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Flagstick (Alan Saxon Mysteries #4)
By Keith Miles. 1991
Winner, Glyph Award for Best Book SeriesNominee, Bruce Alexander History Mystery AwardIn 542, Peter, John the Lord Chamberlain's elderly servant,…
claims a heavenly visitor revealed a murder to him. It transpires that Peter's old army friend has indeed been stabbed, but then John discovers that Gregory was not what he appeared to be.John's quest for the truth leads him to churchmen and whores, lawyers and bear trainers. Suspects include a dealer in dubious antiquities, a resourceful bookseller, a court poet fixated on bereavement, and a holy fool who outrages the city by dancing with the dead and invading the empress' private bath...."To the usual delightfully quirky characters, lovingly detailed descriptions of food and surprising mystery, Greenwood adds several appended medieval recipes."…
—Kirkus ReviewsCorinna Chapman, talented baker and reluctant investigator, is trying to do nothing at all on her holiday. Her gorgeous Daniel is only intermittently at her side (he's tracking down a multi-thousand dollar corporate theft). Jason, her baking offsider, has gone off to learn how to surf. And Kylie and Goss are fulfilling their lives' ambition auditioning for a soapie. But quiet reflection doesn't seem to suit Corinna. She's bored. So she accepts an offer from a caterer friend to bake for the film set of the soapie in which Kylie and Goss have parts. Soon complications that could only happen to Corinna ensue, involving cakes, sabotage, nursery rhymes, and a tiger named Tabitha.Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a young woman is being unmercifully bullied by her corporate employers—who spend a lot of time cooking the books....A Little Learning: A Madeline Maclin Mystery (Madeline Maclin Series #3)
By Jane Tesh. 2009
Former beauty queen and fledgling private investigator Madeline Maclin has married her best friend, Jerry Fairweather, and settled into his…
old house in the small town of Celosia, North Carolina. Jerry seems to have given up his cons and schemes but not his phony séances.Then Amelia Lever, an unpopular teacher at Celosia Elementary School, dies mysteriously. Convinced hers is not a natural death, Maddy starts to investigate.And then comes Maddy's next case. Nathan Fenton hires her to help solve a riddle left to him by his Uncle Elijah, a man who loved to play games. The riddle says: "From west to east the river flows, from ancient times the sparrow flies. Trust animals that live in packs, and listen where the portrait lies." Could the teacher's death and this mysterious riddle be somehow related?Till the Cows Come Home: A Stella Crown Mystery (Stella Crown Series #1)
By Judy Clemens. 2005
"She's smart. She's tough. She's sexy. She's a dairy farmer?"—BooklistStella Crown works hard and loves her life. She runs her…
own Pennsylvania dairy farm with the trusted help of longtime farmhand Howie who stuck with her after her parents died. She rides her Harley on the weekends, and has just enough friends to suit her fiercely independent nature.But on her 29th birthday, things start to change. A local child dies from a strange and threatening illness, a string of mysterious disasters place Stella and her farm in peril, and her childhood friend Abe shows up with a new woman on his arm. It seems like bad luck run amok, but when her livestock begins turning up dead, Stella knows that something, or someone, is out to get her.Agatha and Anthony Award Nominee for Best First NovelOn a blistering summer day, a bank robbery goes wrong, resulting in the deaths of all the hostages except Treva…
Williams. Pittsburgh psychologist and trauma expert Daniel Rinaldi is called in by the police to treat Treva. Soon an unforeseen series of events plunges the investigating officers, Sergeant Harry Polk, Detective Eleanor Lowrey, and Rinaldi into a vortex of mistaken identity, kidnapping, and surprising revelations about District Attorney Leland Sinclair's gubernatorial campaign. Is Sinclair somehow involved in the bank case?Rinaldi's attention is diverted by the suicide of a young patient and his growing attraction to Eleanor, as the recently-divorced Harry Polk spirals into an alcohol-driven, self-destructive free-fall. Then sudden death threats against Sinclair fuel a new frenzy of accusations and political maneuvering, and Rinaldi begins to make connections. Soon, what he knows—or thinks he knows—will pull him toward a shocking and possibly lethal confrontation.The Iron Tongue of Midnight: A Tito Amato Mystery (large Print 16pt) (Tito Amato Series #0)
