Mystery

We have frightening enemies living among us, known by their strange dress. These so-called Shakers are shrewd and canny. . .a scourge; a tumor that must be sliced from our side . .

Sister Rose Callahan read the printed flyer and shivered. Its message terrified her. She was aware that Believers had sometimes been objects of resentment from the outside world, but nothing like this. Who could write such things? And who could be responsible for recent acts of violence directed against the peaceful Shaker community?

A sister had suffered a mysterious wound to the head; a sackful of rats were set loose in the schoolroom, food had been stolen -- and now a hate-filled message points to continued mischief. Sister Rose, recently honored with the position of Eldress despite her youth, seeks clues in the journals of her aged predecessor. She discovers a shocking similarity to outrages perpetrated years before, as well as a scandalous secret about a present-day sister. Now Rose must look both outside and within the cloistered religious community to find clues that link an old murder, a recent death, and an unknown enemy whose thirst for revenge overrides the ultimate sin...of murder.

Out damned spot!

As her wedding to detective Cas Wolfe approaches, Candyce "Dyce" Dare, sole owner (and employee) of the furniture refinishing business Daring Finds desperately needs to find something to do to avoid sitting down and planning the event with her mother and her best friend (particularly since she suspects their plans involve having her cat dress in a tuxedo). Working on a table she recently bought at a yard sale fits the bill.

Until her sanding efforts uncover a disturbing stain--one that looks like it might be blood. Dyce knows that, with a fiancé who's a policeman, parents who own a mystery bookstore, and a recent history of inadvertent involvement in murder cases, she can be prone to seeing things that aren't there. But then she discovers that the table's previous owner has gone missing--and once more, she is drawn into a solve-it-yourself mystery project. And when Dyce starts a project, she just has to see it through...

A note found next to a murdered police officer read, Ask Coffin. But what is John Coffin, Commander of London's Second City Police, supposed to know? The victim was investigating counterfeit pharmaceuticals and internal police corruption. As Coffin probes into his colleague's investigation, he makes a connection to the disappearance of four schoolboys.

A young girl has nightmares about a violent assault. A dozen residents of a luxury condominium complex die of lung cancer. A lawyer grieves over the brutal murder of his young wife. Environmental tests are altered by a crooked construction crew. And a paralegal is almost killed in a car crash. Could a stranger's memories breathe new life into a long-closed cold case? This new thriller will keep you guessing.

Aromance convention has descended on Blacklin County, Texas, and with it comes murder. Not even great pecs, gorgeous hair and thousands of devoted fans can protect cover model Terry Don Coslin from the deadly intent of a killer. And as Sheriff Dan Rhodes makes his way through the steamy, backstabbing world of happily ever after, he discovers why romance is indeed a very deadly business.Peppered with much humor and local color, this latest Dan Rhodes mystery novel will be a popular choice among mystery enthusiast!

Professor, poet, and housesitter Lee Squires spent her childhood summers in Montana, and although she now lives in Washington, D.C., she takes off for the rough splendor of the West every chance she gets. Her most recent trips have been punctuated by murder, but that doesn't keep the amateur sleuth from filling in as a trail cook out west once more. Lee's friend Pete Bonsecours is an outfitter running llama pack treks in the Mission Mountains of Montana, and when his usual cook can't make the trip, Lee happily signs on to feed the tourists who are on the eco-friendly excursion up to Lost Pipe Lake. In addition to Lee and Pete, the group includes two young filmmakers working on a documentary; a travel agent interested in ecotourism; Charlie Herron, a wealthy Los Angeles developer, and his eight-year-old son; Pete's old friend and neighbor Eddie McNab; and Roland Redhawk, an environmental activist keeping an eye on Herron, who has plans to build a ski resort in the area. Even though the tour package didn't include murder, Lee turns to sleuthing when members of the group start dying at an alarming rate.

