|
|
| One of Our Own by Jane HaddamStarring: Gregor Demarkian, a brilliant former FBI agent and police consultant who's known as the Armenian American Hercule Poirot.
What happens: Demarkian investigates after a barely alive 72-year-old woman stuffed in a plastic sack falls out of the back of a van speeding through his beloved Philadelphia neighborhood.
About the author: Author Jane Haddam, whose real name was Orania Papazoglou, passed away in 2019, but this well-plotted 30th Gregor book is "a fitting coda to the career of one of America’s best contemporary fair play authors" (Publishers Weekly). |
|
|
Still Life
by Val McDermid
What it's about: In February 2020, DCI Karen Pirie, head of Scotland's Historic Cases Unit, investigates two cold cases and deals with skeletal remains, art forgery, secret identities, and more. Also, the killer of her true love gets out of prison, and near the novel's end, COVID-19 hits.
Series alert: Peppered with Scottish words, this entertaining 6th Karen Pirie mystery has complex characters and deft writing.
Try this next: Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope novels, Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series, or Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus books.
|
|
|
The Thursday Murder Club
by Richard Osman
What it's about: When a contractor at an English luxury retirement village is murdered, four members of its crime club try to crack the case.
Reviewers say: "British TV celebrity [Richard] Osman mixes mirth and murder in his exceptional debut" (Publishers Weekly); "A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters" (Kirkus Reviews).
Read this next: If you like witty, unorthodox British police detectives, try Christopher Fowler’s delightful Bryant & May books; for short stories involving a mystery-solving group, grab Agatha Christie's Tuesday Night Club.
|
|
|
A Deception at Thornecrest
by Ashley Weaver
1934 England: Heavily pregnant Amory Ames is at her Kent Country house when a nice young lady arrives...claiming to be married to Amory's handsome husband, Milo.
What happens: As Amory is dealing with one newcomer, another visitor appears in the village who upends the town and its Springtide Festival in a case involving secret identities, seduction, and murder.
Series alert: Like the earlier entries, this 7th in the Amory Ames series has a pleasing mystery, witty banter, and a dashing couple.
|
|
|
Elegy for April
by Benjamin Black
April Latimer has vanished. A junior doctor at a local hospital, she is something of a scandal in the conservative and highly patriarchal society of 1950s Dublin. Though her family is one of the most respected in the city, she is known for being independent-minded; her taste in men, for instance, is decidedly unconventional. Now April has disappeared, and her friend Phoebe Griffin suspects the worst. Frantic, Phoebe seeks out Quirke, her brilliant but erratic father, and asks him for help. Sober again after intensive treatment for alcoholism, Quirke enlists his old sparring partner, Detective Inspector Hackett, in the search for the missing young woman. In their separate ways the two men follow April's trail through some of the darker byways of the city to uncover crucial information on her whereabouts.
|
|
|
A June of Ordinary Murders: A Mystery
by Conor Brady
Historical Mystery. For the 1887 Dublin Metropolitan Police, an "ordinary murder" was one that wasn't political in nature. When the mutilated bodies of a woman (dressed as a man) and a boy are found in a local park, the case isn't given special priority despite the strangeness. But as veteran Detective Sergeant Joe Swallow investigates, evidence suggests the killings might not be so "ordinary" after all. Meanwhile, a sweltering heat wave embraces the city, the land wars rage, criminals jockey for position after the death of a crime lord, and celebrations for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee get under way. This debut novel by Conor Brady, former editor of The Irish Times, slowly builds tension, brims with authentic details, and has "a baffling mystery" (Kirkus Reviews).
|
|
|
A Catered Fourth of July: A Mystery with Recipes
by Isis Crawford
When the July Fourth Revolutionary War re-enactment results in murder, sisters Bernie and Libby are catering the July Fourth Revolutionary War re-enactment in the quiet town of Longley, New York. After a few cheery exchanges of "Moveth" and "Thou speakest treason," the muskets are fired and the fake battle is over. But the blood on notorious town playboy Jack Devlin looks very real. Is it possible that Jack has had his last tryst. When town councilman and resident loudmouth Rick Evans fingers Bernie's beau Marvin as the killer, Bernie and Libby know they've got to get cooking on the case. But the former Casanova has burned half the town, and there is no shortage of suspects.
|
|
| August Snow by Stephen Mack JonesIntroducing: August Snow, the son of a Mexican American woman and a Black cop, who was once a police officer, too, until he reported corruption and was fired (later winning millions in a lawsuit).
What it's about: Living in Detroit's Mexicantown where he grew up, Snow turns down a Grosse Pointe woman who asks for his help -- but when she's killed the very next day, he sets out to solve her murder.
Series alert: August Snow, an award-winning first novel and series starter, features compelling dialogue and a fascinating look at Detroit; the 3rd August Snow book, Dead of Winter, arrives in May. |
|
| The Cruelest Month by Louise PennyCause of death: A woman seemingly dies of fear during an April séance in the quaint Canadian village of Three Pines.
What happens: Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec investigates the death of the well-liked villager while also dealing with internal police politics that threaten his career and reputation.
Series alert: Though this is the 3rd book in a consistently award-winning series, newcomers can start here if they like traditional mysteries, charming villages, and delightfully eccentric characters. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
Michigan City Public Library 100 E. 4th Street Michigan City, Indiana 46360 219-873-3044mclib.org/ |
|
|
|