By Beverle Graves Myers. 2008
In September of 1740, singer Tito Amato receives a curious invitation. The German composer Karl Johann Weber is rehearsing a…
new opera at an isolated villa nestled in the hills of the Venetian mainland. Would Tito accept the lead role? Puzzled by the air of secrecy that enshrouds the production, but attracted by a generous fee, Tito agrees. Artist Gussie Rumbolt, Tito's friend and brother-in-law, has also been summoned to paint scenes of the estate's grape harvest. The two men find the countryside awash with the golden hues of autumn, but the bucolic mood quickly turns menacing when a notorious figure from Tito's past turns up at the villa.That night, at the stroke of twelve, a soprano stumbles over a stranger who has been beaten to death with the clock pendulum. With the local constable away on a boar hunt, the midnight murderer strikes with impunity, raising terror to a fevered crescendo. Ever faithful to the ideals of truth and justice, Tito pursues his own quest for answers—a quest that leads straight into the painful secrets of his heart and beyond. The Iron Tongue of Midnight is the fourth novel in Myers' Baroque Mystery series. It follows Cruel Music.Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder"This volume in Poisoned Pen's British Library Crime Classics series is…
ideal summer vacation reading." —Publishers WeeklyHolidays offer us the luxury of getting away from it all. So, in a different way, do detective stories. This collection of vintage mysteries combines both those pleasures. From a golf course at the English seaside to a pension in Paris, and from a Swiss mountain resort to the cliffs of Normandy, this new selection shows the enjoyable and unexpected ways in which crime writers have used summer holidays as a theme.These fourteen stories range widely across the golden age of British crime fiction. Stellar names from the past are well represented—Arthur Conan Doyle and G. K. Chesterton, for instance—with classic stories that have won acclaim over the decades. The collection also uncovers a wide range of hidden gems: Anthony Berkeley—whose brilliance with plot had even Agatha Christie in raptures—is represented by a story so (undeservedly) obscure that even the British Library does not own a copy. The stories by Phyllis Bentley and Helen Simpson are almost equally rare, despite the success which both writers achieved, while those by H. C. Bailey, Leo Bruce and the little-known Gerald Findler have seldom been reprinted.Each story is introduced by the editor, Martin Edwards, who sheds light on the authors' lives and the background to their writing.The Point in the Market: A Mamur Zapt Mystery (Mamur Zapt Mysteries #15)
By Michael Pearce. 2005
"Daniel's sharp, sardonic wit and insider's view of book industry foibles are sure to make this bibliomystery a hit."—Publishers Weekly…
STARRED reviewAt the annual convention of the American Booksellers Association Convention, everything goes wrong. Julia Child's cooking demonstration in the Random House aisle blows up and catches fire. A top New York editor catches a pie in the face. Invitations to the most exclusive publisher's party are stolen and all the wrong people show up. Worse, Heidi Yamada, the world-famous poet, is found dead, spread over the late Elvis Presley's king-sized bed. It's all caught on film by a busy photographer from Publishers Weekly, a woman soon kidnapped. When the Las Vegas Police shrug their shoulders, Guy Mallon, Heidi's first publisher (and a discarded lover) wonders what to do.Poor Guy. He's a bookman from Santa Barbara who, despite Ross Macdonald and Sue Grafton, never felt inspired to be a sleuth, but he feels he owes it to Heidi. Besides, catching her killer may be his only chance to leave Las Vegas alive....The Poet's Funeral is a romp rich with poetry, publishing, book collecting, and literary gossip. Its cast ranges from smalltime players to the famous Rock Bottom Remaiders. It's a story of ego, love, art, and murder during four hot days at the 1990 ABA.The Fisher Boy: Sequel To The Fisher Boy (Mark Winslow Series #1)
By Stephen Anable. 2008
Spiraling off the tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown has long been a place of escape, new beginnings, and diverse communities.…