The 16th novel by #1 bestselling author Louise Penny finds Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Quebec investigating a sinister plot in the City of Light

On their first night in Paris, the Gamaches gather as a family for a bistro dinner with Armand's godfather, the billionaire Stephen Horowitz. Walking home together after the meal, they watch in horror as Stephen is knocked down and critically injured in what Gamache knows is no accident, but a deliberate attempt on the elderly man's life.

When a strange key is found in Stephen's possession it sends Armand, his wife Reine-Marie, and his former second-in-command at the Sûreté, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, from the top of the Tour d'Eiffel, to the bowels of the Paris Archives, from luxury hotels to odd, coded, works of art.

It sends them deep into the secrets Armand's godfather has kept for decades.

A gruesome discovery in Stephen's Paris apartment makes it clear the secrets are more rancid, the danger far greater and more imminent, than they realized.

Soon the whole family is caught up in a web of lies and deceit. In order to find the truth, Gamache will have to decide whether he can trust his friends, his colleagues, his instincts, his own past. His own family.

For even the City of Light casts long shadows. And in that darkness devils hide.

"This series is just pure fun." --Somebody Dies

It happened at Serenity's swap meet, right after Brandy Borne and her ever-more-eccentric mother Vivian finished shooting the pilot for their very own TV show, Antiques Sleuths. Brandy just, well, lost her balance and fell . . . into the helpful arms of an old flame, local tycoon Wesley Sinclair III. But did Brandy's innocent slip lead to the murder of Wesley's wife, Vanessa?

Sure, Vanessa was furious that she caught Brandy in Wesley's embrace. And she did storm off threatening dire consequences for her humbled husband. So when Vanessa turns up very dead, the local tongue-wag is that Wesley may have permanently dethroned the queen of his castle. But Brandy--along with her notoriously nosy mother and their sleuthing shih tzu Sushi--is determined to dig for the whole truth.

Each new clue points in a different direction. What about this suspicious Club of Eight, a super-secret high-society bridge group that supposedly has very liberal rules about "partners"? When a key witness joins the dead list, Brandy and Vivian know they've got to crack this case before the remorseless killer puts an end to their antiquing days--forever!

Don't miss Brandy Borne's tips on swap meets!

Ellie Bernstein is still a fan of the TV series M*A*S*H*. So are a lot of other people in Colorado Springs. Years ago they all attended the M*A*S*H* bash to watch the show's finale, and everyone came as their favorite character. Now, fifty-five pounds lighter, Ellie sure looks a lot more like Hot Lips, but that claim to fame might be dangerous. There's a killer on the loose, and it seems that the show's look-alikes are being murdered. What's the motive? Ellie's dying to see the ending of this serial killer's saga -- she's just praying that she's not part of the final episode.

The most popular duo of detectives to prowl Victorian London since Holmes and Watson are back on the case--their 12th, to be precise. Inspector Thomas Pitt and his wife Charlotte rise once more to the occasion when foul murder rears its head in the fashionable circles of Belgrave Square.

Jonathan Kellerman, America's foremost author of psychological suspense, weaves a tale of innocence, urban depravity and the resilience of the human spirit, bringing to life one street kid's efforts to survive in the face of unspeakable evil.

After her husband is killed, Minnesota police officer Claire Watkins and her 10-year-old daughter, Meg, move to a small Wisconsin town. Nine months later the crime is still unsolved, but Claire is slowly rebuilding her life. Two things are about to shatter her fragile peace: the murder of her neighbor and the discovery that Meg has a secret -- she saw who killed her father. Someone else knows Meg's secret, too...and he's followed them there....

The New York Times bestselling author of Not the Killing Type is back in Booktown with another page-turning mystery. Bookstore owner Tricia Miles and her sister, Angelica, must put their problems on the shelf to catch a killer who turns a bookcase into a murder weapon...

