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| The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn ClarkeSix struggling authors are invited to the private Scottish island of bestselling novelist Arthur Fletch, a recluse known for his fiendish plot twists. Upon arrival, they are told Fletch has died and left an unfinished manuscript. It's up to one of them to write the best ending in 72 hours, and whoever wins gets money and publicity. But then a real murder occurs. For fans of: the Knives Out films; Ande Pliego's You Are Fatally Invited. |
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Last Stop Union Station
by Sarah James
Murder, movie stars, and mystery await those who climb aboard this cross-country train, inspired by the real-life history of the Hollywood Victory Caravan Hollywood, 1942. Jacqueline Love's acting career is flailing. Suddenly on the wrong side of 40, parts are drying up, directors are calling her difficult, and Humphrey Bogart has definitely stopped taking her calls. Desperate to cling to stardom, Jackie takes the only gig that will have her: the Hollywood Victory Caravan, a train full of movie stars crossing the country to fundraise for the war effort. Jackie wouldn't call herself patriotic, but with her life's work on the line, she'll do anything. When a fellow star dies on board, everyone assumes the death was a tragic accident-but Jackie isn't so sure. Stuck in Chicago's Union Station, Jackie enlists the help of Grace, one of the few women in the police force, to investigate. But difficult outside of a movie set is dangerous, and when the pair fall into a homegrown Nazi scheme, Jackie must ask herself what's more important: her career, or her country?
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The End of the Sahara
by Said Khatibi
On an early autumn morning in 1988, on the outskirts of an unnamed Algerian city, a shepherd stumbles upon the lifeless body of Zaza Zaghouani, a stunning nightclub singer who left her hometown seeking a brighter future. Suspicion immediately falls on her lover, who is thrown into prison. The incompetent and greedy Inspector Hamid begins an investigation. So does the defense lawyer of the main suspect. Family, friends, and close ones give their testimonies, finding themselves confronted with their past. Secrets, betrayals, grudges, but also dreams and hopes shed light on their connection to the victim: each person harbors, for one reason or another, the desire to take revenge on her. Khatibi layers the story with vivid detail. Alexander Elinson's translation from the Arabic feels lively and authentic. Khatibi handles each character with care and skill, unpeeling their personal stories, their web of connections and the grim reality of life in a one-party dictatorship.
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Death Throws a Bouquet
by Maria Mankin and Maren C. Tirabassi
In this fourth installment in the Rev and Rye mystery series, the Rev. Wanda Duff has to juggle her officiant duties alongside caring for her beloved teenage nephew, the impending arrival of her sister with her Scottish fiancé for their wedding (which Wanda soon realizes she is expected to plan), and a new houseguest in the form of her future brother-in-law’s son, who’s happy to show her nephew a little more summer adventure than Wanda’s strictly comfortable with. Oh, and there’s her favorite retired sheriff, who wants her to look into the accidental slip-and-fall death of a high school teacher well-known for ruffling feathers. Because what Wanda needed was to fit in a good sleuthing between rehearsal dinners and family drama? High school vice principal Prudence Rye also has plenty of good reasons to pass on another small-town mystery, not the least of which is her own family drama in the form of her resurfaced long-lost sister, a student in crisis, and an enormous helping of unrequited feelings for (oh no) both of her best friends. But when the investigation involves students at her high school who live at the apartments where the teacher died, Rye is compelled to partner with the Rev to get to the bottom of an accident that doesn’t seem so accidental. It turns out that a murder investigation is a lot like planning a wedding. It requires discretion, the ability to pivot, and an instinct for trouble. The Rev and Rye have all three, plus friends and new family willing to help. Will it be enough to catch a killer and pull off the wedding of the season?
*Local author!
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| The Star from Calcutta by Sujata MasseyPerveen Mistry, the only woman lawyer in 1922 Bombay, agrees to help famous actress Rochana in a contract dispute after she leaves her old studio for one owned by her new husband. But at an advance screening party, murder enters the picture and Rochana disappears from the scene. Though this is the atmospheric 5th in the Perveen Mistry novels, readers can start here. Read-alikes: Kate Khavari's Saffron Everleigh mysteries; Harini Nagendra's Bangalore Detectives Club books.