Famous as an art colony, known for the Cape Cod School, its gallery scene is vibrant. Gay life is everywhere. Boston comic Mark Winslow has arrived this summer with a group of fellow improv actors ready to break into Provincetown's club circuit. It should be a carefree summer, but currents swirl beneath the sunny surface. Does the tall ship out in the harbor herald an unusually large crowd of Scandinavian tourists? If not, who are the blond and ragged visitors seen everywhere? Then, at a philanthropist's dinner opening the season, Mark gets into a very public fight with the son of local bluebloods—an old school friend. It makes him the prime suspect when the lawyer is later savagely murdered out on the beach. Though he stumbles from the scene, Mark thinks his choice is simple: find the killer or be charged with the crime. The Fisher Boy is Stephen Anable's debut novel.Ten for Dying: A John The Lord Chamberlain Mystery (John, the Lord Chamberlain Mysteries #10)
By Mary Reed, Eric Mayer. 2014
548 CE, Constantinople. Emperor Justinian, distraught from the death of his wife, Empress Theodora, has exiled his longtime aide, John,…
the Lord Chamberlain. At the Church of the Holy Apostles, an Egyptian magician tries to raise the empress from the dead. As the unholy ceremony explodes into chaos, supposed demons vanish into the darkness with one of the city's holiest relics. Felix, Captain of the Palace Guard, is selected as John's successor and charged with finding the missing relic.But before Felix's investigation even begins, someone deposits a corpse at his house. A botched attempt to dispose of the body leaves Felix looking suspect. To make matters worse, it seems as if half the city wants to possess the relic, see Felix dead—or both. If only Felix's friend, the shrewd John, were still in the city, but the former Lord Chamberlain has already sailed for Greece.Now Felix enters a fight for his very survival, a crucible in which he cannot cannot tell friend from foe—or worldly dangers from the supernatural.The Kingdom Where Nobody Dies: A John Mcintire Mystery (John McIntire Mysteries #0)
By Kathleen Hills. 2007
As 11-year-old Claire Hofer nears the field where her father was raking hay, she sees a skinny, unfriendly-looking stranger scuffling…
through the stubble toward her. The man is Township Constable John McIntire, and Claire's father is dead.McIntire finds the crime baffling. Reuben Hofer has only lived in the old St. Adele schoolhouse since early May and his family had little contact with anyone in the community save the Catholic priest and Doctor Mark Guibard, who's been attending Hofer's chronically ill, morbidly obese wife. Old acquaintances of the Hofers turn up, but no one seems to have a plausible motive for murder. Soon the spotlight of the murder investigation brings new misery to a family already devastated by misfortune and poverty, and McIntire confronts a fumbling nemesis in the bewildered and frightened, but determined, Claire.To Thine Own Self Be True (Stella Crown Series)
By Judy Clemens. 2006
"An armchair travelers delight"—Publishers WeeklyOne dead art collector and a gallery of suspects. This romantic weekend just turned deadly…Translator Rick…
Montoya is looking forward to a quiet weekend away with his girlfriend, Betta, an art fraud investigator for the Italian Culture Ministry. Their destination: the beautiful village of Urbino, home to Renaissance masters Rafael and the lesser-known Piero della Francesca. While Betta does have official business to attend to—namely, collecting a priceless Piero drawing from a wealthy Spanish collector on the ministry's behalf—she asks Rick to join her "in case she needs an interpreter," but with other, less-official intentions in mind.When the Spaniard is found murdered and the drawing stolen, Betta must shift back into art cop mode, and Rick's official services are required after all. As they set out to discover the identity of the killer and the whereabouts of the stolen sketch, they are drawn from Urbino's cobbled streets to eastern Tuscany and back as the list of suspects grows longer—and more dangerous. Will this lovers' getaway literally be to die for?This captivating crime fiction novel is perfect for armchair travel, transporting you right to Italy with vivid descriptions of the scenery, food, and wine. To Die in Tuscany is sure to delight those interested in international crime mysteries, police procedurals, and fans of art and the Renaissance period will appreciate learning more about Raphael and Piero della Francesca.Also in the Rick Montoya Italian Mysteries:Cold Tuscan StoneDeath in the DolomitesMurder Most UnfortunateReturn to UmbriaA Funeral in MantovaRoman Count DownA Case of Imagination: A Madeline Maclin Mystery (Madeline Maclin Series #1)
