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| On Her Majesty's Frightfully Secret Service by Rhys BowenHistorical Cozy. In April 1935, Wallis Simpson, an American socialite on her second marriage, has entranced the Prince of Wales, and both are attending a house party in Italy. Georgie Rannoch, 35th in line to the British throne, agrees to act as the queen's eyes and ears at the gathering...which means she's present when a murder occurs. Georgie also helps an unmarried pregnant friend, secluded in a nearby clinic. Like the others in the lighthearted Royal Spyness mysteries, this 11th provides a fascinating glimpse at British aristocracy. |
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City of Endless Night
by Douglas Preston
It begins as a manhunt for Grace Ozmian, the missing daughter of a wealthy tech billionaire. At first, the NYPD assumes Grace, beautiful, reckless, and a regular feature of the local tabloids, has simply sped off on another wild adventure. But the case becomes something altogether different when the young woman's body is discovered in an abandoned warehouse in Queens, the head nowhere to be found. Lieutenant CDS Vincent D'Agosta quickly takes the lead. He knows his investigation will attract fierce scrutiny, so D'Agosta is delighted when FBI Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast shows up at the crime scene also assigned to the case. "I feel rather like Brer Rabbit being thrown into the briar patch," Pendergast tells D'Agota, "because I have found you here, in charge. Just like when we first met, back at the Museum of Natural History." D'Agosta hopes the case will give Pendergast an opportunity to demonstrate his considerable abilities back in the city he has made home. But neither Pendergast nor D'Agosta are prepared for what lies ahead. It quickly becomes clear that a diabolical presence is haunting the greater metropolitan area, and Grace Ozmian was only the first of many victims to be murdered...and decapitated. Worse still, there's something unique to the city itself that has attracted its evil eye of the killer--or killers. As mass hysteria sets in, Pendergast and D'Agosta find themselves in the crosshairs of an opponent who has threatened the very lifeblood of the city. It'll take all of Pendergast's skill to unmask this most dangerous foe--let alone survive to tell the tale.
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| Down a Dark Road: A Kate Burkholder Novel by Linda CastilloMystery. Joseph King, an Amish man convicted of murdering his wife, escapes prison and heads to Painters Mill, Ohio, where his children live. Chief of Police Kate Burkholder, who grew up Amish and was close friends with King as a kid, finds him; he claims he's innocent and says evidence supports him. When a police sniper kills King, Kate doesn't back off trying to find the truth in this 11th entry in the gritty series. If you enjoy atmospheric rural settings, well-drawn characters, and a no-nonsense heroine, also try Julia Keller's Bell Elkins series, featuring a West Virginia prosecutor (the 1st is A Killing in the Hills). |
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Crime and Punishment : A New Translation
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Acclaimed translator Michael R. Katz breathes fresh life into this ageless classic in a sparkling new translation, with novel insights into the linguistic richness, subtle tones, and cunning humor of Dostoevsky’s magnum opus. Embracing the complex linguistic blend inherent in modern literary Russian that has provided an exceptionally fertile source of images and diction for Russian writers since the time of Pushkin, Katz recaptures the richness of tone and register of the novel’s most poignant and significant passages. Sensitive to this linguistic mosaic, Katz ably recreates the feeling of the original Russian for the English reader, allowing the text to evoke the same stirring emotional responses as the author intended. With its searing and unique portrayal of the labyrinthine universe of nineteenth-century Russia, this masterful rendering of Crime and Punishment will be the translation of choice for years to come.
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| Gone to Dust: A Novel by Matt GoldmanMystery. Minneapolis, Minnesota PI Nils Shapiro takes on a messy -- literally and figuratively -- case when he agrees to help a police detective friend in a wealthy suburb: whoever murdered Maggie Somerville at her mansion appears to have emptied dozens of vacuum cleaner bags over the house, making viable DNA evidence unlikely. With a wisecracking detective, irreverent humor, and plenty of red herrings, Gone to Dust is fresh and fun. Though this is a debut novel, readers are in good hands: Matt Goldman is an Emmy Award-winning writer. |
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A Treacherous Curse
by Deanna Raybourn
London, 1888. As colorful and unfettered as the butterflies she collects, Victorian adventuress Veronica Speedwell can’t resist the allure of an exotic mystery—particularly one involving her enigmatic colleague, Stoker. His former expedition partner has vanished from an archaeological dig with a priceless diadem unearthed from the newly discovered tomb of an Egyptian princess. This disappearance is just the latest in a string of unfortunate events that have plagued the controversial expedition, and rumors abound that the curse of the vengeful princess has been unleashed as the shadowy figure of Anubis himself stalks the streets of London. But the perils of an ancient curse are not the only challenges Veronica must face as sordid details and malevolent enemies emerge from Stoker’s past. Caught in a tangle of conspiracies and threats—and thrust into the public eye by an enterprising new foe—Veronica must separate facts from fantasy to unravel a web of duplicity that threatens to cost Stoker everything. . . .
