Mystery
Bleeding heart yard
Elly Griffiths
MYSTERY Griffiths, Elly
Mystery
Is it possible to forget that you've committed a murder? When Cassie Fitzgerald was at school in the late 90s, she and her friends killed a fellow student. Almost twenty years later, Cassie is a happily married mother who loves her job--as a police officer. She closely guards the secret she has all but erased from her memory. One day her husband finally persuades her to go to a school reunion. Cassie catches up with her high-achieving old friends from the Manor Park School--among them two politicians, a rock star, and a famous actress. But then, shockingly, one of them, Garfield Rice, is found dead in the school bathroom, supposedly from a drug overdose. As Garfield was an eminent--and controversial--MP and the investigation is high profile, it's headed by Cassie's new boss, DI Harbinder Kaur, freshly promoted and newly arrived in London. The trouble is, Cassie can't shake the feeling that one of them has killed again. Is Cassie right, or was Garfield murdered by one of his political cronies? It's in Cassie's interest to skew the investigation so that it looks like it has nothing to do with Manor Park and she seems to be succeeding. Until someone else from the reunion is found dead in Bleeding Heart Yard... --
The Agathas
Kathleen Glasgow
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Glasgow Kathleen
Mystery, Young Adult, Fiction
Alice Ogilvie's disappearance last summer is the biggest scandal at Castle Cove High School--until her ex-boyfriend is accused of murdering his new girlfriend, and Alice must pair up with her tutor Iris Adams to clear his name by relying on the wisdom of Agatha Christie.
Give me a mystery any day, but one that pays homage to Agatha Christie and has total Veronica Mars and Nancy Drew vibes, say no more! Great whodunit storyline, that was well paced and kept you along for all the twists and turns. I was hooked and can't wait for the sequel to come out this summer. -Angie
The first case
Ulf Nilsson
jFICTION Nilsson Ulf
Mystery, Early Chapter Books
When Vladimir the squirrel's stockpile of nuts disappears, the portly Detective Gordon deputizes his young, enthusiastic friend Buffy the mouse to help him discover the identity of the thieves.
This is the first in a four-book series about the bumbling, often flustered (but totally endearing) Detective Gordon (a frog) and his sidekick Buffy (a mouse). The mysteries (translated from the original Swedish) are clever and funny, gentle but contain enough action to sustain interest, and are heavily illustrated and perfect for those just getting comfortable with chapter books (around first and second grades). They also make great family read-alouds. The newest (and last) book, A Case with a Bang, just hit ICPL shelves. -Anne W
A hard day for a hangover : a novel
Darynda Jones
MYSTERY Jones Darynda
Mystery, Romance
"Some people greet the day with open arms. Sheriff Sunshine Vicram would rather give it a hearty shove and get back into bed, because there's just too much going on right now. There's a series of women going missing, and Sunny feels powerless to stop it. There's her persistent and awesomely-rebellious daughter Auri, who's out to singlehandedly become Del Sol's youngest and fiercest investigator. And then there's drama with Levi Ravinder-the guy she's loved and lusted after for years. The guy who might just be her one and only. The guy who comes from a family of disingenuous vipers looking to oust him-and Sunshine-for good. Like we said, the new day can take a hike. The blockbuster conclusion to the bestselling Sunshine Vicram trilogy, A Hard Day for a Hangover will have readers laughing and cheering to the very last page"--
This is the final book in the Sunshine Vicram series by Darynda Jones. I added the first book, A Bad Day for Sunshine, some time ago. After speeding through the second in the series, it felt like I had to wait forEVER for the third. It finally came out on December and I was able to read it over my holiday staycation. Once again, Jones had me turning pages one after another. I was invested in the series, the mystery, and the characters--once I put it down I couldn't wait to pick it back up again. Some of the tying up of loose ends felt a bit cliche and melodramatic for me, but hey, I can tolerate that if it keeps me laughing and has that happy ending. -Melody
Dirt Creek
Hayley Scrivenor
MYSTERY Scriveno Hayley
Fiction, Mystery
"In Hayley Scrivenor's Dirt Creek, a small-town debut mystery described as The Dry meets Everything I Never Told You, a girl goes missing and a community falls apart and comes together. When twelve-year-old Esther disappears on the way home from school in a small town in rural Australia, the community is thrown into a maelstrom of suspicion and grief. As Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels arrives in town during the hottest spring in decades and begins her investigation, Esther's tenacious best friend, Ronnie, is determined to find Esther and bring her home. When schoolfriend Lewis tells Ronnie that he saw Esther with a strange man at the creek the afternoon she went missing, Ronnie feels she is one step closer to finding her. But why is Lewis refusing to speak to the police? And who else is lying about how much they know about what has happened to Esther? Punctuated by a Greek chorus, which gives voice to the remaining children of the small, dying town, this novel explores the ties that bind, what we try and leave behind us, and what we can never outrun, while never losing sight of the question of what happened to Esther, and what her loss does to a whole town"--
This was a detailed and engrossing read. I especially liked the child characters, and felt that their thoughts and actions rang very true. This book was more about the procedure and the lives of the people than the crime itself, really, and has a full resolution that both smacks of the cruel unfairness of life, and the profound consequences of peoples' actions. -Candice
The retreat
Sarah Pearse
FICTION Pearse Sarah
Fiction, Mystery
"An eco-wellness retreat has opened on an island off the English coast, promising rest and relaxation--but the island itself, once the playground of a serial killer, is rumored to be cursed. Detective Elin Warner is called to the retreat when a young woman's body is found on the rocks below the yoga pavilion in what seems to be a tragic fall. But the victim wasn't a guest--she wasn't meant to be on the island at all. When a guest drowns in a diving incident the following day, Elin starts to suspect that there's nothing accidental about these deaths. Elin must find the killer--before the island's history starts to repeat itself"--
This is the second book focusing on detective Elin Warner, and doesn't disappoint. A fine addition to the "people getting murdered in a unique, sequestered location" genre, and a creepy backstory to boot. Elin continues to get fleshed out more, and her motivations and actions add depth to the story. Check out the author's previous title, The Sanatorium, to fill in some gaps if you like! -Candice
Marple : twelve new stories
Agatha Christie
808.83872 /Marple
Mystery, Fiction
A brand-new collection of short stories featuring the Queen of Mystery's legendary detective Jane Marple, penned by 12 remarkable best-selling and acclaimed authors. This collection of 12 original short stories, all featuring Jane Marple, will introduce the character to a whole new generation. Each author reimagines Agatha Christie's Marple through their own unique perspective while staying true to the hallmarks of a traditional mystery ... Miss Marple was first introduced to readers in a story Agatha Christie wrote for The Royal Magazine in 1927 and made her first appearance in a full-length novel in 1930's The Murder at the Vicarage. It has been 45 years since Agatha Christie's last Marple novel, Sleeping Murder, was published posthumously in 1976, and this collection of ingenious new stories by 12 Christie devotees will be a timely reminder why Jane Marple remains the most famous fictional female detective of all time.
