that crime writer Erica Falck would come across old family possessions. But she never expected to find a Nazi medal wrapped in blood-stained baby clothing among her late mother's belongings. Nor did she expect the historian to whom she showed the medal -- a friend of her mother during World War II -- to be murdered weeks after she talked to him. Though her police detective husband Patrik is on paternity leave caring for their one-year-old daughter while Erica works, he becomes involved in the official murder case, and together the new parents search for answers among Erica's mother's wartime diaries. Fans of fellow Swede Henning Mankell may want to try this "taut, twisty mystery enriched with historical detail" (Kirkus Reviews), which is the 5th in the Patrik Hedström series.

Camilla Läckberg's web page  

Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/18/2014
ISBN-13: 9781616953898
ISBN-10: 1616953896

Mystery. Although his seven-year-old son is in an Accra hospital recovering from heart surgery, Detective Inspector Darko Dawson is ordered to go to the Ghanaian coast or he'll be fired. At Cape Three Points, formerly a sleepy fishing village and now known as "Oil City," Dawson and his assistant must do what the local cops couldn't: solve the shocking murder of a prominent married couple. One of the husband's eyes had been gouged out, his head cut off; both bodies were placed in a canoe and floated toward an oil derrick where their doctor niece worked. Dealing with an increasingly dangerous case involving big oil, real estate, local politics, fishing, and juju even as he worries about his family, Dawson has his hands full in this evocative 3rd outing that fans of well-written mysteries in exotic settings will appreciate.

First Chapter  Kwei Quartey's web page  

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/13/2014
ISBN-13: 9780544129917
ISBN-10: 0544129911

Mystery. Does a combination of Glee, The Shining, and an Agatha Christie novel all wrapped up in an homage to Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game sound totally awesome? Then this "delightfully odd and endearingly old-fashioned mystery" (Entertainment Weekly) should win you over. The year is 1997, and New York State's most talented young musicians, including twins Rabbit (a quiet, closeted gay bassoonist) and Alice (a diva singer ready for stardom), arrive at the Catskills' careworn Bellweather Hotel for a music festival. Also arriving is troubled 27-year-old Minnie Graves, who witnessed a murder-suicide 15 years ago in room 712. When Alice discovers the hanging body of her roommate in the infamous room 712, Minnie is the only one who believes her after the corpse disappears before anyone else sees it. The duo team up to figure out what is going on, and a snowstorm (of course!) traps everyone at the hotel.

First Chapter  Kate Racculia's web page  

Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/25/2014
ISBN-13: 9780062240507
ISBN-10: 0062240501

Police Procedural. A disgraced college lecturer who'd been living alone in a remote area of North Yorkshire in a shabby old signalman's cottage is found murdered on an abandoned railway line -- with 5,000 pounds in his pocket. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks and his regular team investigate, discovering that the sexual misconduct claims that ruined the victim's career a few years earlier may be false and that the man was part of a revolutionary-minded group of college students back in the 1960s and '70s. When higher-ups call him off the case, Banks risks the career he loves to sort through the victim's past, which may involve blackmail and definitely includes drugs, rock and roll, and a recent fascination with the year 1972. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews calls this 21st outing for bestselling Inspector Banks "well-plotted and satisfying right to the end."

Peter Robinson's web page  

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/29/2014
ISBN-13: 9781250019530
ISBN-10: 1250019532

Crime Novel. U.S. Marshal Frannie Mullen quits her job after she has a really bad day at work (she blames herself for an apprehension that went fatally wrong). There's also trouble on the domestic front: not only is she in a semi-relationship with a reformed outlaw to whom she can't seem to commit, but her sister's battling the bottle and sometimes losing. Oh, and recently escaped from prison is the most violent criminal she's ever faced: her father. Now that the ex-enforcer for a corrupt local union -- who brutally murdered her mother in front of her and her sister when they were kids -- is back in Philly and on the lam, Frannie has to deal with all kinds of trouble. Readers who enjoy the gritty cities, realistic characters, and tense suspense of George Pelecanos' and Dennis Lehane's books should try Dennis Tafoya's novels.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Obsidian
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/01/2012
ISBN-13: 9780451236708
ISBN-10: 045123670X

Cozy Mystery. In the lovely small Massachusetts town of Sea Harbor, a group of friends and knitters must work quickly to solve a crime and save the wedding of one of their own, knitting store owner Izzy Chambers. After a local book/knitting group discusses the suspicious death of local teen Harmony Farrow 15 years earlier, the dead girl's best friend in high school -- who's the hair-dresser for Izzy's wedding party -- is murdered. As wedding plans unravel and nerves fray, the Seaside Knitters cast about for clues and knit a wedding shawl for the bride (pattern included). Readers can start with this 5th Seaside Knitters novel, which is "a very pleasant read that evokes summers by the sea" (Kirkus Reviews), or pick up the 1st one, Death by Cashmere, to watch relationships form.

