New and Recently Released!

Manna from Hades: A Cornish Mystery - by Carola Dunn

Publisher: Minotaur Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/17/2009
ISBN-13: 9780312379452
ISBN-10: 0312379455

Cozy Mystery. Rejoice, Carola Dunn fans--the British-American author, who writes novels featuring the vibrant Daisy Dalrymple, is debuting a new series! In a small Cornish village in the late 1960s, widow Eleanor Trewynn, who once traveled the world with her husband, now quietly owns and runs a secondhand store for charity with her dog, Teazle, by her side. But then she finds an unwanted deposit in her stockroom--the dead body of a longhaired, scruffy-looking young fellow--and discovers that some donated fake jewelry is actually very real, very expensive, and the haul from a violent London robbery. Booklist says that Dunn "has another charming winner here."

The Bellini Card: A Novel - by Jason Goodwin

Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/03/2009
ISBN-13: 9780374110390
ISBN-10: 0374110395

Historical Mystery. Yashim, a eunuch living in 1840 Turkey who works for the country's new sultan, is sent to Venice to investigate rumors that a missing Bellini masterpiece has resurfaced (the sultan wants to buy it). Unwilling to leave the Ottoman court while upheaval is at hand, Yashim delegates the task to his friend, the Polish ambassador to Istanbul. But he soon needs Yashim's help since a killer is prowling the Italian city and it appears that the deaths are related to the painting. This 3rd book in the Yashim series is just as good as the first two, The Janissary Tree and The Snake Stone. If you want to know more about the history behind the novels, read Goodwin's well-received 1998 nonfiction book, Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire.

Starvation Lake: A Mystery - by Bryan Gruley

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/03/2009
ISBN-13: 9781416563624
ISBN-10: 1416563628

Mystery. In award-winning journalist Bryan Gruley's "wonderfully polished and assured first novel" (Booklist), which more than one reviewer has compared favorably to Dennis Lehane's books, Gus Carpenter is having a tough time. He's given up his big-city journalism dreams to work at his hometown paper, but unfortunately, many of his Michigan neighbors remember that Gus was the hockey goalie who lost the state championship for the town's youth team. So when pieces from a yellow snowmobile, the very one that Gus' former coach was riding when he fell into a lake and died a decade ago, are discovered--miles from the scene and in a different lake--Gus hopes to salvage his reputation by investigating the man's death.

First Chapter

Life Sentences - by Laura Lippman

Publisher: William Morrow
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/10/2009
ISBN-13: 9780061128899
ISBN-10: 0061128899

Literary Mystery. Laura Lippman, author of the Tess Monaghan series, has penned another stand-out stand-alone novel (after her bestselling What the Dead Know). In this leisurely paced, character-centered novel, 50ish Cassandra Fallows, who has written two successful memoirs, looks to her past for more stories. She focuses on the unsolved case of a former grade-school classmate who ended up in jail for contempt when her baby mysteriously disappeared and she refused to say a word about what happened. Returning to Baltimore, Cassandra tries to reconnect with old friends, but learns that memories are in the mind of the beholder.

Shadow and Light - by Jonathan Rabb

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/31/2009
ISBN-13: 9780374261948
ISBN-10: 0374261946

Historical Mystery. This 2nd book in Jonathan Rabb's planned Berlin trilogy (after Rosa) finds Kriminalpolizei chief inspector Nikolai Hoffner investigating the suspicious death of a film studio executive. Since it's 1927, films are just "light and shadow," but there are rumors about sound revolutionizing the business, and it turns out that a recording device may be a cause for murder. Hoffner begins an affair with an American working for MGM, who also wants the recorder, and there's trouble for him on the home front as his older son falls under the sway of Joseph Goebbels. Film buffs will smile when they discover appearances by director Fritz Lang and actor Peter Lorre. If you enjoy Rabb's books, try Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir series.

The Pain Nurse - by Jon Talton

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/10/2009
ISBN-13: 9781590586242
ISBN-10: 1590586247

Mystery. It's hard enough to solve crimes when you are healthy, so imagine the difficulties that ex-cop Will Borders faces when someone is murdered at Cincinnati Memorial Hospital while he's there having surgery to remove a tumor from his spinal cord. Partially bedridden and dealing with recovery, Will, who thinks the scene is reminiscent of an old serial killer's work, teams up with Cheryl Beth Wilson, the pain nurse specialist who found the dead doctor...and who was having an affair with the deceased's husband. This "strong series launch" (Library Journal, starred review) is perfect reading for anyone who's ever been a hospital patient.