By Jane Tesh. 2006
On this nice July morning in Parkland, North Carolina, the office of Madeline Maclin Investigations might as well have been…
an Egyptian tomb: hot, dusty, and dead. It doesn't help that her landlord Reid Kent, does a brisk business and briskly hits on Mac to rejoin his agency. He maintains no one will hire a former Miss Parkland as a serious PI.Mac has been friends forever with Jerry Fairweather. Jerry claims to be psychic and is, unlike his two brothers, somewhat screwy. And he refuses to claim a share in the Fairweather fortune. But he shares some good news with Mac—his Uncle Val has died and left him a house. The two friends drive out to Celosia, a half hour away, where they discover a local beauty pageant in trouble and a house just perfect for setting up shop. A Psychic Shop. The arrival of lawyer Olivia, Jerry's shark-like girlfriend, rouses both Mac's interest in the mystery at the pageant and the one in her own heart. And then comes the first murder.A Case of Imagination is Jane Tesh's playful first mystery, the start of a series by an author who admires Terry Pratchett, Martha Grimes, Carl Hiaasen, and P.G. Wodehouse.Flowers for Her Grave: The Grim Reaper Mysteries, Book 3 (Grim Reaper Series #3)
By Judy Clemens. 2011
"Readers will find themselves throughly entertained by this oddly appealing mix of the jaunty and the macabre."—BooklistCasey and Death are…
on the run…again. After obtaining new identification and throwing herself off the grid, she travels to Florida to begin a new life as Daisy Gray, fitness instructor for a wealthy, enclosed community. But even while keeping her head down, it doesn't take long for Casey to find herself in the middle of trouble. One of the residents is attacked, and Casey is the one to find her, bleeding on the tile floor of the locker room. Despite heroic attempts, the woman dies, and the community is thrown into turmoil. The cops are at a loss, unable to find anyone who might want the woman dead.Despite Death's urgings to go on the run again, Casey takes a careful look at the victim's life and asks who could have wanted her dead. The free-wheeling residents? The staff? And what, if anything, might Casey's predecessors in her new job have to do with it? Time to dig in and ask, even with Death on her back.The Camel of Destruction (Mamur Zapt Mysteries #7)
By Michael Pearce. 2002
Cairo, 1910. Captain Owen, The Mamur Zapt, is the head of Egypt's Political CID in the heyday of British Rule.…
He is ultimately responsible for law and order in the Khedive's Cairo. When the rules, whether obvious or hidden, are flouted, he steps into action - although it sometimes looks like he's merely stepped sideways, out of the way.Now it is the end of the boom, leaving banks beleaguered and borrowers in trouble whether the poorest land-working fellahin or the richest land-owning Pashas. Then a civil servant suspiciously dies at his desk. The whiff of corruption is in the air. Even Owen, who is supposed to be investigating the affair, appears to be living beyond his means. As he turns to such unlikely allies as the Grand Mufti, the local barber, and the Widow Shawquat, he penetrates to the heart of such sinister organizations as the Khedive's Agricultural Society. The rich are tricky, and money speaks louder than words, challenging Owen to use all his skills to stop the Camel of Destruction....Mercury's Rise: A Silver Rush Mystery (Silver Rush Mysteries #4)
By Ann Parker. 2011
"Parker's deft evocation of a lost era in Western American history—the life of the mining boom town—and her complex characterization…
make Leaden Skies an absorbing read."—Stephanie Barron, national bestselling authorIt is summer 1880, and Inez Stannert, one of the partners in the Silver Queen Saloon in Leadville, Colorado, travels with her photographer friend Susan to the fashionable summer retreat of Manitou for a reunion with her son, now a toddler in the care of her sister. On the way, fellow stagecoach passenger Edward Pace suddenly grows faint, swigs some medicine, and dies under their horrified gaze. Pace's widow rejects a weak heart theory and begs Inez to investigate. As Inez digs deeper, she uncovers the shady side of spa tourism including spurious claims, profiteering from the coming bonanza in medicinal waters and miracle cures, and medical practitioners who kindle false hopes in the desperate and the dying. Then Inez's husband Mark reappears after a year and a half's unexplained absence. Now she must fight to hold on to her child and the life she has built for herself in an era where "independent woman" is an oxymoron.Silver Rush Mysteries:Silver Lies (Book 1)Iron Ties (Book 2)Leaden Skies (Book 3)Mercury's Rise (Book 4)What Gold Buys (Book 5)A Dying Note (Book 6)Mortal Music (Book 7)Praise for the Silver Rush Mysteries:"Plenty of convincing action bodes well for a long and successful series."