|
|
| The Diabolical Bones by Bella EllisStarring: Anne, Emily, and Charlotte Brontë, pen-wielding sisters who live in a Yorkshire parsonage with their father and brother...and solve crimes.
What it's about: In December 1845, the skeletal remains of a child are found in a nearby home's chimney. The sisters set out to find who the child was, which has them checking out local rumors, monster stories, and abusive child labor practices.
Series alert: Full of Gothic atmosphere, this is the compelling sequel to The Vanished Bride; the author is currently working on the 3rd Brontë Sisters mystery. |
|
| Cruel as the Grave by Cynthia Harrod-EaglesStarring: likeable DCI Bill Slider, whose wife is expecting their second child any day.
What happens: In London's Shepherd's Bush area, Slider and his dedicated team investigate the murder of a handsome fitness trainer who had multiple romantic partners. Despite the dead man's girlfriend being covered in blood, Slider thinks she may be innocent.
Series alert: This is the witty, well-plotted 22nd Bill Slider mystery; readers can start here, but those who want to see characters develop should start earlier in this popular series. |
|
| Blood Grove by Walter MosleyWhat happens: In the summer of 1969, Black Los Angeles PI Easy Rawlins, a World War II vet, agrees to help a traumatized white Vietnam vet, who says that while trying to save a woman, he thinks he killed a Black man -- but the scene of the supposed crime is completely clean.
Why you might like it: Featuring unforgettable characters, this atmospheric 15th Easy Rawlins mystery takes place against the backdrop of the social and political changes of the 1960s.
Award buzz: The National Book Foundation recently presented Walter Mosley with the 2020 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. |
|
|
The rough cut
by Douglas Corleone
"Documentary filmmaker Riley Vasher has been living a low-key life on the island of Oahu with her long-time boyfriend Brody. This all changes when Brody overhears on his police scanner that popular TV weathergirl Piper Kingsley has been murdered. When Piper's boyfriend, Ethan Jakes, is arrested for the crime, a high-profile murder trial is sure to follow--and Riley and Brody sense their chance to make a name for themselves. Riley convinces Ethan she can help him if they make a documentary about the trial, and recommends the brilliant but eccentric defense lawyer Nicholas Church. But as the trial nears and Riley becomes personally involved in the case, the lines of truth soon begin to blur and she finds herself becoming part of the story"
|
|
| Picnic in the Ruins by Todd Robert PetersenWhat it's about: Crossing paths with two inept criminals hired to steal Native American maps, Ph.D. student Sophia Shepard, who's in the Utah-Arizona border region working on her dissertation, finds herself on a madcap trip that involves a magician, a German tourist, a local sheriff, and a video game designer.
Why you might like it: Picnic in the Ruins is a clever noirish caper with a vivid setting that thoughtfully looks at the ethics of artifact collection.
For fans of: Tony Hillerman, Carl Hiaasen, and William Boyle's A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself. |
|
|
Death in the Great Dismal
by Eleanor Kuhns
"September 1800, Maine. Will Rees is beseeched by Tobias, an old friend abducted by slave catchers years before, to travel south to Virginia to help transport his pregnant wife, Ruth, back north. Though he's reluctant, Will's wife Lydia convinces him to go . . . on the condition she accompanies them. Upon arriving in a small community of absconded slaves hiding within the Great Dismal Swamp, Will and Lydia are met with distrust. Tensions are high and a fight breaks out between Tobias and Scipio, a philanderer with a bounty on his head known for conning men out of money. The following day Scipio is found dead - shot in the back. Stuck within the hostile Great Dismal and with slave catchers on the prowl, Will and Lydia find themselves caught up in their most dangerous case yet"
|
|
| Aunt Dimity's Good Deed by Nancy AthertonWhat it's about: When her husband must miss their planned trip to England to visit the charming cottage she's inherited, Lori Shepherd 's father-in-law goes in his place. When the older man goes missing, Lori sets out to find him, guided by the ghost of Aunt Dimity.
Series alert: This is the 3rd in a bestselling cozy series; the 24th and most recent book, Aunt Dimity and the Heart of Gold, came out last year.
Read this next: Carolyn G. Hart's Bailey Ruth mysteries, which star a ghost; Donna Andrews' Meg Langslow mysteries, which also has quirky characters and chronicles family and village life. |
|
| The Good Detective by John McMahonStarring: rural Georgia detective P.T. Marsh, who's drinking too much after the accidental deaths of his wife and son.
What happens: His troubles culminate the morning after he beats up the abusive boyfriend of a stripper and awakens with little memory of the previous evening -- and learns the man is dead. Did P.T. kill him? Adding to the questions, the boyfriend seems to have taken part in a hate killing hours before his own death.
Why you might like it: This 1st in the P.T. Marsh series is a debut that was named a 2019 New York Times Top 10 Crime Novel, and it offers a complex mystery that examines grief, race issues, and what it means to be good. The 3rd entry, A Good Kill, comes out in June. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
Culpeper County Library 271 Southgate Shopping Center Culpeper, Virginia 22701 540-825-8691
www.cclva.org
|
|
|
|
|