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| A Very Vexing Murder by Lucy AndrewHarriet Smith isn't the gullible girl she appears to be in Jane Austen's Emma, but a clever young con woman. Known in the village of Highbury as someone who can help with delicate matters, she's hired by Mrs. Churchill to break up her nephew's engagement and get back the jewelry she thinks his betrothed stole. But there's also a killer about, and Harriet is afraid it's someone from her past. Try these next: Vanessa Kelly's Emma Knightley mysteries; Kelly Gardiner and Sharmini Kumar's Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Investigator. |
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| The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer N. BrownHistory professor Alison Sage finds a manuscript containing the lost prophecies of Elizabeth Barton, a 16th-century nun who went against Henry VIII and was killed. Invited to a conference in Canterbury where Barton lived, Alison hears rumors of treasure, and then a shocking murder occurs. Covering both Alison's and Elizabeth's times, this is a well-researched, suspenseful debut. Try this next: A.D. Bell's The Bookbinder's Secret. |
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| A Murder Most Camp by Nicolas DiDomizioInstead of spending the summer partying, 29-year-old Michael "Mikey" Hartford IV is forced to work at the struggling upstate New York summer camp attended by his introverted 12-year-old aunt, Annabelle, or he'll be cut off from the family fortune. While adjusting to camp life and flirting with cute lifeguard Jackson, Mikey helps Annabelle and her new friends investigate the cold case of a missing camp counselor, who may have been murdered. Try these next: Lev AC Rosen's The Disaster Gay Detective Agency; Bellamy Rose's Pomona Afton series. |
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A Spirited Supper at Dundoon Castle
by Darci Hannah
When chef Bridget Bunny MacBride got a role on the reality show Food & Spirits, she thought spirits meant cocktails. Instead, she's cooking up dinners meant to tempt the departed to appear. And to her surprise, she's discovered abilities to connect with the beyond--and crack murder cases.
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Last One Out
by Jane Harper
Carralon Ridge, a once vibrant village in rural New South Wales, has become a shell of itself, its houses and buildings bought up and left to rot by the mining company operating at its borders. A decade into its slow death, surrounded by industrial noise and swathed in thick layers of dust, the skeletal town is all but abandoned, with just a handful of residents clinging onto what remains. After years of scorning those who left the Ridge behind as it fell into ruin, Ro never imagined she'd become one of them. But everything changed when she lost her son. Five years ago, Sam vanished while visiting during a break from college, leaving behind a rental car with his belongings inside. Sam had loved Carralon Ridge, and had been working on an oral history of the town to preserve its legacy before it vanished altogether. It wasn't long after his disappearance that the rest of the family began to crumble away too. But when Ro returns to Carralon Ridge to be with her husband and daughter on the anniversary of Sam's disappearance, she begins to suspect that something important was overlooked in his case. Because while nothing can stop Carralon Ridge from dying, someone seems to want to make sure that its secrets die with it.
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| It Happened One Murder by Liz LawsonHaving lost her New York City reporting job, Harriet Baker is living at her mom's New Jersey beachfront estate, where the over-the-top 26th birthday party her eccentric mom throws her ends in murder. Wanting her old job back, Harriet teams up to investigate the case with Nic, a fling from high school whose sister has been arrested for the crime. For fans of: fun romantic mysteries; Sarah Fox's Definitely Maybe Not a Detective. |
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A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage
by Mk Oliver
Meet Lalla Rook. Lalla has a lot on her plate: She needs to guarantee her husband makes partner, secure her dream house in Hampstead, and get her daughter into a prestigious prep school. And on the afternoon she stabs a stranger seven times after he breaks into her living room, she has a four-year-old's birthday party to host. With an unambitious partner, two demanding children, and a barely adequate large house in a nice (if not quite fashionable) part of town, Lalla's life isn't quite perfect yet. And she can't pretend she hasn't missed the adrenaline rush that comes with transgressing. Besides, as a wife and mother, she's already an expert multi-tasker. So, disposing of a body, framing a friend, and being the world's best mother can easily be managed alongside the usual domestic minutiae. It's just that her husband Stephen seems distracted, her daughter's drowning of the class hamster is affecting her academic future, and then there is the unexpected intruder. Who is this man and what does he want from her? Because Lalla has a past she'd rather keep hidden--and the sudden appearance of the police means that avoiding them will be yet another task to cross off her to-do list.
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| How to Cheat Your Own Death by Kristen PerrinAfter her artist mother finds a new apprentice dead on her doorstep with her heart removed, amateur sleuth Annie Adams heads to London to help. She learns the case has ties to her village of Castle Knoll and also connects to a prediction by a fortune teller. Switching to 1968, Annie's great aunt Frances enjoys life in swinging Soho until a friend is killed and her heart removed. This dual-timeline mystery is the 3rd Castle Knoll novel but can work for newcomers. Try this next: Jess Armstrong's The Curse of Penryth Hall. |
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The Tree of Light and Flowers
by Thomas Perry
Jane Whitefield is used to protecting vulnerable people, but after she gives birth, the fugitives she must rescue are her own family.
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The Disaster Gay Detective Agency
by Lev Ac Rosen
Brandon is a hopeless romantic. So when a handsome stranger named Jon checks in at the hotel he works at and invites Brandon to his room, Brandon ignores the advice of his crew--a group of loveable and messy queer twenty-somethings--and accepts. What follows is a tale as old as time: they hook up, Jon promises to text, Brandon falls in love, and Jon ghosts. Case closed--or is it? When Jon checks out early, leaving behind a bag of belongings and his cellphone, Brandon takes the phone and sets out to find him, thinking that this must at last be his Cinderella story. But he gets more than he bargained for when he witnesses a murder--and sees Jon fleeing the scene. Determined (and not in over their heads whatsoever), Brandon, Ollie, Nicole, and Ian decide to solve the mystery of the murder and uncover Jon's true identity...they just have to figure it out before a target falls on their own backs.
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| The Tuxedo Society by Paul RudnickStruggling New York City actor Andrew Birnbaum goes with his best friend to an exclusive Tuxedo Society dinner, where Andrew learns that due to his improv and acting skills, he's being recruited to join an espionage group made up of LGBTQIA+ people. Jetting around the world, Andrew and the group look for missing jewels and protect the United States' popular first lady in this fun, action-packed 1st adventure. For fans of: lighthearted spy stories; Steven Rowley's The Guncle. |
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Murder at 30,000 Feet
by Susan Walter
Flight 868 has nonstop service to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Over a dozen tipsy passengers are off to a destination wedding. A team of high school baseball players is headed to a tournament. The plane is packed with people eager to escape their lives, and others who can't wait to return to their beloved home. But sweet anticipation turns to terror when a lightning strike short-circuits the avionics and plunges the plane into darkness. When the lights come back on, a passenger is found brutally murdered, with only a bewildered air marshal to solve the crime. He soon realizes that several passengers are harboring dark secrets, but the identity of the murderer eludes him. There's only one certainty: The killer is on the plane. Thousands of feet above the earth with thunderstorms closing in, the danger outside is as grave as the mounting threat within. Can the captain outrun the storm? Or will the murderer among them bring the plane down first? A must-read for fans of T. J. Newman and Jeneva Rose.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Centerville Library
111 W. Spring Valley Rd
Centerville, OH 45458
(937) 433‑8091
Woodbourne Library
6060 Far Hills Ave
Centerville, OH 45459
(937) 435‑3700
Creativity Commons
895 Miamisburg Centerville Rd
Centerville, OH 45459
(937) 610‑4425
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