Publisher: Delacorte Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/29/2013
ISBN-13: 9780385344036
ISBN-10: 0385344031

Cozy Historical. Eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce has two troublesome older sisters, a widowed father, a passion for poisons, and a penchant for finding dead bodies. In fact, she's present when the body of the missing organist is discovered in the crypt of the village church's namesake, St. Tancred. Who did in Mr. Collicutt, and why did they dispose of him there? Police Inspector Hewitt is on the case...and so is Flavia, of course! Set in 1951 England and full of period charm, this 5th entry, like earlier ones, will please those who like post-war British mysteries featuring intelligent, brave heroines, such as Jacqueline Winspear's novels about Maisie Dobbs, a London private investigator who was a nurse in World War I.

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Publisher: Crème de la Crime
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/01/2013
ISBN-13: 9781780290324
ISBN-10: 1780290322

Cozy Mystery. With her new lover's interest in an old game called "real tennis" (it's the type Henry VIII played), Jude learns way more than she ever wanted to know about the arcane sport. But old knowledge comes in handy when 50-something amateur sleuth Jude discovers a dead body on a court one morning, and the tennis club members -- including her beau -- act oddly. Meanwhile, Jude's friend and neighbor Carole, who also enjoys solving crimes, looks into the cold "lady in the lake" case from seven years earlier. Readers who've previously enjoyed Simon Brett's witty, character-driven Fethering mysteries will be pleased to see more of Jude in this fun 14th outing.

Publisher: Ballantine Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/15/2013
ISBN-13: 9780345534217
ISBN-10: 0345534212

Mystery. "My husband wasn't in bed with me when I woke up that January morning." So begins Cover of Snow, a "superlative dark, wintry" (Booklist) first novel narrated by 35-year-old Nora Hamilton. Discovering the body of her seemingly happy husband, a police officer in the town he grew up in, hanging in their attic, outsider Nora can't move on until she has some answers -- and when she goes looking for them, she stumbles on deadly local secrets...including some about her husband. If you like well-written mysteries set in small towns, such as Margaret Maron's Deborah Knott novels and Julia Spencer-Fleming's books (which are also set in New York State), Jenny Milchman's debut should be on your to-read list.

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Publisher: Minotaur Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/15/2013
ISBN-13: 9780312604257
ISBN-10: 0312604254

Police Procedural. After spending ten years in prison for killing two teenage girls, 30-year-old Tobias Sartorius, who has no memory of the murders, finds that life in the German village where he grew up is just as confining. Hoping to visit his family and then move on, he can't leave once he realizes that his parents are divorced and his father is living alone in squalor at his now-ruined farm and restaurant. Things get even worse as new crimes occur, bringing blame and danger to Tobias...and police detectives Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver von Bodenstein to town. Readers will find an "emotional page turner, fueled by unexpected plot twists" (Kirkus Reviews) in this atmospheric English translation of a German novel that's already an international bestseller.

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Publisher: Crown Publishers
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/08/2013
ISBN-13: 9780307985767
ISBN-10: 0307985768

Historical Mystery. In 1893 Portland, Maine, police detective Archie Lean asks brilliant half-Abenaki Indian private investigator Perceval Grey (whose deductive prowess may remind one of Sherlock Holmes) for help: two days after Archie saw it buried, the body of a thief has reappeared. The corpse has been partially burned and carefully arranged amid an occult scene. Strange symbols may link the crime to a centuries-old magical relic that was recently stolen from a tycoon (who has already hired Grey to find a missing relative). How does it all fit together? Read this 2nd in a series to find out! There's no sophomore slump for Kieran Shields: Kirkus Reviews says that "the denouement is just as surprising as in Grey's first case," and Publishers Weekly calls A Study in Revenge "excellent."

