Culpeper County Library271 Southgate Shopping Center, Culpeper, Virginia 22701 | 540-825-8691https://www.cclva.org
Mystery
December 2025

Recent Releases
Death at the Door
by Olivia Blacke

Ruby, a young woman new to Boston, and Cordelia, a ghost who haunts Ruby's apartment, narrate this fun supernatural cozy. The unusual duo's friendship grows as they investigate after a deli delivery guy is found dead at Ruby's new job in this charming sequel to A New Lease on Death. Try this next: Dead and Breakfast by Kat Hillis and Rosiee Thor.
Two Truths and a Murder
by Colleen Cambridge

Agatha Christie's housekeeper, Phyllida Bright, has developed a reputation as an amateur detective, so much so that Agatha's neighbor invites Phyllida to dinner. When a fellow guest claims she once witnessed a murder, this leads to another killing and a new case for Phyllida in her 5th outing. For other mysteries where Agatha Christie plays a role, try Amanda Chapman's Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library or Rosanne Limoncelli's The Four Queens of Crime.
The Hidden City
by Charles Finch

In 1879 London, aristocratic sleuth Charles Lenox aids his former housekeeper, who's unsettled by a stranger hanging about her new home where a murder once occurred. Also, Lenox's wife's suffrage work draws threats, and he helps a cousin and her Indian friend settle in England. Though this is the 15th book starring Lenox (and the first since 2021), newcomers will enjoy this smart, atmospheric tale. For fans of: Louise Penny; historical mysteries with clever plotting and erudite sleuths.
All the Words We Know by Bruce Nash
All the Words We Know
by Bruce Nash

Rose may be in her eighties and suffering from dementia, but she's not done with life just yet. Alternately sharp as a tack and spectacularly forgetful, she spends her days roaming the corridors of her assisted living facility, musing on the staff and residents, and enduring visits form her emotionally distant children and granddaughters. But when her friend is found dead after an apparent fall from a window, Rose embarks on an eccentric and determined investigation to discover the truth and uncover all manner of secrets...even some from her own past.--Provided by publisher.
Mirage City
by Lev AC Rosen

In the 1950s, ex-cop turned San Francisco PI Evander "Andy" Mills takes a case that (unhappily) leads him home. A woman who's part of a secretive gay rights organization tells him three members have gone missing, which leads Andy to Los Angeles where he deals with a motorcycle club, a psychiatric clinic, and his estranged mother in his gritty 4th outing. Try this next: Robert Holtom's A Queer Case; John Copenhaver's Hall of Mirrors.
A Killer Wedding
by Joan O'Leary

Gloria Beaufort, the billionaire matriarch of American beauty company Glo, handpicks magazine journalist Christine to cover the wedding of her beloved grandson at an Irish castle. When Gloria is murdered and the Beauforts refuse to call the police until after the wedding, Christine digs into the toxic family's secrets in this slow-burn, funny first novel. Read-alike: The Plus One by S.C. Lalli; The Author's Guide to Murder by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White.
Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon
Shadow Ticket
by Thomas Pynchon

Milwaukee 1932, the Great Depression going full blast, repeal of Prohibition just around the corner, Al Capone in the federal pen, the private investigation business shifting from labor-management relations to the more domestic kind. Hicks McTaggart, a one-time strikebreaker turned private eye, thinks he's found job security until he gets sent out on what should be a routine case, locating and bringing back the heiress of a Wisconsin cheese fortune who's taken a mind to go wandering. By the time Hicks catches up with her he will find himself entangled with Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and the troubles that come with each of them--
We Had a Hunch
by Tom Ryan

Twenty-five years ago, twin sisters Sam and Alice teamed up with their techy friend Joey to catch a Massachusetts serial killer, which resulted in the murder of the twins' father and the arrest of their high school janitor. But now someone is using the same modus operandi, leading the three now-middle-aged sleuths to put aside their earlier trauma and investigate in a novel that's "criminally good fun" (Publishers Weekly).
A Case of Life and Limb
by Sally Smith

The 1901 Christmas peace of the Inner Temple, the picture-postcard home of London’s elite lawyers, is disturbed when Sir William Waring receives a beautifully wrapped package containing a severed human hand. Brilliant Gabriel Ward, a fellow Temple resident, investigates while also working on a sensationalistic defamation case in this entertaining follow-up to A Case of Mice and Murder. Try this next: Claudia Gray’s The Murder of Mr. Wickham.
The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens
The Hitchhikers
by Chevy Stevens

On the remote Canadian highways in 1976, Tom and Alice set out to heal their fractured marriage. An RV, a new beginning, and the hope of recovery after a devastating tragedy. Then they meet two young hitchhikers, Ocean and Blue-a seemingly innocent couple who aren't who they seem. They are Jenny and Simon. And they have left a trail of blood, destruction, and madness behind them. Now Tom and Alice are trapped-prisoners in a deadly game, with nowhere to turn. But as the tension builds and the lines blur, the question becomes: in whose heart does evil truly lie?--Provided by publisher.
The Dentist
by Tim Sullivan

DS George Cross, who’s autistic and detail-oriented, investigates an unhoused man’s murder in South West England. Noticing clues that others miss and with help from his partner DS Josie Ottey, George unearths links to an old killing in this acclaimed series starter and bestselling police procedural from the United Kingdom. For other books with neurodivergent detectives, try Brandy Schillace’s Netherleigh mysteries or Daniel Aubrey’s Orkney mysteries.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Culpeper County Library271 Southgate Shopping Center, Culpeper, Virginia 22701 | 540-825-8691https://www.cclva.org