Suspense Fiction. One summer day, Tim Blake steps into every parent's worst nightmare: his 17-year-old daughter, Sydney, has disappeared. Worse, when Tim visits the motel where she's been working all summer, he finds they've never even heard of her. And that's just the beginning--his increasingly desperate search for Sydney throws him into a violent, illicit world he'd never imagined existed in his ordinary Connecticut suburb. If you like Harlan Coben's books, you won't want to miss this page-turning 4th novel from bestselling Canadian author Linwood Barclay.

Suspense Fiction. David Loogan hasn't been living in Ann Arbor long when he accepts an editing job with mystery magazine publisher Tom Kristoll--and promptly sleeps with Tom's wife. Then Tom calls him and asks for his help burying a body. David agrees, but just a short while later, Tom is also dead, having fallen (or been pushed) out of his office window. Soon detective Elizabeth Waishkey is on the case, but so is David--who doesn't appear to be exactly who he claims to be--as the killings continue. Mystery lovers will appreciate this smart, twisty debut, especially since the top suspects are themselves mystery writers and editors.

Spy Fiction. German history professor Nat Turnbull is on the hunt for four documents stolen from World War II archives--but although it's the FBI that has hired him, the agency's motives may not be entirely pure. And they're not the only ones on the trail, for someone seems to be killing anyone who knows anything about the missing files. While the hunt for the archival material is set in the present, the events documented in those missing papers are told through flashbacks set in the 1940s. Intricate and intelligent, author Dan Fesperman's latest is "well-crafted entertainment that also delivers complex truths about warfare and survival" (Kirkus Reviews).

Thriller. Now in their 30s, Alex, Jenn, Ian, and Mitch are long-time friends who are all struggling with dissatisfaction and unrealized dreams. Trying to take charge of their lives, they decide to perpetrate a seemingly victimless crime and use the stolen cash to better their situations. Unsurprisingly, things don't go quite as smoothly as planned, and soon the four are in it up to their necks. As they are pursued by dangerous men, their friendships start collapsing under the pressure, leading to a tense ride to a startling conclusion. If you haven't discovered Marcus Sakey's three previous novels, you'll have another way of doing so soon--all three have been optioned by Hollywood.

Religious Thriller. After being asked to decipher the strange tattoos on the body of a dead Ethiopian--an "enemy of the Church"--spirited Vatican paleographer Ottavia Salina discovers that Dante's Divine Comedy holds the key to a secret religious organization that protects the location of the cross used to crucify Jesus. Ottavia (who happens to be a nun), an archaeologist, and the captain of the Pope's Swiss Guards take off in a world-wide race to prevent the theft of more religious artifacts by following Dante's footsteps through Purgatory. If you're looking for the sorts of secret societies, religious conspiracies, church history, and arcane rituals found in The Da Vinci Code, you've come to the right place.

Suspense Fiction. In this 1st in a series starring Cotton Malone, the spy-turned-bookseller takes on the Knights Templar, which apparently aren't as extinct as people think. Nor are they particularly welcoming, for they're adamant about protecting the secret of their existence and the location of their treasure--and their potentially Church-destroying archive of religious history. There are plenty of codes and symbols to puzzle out, and Da Vinci Code fans will also appreciate the conspiracies and Templar lore in this "complex, well-written, and extremely readable story" (Library Journal). For more ancient history tied to present-day problems, try the 2nd in the series, The Alexandria Link.

Thriller. The Montglane Service is a chess set of great beauty--and power. Once belonging to Emperor Charlemagne, it was bequeathed to the nuns of Montglane for protection during the French Revolution, and was dispersed and hidden by them. But in the 1970s, computer expert Cat Velis learns that she is just one of many pawns in a game whose winner receives control of the service--and possibly the world. Between the clues that Cat must decipher, the combination of a storyline set in the past with one in the present, and the dangerous power plays, this is a good choice for Dan Brown fans. Published 20 years ago, The Eight now has a sequel; The Fire follows Cat's daughter, Alexandra.

Thriller. While Commander Grayson Pierce of the elite Sigma Force may be a radically different sort of man than Robert Langdon, the combination of a secret ancient fraternity within the Church, a powerful and treasured religious artifact, and a race to prevent disaster will be familiar to Da Vinci Code fans. It all starts with a slaughter at a midnight Mass and the theft of the cathedral's relics, which happen to be the bones of the Three Wise Men. From there, Gray teams up with an attractive Italian carabinieri and her uncle, an official at the Vatican, to retrieve the bones. This is the 2nd Sigma Force novel; the 6th, The Doomsday Key, was published earlier this year.

Psychological Suspense. The 2003 winner of the British Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger Award, this dark, haunting novel starts with 60-ish Jean, a professional house-sitter with no meaningful ties to anyone. This lonely misfit turns her last assignment--a long stay in a beautiful country estate--into a last attempt at building a home when she takes liberties with the wine cellar and invites two fellow emotionally damaged losers to live with her, claiming them as her son and daughter-in-law. The lengths to which they are all willing to go to keep their new-found "family" together become increasingly desperate, making for a complex tale that has been favorably compared to those by Ruth Rendell and Minette Walters.

Thriller. Dexter Morgan is a charming, well-dressed, and well-respected blood-spatter analyst with the Miami-Dade Police Department. He's also a serial killer with a manufactured conscience who has learned to kill only other serial killers. When a newcomer to Miami mimics his style, he's intrigued by what might be a kindred spirit--but he's promised his sister, who's trying to make detective, help in solving the crimes. This series opener, which serves as the basis for the Showtime television show, won the 2005 Dilys Award. The 4th Dexter book, Dexter by Design, was published earlier this month.

Thriller. Now a successful investment banker, 32-year-old Thomas Bolden has put his difficult childhood behind him--until circumstances force him to use his hard-earned street smarts to stay alive when, having escaped from kidnappers, he's forced to run from a violent organization framing him for crimes he didn't commit. The clandestine group, which appears to have roots in the founding of the U.S., is sworn to protect their own interests--and that includes dispensing with anyone who gets in their way. In this conspiracy-laden world, it may be that only Thomas can thwart them in their quest to take over the country. In 2006, The Patriots Club won the inaugural International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel.

Psychological Suspense. Suspense author Minette Walters has actually won several awards from the Crime Writers' Association; Fox Evil earned the second of her two Gold Dagger Awards in 2003. It begins when wealthy Ailsa Lockyer-Fox freezes to death outside her home, clad only in her nightclothes. Bloodstains are found not far away, and soon her husband, Colonel James Lockyer-Fox, is the target of a vicious campaign that accuses him not only of murder, but of other terrible crimes as well. Meanwhile, a group of gypsies led by an unspeakably cruel man named Fox has moved in nearby. The increasing tension is "hair-raising," says Booklist.