Sally Goldenbaum's web page  

Publisher: Viking
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/15/2012
ISBN-13: 9780670023516
ISBN-10: 0670023515

Mystery. Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire turns wedding planner for his beloved daughter -- but things won't go off without a hitch. First, there's only two weeks until the wedding date, but there's a problem with the Montana wedding site (reservation politics play into this). As Walt and his co-planner Henry Standing Bear scout new locations on Cheyenne land, the friends witness a young Native American woman falling from a high cliff. Though she dies, the baby she is holding amazingly lives. Was the woman pushed? The local sheriff, Lolo Long, is an Iraq War vet who's new to the job and needs Walt's help to sort out what happened -- but will she take it? Readers who enjoy this 8th novel featuring Walt will be happy to know that his 11th book, Any Other Name, came out recently; fans of Longmire, the A&E television program based on the series, should know that the new season premieres this summer. Looking for another mystery featuring Native American culture and plenty of time outdoors? Try William Kent Kruger's Cork O'Connor series.

First Chapter  Craig Johnson's web page  

Publisher: Anchor Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/22/2010
ISBN-13: 9780307388520
ISBN-10: 0307388522

Mystery. "For Sale: Wedding Dress. Never worn." After reading this classified ad, personable Minneapolis television reporter Riley Spartz thinks she may have found a story that will pull in huge ratings for the crucial May sweeps period. As she gets to know more about the lives of jilted high-society bride Madeline Post and her comedian fiancé, who hasn't been seen in months, Riley's swept up in a dangerous missing-persons case that is further complicated by the fact that no one thinks the missing man has come to any real harm, her boss's desire for high ratings (which might involve ditching this story to look for a lost fish), and a police dog who's a bit obsessed with her. This 2nd book in a series that provides an inside look at local news stations (the author is a former TV producer and reporter) should please fans of good-hearted female sleuths.

First Chapter  Julie Kramer's web page  

Publisher: Pantheon Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/22/2011
ISBN-13: 9780307378392
ISBN-10: 030737839X

Cozy Mystery. Wise and resourceful, Precious Ramotswe is the proprietor of Botswana's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. In her 12th outing, her very capable associate detective, Grace Makutsi, is getting married to a good man. While wedding plans progress in spite of various problems (shoe-related ones among them), Mma Ramotswe sips red bush tea, helps her mechanic husband deal with an irresponsible employee, and takes the case of a rancher whose cattle have been purposefully killed. Meanwhile, a woman much disliked by Mma Makutski runs for parliament though she is vastly unqualified, and Mma Ramotswe catches glimpses of a van that looks remarkably like her beloved old one. Readers who enjoy evocative, leisurely paced stories and haven't tried this charming bestselling series should do so; it starts with The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency.

First Chapter  Alexander McCall Smith's web page  

Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/01/1992
ISBN-13: 9780345364272
ISBN-10: 0345364279

Mystery. What's an anglophile American to do when her Scottish betrothed is to be honored at a royal garden party in Edinburgh -- hosted by Queen Elizabeth -- and only spouses are invited? Move up the wedding date by a year, of course! As Georgia forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson plans a wedding in three weeks, she also helps a neighbor try to sort out the mystery of her husband; the woman thought he died five years ago, but he's just recently turned up dead (so whose ashes does she have?). This is the 5th in the well-written Elizabeth MacPherson mysteries, penned by award-winning author Sharyn McCrumb, who is also known for her Ballad novels.

Sharyn McCrumb's web page  

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Heights Neighborhood Library
Mystery on the Boulevard Book Club
3rd Saturdays | 2:00 - 3:00 pm

Join us Saturday, July 19 at 2 pm. Book for the following month is announced at the meeting.

Kendall Neighborhood Library
Mystery Book Club
1st Thursdays | 1:00 - 2:30 pm

Join us Thursday, July 3 at 1 pm to discuss The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron.

Walter Neighborhood Library
Mystery Book Club
2nd Thursdays | 1-2 pm

Join us Thursday, July 10 at 1 pm to discuss Ordinary Grace by William Krueger.