Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/17/2013
ISBN-13: 9780399158384
ISBN-10: 0399158383

Historical Mystery. When Manhattan police officer Timothy Wilde asks an obviously distressed Lucy Adams what's been stolen, she replies "my family." Lucy, a mixed-race woman secretly married to a white man, had come home from work on Valentine's Day 1846 to find her sister and nephew gone. She believes they've been stolen by "blackbirders," people who kidnap free people of color in the North and sell them to Southern plantations. Can Wilde and his colleagues on the six-month-old police force save them? It won't be easy, especially when they learn who is involved. This evocative and compelling follow-up to The Gods of Gotham is a good choice for readers who enjoy reading about historic New York, so fans of Caleb Carr's The Alienist, set 50 years later, should appreciate it.

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Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/01/2013
ISBN-13: 9780062270481
ISBN-10: 0062270486

Police Procedural. Though fans mourned the loss of author Tony Hillerman in 2008, they can take solace in knowing that his daughter Anne is skillfully continuing his acclaimed mystery series featuring Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. In her first fiction foray (and the 19th for the Navajo cops), Hillerman focuses on police officer Bernadette "Bernie" Manualito, who's married to Chee. When Leaphorn leaves a restaurant after a breakfast meeting, Bernie sees someone shoot him in the parking lot. Though Bernie isn't on the case because she's an eyewitness, she's able to keep abreast of the investigation via her husband. As the FBI aids the tribal police, Bernie also gets to work, digging into Leaphorn's past. Publishers Weekly says, "like her father, Hillerman has a gift for combining history and mystery."

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/08/2013
ISBN-13: 9781250021403
ISBN-10: 1250021405

Cozy Mystery. Former MI5 agent Max Tudor is now a vicar in a picturesque English village -- and he uses skills honed in both occupations in this 3rd outing. Famed actor and playwright Thaddeus Bottle retired to his boyhood home of Nether Monkslip, but no one there much likes him, including his wife. When he's found dead the morning after a dinner party attended by Max, the dishy vicar feels compelled to investigate what happened (or maybe he's just putting off writing his Easter sermon!). Fans of old-fashioned cozies will appreciate this amusing modern take on the genre; Pagan Spring features a lively assortment of villagers, an intriguing mystery, and comes complete with a "cast of characters" section. Cozy fans who'd like to start with the 1st in the series should pick up Wicked Autumn.

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Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/15/2013
ISBN-13: 9781439172537
ISBN-10: 1439172536

Historical Crime Novel. Based on real 1930s crimes, Quiet Dell uses historical sources as well as different points of view to tell the story of desperate widow Asta Eicher and her three children, 14-year-old Grethe, 12-year-old Hart, and the "fanciful," almost otherworldly nine-year-old Annabel. Asta, who lives in a Chicago suburb and who's been taking in boarders to make ends meet, answers a newspaper ad from a man who claims to be faithful, rich, and kind -- but who is actually a serial killer. Chicago journalist Emily Thornhill covers the Eichers' murders, takes in their homeless dog, and, obsessed with finding out what happened to this beautiful little family, follows the story from beginning to end. Sensitively written by an acclaimed author, Quiet Dell is a touching, riveting read.

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/10/2013
ISBN-13: 9780765332585
ISBN-10: 0765332582

Mystery. A former coworker, Tucker Cameron, comes to Boston newspaper reporter Jane Ryland for help: the 28-year-old recently received a call from Brannigan Family and Children Services saying her birth mother has agreed to meet her. But when the long-awaited union occurs, things don't add up, and Tuck is sure they've sent "the wrong girl" to the woman. Is it a simple mistake by the adoption agency or is something nefarious going on? Meanwhile, Harvard-educated police detective Jake Brogan works the confusing case of the brutal killing of a young mother; though two toddlers are found unharmed at the scene, baby things in the apartment suggest that the killer may have kidnapped an infant. Readers who enjoy suspenseful, fast-paced stories with a bit of romance will want to check out this 2nd in a series.