I truly enjoyed reading this collection of contemporary authors taking on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. It was interesting to see what each author emphasized with the character from the knitting to the telling of village stories to her deep understanding of "human nature." I especially loved the stories by Ruth Ware, Elly Griffiths, and Natalie Haynes. It was also a good opportunity to find new authors I've never read. -Anne M
The verifiers
Jane Pek
MYSTERY Pek Jane
Fiction, Mystery
"Claudia Lin is looking at a cliched post-college future as a chronically underemployed English major--much to the consternation of her mother, who wants her to settle down and start dating a nice Chinese boy already; her brother, who pushes her to follow in his model-minority footsteps; and her sister, who can't get over Claudia's privileged place in their mother's affections. But Claudia is used to keeping secrets from her family. Such as the fact that she prefers girls--and that she's embarking on an unsuitable but supremely fun career. Veracity, a two-and-a-half-person detective agency that operates out of a Manhattan townhouse and verifies people's online dating personas, has recruited Claudia via an online murder mystery game. A lifelong reader of mystery novels, Claudia takes to her new job sniffing out cheaters and catfishers like a latter-day lovechild of Elizabeth Bennet and Sherlock Holmes. But when one of her very first clients turns up dead, Claudia breaks with Veracity's protocols to investigate what happened, unconvinced by the story everyone else believes. The deeper she digs, the more she discovers that nothing--her client, the death, the dating platforms that claim to know us better than we know ourselves, Veracity, even her own family--may be as it seems. Part literary mystery, part family story, The Verifiers is a witty and incisive examination of how technology shapes our choices, and what role romantic love plays in the digital age"--
This is a really fun read, with a believable and slightly bizarre premise that plays out nicely. Lots of interesting family dynamics going on here, as well. Claudia has a great sense of humor, and is so likeable in all her endeavors, that you can't help but keep reading in order to find out what happens to her. -Candice
Elatsoe
Darcie Little Badger
Imagine an America very similar to our own. It's got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream. There are some differences. This America has been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples, those Indigenous and those not. Some of these forces are charmingly everyday, like the ability to make an orb of light appear or travel across the world through rings of fungi. But other forces are less charming and should never see the light of day. Elatsoe lives in this slightly stranger America. She can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill passed down through generations of her Lipan Apache family. Her beloved cousin has just been murdered in a town that wants no prying eyes. But she is going to do more than pry. The picture-perfect facade of Willowbee masks gruesome secrets, and she will rely on her wits, skills, and friends to tear off the mask and protect her family.
This book was so so wonderful. I finished it this past week and I found it to be wonderfully written and suspenseful both. I think the mixing of genres is not looked at enough--we see a teenage girl, Elatsoe (El-ot-soh-ay), who finds her cousin murdered and goes to solve his murder after his ghost visits her in her dream to warn her and ask for her to protect his wife and newborn son, this combined with the fantastical world Little Badger creates makes the book un-put-downable. -Zach
The night she disappeared : a novel
Lisa Jewell
FICTION Jewell Lisa
Fiction, Mystery
"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone and The Family Upstairs comes another riveting work of "gloriously twisted" (Marie Claire) psychological suspense. On a beautiful summer night in a charming English suburb, a young woman and her boyfriend disappear after partying at the massive country estate of a new college friend. One year later, a writer moves into a cottage on the edge of the woods that border the same estate. Known locally as the Dark Place, the dense forest is the writer's favorite area for long walks and it's on one such walk that she stumbles upon a mysterious note that simply reads, "DIG HERE." Could this be a clue towards what has happened to the missing young couple? And what exactly is buried in this haunted ground? With her signature "rich, dark, and intricately twisted" (Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author) prose, Lisa Jewell has crafted a dazzling work of suspense that will keep on the edge of your seat until the final page"--
If you're looking for one more book to get in before Halloween is over, I suggest this one! I have to admit, this was so much better than I thought it would be...a seriously intriguing storyline with good twists but nothing too outrageous that it becomes unbelievable. Also, the character development is top-notch, and the writing downright lovely. There's a lot of real emotion in this story, with some eerie goings-on to boot. A proper chilling read, for both adults and young adults looking to branch out a bit. -Candice
If you are looking for a well-written, breezy mystery, pick up this fun series from Elly Griffiths. -Anne M