Liars Anonymous: A Novel - by Louise Ure

Publisher: Minotaur Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/14/2009
ISBN-13: 9780312375867
ISBN-10: 0312375867

Crime Novel. Jesse Dancing, a roadside assistance operator at HandsOn Emergency, thought she left her past--which includes standing trial for murder--behind when she moved from Tucson to Phoenix and changed her last name. But when Darren Markson's Cadillac is rear-ended in Tucson and she answers the automatic call, she hears what sounds like Markson being killed. When the police get to the scene they find lots of blood, but no Markson. To add to the confusion, Markson's wife claims she spoke to him...the next day. But Jesse knows something is up and starts looking into things herself. The reviewers love Ure's latest--it received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, and Booklist.

If you like Carolyn Hart...

Award-winning author Carolyn Hart (whose name sometimes appears as Carolyn G. Hart) writes delightful cozy mysteries brimming with charm and humor. People who enjoy Hart's books love her great plotting and amateur sleuths who find their killers among a small group of suspects. Hart is the author of three popular series: the Death on Demand novels, which focus on Annie Laurance Darling, a young mystery book store owner, and her husband; the Henrie O books, which feature a widow who's also a retired Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter; and the latest addition, the Bailey Ruth Raeburn series, which has a ghost detective. Dare to Die, the 19th Death on Demand mystery, was recently released--if you've read it already, check out one (or several!) of the following:

Murder at the Vicarage: A Miss Marple Mystery - by Agatha Christie

Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/30/2006
ISBN-13: 9781579126254
ISBN-10: 1579126251

Classic Mystery. If you're a fan of Carolyn Hart and haven't read any books by Agatha Christie, you must stop what you are doing immediately (okay, okay, just make a note to do it soon) and pick up a Miss Marple novel. This is especially the case for those of you who adore Henrie O, since, like Henrie, Miss Marple is an older lady who uses a combination of charm and homespun wisdom to unravel crimes. In Murder at the Vicarage, Miss Marple's very 1st book, one of St. Mary Mead's most disliked villagers is killed--but when multiple confessions confound the authorities, it's up to that clever spinster, Miss Marple, to sort out the stunning truth.

Strangled Prose - by Joan Hess

Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/01/1998
ISBN-13: 9780312968649
ISBN-10: 0312968647

Cozy Mystery. Readers who love mysteries set in the world of books will want to try Joan Hess' Claire Malloy Mysteries. Like Hart's Death on Demand novels, these humorous books feature a bookstore-owning amateur sleuth who manages to get into all kinds of predicaments. In the college town of Farberville, Arkansas, Claire runs the Book Depot, deals with her dramatic teenage daughter Caron, and manages to cross paths with attractive cop Peter Rosen. In Strangled Prose, the 1st in the series, Claire hosts a book signing for a romance author, and the woman manages to offend almost everyone there before she is killed later that night.

Bootlegger's Daughter - by Margaret Maron

Publisher: Mysterious Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/01/1993
ISBN-13: 9780446403238
ISBN-10: 0446403237

Mystery. Deborah Knott is the bootlegger's daughter of the title, but she's not a lawbreaker herself--in this, her 1st outing, she's an attorney who's attempting to infiltrate North Carolina's ol' boy network by running for district judge. She's also helping a young woman look into her mother's decades-old unsolved murder. Deborah finds new evidence about the small-town death...and stirs up some new killings, too. Readers who enjoy the Southern setting in Hart's Death on Demand books should also like Maron's novels, which are rich in quirky characters and wonderful descriptions of North Carolina.

Million Dollar Baby: A Marjorie McClelland Mystery - by Amy Patricia Meade

Publisher: Midnight Ink
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/01/2006
ISBN-13: 9780738708607
ISBN-10: 0738708607

Historical Mystery. In the midst of the Great Depression in 1930s Connecticut, Marjorie McClelland is a single, independent-minded mystery author who is managing on her own just fine. That's not to say that she'll be alone for long--Creighton Ashcroft, a rich Brit, has just moved to town and is smitten with Marjorie. Toss in a dead body on Creighton's new estate, competition for Marjorie's attention in the form of a handsome police detective, and you've got what Booklist calls "a winner." Fans of Carolyn Hart who love the romance between the Darlings in the Death on Demand books will relish Amy Patricia Meade's series, of which this is the 1st.

The Body in the Belfry - by Katherine Hall Page

Publisher: Avon Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/01/1991
ISBN-13: 9780380713288
ISBN-10: 0380713284

Cozy Mystery. Ex-New Yorker Faith Fairchild moved to the sleepy village of Aleford, Massachusetts, when she married Tom, the town's young minister. Now she has a five-month-old named Benjamin and a case of homesickness for the bustling city. But some excitement finally occurs when she happens upon a dead body--someone has killed Cindy Shepherd, who, it turns out, liked to blackmail people. Another murder follows, and before you know it, Faith is in hot water. If you like spending time with Carolyn Hart's Annie Laurance Darling, a series sleuth with plenty of personality, you just might enjoy visiting sassy Faith in New England.

Contact your librarian for more great books!