Category Archives: mystery

The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye

10 Monday Jul 2017

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One of Publishers Weekly’s Top Ten Mystery/Thrillers of the Year
One of Kirkus Reviews’ Ten Best Crime Novels of the Year
Edgar(R) Award Nominee for Best Novel
ALA Reading List Award for Best Mystery
Enjoyed by the Weston Tuesday Mystery Book Group!

1845: New York City forms its first police force. The great potato famine hits Ireland.    These two events will change New York City forever…

“The launch of a brilliant new mystery series, set in 1845 New York City: Irish Potato Famine, the birth of the police force, brothels and bedlam.”– Gillian Flynn

“It’s been almost twenty years since Caleb Carr’s bestselling Olde New York crime novel, The Alienist, was published, and I cant count the number of times since then that someone has asked me if I can recommend a suspense story anything ‘like it.’ Well, New York has inspired lots of terrific thrillers, but I’ve just stumbled on one of the worthiest successors yet. Lyndsay Faye’s novel, The Gods of Gotham.“—Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air

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Blood from a Stone: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery by Donna Leon

19 Monday Jun 2017

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Another Tuesday Mystery Book Club choice.  When an illegal alien from Africa, who’s selling fake designer handbags, is killed execution-style in a crowded Venice market, the case creates personal crises for Leon’s endearing police Commissario Guido Brunetti as well as international ramifications.

Check out Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti mysteries series on dvd.

“One of the best of the international crime writers is Donna Leon, and her Commissario Guido Brunetti tales set in Venice are at the apex of continental thrillers.”

In this stunning novel, the 14th to feature the dogged, intuitive Venetian police detective Guido Brunetti (after 2004’s Doctored Evidence), Leon combines an engrossing, complex plot with an indictment of the corruption endemic to Italian society. The murder of an anonymous African street vendor, an inoffensive, possibly illegal Senegalese immigrant, explodes into a many-layered conundrum. – starred review, Publisher’s Weekly

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A Separation by Katie Kitamura

05 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by in Fiction, mystery, Travel

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This is a mesmerizing examination of a marriage gone wrong.  They had agreed to separate but he makes her promise to tell no one quite yet.  Then he disappears and his mother convinces her to find him…somewhere in Greece…..I couldn’t relax until I knew the outcome!

“Accomplished… a coolly unsettling work.” —New York Times Book Review

“A spare and stunning portrait of a marital estrangement… [B]uilds into a hypnotic meditation on infidelity and the unknowability of one’s spouse. In precise and muted prose, the entire story unspools in the coolly observant mind of a young woman… A minutely observed novel of infidelity unsettles its characters and readers.” —Kirkus [starred review]

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The Dogs of Littlefield by Suzanne Berne

15 Monday May 2017

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When Littlefield, Massachusetts, named one of the Twenty Best Places to Live in America, falls under the scrutiny of sociologist Dr. Clarice Watkins to study the elements of “good quality of life”, someone begins poisoning the town’s dogs. Are the poisonings in protest to an off-leash proposal for Baldwin Park—the subject of much town debate—or the sign of a far deeper disorder?

“Berne (Missing Lucile, 2010, etc.), who won the Orange Prize for her first novel, A Crime in the Neighborhood (1997), is a sure hand at the dinner parties, school concerts, teacup tempests, and true moments of suspense that make a suburban comedy of manners par excellence. It’s too bad about the dogs, but they died for a good cause.”—Kirkus (Starred Review)

“A look at suburban life that manages to be both scathing and sympathetic, Berne’s latest is a smart,amusing satire.”—Booklist

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The Dry by Jane Harper

24 Monday Apr 2017

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This is a #1 international bestseller.  I could not put this book down!  The author writes in beautiful, descriptive language and, at the same time, keeps socking the reader between the eyes with the revelations that unfold in this story of an investigation into a family murder in an outback country town in Australia – a town that seeps with anger, bitterness, violence, and oppressive heat.  I can’t believe this is a first novel.

“A stunner…It’s a small-town, big-secrets page-turner with a shocker of an ending….”–Booklist, starred review

“Devastating debut…a suspenseful tale of sound and fury as riveting as it is horrific.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“A nail-biting thriller…A chilling story set under a blistering sun, this fine debut will keep readers on edge and awake long past bedtime.”–Kirkus, starred review

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A Pale Horse by Charles Todd

19 Wednesday Apr 2017

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Chosen by the Weston Tuesday Mystery Book Group!