After cranky Chamber of Commerce receptionist Betsy Dittmeyer is crushed by a fallen bookcase, the next item to be read is her will, which is packed with surprises. It seems Betsy was hiding volumes of secrets behind her perpetual frown--one of which might have been a motive for murder.

While Tricia tries to help Angelica--the newly elected Chamber of Commerce president--solve the mystery, she discovers a hidden chapter in her own family history. And with her ex-husband and the chief of police vying for her affections, it's doubly hard to focus on who buried Betsy in a tomb of tomes.

But Tricia and Angelica will need to watch their step carefully to make sure the killer doesn't catch them between the stacks.

Uncommon valor in the line of duty and unconditional devotion in the name of love are the salient qualities of the daring men and women who risk it all in the heart-pounding thrillers of New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann. Crafted with precision and power, her characters come alive with a depth of emotion few writers have achieved. Now, with Breaking Point, Brockmann breaks even further through the pack and delivers a stunning payload.
As commander of the nation's most elite FBI counterterrorism unit, agent Max Bhagat leads by hard-driving example: pushing himself to the limit and beyond, taking no excuses, and putting absolutely nothing ahead of his work. That includes his deep feelings for Gina Vitagliano, the woman who won his admiration and his heart with her courage under fire. But when the shocking news reaches him that Gina has been killed in a terrorist bombing, nothing can keep Max from making a full investigation-and retribution-his top priority.
At the scene of the attack, however, Max gets an even bigger shock. Gina is still very much alive-but facing a fate even worse than death. Along with Molly Anderson, a fellow overseas relief worker, Gina has fallen into the hands of a killer who is bent on using both women to bait a deadly trap. His quarry? Grady Morant, a.k.a "Jones," a notorious ex-Special Forces operative turned smuggler who made some very deadly enemies in the jungles of Southeast Asia . . . and has been running ever since. But with Molly's life on the line, Jones is willing to forfeit his own to save the woman he loves.
Together with Max's top agent Jules Cassidy as their only backup, the unlikely allies plunge into a global hot zoneof violence and corruption to make a deal with the devil. Not even Jones knows which ghosts from his past want him dead. But there's one thing he's sure of-there's very little his bloodthirsty enemies aren't willing to do.
Count on the intense action and raw honesty that Suzanne Brockmann consistently delivers, as she goes for broke in Breaking Point-and never looks back.

The year is 1919 and the population of Great Britain is still struggling to its feet after being hit by the atrocities of the First World War. Progress is slow, even in quiet spots like the village of Broughton Underhill, on the edge of the Black Country. Gradually soldiers return, wounds begin to heal, and people try to move on with their lives. Former police sergeant Herbert Reardon has returned to the village, determined to solve an old murder--a woman was found drowned in the lake when the war was just beginning.

However, as Reardon begins to investigate, it becomes clear that secrets still abound and lips are staying sealed. When Edith Huckaby, a maid from Oaklands Park, is found murdered in exactly the same spot, Reardon is convinced that the two cases are linked. As he endeavors to discover the hidden truth, his suspects and witnesses are painstakingly trying to rebuild their lives, in a world that has been changed and scarred forever.

"Broken Music" is a masterful portrait of the horrors of the front line and the anxiety of the home front, as the loves and losses of wartime Britain are woven together and the truth slowly dawns on a local tragedy.

Leave it to Claire Malloy, owner of the Book Depot in Farberville, to start out having tea with retired schoolteacher Miss Emily Parchester and end up investigating a murder. An avant-garde artist who moved into a house on Willow Street has the whole neighborhood up in arms. His "interactive art, " complete with a nearly nude model and a coffin in the front yard, is attracting a mob of noisy gawkers. Irate residents are worried about declining property values. The local mystery writer cannot meet her deadlines with the constant clatter. And when the artist's estranged wife rolls up in a limo and announces to one and all that she intends to have him committed to a mental institution, all of Farberville is in a dither. But before the night is out, even stranger things happen: the volatile artist's house goes up in smoke, a dead body is found inside the coffin, the artist is promptly arrested for murder...and Claire Malloy, devoted amateur sleuth that she is, starts snooping where she doesn't belong.

