New Mysteries – August 2009

Awakening
S.J. Bolton
M BOL
Clara Benning is a reclusive veterinary surgeon who is called in when a local man dies from a snakebite.  However,  the postmortem shows that the concentration of venom is much higher than what could be found in a single snake.

The Baker Street Letters
Michael Robertson
M ROB
Two lawyers, who happen to lease offices at 221B Baker Street, begin receiving mail addressed to Sherlock Holmes.

Below Zero
C.J. Box
M BOX
Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett is embroiled in a series of killings that may have a connection to a massacre that happened six years ago in Winterkill.

Boneman’s Daughters
Ted Dekker
M DEK
Intelligence officer Ryan Evans, must take on a deranged serial killer, the Boneman, to save his daughter.

Cecilian Vespers
Anne Emery
M EME
A special choir is studying the early traditional music of the Catholic Church when a controversial participant is murdered just before evening vespers.

The Extra
Elizabeth Sims
M SIM
Rita Farmer is flat broke and studying to become a lawyer.  Decked out in a police uniform as an extra in a movie shoot, she finds herself in the middle of a vicious assault.

The Fate of Katherine Carr
Thomas H. Cook
M COO
George Gates was once a travel writer who was fascinated by the places where people disappeared, until the day his eight-year-old son vanishes.

Fire and Ice
J.A. Jance
M JAN
Seattle investigator J.P. Beaumont is confronted with a grisly series of murders.  Meanwhile sheriff Joanna Brady investigates a homicide in the Arizona desert.

Floodgates
Mary Anna Evans
M EVA
Faye Longchamp and her team of archaeologists are fighting to save New Orleans’ past, but are horrified when they discover a corpse that is too new be an archaeological find.

The Frightened Man
Kenneth Cameron
M CAM
An American with a past is in London in 1900 when a terrified man tells him that he is being pursued by Jack-the-Ripper.

Greedy Bones
Carolyn Haines
M HAI
Southern belle Sarah Booth Delaney returns home from Hollywood to help save her hometown from the outbreak of a vicious illness.

Her Royal Spyness
Rhys Bowen
M BOW
Lady Georgiana, 34th in line to the throne, returns in her third adventure.

Ignorance of Blood
Robert Wilson
M WIL
In the wake of a terrorist attack on Seville, Inspector Jefe Javier Falcón is determined to bring the real perpetrators to justice.  By the author of A Small Death in Lisbon.

The Innocent Spy
Laura Wilson
M WIL
London, June 1940.  The body of silent screen star Mabel Morgan is found impaled on an iron fence.  Detective Ted Stratton is not convinced that this was a suicide.

Jelly’s Gold
David Housewright
M HOU
Rushmore McKenzie is a retired St. Paul policeman and an unexpected millionaire.  He learns about eight million dollars in mob- connected stolen gold that is still missing and becomes intrigued.

The Killings on Jubilee Terrace
Robert Barnard
M BAR
Faithful viewers of the soap opera Jubilee Terrace loved Vernon Watts, but his fellow cast-members knew him for what he was.  Was his death accidental? Or not?

Liars Anonymous
Louise Ure
M URE
Jessie Dancing’s past catches up with her following the death of real estate tycoon Darren Markson.

The Lord of Death
Eliot Pattison
M PAT
Shan Tao Yun is a former Bejing investigator who has been exiled to Tibet.  When a high-profile murder occurs near Mt. Everest, he  is commanded to discover the killer.

The Magician’s Death
P.C. Doherty
M DOH
Sir Hugh Corbett has been told to steal a book of secrets written by Roger Bacon.  Murder and mayhem result as he tries to decipher the secrets of England’s most outstanding scholar.

Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop
Lee Goldberg
M GOL
Adrian Monk, the obsessive-compulsive investigator, must help Captain Stottlemeyer who has been arrested for the killing of another cop.

Murder on a Midsummer Night
Kerry Greenwood
M GRE
It’s 1929, and slightly bored Phryne Fisher has been called on to find out if the son of a Pre-Raphaelite model has died by homicide or suicide.

The Neighbor
Lisa Gardner
M GAR
A young mother disappears from her South Boston home.  Detective Sergeant D.C. Warren finds that the picture of family normalcy turns murkier below the surface of their seemingly wholesome life.

Palos Verdes Blue
John Shannon
M SHA
Jack Liffey, Los Angeles’ most famous child-finder, is hired to find Blue, the missing teenage daughter of his ex-wife’s best friend.

Persona Non Grata: A Novel of the Roman Empire
Ruth Downie
M DOW
Gaius Petrius Ruso needs to give up his career as a military doctor in Roman Britannia and head back to his family in Gaul, but not all is well on the home front.  A great series.

Sworn to Silence
Linda Castillo
M CAS
Former Amish, now police chief, Kate Burkholder of Painters Mill, Ohio, is confronted with a murder that is horrifyingly similar to ones that had happened 16 years ago.

There’s Something About St. Tropez
Elizabeth Adler
M ADL
Malibu P.I. Mac Reilly and Sunny Alvarez find themselves in the middle of romance, luxury, adventure, and mystery. Great beach reading.

