Publisher: Obsidian
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/04/2013
ISBN-13: 9780451415967
ISBN-10: 0451415965

Mystery. Feisty San Francisco bookbinder Brooklyn Wainwright specializes in rare books, so she's fascinated when her chef sister, Savannah, asks her to fix up a handwritten cookbook/memoir from 1782. She isn't, however, happy that her sister intends to return the book to her ex-boyfriend, Baxter, a reality TV chef with whom she remains friends. Brooklyn thinks Baxter is a creep and that the book belongs in a museum, but it's Savannah who's found standing over his dead body, bloody murder weapon in hand. And the book, which Savannah had just presented to him in front of a large group, is gone. This 7th in a fun, contemporary mystery series includes recipes and may please fans of other rare book-centric mysteries, like John Dunning's Cliff Janeway novels.

Publisher: Minotaur Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/18/2013
ISBN-13: 9780312658571
ISBN-10: 0312658575

Police Procedural. In Ohio's Amish country, a car collides with a buggy, killing an Amish man and two of his three children. Police Chief Kate Buckholder, who was raised Amish, recognizes the man as the husband of her beautiful childhood friend, Mattie -- and comes to believe that the deaths aren't just a hit-and-run, but carefully planned murders. Even as Kate tries to unearth the truth, secrets from her own buried past threaten her present life as she grows closer to her boyfriend, an agent with the state's Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. Fans of suspenseful stories with rural settings who appreciate complex, intelligent heroines will enjoy this 5th in the series. Newcomers can start here, though anyone who wants to get the full story should pick up book one, Sworn to Silence.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Soho Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/02/2013
ISBN-13: 9781616952808
ISBN-10: 1616952806

Mystery. Featuring clever crook Junior Bender (he's never been caught by the cops), this funny but sometimes violent 3rd in a series finds Junior being "asked" (read: ordered) to investigate a cold case by an elderly but powerful Los Angeles mob boss. Junior, whose "business plan calls for long periods of inactivity," reluctantly tries to sort out who set up a once-famous starlet in the 1950s by linking her to the mob and thus ruining her burgeoning career. Talking to those who were around in post-World War II Hollywood, Junior finds that the past can be just as deadly as the present. If you can't get enough of criminal protagonists and would enjoy a lighter read, try Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr books; for more of a caper feel, try Donald Westlake's Dortmunder novels.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Ecco
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/09/2013
ISBN-13: 9780062249890
ISBN-10: 0062249894

Mystery. On a hot summer night in Red Hook, Brooklyn -- "a neighborhood below sea level and sinking" -- two bored 15-year-old girls take a pink inflatable raft into the bay for an adventure. But the water is dirty, it's desolate and dark out, and only one of them, semi-conscious Val, makes it back. With June and the raft missing and Val's faulty memory no help, the entire neighborhood is drawn into the mystery of what happened, from Fadi, an immigrant bodega owner, to wary Cree, an African-American who's still mourning his murdered father, to Jonathan, a music teacher who once attended Julliard but now spends most of his time at a bar. Racially and ethnically diverse Red Hook is as much a character as any of the people, making this a great choice for fans of similarly evocative yet gritty mysteries, like those by Dennis Lehane and George Pelecanos.

Publisher: Little, Brown
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/05/2012
ISBN-13: 9780316074247
ISBN-10: 0316074241

Mystery. When the bodies of 19 immigrant women are discovered in the Saudi Arabian desert after a sandstorm, likeable homicide inspector Ibrahim Zahrani begins his hunt for a serial killer. To add to the pressure, Dr. Charlie Becker, a female American profiling expert aiding the police, says the killer will strike again soon. Meanwhile, Ibrahim's beloved mistress disappears; with adultery punishable by death, he must operate outside regulations, so he seeks assistance from Katya, a forensic expert and one of the few women on the force. Depicting this segregated society where burqa-clad women can't drive or go unescorted in public, Zoë Ferraris (who married a Saudi Arabian and lived there for close to a year) opens a window to an exotic land and pens an "engrossing" (The Washington Post) mystery.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Soho Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/01/2010
ISBN-13: 9781569476147
ISBN-10: 1569476144

Police Procedural. In Brazil, a dog uncovers a bone -- nothing too unusual about that, except that bone is just the first of many in the unmarked mass grave that holds the remains of almost 40 people, 24 of them children. In his 2nd outing (after Blood of the Wicked), federal police chief Inspector Mario Silva is assigned the case, but he's hampered by an ambitious district attorney, who hopes to use the murders to benefit himself. Toss in rumors of satanic sacrifices and human trafficking and you've got quite a tale. If you relish realistic crime stories that feature wonderfully drawn characters and superb dialogue, you should check out Buried Strangers.

Publisher: Minotaur Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/03/2012
ISBN-13: 9780312640217
ISBN-10: 0312640218

Mystery. The death of Ojibwa leader Hazel LeBlanc causes her 30-something son Vinnie to take the first alcoholic drink of his life; he goes missing that same night...and five people are killed nearby after the covert landing of a drug-laden Canadian airplane on a deserted Upper Peninsula airstrip. Vinnie's neighbor and friend, former Detroit cop Alex McKnight, knows that there must be a connection between the two events, but can't imagine Vinnie being involved. This "masterful" (Publishers Weekly) novel is the 9th in the series by Edgar Award-winning Steve Hamilton; the 10th, Let It Burn, was released earlier this summer. For another look at former cops, Native Americans, and the great outdoors, try William Kent Krueger's Cork O'Connor mysteries.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Berkley Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/03/2009
ISBN-13: 9780425226285
ISBN-10: 042522628X

Mystery. Jesse Stone, police chief of Paradise, Massachusetts, clearly remembers Wilson "Crow" Cromartie. Ten years earlier, the criminal escaped with the spoils of a lucrative heist. Even with the statute of limitations gone, Stone is surprised when Crow appears at the police station to announce he's in town looking for someone. But things get even stranger when Crow enlists Stone's cooperation with a job; Crow's employer, a Florida mobster, now wants his wild teenage daughter home and the girl's mother dead, but after seeing their situation, Crow doesn't want to play (and he won't hurt women). Can Stone and Crow work something out and help everyone (except the Florida mobster, of course)? Publishers Weekly says that Stone and Crow make an "appealing odd couple" -- read this 7th Jesse Stone novel to see if you agree.

Publisher: Ballantine Books Trade Paperbacks
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/28/2010
ISBN-13: 9780345514165
ISBN-10: 0345514165

Historical Mystery. For the prostitutes of Victorian-era London, nurse Hester Monk's free care is a lifeline -- even more so when wealthy magnate Nolan Baltimore dies in a sleazy neighborhood brothel and the police crack down on the women's trade, leading to more severe beatings from their pimps. Meanwhile, Hester's husband, brilliant P.I. William Monk, works for a mysterious beauty who asks him to ascertain whether her fiancé, an executive in the deceased Mr. Baltimore's thriving railway firm, has become enmeshed in fraudulent practices. Traveling to the English countryside revives memories in Monk that were stripped from his consciousness by amnesia seven years earlier, leading him to face a past that may be difficult to bear in this richly detailed 13th in a bestselling series.

First Chapter