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| 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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| A Half-Baked Murder by Emily GeorgeIntroducing: pastry chef Chloe Barnes, who, after personal and professional problems in Paris, returns to her coastal California hometown.
What happens: After her cannabis-enhanced baked goods are a hit with her sick grandmother, Chloe and her quirky Aunt Dawn decide to start a cannabis bakery -- but they also need to figure out who stabbed Chloe's bullying ex-high school classmate with Dawn's knife.
Reviewers say: "This fun and fact-filled thematic entry into the cozy mystery genre has it all" (Library Journal). |
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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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| The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka OlderThe setup: On a gas-wreathed train platform at a remote outpost of a human colony on Jupiter, a stranger disappears into the red fog. Was he pushed or did he jump?
What happens: Enigmatic Investigator Mossa discovers the man was a scholar at the renowned university in Valdegeld, also the home to her ex-girlfriend, Pleiti. Reunited, the two women travel a twisting path to the truth, one that involves Pleiti's research into old Earth ecosystems.
For fans of: short romantic novels and science fiction mysteries with richly detailed world building. |
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| Last Seen in Lapaz by Kwei QuarteyMissing: In Nigeria, 18-year-old Ngozi, the daughter of a diplomat, has disappeared. Instead of starting law school, she seems to have run off with her older boyfriend to Accra, Ghana.
What happens: Hired to find Ngozi, young Ghanaian PI Emma Djan goes undercover to track her down, but things become dire when Ngozi's boyfriend is found murdered. On the home front, personable Emma spends time with her new boyfriend, Courage, a national police officer.
Is it for you? This gritty 3rd Emma Djan investigation explores human trafficking and the brutality and violence that go along with it. |
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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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| The Secret of the Lost Pearls by Darcie WildeLondon, England, 1820: Rosalind Thorne, a penniless gentlewoman known among society ladies as a "most useful woman" due to her discretion and connections, looks into the theft of a pearl necklace and discovers dangerous secrets.
Series alert: Though this is the engaging 6th historical mystery with romantic elements starring Rosalind Thorne, newcomers will still enjoy it.
For fans of: Deanna Raybourn, Sherry Thomas' Lady Sherlock novels, Kate Saunders' Laetitia Rodd mysteries, and Claudia Gray's The Murder of Mr. Wickham. |
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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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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Atlantic County Library System | 40 Farragut Avenue, Mays Landing, NJ 08330
Phone: (609) 625-2776 | www.atlanticlibrary.org
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|  | Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson
Atlantic County Board of Commissioners, Maureen Kern, Chairwoman |
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