| Fatal Cajun Festival by Ellen ByronWhat happens: A small-town Louisiana Cajun music festival draws a local girl turned reality TV/music star, so Maggie Crozet helps her parents prepare their B&B for the singer and her assistants. But it isn't long before someone is murdered, and Maggie, with help from her cop boyfriend, must sort it all out and keep a steady supply of pecan pralines ready to sell at her family's festival booth (recipes included).
Series alert: This amusing 5th Cajun country novel is a delightful cozy that'll please fans of the genre as well as Cajun music lovers. |
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| The Long Call by Ann CleevesIntroducing: Introspective DCI Matthew Venn of the Devon police, who grew up in a religious sect and is estranged from his family.
What happens: A murder victim with an interesting tattoo is found on a North Devon beach, and the case seems to be related to Venn's childhood church as well as his husband's job at a community center.
Read this next: William Shaw's Salt Lane or Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway mysteries -- both are evocative English mysteries that prominently feature police officers and are set near the coast. |
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| The Vanished Bride: A Brontë Sisters Mystery by Bella EllisIntroducing: Emily, Charlotte, and Anne Brontë, three sisters in 1845 Yorkshire who love to write stories but have never been published.
What happens: A young wife and mother goes missing, leaving behind two small children and a large pool of blood, and the Brontë sisters, who live nearby, decide to investigate.
About the author: Bella Ellis is the pen name of British novelist Rowan Coleman; this is her atmospheric, well-researched first mystery and is a must for fans of the real-life Brontës. |
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| Heaven, My Home: A Highway 59 Novel by Attica LockeWhat happens: African American Texas Ranger Darren Matthews has a troubled marriage, an estranged mother who's blackmailing him, and a dangerous new case in a small town involving the missing child of an imprisoned white supremacist leader.
Series alert: This is the well-wrought 2nd novel in the Highway 59 series following the Edgar Award-winning Bluebird, Bluebird.
Read it for: The evocative Caddo Lake setting in East Texas; the compelling look at race and politics. |
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The Night Fire by Michael ConnellyStarring: Detectives Harry Bosch and Renee Ballard team up to solve the mystery. What Happens: When his mentor passes, Harry Bosch discovers an unsolved crime that his mentor could never solve. Is there a reason this case was hidden? Can Harry and Renee solve the crime?
Series Alert: This is the 3rd in the Renee Ballard series. Be sure to check out the first two, The Late Show and Dark Sacred Night.
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What Happens: Years after the mysterious death of a young girl, Josephine returns to the home in which the death occurred and discovers there may be more to this mystery.
For Fans Of: Renee Patrick and Max Allan Collins
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If You Like: Deborah Crombie
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| Payment in Blood by Elizabeth GeorgeStarring: Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley, the Earl of Asherton; his prickly sergeant, Barbara Havers; and his forensic scientist friend, Simon St. James.
What happens: In this 2nd in a long-running series, the trio travels to Scotland to investigate the murder of a playwright at a snowbound manor, where one of the guests is the woman Lynley loves.
Why Deborah Crombie fans might like it: Elizabeth George's intelligent novels feature similar pacing and a fascinating (though very different) male-female Scotland Yard duo. |
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| The Crossing Places by Elly GriffithsWhat happens: In Norfolk, England, 40-something forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway lives in the remote Saltmarshes and is asked by married DCI Harry Nelson to examine the bones of a child found there. Nelson thinks the remains might be a girl missing for ten years, and, when another girl goes missing, the two work together -- and grow close to each other.
Why Deborah Crombie fans might like it: The strong sense of place; the characters’ complicated personal lives and relationships, which grow and change throughout the series (this is the 1st of 11 books, so far). |
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| The Case Has Altered: A Richard Jury Novel by Martha GrimesWhat it's about: Two women are murdered in the Lincolnshire fens and Inspector Richard Jury and his aristocratic pal, Melrose Plant, investigate when one of Jury's friends becomes the prime suspect.
Series alert: This is the cleverly plotted 14th entry in the popular Richard Jury series of police procedurals; the 25th book, The Old Success, is due in November.
Why Deborah Crombie fans might like it: Like Crombie, Martha Grimes is an American Anglophile who writes British police novels that follow a pleasing cast of characters over the course of many books. |
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| Gallows View: The First Inspector Banks Novel by Peter RobinsonWhat happens: Yorkshire DI Alan Banks' small English village has a host of trouble: A serial Peeping Tom, several vandalism and robbery cases, and the suspicious death of an elderly woman.
Series alert: This is the 1st of more than 25 books in the award-winning DI Alan Banks series. The latest, Many Rivers to Cross, is out in the U.K. now and will be available elsewhere in January.
Why Deborah Crombie fans might like it: The well-described British setting and the focus on police detection. |
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