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| Smoke by Joe IdeStarring: Isaiah "IQ" Quintabe, of East Long Beach, California, who's got a Sherlock-esque brain that he uses as an unlicensed detective.
What happens: Due to PTSD and threats on his life, IQ heads to a small Northern California town to lay low -- but he's soon pulled into a hunt for a serial killer. Back home, IQ's hustler friend Dodson accepts an advertising internship in his effort to go straight.
Series alert: Smoke is the entertaining 5th in a darkly humorous series; those who want to start with the 1st entry should pick up the award-winning IQ.
[also available as a physical book] |
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| The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'DonnellWhat it is: an inventive Gothic-tinged mystery with supernatural elements set in 1893 London that was published to much acclaim in the U.K. in 2018.
What happens: A Cambridge student, a Scotland Yard detective, and a wealthy woman journalist work together to solve several disappearances and a suspicious suicide.
Read this next: Lynn Shepherd's The Solitary House, Jess Kidd's Things in Jars, or Oscar De Muriel's Frey and McGray novels.
[also available as a physical book] |
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An extravagant death
by Charles Finch
What it's about: Sir Charles Lenox leaves Scotland Yard and travels to 1878 Newport where he investigates the supposed suicide of a beautiful debutante who threw herself off a cliff.
Why you might like it: Lenox' latest adventure has humanity, heart, and humor; it offers a captivating glimpse of America's richest citizens in the late 1800s; and it delivers a gripping and cleverly plotted mystery.
[also available as a physical book]
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Murder Most Pemberley
by Berg, Jessica
What it's about: Eat a crumpet. Check. Say "bloody hell" in an English pub. Check. Solve three murders and fall in love? Definitely not on the list. But when England dishes up murder, even an American girl knows it's time to channel her inner Agatha Christie.
Why you might like it: A light, witty cozy mystery featuring an American descendent of the Darcy/ Bennet family.
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A fatal lie: an Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery
by Charles Todd
What it's about: Dispatched from London to investigate the discovery of an unidentified body in a peaceful Welsh village, Ian Rutledge uncovers a tangle of deception involving a child's tragic fate and a woman bent on hiding the past.
Why you might like it: Fans of the police detective tortured by guilt over his actions in World War I will want to read this 23rd entry in the series.
[also available as a physical book]
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| The Crow Trap by Ann CleevesWhat it's about: Three very different women work to complete an environmental survey about the impact of a quarry in Northumberland. Then an odd suicide and a second death bring unconventional Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope to town to sort it all out.
Series alert: First published in 1998, The Crow Trap is Vera's 1st outing; the 9th and most recent book, The Darkest Evening, came out last year.
On the screen: The Vera Stanhope books inspired the popular British TV series Vera. But that isn't Cleeves' only screen adaptation -- her Shetland Island books were dramatized as Shetland and her new Matthew Venn series is set to receive similar treatment.
[also available as a physical book] |
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| Coconut Layer Cake Murder by Joanne FlukeWhat happens: Hannah Swensen is stressed. So much so that her doctor prescribes a vacation. But she cuts short her Los Angeles trip when her sister’s cop boyfriend is implicated in the murder of a former classmate and can't recall what happened.
Read this next: If you like this 25th in the cozy culinary mystery series, try Katherine Hall Page's Faith Fairchild novels or Sarah Graves' Death by Chocolate mysteries (recipes included in all three series).
On the screen: Hallmark made five Murder, She Baked movies based on the Hannah Swensen mysteries; TV host and actress Alison Sweeney played the crime-solving Minnesota baker in all of them.
[also available as a physical book] |
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| Next to Last Stand by Craig JohnsonWhat happens: After an elderly man dies at the Veterans' Home of Wyoming, artwork and a million dollars is found in his room, leading Sheriff Walt Longmire to a case connected to Russians, General George Custer, and a famous work of art long thought destroyed.
Series alert: Though recent outings have been harrowing for Longmire, this 16th book is a bit lighter. Look for the 17th entry, Daughter of the Morning Star, in September.
On the screen: The well-received TV series Longmire featured Australian actor Robert Taylor in the title role and ran for six seasons between 2012 and 2017.
[also available as a physical book] |
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| The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall SmithWhat happens: Precious Ramotswe details becoming Botswana's only lady private detective and investigating several intriguing cases, including a missing boy, the suspicious return of a long-gone father, and a clinic doctor behaving strangely.
Series alert: This is the charming 1st in the bestselling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Out in October is the 22nd book, The Joy and Light Bus Company.
On the screen: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books inspired a TV movie (2008) and a six-episode series (2009), both starring multi-talented Jill Scott as Precious.
[also available as a physical book] |
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The Godwulf manuscript
by Robert B. Parker
What happens: A private detective's investigation into the theft of a rare manuscript from a university library brings him face to face with clues to a young man's murder.
Series alert: First in the long-running Spenser series of humane, humorous private eye mysteries.
On the screen: Spenser: For Hire, based on this series, ran for three seasons on ABC in the 1980s.
[also available as a physical book]
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