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/29/2012
ISBN-13: 9780399149542
ISBN-10: 0399149546

Historical Mystery. A year after the last murder by Jack the Ripper, another depraved serial killer stalks Victorian London. Scotland Yard, suffering impossible workloads and public contempt, discovers one of their own dead in a steamer trunk with his mouth and eyes sewn shut. Walter Day, the newest member of the 12-person murder squad, partners with the Yard's first forensic pathologist to solve the case. If you find this gory novel that describes the horrible social conditions of the time compelling, keep an eye out for the 2nd in the series, The Black Country, publishing on May 21. Those who liked the early forensic and fingerprinting details in Caleb Carr's The Alienist will appreciate finding more of that in The Yard, though Alex Grecian's writing isn't as lyrical and includes some anachronistic dialogue.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/28/2012
ISBN-13: 9781451608120
ISBN-10: 1451608128

Humorous Crime Novel. San Francisco's appealingly eccentric Spellman family of private investigators return in their 5th "document," and once again, there are secrets (and laughs) aplenty. The Spellmans -- narrator, Izzy; dad, Albert; mom, Olivia; younger sister, Rae; older brother, David; his wife, Maggie; and their infant, Sydney -- are close-knit...but incredibly secretive and nosy. Thirty-four-year-old Izzy wittily narrates, snooping into family secrets and feuds (Why is Olivia taking classes on everything from pie-baking to Russian? Why are Rae and David at war with each other?) and commenting on paying cases as well as her personal life, including "Ex-boyfriend #13" (they're still dating, but "it just seems easier to anticipate the worst up front"). Fans of the clever, dry humor and eccentric family on display here should check out the 1st in Colin Cotterill's latest mystery series, Killed at the Whim of a Hat.

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Publisher: Ballantine Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 08/28/2012
ISBN-13: 9780345510648
ISBN-10: 034551064X

Historical Mystery. It's the last week of November 1864 when William Monk, commander of the Thames River Police discovers the grisly gutted body of a woman at sunrise. He learns that the victim had ties to a doctor who'd been studying the addictive effects of opium and who'd recently killed himself (or was murdered) after his work was (unfairly?) discredited. Monk, with the help of his wife, a nurse, checks into the opium angle and finds a troubling connection. When the murder case goes to court -- but with possibly the wrong person accused -- the couple's good friend barrister Sir Oliver Rathbone steps in. This excellent 18th installment in the popular mystery series is sure to please fans; newcomers who want to see relationships develop should start with the 1st book, The Face of a Stranger.

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Publisher: Soho Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/14/2012
ISBN-13: 9781616950064
ISBN-10: 1616950064

Police Procedural. A haunted hospital? The police don't agree with that diagnosis. When the power goes out at a small private hospital in Sweden, only a doctor and two night nurses are on staff...but what happens that evening soon has others arriving in droves. After the backup generator fails, a patient on a respirator dies, one of the two nurses is murdered, and the other goes into shock, claiming she saw the ghost of a nurse who killed herself there decades earlier. Meanwhile, likeable (and remarkably normal wife and mother) Detective Inspector Irene Huss and other members of the Violent Crimes Unit struggle to make sense of it all. Fans of less-violent foreign fiction who enjoy domestic details and trying to sort out who did it will want to give this engaging, well-crafted tale a go.

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Publisher: Quirk Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/10/2012
ISBN-13: 9781594745768
ISBN-10: 1594745765

Police Procedural. In this pre-apocalyptic novel, Earth will be destroyed by an imminent and unavoidable asteroid, 2011GV1, in just six months. Although some people (including his co-workers) see little point in solving crimes anymore, Concord, New Hampshire homicide detective Hank Palace doggedly keeps at it. For instance, Peter Zell's death looks like suicide, but Palace's instincts tell him it's murder. Even as Earth’s obliteration looms, he works the case, hoping to bring a killer to justice. For anyone looking for something a bit different, this "solidly plotted whodunit with strong characters and excellent dialogue" (Booklist), which is nominated for a 2013 Edgar Award, fits the bill perfectly. And if you like Palace and want to see more of him? Good news: this is the 1st in a planned trilogy, and the 2nd book, Countdown City, is due this summer.