Publisher: Minotaur Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/19/2012
ISBN-13: 9780312564544
ISBN-10: 0312564546

Mystery. Having reluctantly left the city behind to operate a rundown motel on Thailand's Gulf of Siam with her eccentric family, freelance crime reporter Jimm Juree finds village life to be...different. For instance, she discovers a severed head washed up on her family's strip of beach one morning. If that isn't strange enough, the reaction (or lack thereof) she gets from the authorities is. Enlisting the help of her retired traffic-cop grandfather, her transgendered computer-hacker sister, and others, she investigates and is threatened by knife-wielding charity workers as she tries to sort it all out. If your crime tastes lean toward Janet Evanovich and Carl Hiaasen, check out this series (this is the 2nd book; the 1st is Killed at the Whim of a Hat) for more wacky characters and crazy goings-on.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Minotaur Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/19/2012
ISBN-13: 9780312678357
ISBN-10: 0312678355

Mystery. Blind and acerbic, incredibly talented violinist Daniel Jacobus teaches other musicians only when he feels like it...which isn't often. Then an aspiring concertmaster slits her wrists after being (unfairly) dismissed from an audition by the tyrannical conductor of a world-famous touring orchestra. Feeling guilty for shunning the woman's earlier pleas for preparation help, Daniel investigates allegations about the man's nasty behavior. With the help of friends across the globe (Prague, Japan, etc.), he learns that the Czech conductor has some very dark secrets. Though classical music fans will adore this novel, so should others -- Death and Transfiguration, the witty 4th in a series, is "brilliant and captivating on every level" (Booklist, starred review).

First Chapter  

Publisher: Soho Crime
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/12/2012
ISBN-13: 9781616950781
ISBN-10: 1616950781

Police Procedural. In a 12-week period, a sniper has fatally shot three policemen on foot patrol in the middle of the night in Avon and Somerset, eluding the authorities every time. Newly assigned to the case, Chief Superintendent Peter Diamond disagrees with his fellow officers, who think the murders are random. Looking for a link between the three dead men, Diamond interviews their widows, checks out their fellow cops, and has a brush with death himself as he embarks on what becomes one of the most dangerous investigations of his life. Readers who appreciate well-plotted tales about modern British cops should pick up this "superlative" (Publishers Weekly) 12th book in the Peter Diamond series.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Emily Bestler Books/Washington Square Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/19/2012
ISBN-13: 9781451616927
ISBN-10: 1451616929

Mystery. In 1953, recently passed apartheid laws split South Africa into black and white. Police detective Emmanuel Cooper ends up in the middle of the divide when he's called to investigate the strange death of a chieftain's daughter, a lovely 17-year-old Zulu woman who'd worked as a maid at a farm. At the remote crime scene, Cooper and Samuel Shabalala from the Native Detective Branch find a tartan blanket carefully placed under the dead girl's head and small flowers sprinkled over her body. As Cooper and Shabalala try to sort out the strange murder, they must navigate a racial and political minefield. Those who enjoyed Malla Nunn's debut mystery, A Beautiful Place to Die, which also featured Cooper, will enjoy his 3rd outing -- it's just as evocative and well written.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Bantam Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/12/2012
ISBN-13: 9780553592481
ISBN-10: 0553592483

Crime Novel. Rand family traditions include naming children after dog breeds and stealing without violence. But five years ago, Terry (short for Terrier) Rand learned that his brother Collie departed from one of these tenets and went on a murderous rampage, killing eight people, including a nine-year-old girl (and didn't even steal anything!). Now on death row and just days away from his final hour, Collie wants to tell Terry something important. Terry, who's been out west working on a ranch and hasn't broken the law in half a decade, wants nothing to do with his family, but finds himself going home anyway. Tom Piccirilli's latest will appeal to mystery fans who like fast-paced dark tales peopled with unforgettable criminal characters (many of whom you can't help but like).

First Chapter  

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/26/2012
ISBN-13: 9780547547527
ISBN-10: 0547547528

Historical Mystery. Though it's 1923, Lawrence Bartram still struggles with the things that happened during World War I, including the death of his wife and child while he was away fighting. Arriving in the village of Easton Deadall at the request of a friend, who wants his help with a church restoration, Lawrence becomes embroiled in the town's troubles, including the disappearance of a 5-year-old girl from her bedroom years earlier, a recently missing servant girl, and a hidden murder. This sequel to The Return of Captain John Emmett mixes "a Ruth Rendell-like psychological realism, an Agatha Christie-like plot, and a Dickensian feel for life's roulette" (Wall Street Journal) into a leisurely paced tale that fans of Charles Todd's Ian Rutledge mysteries will appreciate.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Bantam Books Trade Paperbacks
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/19/2010
ISBN-13: 9780385343497
ISBN-10: 0385343493

Historical Mystery. In what may be one of the most charming series debuts ever written, readers meet Flavia de Luce, a precocious, pig-tailed 11-year-old aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. Flavia spends the summer of 1950 tinkering in the well-appointed chemistry lab in her family's English manor and plotting revenge on her older sisters (who do things like lock her in the attic). But she turns detective when a dead bird with a stamp on its beak is discovered on the doorstep, a dying man is found in the cucumber patch, and her philatelist father is named a murder suspect. Readers of traditional mysteries who like spunky heroines will best appreciate The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Minotaur Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/12/2009
ISBN-13: 9780312359324
ISBN-10: 0312359322

Crime Novel. In Raven County, N.C., two people are completely obsessed with finding young Alyssa Merrimon. The first is Alyssa's twin brother, 13-year-old Johnny, who believes that she is still alive. Johnny (who Kirkus Reviews says is "full of likeable traces of Huck Finn") is always on the lookout for his sister, even staking out the houses of local sex offenders. The second is detective Clyde Hunt, who, in the year since Alyssa was last seen, has watched his marriage dissolve and his relationship with his son weaken as he works the case. But, despite Johnny's and Clyde's efforts, Alyssa is still gone -- and then another girl disappears. If you enjoy thought-provoking, well-written novels populated with one-of-a-kind characters, seek out The Last Child.

First Chapter  

Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/22/2011
ISBN-13: 9780061999208
ISBN-10: 0061999202

Historical Mystery. Unsentimental Amelia Peabody never planned to be a wife, much less a mother. Nevertheless, she became both. Now that her "catastrophically precocious" son Ramses is old enough, he's accompanying his Egyptologist parents to Cairo during the summer of 1894. Unable to study pyramids at Dahshoor because someone else claimed the area first (a "grievous" disappointment), the family regroups and heads for Mazghunah. Though the pyramids there are nothing more than piles of dust and flakes, there is plenty of excitement for the family as a murder and a theft occur, and ever-curious Ramses (and his amusing cat, Bastet) are right in the thick of things! The Mummy Case is the exciting 3rd book in a beloved series that now numbers 20.

Publisher: Penguin Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/25/2008
ISBN-13: 9780143113300
ISBN-10: 0143113305

Cozy Mystery. While her husband and her friend Hazel Marie are both out of town (Russia and Mexico, respectively), elderly Miss Julia can't find some of her jewelry, including her sapphire engagement ring (a "better" version of Princess Diana's). She discovers that several jewel thefts have occurred in her small North Carolina town, and the cops blame a Florida-based group. Miss Julia is NOT happy. She wants her jewels back -- even if she has to go to Palm Beach herself! With Hazel Marie's intelligent son Little Lloyd in tow, feisty Miss Julia starts driving. Teaming up with an alcoholic PI and a talkative young woman from home, Miss Julia and Little Lloyd investigate the crime ring, even going undercover and door-to-door in this amusing 8th book in a popular series.