New Mysteries, June 2009

About Face
Donna Leon
M LEO
Venetian Commissario Guido Brunetti and his wife Paola meet a mysterious woman at dinner party.  Is she somehow connected with a suspicious death and illegal garbage hauling?

The Joys of My Life
Alys Clare
M CLA
May 1199.Queen Eleanor has summoned five members of Hawkenlye Abbey to the Île d’Oléron to discuss the building of a chapel dedicated to the queen’s son, King Richard.

Borderline
Nevada Barr
M BAR
Anna Pigeon is trying to recuperate on a rafting trip with her new husband, Paul, but an attempted murder pulls her into a labyrinth of intrigue.

Cream Puff Murder
Joanne Fluke
M FLU
Hannah Swensen’s boyfriend becomes a murder suspect in this latest entry in the author’s bakery series.  Recipes, of course, included.

Cursed
Carol Higgins Clark
M CLA
Private investigator Regan Reilly returns to her old haunts in L.A. to help out a friend find the “no good bum” who owes her $100,000.

Dante’s Numbers
David Hewson
M HEW
A celebration in Rome of a new film version of Dante’s Inferno ends in chaos with one man dead, and the film’s star and a priceless relic missing.  Detective Nic Costa finds himself in a terrifying limbo.

Dead Man’s Puzzle
Parnell Hall
M HAL
Puzzles abound: who killed cranky hermit, Old Man Overmeyer?

Death and the Lit Chick
G.M Malliet
M MAL
Chick lit mystery writer Kimberlee Kalder is being honored at an exclusive writers’ conference at Dalmorton Castle in Scotland.  You know what happens next!

Dropped Dead Stitch
Maggie Sefton
M SEF
Kelly’s friend Jennifer is a top-notch knitter and party girl.  One night a stranger follows her home, and in the aftermath, Jennifer looks to her close-knit friends for support.

Execution Dock
Anne Perry
M PER
Victorian police commander William Monk is confronted with evil of the sex industry in the dark alleys along the River Thames.

Fatally Flaky
Diane Mott Davidson
M DAV
Colorado caterer Goldy Schulz encounters the bride from hell as well as another murder.  Goldy goes undercover in her chef’s outfit.

Frame Work
Anne G. Faigen
M FAI
When Sarah Brandau travels to Prague for a literary conference, her innocent purchase of an ornate frame plunges her into danger.

Grave Goods
Ariana Franklin
M FRA
England, 1176.  Adelia Aguilar, Mistress of the Art of Death, is called upon by Henry II to examine the skeletons of two individuals found in the ashes of Glastonbury Abbey.

Just Take My Heart
Mary Higgins Clark
M CLA
The veteran mystery author returns with the story of a legal battle over the guilt or innocence of man accused of murdering his wife.

The Killing Way
Tony Hays
M HAYS
Arthur has united most of Britain’s clans, but does not yet hold supreme power.  When Merlin is blamed for the brutal murder of a young woman, Arthur’s reputation is at stake.

The Long Fall
Walter Mosley
M MOS
Leonid McGill is an old-school private investigator, but the Manhattan of the 21st century has gotten a bit fancier.

Malice
Lisa Jackson
M JAC
Deception and betrayal confront New Orleans detective Rick Bentz as he is forced to confront the ghosts of his past.

Mating Season
Jon Loomis
M LOO
Detective Frank Coffin, who moves to Cape Cod to escape from his panic attacks, finds that murder can happen even in a small town when heiress Kenji Sole is killed.

A Quiet Flame
Philip Kerr
M KER
After being falsely accused of being a war criminal, ex-Berlin policeman Bernie Gunther is now in Argentina.  It’s 1950 and he is being  pressured by the local police to help in a case that began in 1930.

The Risk of Darkness
Susan Hill
M HILA widowed husband’s grief turns to violence and terror. Chief inspector Simon Serrailler finds himself with romantic concerns as well as police issues in his third outing.

Shadow and Light
Jonathan Rabb
M RAB
Berlin, 1927: the heyday of the Weimar Republic and German cinema is producing acclaimed films.  The death of a studio executive exposes the desperate side of Germany.

She Shoots to Conquer
Dorothy Cannell
M CAN
Amateur sleuth Ellie Haskell is stranded at Mucklesfeld Manor and finds herself in the middle of a TV reality show.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Alan Bradley
M BRA
Great reviews accompany this debut novel that revolves around Flavia de Luce, an 11-year-old science prodigy and her search for the murderer of the man she found in her cucumber patch.

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
Alexander McCall Smith
M MCC
Mma Ramotswe is in personal need of her own formidable detection talents in this latest outing in the popular series.

True Detectives
Jonathan Kellerman
M KEL
The disappearance of Caitlin Frostig isn’t a usual case for the
at-odds step-brothers, Moses Reed and Aaron Fox, as they descend into the seamy side of Los Angeles.

Wormwood
Susan Wittig Albert
M ALB
Ex-lawyer and current herbalist China Bayles visits an historic Shaker Village for a brief respite and finds herself entwined in a modern-day mystery.

