January 2017 list by Jewel Nelson
|
|
|
| No Witness But the Moon by Suzanne ChazinPolice Procedural. In a small upstate New York town, Hispanic police officer Jimmy Vega is the first cop on the scene of a home invasion where shots have been fired. A tense stand-off in the dark between Vega and an immigrant burglar ends with Vega firing his gun. As Vega deals with the fallout of the shooting (including his own troubled emotions), he finds those closest to him questioning his story and discovers a link between the man he shot and the brutal unsolved murder of his own mother. Fully realized characters and a thought-provoking (and timely) plot make this compelling 3rd entry in the Jimmy Vega series a good choice for fans of both Louise Penny and Michael Connelly. |
|
| Glow of Death by Jane K. ClelandCozy Mystery. When she's called to appraise a possible Tiffany lamp by Edward and Ava Towson, Josie Prescott is delighted; though most stained glass lamps aren't Tiffany, some are and the sale of one would bring a hefty commission. Her delight turns to puzzlement a few days later, however, when the real Ava Towson is killed, and Josie learns that the wealthy couple who'd requested her help were impostors, and that their story about the Tiffany lamp was a carefully constructed lie. Not only that, but the Tiffany lamp she'd declared authentic has been replaced with a fake. Upset at being conned, Josie can't help but nose around. This 11th Josie Prescott mystery set in coastal New Hampshire should please cozy readers who enjoy watching Antiques Roadshow. |
|
|
Storm Rising
by Douglas Schofield
A follow-up to Time of Departure follows the relocation of Lucy Hendricks and her increasingly unstable son to Florida amid rumors that her late husband was a corrupt cop, a transition that is complicated by her efforts to clear her husband's name before Hurricane Sandy eliminates important evidence.
|
|
|
The Dangerous Ladies Affair
by Marcia Muller
Hired by a wealthy banker to undermine an extortionist who has threatened to reveal personal secrets unless he receives multiple grand sums, John Quincannon and Sabina Carpenter find the case turning deadly when a courier is found dead in a locked room.
|
|
|
PhDeath: The Puzzler Murders
by James P. Carse
After a series of atrocities are brought to light during the academic year, University faculty join forces with military intelligence and the Puzzle Master of the New York Times in order to do battle with the seemingly omniscient perpetrator, the Puzzler. Original.
|
|
|
Maigret's First Case
by Georges Simenon
The profession he had always yearned for did not actually exist... he imagined a cross between a doctor and a priest, a man capable of understanding another's destiny at first glance. The very first investigation by eager young police secretary Jules Maigret leads him to a wealthy Paris family's dark secrets.
|
|
|
Out of Bounds: A Karen Pirie Novel
by Val McDermid
Mystery. A group of teen joyriders crash a stolen Land Rover; the driver ends up in a coma, but a routine DNA test reveals a link to a two-decade-old cold case. DCI Karen Pirie, head of Police Scotland's Historic Cases Unit, hopes to spin this info into a conviction but things get complicated quickly. Meanwhile, she feels that a recent suicide is a murder and investigates, even though the case isn't hers, and on one of her insomniac night walks, she encounters Syrian refugees who need help. If after reading this 3rd outing for Pirie, you're looking for more gritty, suspenseful, and realistic novels featuring female police officers, try Jane Casey's London-set Maeve Kerrigan novels or Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series.
|
|
|
Strange Tide: A Peculiar Crimes Unit
by Christopher Fowler
"London's most brilliant but unconventional detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May, must plumb the depths of a particularly murky mystery. The Peculiar Crimes Unit faces its most baffling case yet--and if Bryant and May can't rise to the challenge, the entire unit may go under. Near the Tower of London, along the River Thames, the body of a woman has been discovered chained to a stone post and left to drown. Curiously, only one set of footprints leads to the tragic spot. "The Bride in the Tide," as the London press gleefully dubs her, has the PCU stumped. Why wouldn't the killer simply dump her body in the river--as so many do? Arthur Bryant wonders if the answer lies in the mythology of the Thames itself. Unfortunately, the normally wobbly funhouse corridors of Bryant's mind have become, of late, even more labyrinthine. The venerable detective seems to be losing his grip on reality. May fears the worst, as Bryant rapidly descends from merely muddled to one stop short of Barking, hallucinating that he's traveled back in time to solve the case. There had better be a method to Bryant's madness--because, as more bodies are pulled from the river's depths, his partner and the rest of the PCU find themselves in over their heads. Fiendishly fun and rich inLondon lore, Bryant and May: Strange Tide is Christopher Fowler at his best, delivering more twists and turns than the Thames itself. Praise for Christopher Fowler's ingenious novels featuring the Peculiar Crimes Unit "Fowler, like his crime-solvers,is deadpan, sly, and always unexpectedly inventive."--Entertainment Weekly "An imaginative funhouse of a world where sage minds go to expand their vistas and sharpen their wits."--Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review "[Fowler] takes delight in stuffing his books with esoteric facts; together with a cast of splendidly eccentric characters [and] corkscrew plots, wit, verve and some apposite social commentary, they make for unbeatable fun."--The Guardian "Mr. Fowler's small but ardent American following deserves to get much larger."--Janet Maslin, The New York Times "The most delightfully, wickedly entertaining duo in crime fiction."--The Plain Dealer "Captivating."--The Seattle Times "Dazzling."--The Denver Post "Thrilling."--Chicago Tribune"
|
|
|
Plaid and Plagiarism
by Molly MacRae
When the murder of a surprisingly hated local disrupts preparations for the annual Inversgail Literature Festival in Scotland, the owner of a new bookshop and an ambitious investigative reporter comb through the victim's hate mail for clues about who was the killer.
|
|
|
The Cat Sitter and the Canary: A Dixie Hemingway Mystery
by Blaize Clement
Caring for a kitty regular at the side of her Lhasa Apso sidekick, Dixie discovers a dead body in the parlor of her client's home before being trapped in a maze of intrigue and danger that implicates her in a series of deaths. By the authors of The Cat Sitter's Pajamas.
|
|
|
The Heretic's Creed
by Fiona Buckley
February, 1577. Sir William Cecil has a dangerous new mission for Ursula Blanchard. He has asked her to visit Stonemoor House on the bleak Yorkshire moors, the home of a group of recusant women led by Abbess Philippa Gould. In their possession is an ancient book, and the Queen’s advisor, Dr John Dee, is eager to get hold of it.
However, while the Abbess is anxious to sell the book, others such as her half-sister Bella believe it to be heretical and demand that it be burned. It is not Sir William’s first attempt to secure the book. His two previous emissaries vanished without trace. What happened to them – and will Ursula suffer the same fate?
|
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
|
|