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| Tea & Treachery by Vicki DelanyIntroducing: Lily Roberts, a former Manhattan pastry chef who has opened a charming tea shop near her grandmother's beautiful Cape Cod bed-and-breakfast.
What happens: A real estate developer planning to build a hotel right next door is found murdered near the B&B's staircase to the beach.
Who it's for: With a pleasing setting, clever plotting, tea facts, and yummy recipes, this delightful 1st in a new series should please fans of well-wrought cozy mysteries. |
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| Dead West by Matt GoldmanWhat happens: Minneapolis PI Nils Shapiro heads to Hollywood on a supposedly easy job: make sure that wealthy Beverly Mayer's grieving grandson, whose fiancée recently died in a tragic accident, isn't wasting all of his money trying to start a film studio. What Nils finds is a smart man surrounded by users and that the "accident" was actually murder.
Series alert: Though this is the 4th Nils Shapiro novel readers new to the series can easily start here (but grab Gone to Dust to start at book 1).
Read this next: For more Hollywood-set novels, try Elmore Leonard's darkly humorous Get Shorty or Kellye Garret's more lighthearted Detective by Day mysteries. |
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| The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa HartIntroducing: plant collector Lady Cecily Kay, who's just returned to England after a row with her husband, the British consul to Smyrna; Meacan Barlow, Cecily's childhood friend, now working as an illustrator.
1703 London: Cecily and Meacan are two of renowned collector Sir Barnaby Mayne's house guests when he is fatally stabbed. After a confession that can't possibly be true, the ladies hunt for the real killer.
For fans of: Deanna Raybourn; richly detailed historical mysteries with smart storylines and strong, unorthodox female characters. |
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| Once You Go This Far by Kristen LepionkaWhat happens: After Columbus, Ohio, PI Roxane Weary helps a fatally injured woman on a hiking trail, the woman's grieving daughter hires her, believing the fall was no accident. This draws Roxane into a complex situation that has her going back and forth to Canada for answers.
Series alert: Fans of this award-winning series will be interested in this 4th entry's developments, but newcomers can start here, too.
Read this next: Kathleen Dent's Detective Betty books or Tracy Clark's Chicago mysteries. |
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| A Royal Affair by Allison MontclairStarring: the proprietors of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau: up-for-anything Iris, a spy during the war, and aristocratic widow Gwen, who lives with her young son in her wealthy in-laws' Kensington mansion.
What it's about: In 1946 London, the women are hired to covertly investigate the complex past of the dashing Greek prince who has captured 20-year-old Princess Elizabeth's heart.
Series alert: This 2nd in a charming series offers engaging lead characters, an intriguing look at post-World War II England, and fascinating details about the British Royal family during that time. |
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| The Eighth Detective by Alex PavesiStarring: Grant McAllister, a mathematician who, some 20 years ago, wrote a paper about the rules of whodunits as well as seven short stories demonstrating them (which are all included within this novel); Julia Hart, a book editor who wants to re-edit and publish Grant's work.
What happens: Julia travels to Grant's remote Mediterranean island home to work with him -- and discovers that the books have strange errors and may hide even greater mysteries than she first thought.
Who it's for: Those who like creative storytelling and mystery novels' puzzle aspects will best enjoy this fresh, intricately plotted debut. |
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Close up
by Amanda Quick
Protecting a crime-scene photographer who has identified elusive details connecting a string of murders, reclusive investigator Nick Sundridge uses his own uncanny talents to tie the killer to 1930s Hollywood society. By the best-selling author of the Arcane Society series.
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Testify
by Michel Moore
A criminal without remorse, Clay, who rules his small territory of the Detroit drug scene with an iron fist, finds himself at the mercy of seven eyewitnesses who, always forced to live by his strict street code commandments, saw him commit a cold-blooded murder on a crowded city block.
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The Goodbye Man
by Jeffery Deaver
A sequel to The Never Game finds Colter Shaw investigating a mysterious organization in Washington State that is either a therapeutic healing colony or a dangerous cult under the sway of a charismatic leader.
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Game of Dog Bones
by Laurien Berenson
Working as a judge at the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden on a bitterly cold February day, Aunt Peg is targeted with suspicion when an ousted poodle club member is found murdered.
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Of Mutts and Men
by Spencer Quinn
Chet the dog and his private investigator partner, Bernie Little, must investigate after they show up for a meeting with a hydrologist but discover him murdered in the latest addition to the series following Heart of Barkness.