Wrongful Death
Robert Dugoni
M DUG
Successful attorney David Sloane takes on a challenging case in a suit against the U.S. government in the wrongful death of a national guardsman killed in Iraq.

New Mysteries – April 2009

All the Colors of Darkness
Peter Robinson
M ROB
When the body of a man is discovered near Eastvale, all signs point to suicide.  At least Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot believes that to be the case.

August Heat
Andrea Camilleri
M CAM
Sicilian inspector Salvo Montalbano spends a hot summer attempting to solve a sinister and perplexing case.

Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon
Nancy Atherton
M ATH
Aunt Dimity helps out Lori Shepard when the Renaissance Festival that comes to the village of Finch presents a dark layer of intrigue.

Batter Off Dead
Tamar Myers
M MYE
Mennonite innkeeper Magdalena Yoder gets caught up in a case of hotcake homicide.

Blood and Bone
William Lashner
M LAS
Kyle Byrne, the illegitimate son of a Philadelphia lawyer, finds himself a suspect in the death of his father’s law partner.

Bright Futures
Stuart M. Kaminsky
M KAM
In the wake of his wife’s death in a hit-and-run accident, Lew Fonesca has moved to Sarasota, Florida  His gloomy life consists of small-time criminal investigations until an accused murderer turns to him for help.

Dead or Alive
Michael McGarrity
M MCG
Retired Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin Kerney is back in action after the murder of a good friend.

Degrees of Separation
Sue Henry
M HEN
Alaska’s Jessie Arnold returns to the sled-dog trail only to stumble upon something unexpected across her path.

Dog On It
Spencer Quinn
M QUI
Chet, the wise, lovable canine narrator, along with his Bernie, a down-on-his-luck private eye, investigate the disappearance of a missing teenager.

Don’t Look Twice
Andrew Gross
M GRO
A drive-by shooting rocks upscale Greenwich, Connecticut and a bystander is left dead. Detective Ty Hauck is pulled into what seems to be a vicious case of retribution.

Fatal Lies
Frank Tallis
M TAL
In turn-of-the-century Vienna, Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt is confronted with the mysterious death of a young cadet.  He turns to Dr. Liebermann, an expert in Freudian psychology.

Fed Up
Jessica Conant-Park and Susan Conant
M CON
As Chloe Carter helps her chef boyfriend compete for the starring role of a new television program, one person drops dead after eating his cuisine.

Hangman Blind
Cassandra Clark
M CLA
November, 1382.  The month of the dead.  Abbess Hildegard rides out for York and the Abbey of Meaux.

In a Gilded Cage
Rhys Bowen
M BOW
Turn-of-the-century Irish immigrant Molly Murphy finds herself in jail for a few hours and meets some Vassar suffragists and lands a new case.

Lethal Legacy
Linda Fairstein
M FAI
The New York Public Library houses dazzling treasures — and deadly secrets.

The Lost Witness
Robert Ellis
M ELL
Los Angeles detective Lena Gamble is in disgrace with her higher-ups, but is tossed a difficult murder case that may finish her career for good.

The Mao Case
Qiu Xiaolong
M XIA
The author of Death of a Red Heroine, returns with Chief Inspector Chen of the Shanghai Police Department who is in charge of the cases that are considered politically “sensitive.”

Murder in the Latin Quarter
Cara Black
M BLA
The murder of a Haitian academic in the Left Bank of Paris is more than a simple problem for Leduc Detectives.

Oolong Dead
Laura Childs
M CHI
The latest in the Tea Shop mysteries features the opera boosters, the Bravissimo Club, of Charleston, South Carolina

The Renegades
T. Jefferson Parker
M PAR
Modern day outlaws are still found in the new American West.  Charlie Hood prefers to ride alone, especially after his partner is shot dead in the passenger seat.

Revenge on the Spellmans
Lisa Lutz
M LUT
Isabel Spellman is back on the case and back on the couch in court-ordered therapy.

Safer
Sean Doolittle
M DOO
The Callaway’s hope that they’ve moved to a safe, Midwestern town, but find themselves in a harrowing situation.

The Séance
John Harwood
M HAR
A gothic thriller set in late Victorian England, finds Constance Langton inheriting Wraxford Hall, where a family disappeared years before.

The Shanghai Moon
S. J. Rozan
M ROZ
Chinese-American private investigator Lydia Chin is brought into a case that involves a cache of jewelry that was left in Shanghai during World War II.

Three Silent Things
Margaret Mayhew
M MAY
The colonel, newly settled in the peaceful Dorset village of Frog’s End, make inquiries of his own following the death of a once-famous actress.

Whisper to the Blood
Dana Stabenow
M STA
Alaskan trooper Jim Chopin and Kate Shugak investigate the murder of two opponents of a planned gold mind expansion inside a national park.

Wild Sorrow
Sandi Ault
M AUL
Bureau of Land Management agent Jamaica Wild stumbles across a frozen corpse and soon finds herself stalked by an unidentified killer on the wintery mesa.