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| A Bitter Wind by James R. BennA Boston cop prior to World War II, United States Army Captain Billy Boyle is on leave just before Christmas 1944. Walking with his English girlfriend along the White Cliffs of Dover, he discovers a murdered U.S. Air Force major in a case that leads him to Axis-controlled Yugoslavia. Though this is the 20th outing for Billy, readers can start here. For fans of: well-researched war mysteries with memorable characters, especially ones based on historical figures.
*Digital edition. |
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Mrs Pargeter's Past
by Simon Brett
Mrs Pargeter's friends know two important details about her marriage to her late husband. First, that it was blissfully happy. And second, that Mr Pargeter was not a man to bring his work home with him. So, while the chance of her ever being asked by the police what he did for a living is, naturally, remote, Mrs Pargeter would be able to reply, in all honesty, that she doesn't know. What she does know is that Mr Pargeter's former associates are all respectable members of society, and if they were ever criminals, they are now 100% reformed. So when she learns that Short Head Shimmings, her late husband's former accountant, has fallen on hard times, she springs into action, chequebook at the ready. But Short Head has borrowed from the wrong people, and the infamous Batinga Brothers aren't out for his money - they're out for blood. The only way to save Short Head is to dismantle their criminal empire. But how can the highly law-abiding Mrs Pargeter, whose only weapons are her charm, her quick wits and her little black book of Mr Pargeter's contacts, hope to do such an impossible thing?
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| The Hidden City by Charles FinchIn 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. |
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The Killer Question
by Janice Hallett
Sue and Mal Eastwood run an isolated rural pub called The Case is Altered where a weekly trivia game has revived its flagging fortunes--that is, until a body is found in the nearby river. Soon after, a mysterious new team arrives and shakes up the diverse field of regulars by scoring top marks in every round...every week. Meanwhile, Sue and Mal have a secret of their own. Before arriving here, they were caught up in a secret police operation which meant they had to leave town--and whatever happened back then seems to have finally caught up with them. Five years later, the pub lies derelict, and their nephew Dominic is determined to make a documentary about their story. What happened at this unassuming pub? And can a single question really kill?
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Murder at Somerset House
by Andrea Penrose
A welcome interlude of calm has descended on Wrexford and Charlotte, though with three lively young boys in their care and an unconventional circle of friends and allies, quiet rarely lasts long. And sure enough, in the dead of night, an old acquaintance appears and asks for help. His brother-in-law has been accused of murdering a fellow member of the prestigious Royal Society at their London headquarters, Somerset House. Wrexford agrees to investigate, and with a little unexpected help from their young charges, discovers that what seemed a simple case may be part of a darker, more dangerous plot, where science, money, and politics collide. A mysterious new technical innovation threatens to ignite a crisis throughout Europe, with frightening consequences for London's financial world.
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| Mirage City by Lev AC RosenIn 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. |
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| We Had a Hunch by Tom RyanTwenty-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).
*Digital edition. |
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| A Case of Life and Limb by Sally SmithThe 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. |
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| The Dentist by Tim SullivanDS 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. |
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The Marlow Murder Club
by Robert Thorogood
Will be discussed at PPL on Tuesday, January 6, 2026.
Judith Potts, a 77-year-old happily living on her own in a rundown mansion in a sleepy English village, finds her neighbor murdered. So she sets out to solve the case, teaming up with a dog walker, a vicar's wife, and a police detective who's in over her head. Fans of Anthony Horowitz's mysteries and Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club series will enjoy this debut novel by Robert Thorogood, who created TV's Death in Paradise.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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