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The Devil's Bones
by Carolyn Haines
Visiting a Jerusalem-inspired garden with the newly pregnant Tinkie, Sarah Booth and Cece stumble on the body of an underhanded local lawyer before taking the case of a wrongly implicated pharmacist.
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The Talented Mr. Varg
by Alexander McCall Smith
A sequel to The Department of Sensitive Crimes finds detective Ulf Varg and his team investigating a playboy whose blackmailing case is complicated by Ulf’s brother’s questionable politics. By the author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.
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Dead land
by Sara Paretsky
Dragged by her impetuous goddaughter into a legal battle over a clandestine deal that is threatening community land, V. I. Warshawski uncovers a developer scheme that ends the life of the young man her goddaughter is dating.
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Lake of Darkness by Scott Kenemore During the First World War, on the South Side of Chicago, officer Joe “Flip” Flippity has begun an investigation into a serial decapitationist who is hunting young children. At a time when African American officers are rendered second-class by prejudicial policies, Flip is nonetheless called upon by the mayor of the city—the legendary Big Bill Thompson himself—and a host of powerful city fathers, to thwart this murderer who threatens to destroy the city's reputation as a safe haven for those making the Great Migration north. While searching to catch his killer—and to discover why the most powerful men in Chicago are truly concerned about the murders of poor black refugees—Flip's bloody trail takes him through the South Side’s vice districts (where anything is available for a price), across its most dangerous criminal underbellies, and into a bracing and unexpected world of supernatural horror.
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Robert B. Parker's Grudge match
by Mike Lupica
Robert B. Parker's beloved PI Sunny Randall returns on a case that blurs the line between friend and foe...and if Sunny can't tell the difference, the consequences may be deadly.
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Friend or Foe: Brice Simpson Hood Mysteries
by Imani Black
Detective Brice Simpson is torn between loyalties to his community and the NYPD when he investigates a murder in his own neighborhood involving a former drug kingpin’s wife and some of the most dangerous individuals from his past.
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The Grove of the Caesars
by Lindsey Davis
When a serial killer taints the sacred grove of Julius Caesar, Flavia Albia, out of sympathy for the victims and their grieving relatives, teams up with the vile Julies Karus, a cohort of the Vigiles, to bring this killer to justice.
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If You Like: Louise Penny |
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| Raven Black by Ann CleevesIntroducing: dogged police inspector Jimmy Perez, who's returned home to the Shetland Islands after separating from his wife.
What happens: In one of the area's insular communities, a teenage girl who'd moved there from London a year ago is killed. Perez hunts for the murderer as locals point fingers at one of the last people to be seen with the victim, an elderly man with intellectual disabilities.
Why Louise Penny fans might like it: This acclaimed 1st in the Shetland Quartet (which inspired U.K. television's Shetland) offers atmosphere to spare, an isolated locale, and deft plotting. |
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| A Killing in the Hills by Julia KellerThe setup: In tiny Acker's Gap, West Virginia, a "shabby afterthought of a town," 17-year-old Carla Elkins witnesses the efficient shooting of three elderly men by an unknown person in a diner on a Saturday morning.
The aftermath: As Carla gradually recalls details about the shooter, her estranged mom, obsessively driven county prosecutor Bell Elkins, works to solve the case.
Why Louise Penny fans might like it: This award-winning debut novel by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist features lyrical writing and a complex investigator working in a vividly depicted small town. |
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| Wicked Autumn by G.M. MallietIntroducing: Max Tudor, the handsome new vicar in Nether Monkslip, who's also a former MI5 officer.
What happens: The quiet village's most overbearing woman dies in suspicious circumstances at the Harvest Fayre, leading Max to suspect foul play and wonder if one of his new parishioners is a killer.
Why Louise Penny fans might like it: Though more lighthearted than Penny's novels, this 1st in a series provides a modern village setting, charming characters, and a clever whodunit. |
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| A Test of Wills by Charles ToddIntroducing: shell-shocked World War I veteran Ian Rutledge, who's secretly tormented by a dead Scottish soldier's voice and has just returned to duty as a Scotland Yard Inspector in 1919.
What happens: A jealous colleague has Ian assigned to a hot-potato case that could push him over the edge. In the village of Warwickshire, a retired colonel has been murdered and the prime suspect is a decorated war hero, who's also a friend of the Prince of Wales.
Why Louise Penny fans might like it: In this layered 1st in a series, the introspective Rutledge must maneuver his way through several figurative minefields in order to solve the complex case and hold on to his sanity. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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