| Blaze Me a Sun by Christoffer Carlsson1986: The Swedish prime minister is assassinated, stunning the country. On the same night, a serial killer murders his first victim, and police detective Sven Jörgensson investigates for years without success.
2019: Moth, a successful novelist, moves to a small town and connects with Evy, Sven's former police partner and lover, and Vidar, Sven's son who grew up to be a cop. The more Moth learns from them, the more he becomes obsessed with the cold case.
Reviewers say: "The plot unfolds slowly but masterfully...a brainy page-turner from a rising star" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| The Motion Picture Teller by Colin CotterillStarring: two movie fans in 1996 Thailand: Supot, a letter carrier, and his best friend Ali, who runs a less-than-successful video rental store.
A VHS mystery: Amid a box of tapes Ali gets from a homeless man, the duo find a stunning movie entitled Bangkok 2010 -- but they've never heard of it nor anyone involved in its production. Determined to discover why it was never released, they dig into the film's history.
Why you might like it: The Motion Picture Teller offers quirky humor, engaging characters, an evocative setting, and fascinating movie trivia. |
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| The Twyford Code by Janice HallettNew release: Out of prison in 2019 after decades inside, Steven "Smithy" Smith records his thoughts as he digs into an old mystery: 40 years ago his remedial English teacher disappeared after suggesting that Edith Twyford's classic children's books include an unsolved code.
Why you might like it: Cleverly told via computer-generated transcriptions of Smithy's iPhone voice memo diaries, The Twyford Code manages to have a Golden Age feel.
That ending: "extraordinary" (Booklist); "truly gaspworthy" (Kirkus Reviews); "a bravura final section" (New York Times). |
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| Exiles by Jane HarperVacation, interrupted: In Southern Australia's wine country, Federal Agent Aaron Falk gets drawn into the case of a woman who disappeared a year earlier from a festival, leaving her sleeping infant in a parked stroller.
Series alert: This 3rd Aaron Falk novel follows acclaimed earlier entries The Dry (adapted into a 2021 film starring Eric Bana) and Force of Nature (a movie is in production and due out later this year).
Read this next: Tana French's The Searcher, starring a detective who's just moved to an Irish village and is pulled into a missing person's case, or Candice Fox's atmospheric Australia-set Crimson Lake crime novels. |
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| Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin StevensonThe setup: Ernie, a self-published author of crime writing guidebooks, ponders mystery writing and promises to be a "reliable narrator."
Family reunion: Ernie describes a tense family vacation with his family, who are said to have all killed someone -- then a stranger is found dead in the snow at their Australian ski resort. With the weather preventing anyone from going anywhere, Ernie tries to solve the case.
Read this next: The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill, another darkly humorous meta-mystery starring a writer. |
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| Decent People by De'Shawn Charles WinslowWhat's inside: This evocative follow-up to the author's literary debut, In West Mills, takes place in the same North Carolina town, but this time, the character-driven plot revolves around a terrible crime.
A triple murder: In 1976, a wealthy Black doctor and her two siblings are shot in their family home. Their half brother is a prime suspect and everyone in town is talking, so his fiancée, newly retired and home after years in New York City, digs into the case, picking at town secrets.
Reviewers say: "propulsive...a murder mystery that doubles as a savvy examination of race and class" (Los Angeles Times).
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A Death in Door County
by Annelise Ryan
Introducing: Morgan Carter, who runs Odds and Ends, a Loon County, Wisconsin, book and curiosity shop she inherited from her parents, who also passed along their passion for cryptozoology.
Stranger things: After two people are found drowned in a nearby lake with mysterious bite marks, Morgan agrees to help the police chief try to figure out what caused the injuries before word gets out.
Why you might like it: This fun 1st in the Monster Hunter series offers appealing characters (including a sweet dog) and a touch of romance.
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They All Fall Down
by Rachel Howzell Hall
Trip of a lifetime: Miriam Macy, whose life is off the rails, accepts the chance to compete in a reality show competition, sailing to a private island off the coast of Mexico with six strangers: an ex-cop, a chef, a financial advisor, a nurse, a lawyer, and a happy young widow.
The lies: There isn't a TV show, and they've been lured there due to secrets they harbor. When strange accidents start to happen, Miriam realizes she must figure out what's going on or die trying.
Why you might like it: In this new take on Agatha's Christie's And Then There Were None, "Hall slips from funny to darkly frightening with elegant ease" (Publishers Weekly).
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A Forgotten Murder
by Jude Deveraux
A holiday? Wealthy Florida author and amateur sleuth Sara Medlar takes her niece Sara and friend Jack for a stay at an English estate.
Surprise guests: Sara's also invited five others, all of whom were there 25 years ago when two people mysteriously disappeared. With her friends' help, Sara plans to plot out the truth.
Why you might like it: This 3rd in the Medlar mysteries series by bestselling author Jude Deveraux (who's best known for her romance novels) is an engaging modern country house mystery with an intriguing cast of characters and an entertaining wrap up.
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Magpie Murders
by Anthony Horowitz
The frustration: While reading Alan Conway's latest mystery manuscript starring his popular Poirot-esque detective, his editor Susan Ryeland discovers that the final chapters revealing the killer are missing.
What happens: Conway has suddenly (and suspiciously) died, so Susan tries to piece together the book's ending by interviewing his friends and family -- which leads to her realization that his characters are stand-ins for real people, and the manuscript might be related to his death.
Why you might like it: The cleverly plotted 1st in the Magpie Murders series, which is the inspiration for a new PBS series of the same name, has suspense, a novel-within-a-novel, and delightful Golden Age elements.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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