*Digital edition. |
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How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder
by Nina McConigley
Summer, 1986. The Creel sisters, Georgie Ayyar and Agatha Krishna, welcome their aunt, uncle and young cousin--newly arrived from India--into their house in rural Wyoming where they'll all live together. Because this is what families do. That is, until the sisters decide that it's time for their uncle to die. According to Georgie, the British are to blame. And to understand why, you need to hear her story. She details the violence hiding in their house and history, her once-unshakeable bond with Agatha Krishna, and her understanding of herself as an Indian-American in the heart of the West. Her account is, at every turn, cheeky, unflinching, and infectiously inflected with the trappings of teendom.
*Also available digitally.
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The Final Problem
by Arturo Perez-Reverte
In this locked-room mystery set in 1960, a washed-up actor puts his on-camera detective skills to the test when a suspicious death shatters the quiet peace for a group of strangers staying at an isolated Greek island resort. Perfect for fans of Knives Out, Benjamin Stevenson, and Anthony Horowitz. Rough weather at sea leaves a group of strangers stranded on the idyllic Greek island of Utakos, all guests of the only local hotel. Nothing could prepare them for what happens next: Edith Mander, a quiet British tourist, is found dead inside a beach cabana. What appears at first glance to be a clear suicide reveals possible signs of foul play to Ormond Basil, an out-of-work but still well-known actor who in his glory days portrayed the most celebrated detective of all time. Accustomed to seeing him display Sherlock Holmes' amazing powers of deduction on the big screen, the other guests believe that the actor is the best equipped to uncover the truth. But when a second body is discovered, there is not a doubt in Basil's mind: a murderer walks among them. What's more, the killer is staging each crime as a performance, leaving complex clues that bear an eerie resemblance to those found in the pages of Conan Doyle stories. This is a criminal who knows every trick in the book and is playing a deadly literary game. As the storm rages, Basil must become the genius detective he has only pretended to be.
*Also available digitally.
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| Stakeouts and Strollers by Rob PhillipsAfter being laid off from his crime reporting job, new dad Charlie Shaw becomes a rookie PI. While on a stakeout trying to catch a cheating spouse, he meets 16-year-old Friday, who's hoping to avoid foster care by finding her estranged father. Charlie agrees to look for her dad and he and his wife give her a place to stay, but Friday's situation is more dangerous than Charlie ever imagined. For fans of: fun debut novels; Kat Ailes' The Expectant Detective mysteries; Elle Cosimano's Finlay Donovan novels. |
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| Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief by Benjamin StevensonWriter and amateur sleuth Ernest Cunningham has gone to the bank hoping to get a loan to bankroll a new PI business. When Ernest and everyone else inside is taken hostage, he manages to nose around, learning that more than one person planned to rob the bank that day. Then a murder occurs. Kirkus Reviews raves, "nobody from Agatha Christie to Anthony Horowitz beats Stevenson for cleverness." This is the 4th in a delightful series by Australian author Benjamin Stevenson. For fans of: Richard Osman.
*Also available digitially.
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The Iron Garden Sutra
by A. D. Sui
Klara and the Sun meets S. A. Barnes's Dead Silence with a touch of Becky Chambers' A Psalm for the Wild-Built in Nebula Award-winning author A.D. Sui's darkly philosophical locked room murder mystery, as a death monk and a team of researchers trapped onboard a spaceship of the dead encounter something beyond human understanding... Vessel Iris has devoted himself to the Starlit Order, performing funeral rites for the dead across the galaxy, guiding souls back into the Infinite Light. Despite the meaning he finds in his work and the comfort of AI companionship, his relationships with the living leave him longing for deeper connection. The spaceship Counsel of Nicaea has been lost for more than a thousand years, its passengers reduced to dust and bone. A relic of Earth's dying past, its sudden appearance has attracted a team of academics eager to investigate its archeological history. And Iris has been assigned to bring peace to the crew's long departed souls. Carpeted in moss and intertwined with vines, Nicaea is more forest than ship. Iris's religious rituals are met with bemusement by the scientists--and outright hostility by engineer Yan Fukui. But the plant life isn't the only sentience to have survived in the past millennia. Something onboard is stalking the explorers one by one.
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