Halloween is coming to Tinker's Cove, Maine, and local reporter Lucy Stone is covering the town's annual Giant Pumpkin Fest for the Pennysaver. There's the pumpkin-boat regatta, the children's Halloween party, the pumpkin weigh-in...even a contest where home-built catapults hurl pumpkins at an old Dodge! But not everything goes quite as planned...

Lucy's getting very annoyed that her husband Bill and his friend Evan have been working seemingly nonstop on their potentially prize-winning pumpkin catapult. But when the day of the big contest arrives, Evan is nowhere to be found...until a catapulted pumpkin busts open the trunk of the Dodge. Amid the pumpkin gore is a very deceased Evan, bashed in the head and placed in the trunk by someone long before the contest started.

Bill is on the hook for the Halloween homicide--he was the last one to see Evan--so Lucy knows she's got some serious sleuthing to do. The crime's trail seems to always circle back to Country Cousins, the town's once-quaint general store that's now become a big Internet player. Though the store's founder, Old Sam Miller, is long gone, his son Tom and grandson Trey now run the hugely successful company. But whispered rumors say things aren't going well, and Lucy finds that this case may have something to do with an unsolved, decades-old Miller family mystery...

With each new lead pointing her in a different direction, Lucy sees that time is quickly running out. If she wants to spook the real killer, she'll have to step into an old ghost story...

Castlemere is terrorized by a killer who demands a ransom of one million pounds from the town. Superintendent Frank Shapiro and Inspector Liz Graham must reduce the hysteria while Sergeant Cal Donovan is on holiday. When Donovan's abandoned boat is found, the sergeant is is believed to have been killed by the blackmailer. Yet stranger twists are still to come. Martin's Press.

For fortysomething Poppy McAllister, taking a stroll down memory lane in Cape May, New Jersey, isn't just awkward--it's deadly.

Newly widowed and stuck in a middle-aged funk, Poppy has been running on cookies, infomercials, and one-sided chats with her cat for months. There's no way on earth she's attending her twenty-five-year class reunion--especially after receiving a very bizarre letter from Barbie, the popular cheerleader who taunted her all through high school. At least, not until Poppy's best friend practically drags her to the event . . .

Using the dreaded homecoming as an excuse to visit her eccentric Aunt Ginny, Poppy vows to leave Cape May with pride and Spanx intact. Too bad Barbie is still the queen of mean at the reunion. And worse, that her dead body is lying right in front of Poppy's old locker. Singled out as the killer, it's up to Poppy to confront her past and clear her name. But between protecting her aunt from disaster and tackling a gluten-free diet, can Poppy crack the case before she's voted "Most Likely to Die" by the murderer?

Includes Seven Recipes from Poppy's Kitchen!

Lorraine Page is a down-on-her-luck ex-LAPD cop, recruited against her will to hunt for a serial killer. Cold Shoulder is the story of a young woman who has everything: a devoted husband, two beautiful daughters, and a successful career as a lieutenant with the Pasadena Homicide Squad. But when her partner is shot and dies in her arms, Lorraine's life starts to unravel. The after-hours drinking that once was social becomes her refuge, and soon she's not waiting until the end of her shift. From there it all comes undone with frightening speed: Drunk, she kills an innocent boy while on duty, is fired from the force, is abandoned by her family, and ends up living on the street as a prostitute. Cold Shoulder is the dramatic, frighteningly explicit account of Lorraine Page's fall and nightmarish recovery while caught between the danger of a serial killer on the loose and the manipulations of the old-boy police force that had ostracized her not so long before. The book reverberates with realism because it is based on a true story, one that has been meticulously researched and crafted by Lynda La Plante, a consummate expert in crime writing.