—Publishers Weekly STARRED review for Iron Ties"Meticulously researched and full of rich period details…her characters will stay will you long after you've finished the last page. Highly recommended."—TASHA ALEXANDER, New York Times bestselling author for Mortal Music"One of the most authentic and evocative historical series around. Long live Inez!"—RHYS BOWEN, New York Times bestselling author for What Gold BuysBruce Alexander Historical Mystery Award WinnerMacavity Historical Novel Award FinalistColorado Book Award FinalistWILLA Literary Award FinalistAgatha Best Historical Mystery Award FinalistThe RagTime Traveler (Ragtime Mysteries #4)
By Larry Karp, Casey Karp. 2017
"The fourth Ragtime Mystery is filled with warmth and wonder and interesting music trivia, buoyed by the relationship between the…
two sleuths, which may well echo that between the late Larry Karp and his son, who finished this final installment after his death." —Kirkus ReviewsIt takes one moment in 2016 for ragtime music expert Alan Chandler to go from sitting in his hotel room in Sedalia, Missouri, to standing beside the King of Ragtime—Scott Joplin—at his upright piano in 1899. Chandler suddenly finds himself more than one hundred years earlier inside the famous Maple Leaf Club with its gas chandeliers, massive walnut bar, gaming tables, and pals surrounding the noted pianist and composer."What in the hell is going on? Am I dreaming?"Clearly something unexpected is going on for Chandler in the fourth and final Ragtime Mystery by father and son Larry Karp and Casey Karp. A longtime friend Mickey Potash phones Chandler, top ragtime performer and national expert on Joplin, to say that a duffel filled with Joplin's handwritten music has surfaced. Chandler and his grandson, Tom, race from Seattle to Sedalia to evaluate what may be the most important find in popular American music. Potash shows them initial pages which look authentic, but before they can get the duffel hidden in a padlocked closet, he is tortured and murdered. The duffel is stolen.Disappointment encourages a resurgence of symptoms in Chandler's Stage 4 cancer. He's determined to validate the music before time runs out. Tom, and later his wife, Miriam, help him. Another murder complicates their investigation. The trail to the duffel is crowded: Jackson and Saramae, two young people with journalism in their blood, want to solve the crime, as do homicide detectives and antique shopkeepers. Not surprisingly, the roots of the lost music lie in past emotional conflict, now tangled in genealogical warfare.This Isn't a Game: A Jackson Oliver Mystery (Jackson Oliver Mysteries #1)
By David Moss. 2016
A smart debut sends Jackson Oliver, head of online gambling casino VegasVegas, headquartered in San Jose, Costa Rica, to a…
New England village where he suspects someone has gotten away with murder—and used VegasVegas as part of the clever con. Jackson not only feels like a chump for accepting a bet that will cost VegasVegas a hundred grand, he's exposed the casino to blacklisting by the Offshore Gaming Association, which could ruin it.How did this happen? It's a celebrity-obsessed age. VegasVegas posts novelty propositions so its customers can bet on the outcome of TV shows like The Voice and The Bachelorette, and on political elections and celebrity murder trials. VegasVegas customers don't want to bet on speeding tickets or misdemeanor theft. They're star-obsessed. Athlete, musician, actor, socialite—the more the victim or alleged perpetrator shows up on TMZ, the more money bettors fork out. So VegasVegas offered odds on various outcomes in the trial of a movie director accused of murdering his wife. The trial comes fourteen months after Andrew Marvel's arrest, and conviction seems certain. When a customer bets $1,000 that all charges will be dropped—an outcome so unlikely that the odds are 100 to 1—Jackson takes the bet.Audrey Marvel was killed in the couple's lakeside summer home in Greensboro, Vermont. Audrey's blood was all over Andrew's clothes, which the police found at the bottom of the lake. Andrew's wild account that he'd been drugged with Doxepin and hijacked sounds like it was ghostwritten