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| The Devil's Muse by Bill LoehfelmPolice Procedural. It's Mardi Gras season in New Orleans, and tough-as-nails rookie police officer Maureen Somerville is working her first night parade. She knew it'd be crazy, but she didn't think that within a few minutes of each other she'd see an overdose victim run into a car and hear a shooting, which injures multiple people (including a child). While Maureen and her fellow cops try to capture the bad guys in this fast-paced 5th outing, they deal with partiers, gangbangers, drama-seeking videographers, an incompetent detective, and complicated race relations. |
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Promise Not to Tell
by Jayne Ann Krentz
A broken promise reveals a terrifying legacy in this electrifying novel from the New York Times bestselling author of When All the Girls Have Gone. A painter of fiery, nightmarish visions throws herself into the sea--but she'll leave some of her secrets behind... Seattle gallery owner Virginia Troy has spent years battling the demons that stem from her childhood time in a cult and the night a fire burned through the compound, killing her mother. And now one of her artists has taken her own life, but not before sending Virginia a last picture: a painting that makes Virginia doubt everything about the so-called suicide--and her own past. Like Virginia, private investigator Cabot Sutter was one of the children in the cult who survived that fire...and only he can help her now. As they struggle to unravel the clues in the painting, it becomes clear that someone thinks Virginia knows more than she does and that she must be stopped. Thrown into an inferno of desire and deception, Virginia and Cabot draw ever closer to the mystery of their shared memories--and the shocking fate of the one man who still wields the power to destroy everything they hold dear.
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| Murder in Mayfair: An Atlas Catesby Mystery by D.M. QuincyHistorical Mystery. "Had his mount not lost its shoe on the return journey to London, Atlas Catesby would not have been in a position to purchase another man's wife." That attention-grabbing first line introduces Atlas, an adventurer and fourth son of a Baron, who rescues the woman being sold by her husband in a small English village. Unfortunately for her safety, the well-to-do woman wants to go home to her young sons, even if her husband wants to get rid of her. When her husband is murdered, both Atlas and the woman are suspects, and Atlas needs to clear their names. Fans of Deanna Raybourn's work will appreciate the 19th-century history, mystery, and romance found here. |
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Deadly Cure
by Lawrence Goldstone
In 1899, in Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Noah Whitestone is called urgently to his wealthy neighbor’s house to treat a five-year-old boy with a shocking set of symptoms. When the child dies suddenly later that night, Noah is accused by the boy’s regular physician―the powerful and politically connected Dr. Arnold Frias―of prescribing a lethal dose of laudanum. To prove his innocence, Noah must investigate the murder―for it must be murder―and confront the man whom he is convinced is the real killer. His investigation leads him to a reporter for a muckraking magazine and a beautiful radical editor who are convinced that a secret, experimental drug from Germany has caused the death of at least five local children, and possibly many more. By degrees, Noah is drawn into a dangerous world of drugs, criminals, and politics, which threatens not just his career but also his life.
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What's your real name, writer?
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| Dishing the Dirt: An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M.C. BeatonMystery. Agatha Raisin is no one's idea of a meek, humble person. So when a new therapist arrives in her Cotswold village, goes out with Agatha's ex-husband, and snoops into Agatha's background, Agatha pushes back, threatening the woman. Loudly. That's a problem when the therapist turns up dead. M.C. Beaton is one of several pseudonyms that prolific Scottish author Marion Chesney uses (she also writes historical romances). Dishing the Dirt is the 26th outing for Agatha; the 28th and latest in the series, The Witches' Tree, comes out in October. |
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| The Silver Swan by Benjamin BlackHistorical Mystery. A beautiful woman is found dead, washed up on the rocks, an apparent suicide. Her husband asks pathologist Quirke, an old school acquaintance, to skip the autopsy because he doesn't want his wife to be cut. But Quirke, who's been sober for six months, notices a puncture mark on her arm, and he not only does the autopsy, but also begins digging into the lady's past. Booker Prize-winner John Banville, writing under the pseudonym Benjamin Black, produces a "tense, engrossing tale of passion, crimes, and chaos" (Booklist) in this well-written follow-up to Christine Falls. |
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| The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert GalbraithMystery. PI Cormoran Strike, a 35-year-old who lost a leg in Afghanistan, has spent the night in his bare-bones London office after a relationship-ending fight with his long-term girlfriend. He sports a cut on his face (she threw an ashtray) as he rushes out the door, barreling into a new temp secretary he can't afford. The forgiving temp, Robin, quickly proves herself useful when the brother of a famous model -- who supposedly jumped from the top of her penthouse apartment -- hires them. Entering the realm of the mega-rich, Strike and Robin uncover the truth in this 1st mystery by Robert Galbraith, aka J.K. Rowling; the 3rd and most recent entry is Career of Evil. |
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| Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth PetersHistorical Mystery. In 1922 Egypt, Amelia Peabody, her husband Emerson, and their son Ramses want to dig in the Valley of the Kings, but to do so, they need Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter to give up their concession. When they don't, the Peabodys head to Luxor, anyway, only to become embroiled in intrigue that may involve Emerson's charming half-brother. This 18th Amelia Peabody book once again combines fascinating characters, a complex mystery, and Egyptian history. Elizabeth Peters was a pen name of Barbara Mertz, an Egyptologist who died in 2013. The 20th and final Amelia Peabody book, The Painted Queen, was published in July; Peters began it and author Joan Hess, her good friend, completed it. |
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| The Daughter of Time by Josephine TeyClassic. Mystery. Hospitalized Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant is bored. Bed-bound, he's tired of starring at the ceiling, so an actress friend encourages his interest in a historical mystery: did Richard III murder his nephews in order to become king? Researching history and legends and testing out theories on those around him, Grant comes to a thought-provoking conclusion. The Daughter of Time is considered by some critics to be one of the great mystery novels of all time. It is the 5th of six Inspector Grant novels by Scot Josephine Tey, whose real name was Elizabeth MacKintosh, and the last book published before her death in 1952. Intrigued by Tey? Nicola Upson writes a series featuring the author as detective; the 1st is An Expert in Murder. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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