| The Poisoner's Ring by Kelley ArmstrongLiving in the past: Modern-day Canadian homicide detective Mallory Atkinson was attacked while visiting Scotland; she awoke in the body of a Victorian housemaid employed by medical examiner Dr. Duncan Gray.
All in the family: In this 2nd series entry, Mallory helps Gray hunt a clever poisoner murdering husbands and framing their wives. The latest widow and murder suspect? Gray's own sister.
Why you might like it: Creatively combining mystery, romance, and fantasy, this sequel to A Rip Through Time can also be read on its own. |
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| The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison GoodmanIntroducing: witty, brave 42-year-old spinster twins, Lady Augusta and Lady Julia Colebrook, who live in 1812 London.
Why you might like it: Three interlinked stories depict the sisters' adventures as they solve mysteries and problems for women and girls in trouble, sometimes aided by a handsome disgraced nobleman.
Read this next: Katharine Schellman's Lily Adler mysteries or Claudia Gray's Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney mysteries. |
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| Evergreen by Naomi HiraharaHome again: After being held in a Japanese American internment camp, Aki Nakasone returns to a much-changed 1946 Los Angeles. Working as an aide at the Japanese hospital, she asks questions about an abused elderly man, which leads to a murder she feels compelled to solve.
Series alert: This atmospheric follow-up to the award-winning Clark and Division combines memorable characters and little-known L.A. history into a moving mystery that's "a must-read" (Library Journal).
For fans of: Lisa See's historical novels, Sujata Massey's Rei Shimura mysteries, and gripping, well-researched World War II-era mysteries. |
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| The Mistress of Bhatia House by Sujata MasseyIndia, 1922: Oxford-educated Perveen Mistry, Bombay's only woman lawyer, takes a complex case full of surprises: a nursemaid risks her life to save her young charge from a fire and is then arrested for having an abortion, but she tells Perveen she was never even pregnant.
Series alert: This atmospheric 4th Perveen Mistry novel offers a richly detailed setting, an intricate mystery plot, and expert characterization.
Read this next: Harini Nagendra's The Bangalore Detectives Club mysteries, Ovidia Yu's Crown Colony novels, or Nev March's Murder in Old Bombay. |
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| Death Comes to Marlow by Robert ThorogoodWhat happens: Following the events of The Marlow Murder Club, 78-year-old Judith and her friends Suzie and Becks are at it again. This time, they unravel what happened at a party the day before a wedding when the elderly groom-to-be was crushed to death in his locked study.
For fans of: Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club books, Lorenzo Carcaterra's Nonna Maria mysteries, or Laurien Berenson's Senior Sleuths novels.
Did you know? Author Robert Thorogood created the popular BBC TV series Death in Paradise. |
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| Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead1970s New York City: Ray Carney, a furniture store owner and ex-criminal, is drawn back into the game. Covering three time periods, the action deals with acquiring tickets to a Jackson 5 concert by any means necessary, a missing Blaxploitation actress, and the hunt for an arsonist.
Series alert: This 2nd in a trilogy by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead offers "not just crime fiction at its craftiest, but shrewdly rendered social history" (Kirkus Reviews).
Read this next: Secret Identity by Alex Segura, another evocative 1970s-era New York City novel. |
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| A Tourist's Guide to Murder by V.M. BurnsWhat it's about: Mystery writer and bookstore owner Samantha "Sam" Washington goes to London, England on a week-long mystery-lovers trip with her Nana and her Nana's friends from the Shady Acres Retirement Village -- and when the tour operator is killed, Sam turns sleuth.
What sets it apart: Excerpts from the cozy historical novel that Sam's researching and writing give readers a second mystery to solve.
Series alert: This is the charming 6th entry in the Mystery Bookshop series, but newcomers can start here. |
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| The Woman in the Library by Sulari GentillThe letters: Hannah, a published author, sends chapters from her work-in-progress to Leo, a longtime fan, who chattily emails his feedback...but then his correspondence grows disturbing.
The chapters: In Hannah's novel, four visitors strike up a friendship after a disturbing incident at the Boston Public Library, but one of them may be a killer.
For fans of: twisty novel-within-a-novel mysteries, Anthony Horowitz's books, Eva Jurczyk's The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, and Jane Pek's The Verifiers. |
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| The Christie Affair by Nina de GramontMissing: After her husband Archie tells her he wants a divorce in December 1926, famed author Agatha Christie disappears.
Why you might like it: Not only does The Christie Affair cleverly imagine what happened during the 11-day period Christie was gone, but there's a murder to solve and beautifully drawn characters, including Christie, a cop who's looking for her, a troubled Irish veteran of World War I, and Nan O'Dea, the woman determined to be Archie's next wife.
For fans of: Marie Benedict's The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, which also ponders Christie's disappearance, or Jillian Cantor's Beautiful Little Fools, which follows several The Great Gatsby characters after a murder. |
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| The Word Is Murder by Anthony HorowitzWhat happens: In this delightful fair play mystery and series opener, a London murder brings together acerbic PI Daniel Hawthorne with writer Anthony Horowitz (yes, the author is a character), who chronicles the case, acting as a modern-day Watson.
Who it's for: Sherlockians, Golden Age mystery fans, and those who relish innovative, original crime novels.
Did you know? Not only is Anthony Horowitz the talented author of the bestselling books like Magpie Murders and Moriarty, but he also wrote the Alex Rider spy series for kids and created the acclaimed TV show Foyle's War. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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