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Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/03/2013
ISBN-13: 9780062237446
ISBN-10: 0062237446

Mystery. A young woman is raped at knifepoint in Tel Aviv, and eventually Ziv Nevo is arrested. The trouble is, while Ziv certainly did commit a crime, it wasn't rape -- but he can't explain himself because he was working for the mob. When the case against Ziv has to be settled due to a police mistake, Detective Eli Nahum loses his job (and maybe his family). Desperate to redeem himself, Nahum partners with a hungry young journalist. With its urban grittiness and panorama of different perspectives (the victim, her father, Ziv, Nahum, and others), Lineup should please fans of the television series The Wire as well as the novels written by authors who worked on that show, like Dennis Lehane and George Pelecanos. This book is the American debut of author Liad Shoham, who's a bestselling novelist in Israel.

Publisher: Back Bay Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/10/2007
ISBN-13: 9780316012829
ISBN-10: 0316012823

Mystery. Attending the popular Edinburgh Arts Festival with his actress girlfriend, who's busy performing in a play, wealthy former detective Jackson Brodie witnesses a road rage attack (on a man who's not who his driver's license says he is). Brodie along with other bystanders -- including a fed-up housewife, a timid crime novelist (who throws a laptop to end the beating), and the son of a female police detective -- find themselves drawn into the heart of a complex conspiracy. Fans of intriguing, well-drawn characters should love this witty 2nd novel featuring Brodie (after the critically acclaimed Case Histories). Can't get enough of Brodie? You're in luck: there are currently four books in the series and a BBC television series, Case Histories, based on the novels.

Publisher: Grand Central
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/01/2002
ISBN-13: 9780446609197
ISBN-10: 0446609196

Cozy Mystery. In this special entry into M.C. Beaton's beloved Hamish Macbeth series, Christmas comes to the Scottish Highlands...although for the Calvinist villagers of Lochdubh this does not include decorated trees, twinkle lights, gifts, feasts, or caroling. Even so, with town constable Hamish around, something special just might happen. What's for certain is that Hamish has a few cases to solve -- including what happened to Mrs. Gallagher's cat and who stole another (more festive) village's Christmas lights -- as he also searches for a way to make a little girl's Christmas dreams come true. Readers who like a sweet mystery with no murders will enjoy this lighthearted tale.

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Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/24/2008
ISBN-13: 9780312359676
ISBN-10: 0312359675

Mystery. In the enclosed communities of the Shetland Islands, outsiders are often viewed suspiciously -- and in Raven Black, one of them is killed. After dropping her five-year-old daughter off at school, artist and single mother Fran Hunter sees ravens circling above a snowy field. Thinking the contrasting colors would make a nice painting, she walks closer and discovers the strangled body of a teenage girl, a newcomer from London. Who could have killed the young woman and why? Dogged Inspector Jimmy Perez seeks answers to those questions even as others in the insular town point fingers at an elderly simpleton who was recently seen with the girl. Winner of the prestigious Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award, this atmospheric book is the 1st in the Shetland Quartet.

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Publisher: Back Bay Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/20/2007
ISBN-13: 9780316016780
ISBN-10: 0316016780

Mystery. After a late night drinking, Maureen O'Donnell returns to her apartment in the middle of Glasgow, Scotland, and goes to bed. The next morning she discovers the body of her boyfriend (who was her therapist while she was in a psychiatric hospital and who she'd just discovered was married) tied to a kitchen chair with his throat slit. The police view her as a suspect and her own (alcoholic) mother thinks she did it. Though sexual abuse survivor Maureen has had mental health issues, she's sure she didn't kill anyone and tries to figure out who did. This debut novel by Denise Mina, who "writes with a pen dipped alternately in gallows humor and rage" (Kirkus Reviews), is the 1st book in a trilogy.