Tag Archives: mystery

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

26 Saturday May 2018

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This is a fun, twisty murder mystery within a murder mystery.  It’s got some hallmarks of a classic Agatha Christie and a touch of the modern thriller as well.  Two mysteries for the price of one, and both are very engrossing.

Each of the narratives in Magpie Murders is engaging and fluid, each with its own charm, though Horowitz’s joyful act of Christie ventriloquism is, in particular, spectacularly impressive. – Washington Post

Magpie Murders is an ingenious, twisting tribute to the sleepy English countryside murder and will thoroughly entertain readers of old fashioned detective thrillers. – New York Journal of Book

An ingenious funhouse mirror of a novel sets a vintage ‘cozy’ mystery inside a modern frame – Wall Street Journal

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Verdict of Twelve (British Library Crime Classics) by Raymond Postgate

13 Friday Apr 2018

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Since its first publication in 1940, Verdict of Twelve has been widely hailed as a classic of British crime writing. This edition offers a new generation of readers the chance to find out why so many leading commentators have admired the novel for so long.

“Verdict of Twelve is a superb piece of writing and makes other horror stories seem flat and undiscerning.” — New Yorker

The prosecution and defense present their cases, and the jury retires to consider aspects of the evidence that would startle the court. The characters are well drawn, at times frighteningly so, and the ending is perversely satisfying.  – Publishers Weekly

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The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey

26 Friday Jan 2018

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This is debut novel with punch!  Detective Gemma Woodstock seems to have an unhealthy obsession with the victim, a former classmate, and you don’t know why. She seems jealous of Rosalind’s beauty and sense of mystery which has a kind of magnetism on people which Gemma feels she lacks and the train-wreck of her own life reflects. As the secrets of this small Australian town are revealed, her partner and boss sense Gemma has deeper connections to the murder victim, more than adrmissible…but when Gemma falls into the sights of the murderer, nothing will keep her from the satisfying pursuit to its end. For readers who enjoy Tana French and Lisa Gardiner –  a new writer to follow.

“Police work comes easily to Det. Sgt. Gemma Woodstock, the narrator of Australian author Bailey’s stellar first novel…Bailey interweaves her sympathetic protagonist’s past and present with uncommon assurance…a page-turner that’s both tense and thought provoking.”―Publishers Weekly

“The Dark Lake is a mesmerizing thriller full of long buried secrets that sucked me right in and kept me up late turning pages. Gemma Woodstock is a richly flawed and completely authentic character – I loved going on this journey with her and the way the truth of her past was revealed in bits and pieces as we went along. Sarah Bailey has crafted an exquisite debut – I can’t wait to see what she does next!”―Jennifer McMahon, New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People

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Murder in the Marais (An Aimée Leduc Investigation) by Cara Black

22 Friday Dec 2017

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This title is the first in a series featuring female sleuth Aimee Leduc. The story is set in 1990’s Paris with flashbacks to the early 1940’s.  The author’s writing style makes for a quick, absorbing read and her inclusion of details about life in France during the German Occupation are revealing. The story hinges on the murder of Lili Stein, the proprietor of a small grocery store in a Jewish neighborhood. When she is discovered strangled in her bedroom, forehead marked by a Swastika, Aimee sets about unraveling long held secrets that lead ultimately to a present day election.\

“Literate prose, intricate plotting, and multifaceted and unusual characters mark this excellent first mystery.” –Library Journal

“The charm of this series comes from the character and a vividly rendered setting. Aimée rides her pink scooter through the streets of Paris, roller skates through the Louvre after closing time, and tears through dark tunnels under the Palais Royal wearing peep-toe shoes or vintage Valentino boots, her eyes ringed with kohl, trying to figure out who is out to get her . . . Zut alors! It’s quite a ride.”
—The Boston Globe

“Forever young, forever stylish, forever in love with Paris—forever Aimée.”
—New York Times Book Review 

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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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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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Mrs. Sinclair’s Suitcase by Louise Walters

12 Monday Sep 2016

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A well-read patron recommended this book to me.  I am glad she did!  Roberta, a used book shop sorter of books, has kept a collection of those peculiar things that fall out of donated books.  Then a letter to her own grandmother falls from a suitcase full of books left off by her father that puzzles her completely – dates, names, places all see very different from what she had always grown up knowing about her grandmother.  What did happen during those war years that no one living seems to recall?  Guaranteed: an unpredictable ending!

“A breathtaking, beautifully crafted tale of loves that survive secrets.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“Musty books, unrequited love, and old family secrets combine to create a crackling multigenerational saga infused with passion, pathos, and evocative WWII-era historical detail. Plenty of book-club and cinematic potential in this irresistible page-turner.” — Booklist

“A solid debut . . . [that] may appeal to those who have also liked bookishly romantic stories such as Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows’s The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society or Gabrielle Zevin’s The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.” – Library Journal

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The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh

29 Monday Aug 2016

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In this literary, suspenseful novel, a young woman is found dead in a small town in the Ozarks, compelling her friend to find out what happened to her. Her search leads her to the story of what happened to her own mother, who disappeared years ago. The characters and descriptions are vivid, and by the end I could picture this fictional community.

“Gripping . . . Her prose will not only keep readers turning the pages but also paints a real and believable portrait of the connections, alliances, and sacrifices that underpin rural, small-town life. . . . Strongly recommended for readers who enjoy thrillers by authors such as Laura Lippman and Tana French.”—Library Journal (starred review)

 “[A] suspenseful novel, with a barn burner of a plot . . . McHugh shows herself to be a compelling writer intimately familiar with rural poverty and small-town weirdness.”—Booklist

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Last Ragged Breath by Julia Keller

08 Monday Aug 2016

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When the marketer for a luxury resort in rural West Virginia is found murdered on the property of an impoverished recluse who had vehemently refused his offers to buy the parcel of land that would halt the multimillion-dollar project, prosecutor Bell Elkins privately probes wounds that run deep in a place of poverty and despair.

“A beautifully crafted mystery in which Keller explores love, hate, and poverty in a place of stunning natural beauty with pockets of overwhelming ugliness. The ending may leave you in tears.” ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Keller conveys smalltown mind-sets with a folksy style that richly evokes a part of Appalachia still grappling with its past.” ―Publishers Weekly

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