The exemplary 10th Inspector Ian Rutledge historical whodunit offers tight plotting and rich characterization amid understated but convincing evocations of post–WWI England. Haunted by memories of battle, unable to find a safe haven after his discharge from a psychiatric hospital and the abrupt departure of his fiancée, shell-shocked veteran Rutledge has returned to his prewar life as a Scotland Yard inspector. This time out, the War Office wants him to locate a mysterious person of interest, connected with (and perhaps the same as) an unidentified corpse found at a Yorkshire abbey. Rutledge toils diligently to uncover personal secrets and shames that may have motivated someone to kill, and their connection to a long-ago romance between the suspected killer’s wife and the local inspector investigating the case.

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Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris

06 Monday Mar 2017

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When sixteen-year-old Nouf goes missing and is found drowned in the desert outside Jeddah, Nayir—a desert guide hired by her prominent family to search for her—feels compelled to find out what really happened.

“Ferraris, who has lived in Saudi Arabia…gives a fascinating glimpse into the workings and assumptions of Saudi society.” –Publishers Weekly

“Ferraris writes with authority on how Saudi insiders and outsiders alike perceive the United States … With equal authority, she stakes her own claim on the world map, opening Saudi Arabia up for mystery fans to reveal the true minds and hearts of its denizens.” – Los Angeles Times

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The Murder of Mary Russell: A novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes by Laurie R. King

13 Monday Feb 2017

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Weston Library has a new mystery book group and this was the first pick!

“The great marvel of King’s series is that she’s managed to preserve the integrity of Holmes’s character and yet somehow conjure up a woman astute, edgy, and compelling enough to be the partner of his mind as well as his heart.”—The Washington Post Book World

“The most sustained feat of imagination in mystery fiction today.”—Lee Child

“Leaping narrative energy has always been a hallmark of this series, and it reaches something of a peak in this latest volume. . . . The lean momentum of the story never falters. . . . It’s a stunning prolonged feat of storytelling, and it succeeds in making The Murder of Mary Russell the best installment so far in an excellent series.”—The Christian Science Monitor

“Worried about Mary Russell? Well, you should be. She’s opened her door to the wrong man and deeply troubling secrets are set to tumble out, rewriting her history and putting herself and the people she loves in a dangerous spot. Once again, King spins a tantalizing tale of deception and misdirection for her readers’ delight and scores a direct hit in her latest Russell-Holmes mystery.” — Deborah Walsh for LibraryReads

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A Deadly Affection by Cuyler Overholt

23 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by in Fiction, Historical Fiction, mystery

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“Genevieve Summerford is a heroine with brains, compassion, and grit. A psychiatrist during a time women were supposed to be wives and mothers, she not only practices medicine, but also protects secrets, and solves murders. A riveting period puzzler, filled with history, mystery, and romance.” – Susan Elia MacNeal, New York Times bestselling author of the Maggie Hope series

“I had to put my life on hold until I’d finished it. What a satisfying finish…and what a smooth, complex, enlightening, riveting journey. A Deadly Affection is masterfully crafted, a delightful combination of suspense and romance. I cannot wait for Overholt’s next novel.” – Historical Novels Review

“This superb debut reflects the author’s impeccable research with its portrait of turn-of-the-century New York City. Discussion questions at the end focusing on women’s rights make this a solid book club choice.
” – Library Journal, Starred Review 

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Twelve Dogs of Christmas by David Rosenfelt

19 Monday Dec 2016

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This was the first mystery that I read that was written by David Rosenfelt, but it won’t be the last. The title drew me in and what kept me reading was his brisk pace and upbeat sense of humor. I think animal lovers and mystery lovers alike will enjoy his Andy Carpenter series and other titles.

“Rosenfelt’s 15th mystery featuring Paterson, NJ-based defense attorney Andy Carpenter (Outfoxed) takes on the case of Martha “Pups” Boyer, who earned her nickname after years of rescuing and placing stray puppies. However, a neighbor complained to the city about the dogs, and now Pups is due in court to fight the zoning law. Although she wins that battle, she’s soon hauled off to jail for allegedly killing the complainant. To make matters worse, that case calls into question the death of Pups’s husband. Now Andy will have to prove her innocence and avoid the killer. The wisecracking, dog-loving attorney still has plenty of appeal in this fast-paced Christmas mystery that avoids any holiday sentimentality.” – Library Journal

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