by the prosecutor. Yet two days after the bet made at VegasVegas, an unshakable video alibi for Andrew surfaces, proving the director was three hours away at the time of Audrey's murder. And all charges are dropped.Jackson suspects the bettor, a Greensboro resident, had inside information—or worse—making the bet fraudulent and letting VegasVegas off the hook. With no time to lose proving his theory, Jackson hops a plane to Vermont. There, working undercover, he begins to investigate the Marvel murder. A ring of antique weathervane thieves and an attractive crime blogger with movie scripts in her past figure in.This Isn't a Game starts a series where Jackson will explore both crimes and new career trajectories.Frag Box (Herman Jackson Series #0)
By Richard A. Thompson. 2009
2018 Colorado Book Award finalist"Featuring a crime spree and a murderer, both as cold as the Midwestern winter setting, this…
whodunit will burn like frostbite." —Library JournalIt's the Garden of Eden. And the weather is absolutely freezing!The discovery of the body of a young man inside the mausoleum of the Civil War veteran who commissioned this bizarre sculpture park makes the blood of Undersheriff Lottie Albright and her husband's Aunt Dorothy run cold. Dorothy Mercer, paying a visit to Western Kansas from Manhattan, may be a bestselling mystery novelist, but she is truly shocked confronting murder firsthand.But the real bone-chiller is yet to come.With snow coming on, Lottie and Dorothy act quickly to preserve the crime scene while awaiting the arrival of Sheriff Sam Adams. Eyes, and boots, on the ground, they measure and photograph underneath the park's bizarre parade of tree-high sculptures. Why would they look up?Reaching Woman stands some forty feet in the air, trapped in stone. And in her arms—a ghastly bundle. It takes the sharp eyes of the old sheriff to spot her burden. It breaks all hearts when it's brought to earth, a second body, so fresh, so frozen, so forlorn.Lottie, transitioning from local historian to the politicking necessary to organize a regional crime center, is made the lead investigator. It's a test of the concept and of her role as its director. She needs investigators, forensics, technology, manpower—and a psychologist to pit wits with a clearly deranged killer. Her twin, Kansas City's Dr. Josie Albright, is the perfect choice.Frank Dimon at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, a reluctant champion of the regional concept, believes too many members of Lottie's family—her veterinarian/deputy husband Keith, Josie, even Dorothy—are on Lottie's team. But Frank's insertion of a forensic psychologist of his own choosing sets off a ferocious conflict between Josie and his appointee, Dr. Evan Ferguson, as a hastily assembled crew from the region's counties pits rural wisdom against the KBI's sophisticated methods. Frustration mounts and urgency grows as more statues of women cradling victims are found, the vicious winter weather aiding the psychopath's work.No matter how cutting edge the technology, you can't beat luck. In a break from the stress, Lottie begins to read a Commonplace Book deposited at the Historical Society. As she follows the heartbreaking words penned by a desperate, shunned child of stunning inner beauty and strength, his observations provide the key—at a terrible cost.A Killing Season (Medieval Mysteries #8)
By Priscilla Royal. 2011
Baron Herbert's return from crusade should have been a joyous occasion. Instead, he grows increasingly morose, withdraws from his family,…
and refuses to share his wife's bed. When his sons begin to die in strange accidents, some ask whether Herbert harbors a dark sin for which God has cursed him.Then the baron suddenly sends for Sir Hugh of Wynethorpe, begging his friend to bring spiritual and secular healers but giving little explanation for the request. Worried about Herbert's descent into melancholy and the tragic deaths, Sir Hugh persuades his sister, Prioress Eleanor of Tyndal Priory, as well as a respected physician, Master Gamel, to accompany him. Although he is pleased when the prioress brings her healer, Sister Anne, he is surprised to find the mysterious Brother Thomas included.Is there a malign presence at this storm-blasted castle, oddly named Doux et Dur? Tensions spark among family members and soon ignite too among those who came to help. Death's scythe harvests more victims, and it is not long before Ecclesiastes' grim words seem all too apt: there is a season for everything under heaven, including a time to kill....