Staff reviews: Mystery and thrillerLike this list

44 items

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• The Man Made of Smoke

  a Novel

  North, Alex, 1976-

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  Prepare yourself, you may end up not leaving your house for a long time after reading this latest British thriller from Alex North. Dan, a criminal profiler and psychologist, is summoned back to his childhood hometown, a forgotten island off the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Nightwatching

  Sierra, Tracy

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  Recognizing that someone has broken into her house, a woman makes a pivotal, split-second decision to hide herself and her two small children in a secret room. The story expertly alternates between a pulse-pounding present and dread-inducing…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

  Stevenson, Benjamin

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  Sometimes a title alone hooks a reader and promises a darkly humorous and smart mystery. And this book absolutely delivers. People looking for a fun Knives Out-esque book would do well to start this new Australian crime series by Benjamin Stevenson.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Raven Black

  Cleeves, Ann

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  This is the first book in a fantastic mystery series. The real draw for me is that it takes place on the Shetland Islands, which is idyllic and beautiful, and mysterious—a perfect setting for intrigue. The detective in charge of the case, Jimmy…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• When the Stars Go Dark

  a Novel

  McLain, Paula

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  Part mystery, part historical fiction, this story follows Anna, who, trying to escape her past, has abruptly moved back to her hometown in northern California. Soon after she arrives, she gets caught up in an investigation for a local teen who is…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Lost Hills

  Goldberg, Lee, 1962-

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  It's always exciting to find a new series where I love the characters and find the mystery itself so compelling. This book is just that for me. This first book in the series introduces Eve Ronin, a novice detective in LA County, who is dealing with…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Last Thing to Burn

  a Novel

  Dean, Will (Novelist),

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  Will "Jane" ever escape the remote, delapidated house she's been held captive in for years? She's almost completely lost her identity as her captor burns her few, precious personal items for her "transgressions." When she has a baby and learns of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• By Its Cover

  Leon, Donna

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  Commissario Brunetti is called when missing pages are discovered at the Biblioteca Merula, a rare book library in Venice, Italy. He quickly learns that entire books are missing. He asks about frequent users and begins to unravel the mystery as he…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Murder on Millionaires' Row

  Lindsey, Erin

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  Rose Gallagher works as a housemaid on First Avenue for wealthy, handsome Mr. Thomas Wiltshire. When he stops coming home, no one else seems very concerned but Rose knows something isn't right. Resourceful and determined, she decides to find him…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Distant Dead

  a Novel

  Young, Heather, MFA

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  I knew right away I was going to like this book. It starts off with an ancient story that segues into a modern mystery of a boy who reports finding the burned-out body of his middle school math teacher. A fellow teacher searches for the truth about…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Crimson Lake

  Fox, Candice

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  Ted and Amanda are a private investigation team and are trying to figure out what happened to a local celebrity author whose body parts were found in a croc’s stomach. They both have their own stories involving the law as well; they’ve both spent…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Study in Scarlet Women

  Thomas, Sherry (Sherry M.)

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  In this re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes, Victorian woman Charlotte Holmes pretends to be the sister of "Sherlock Holmes," and interviews clients and solves crimes in a society that is just beginning to question the role of women. While beautifully…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Puffin of Death

  Webb, Betty

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  California Zoo keeper Theodora (Teddy) Bentley is off to Iceland to pick up Magnus, an orphaned Polar Bear for the Gunn Zoo’s new Northern Climes exhibit. Teddy, being Teddy, though, can’t keep herself from getting involved when a birdwatcher is…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Reckoning in the Back Country

  a Samuel Craddock Mystery

  Shames, Terry

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  What if there's a murder and no one cares? San Antonio resident Dr Lewis Wilkins is found murdered near his vacation home in Jarrett Creek, TX, – and no one is too terribly upset by it. His colleagues didn’t like him, his neighbors found him…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Infinite Blacktop

  a Novel

  Gran, Sara

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  I'm a huge Claire DeWitt fan. My favorite fictional detectives in order are DeWitt, Dirk Gently, Lionel Essrog (Motherless Brooklyn), Hank Palace (Last Policeman), Conrad Metcalf (Gun with Ocassional Music). This was the novel that I thought would…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Hope Never Dies

  a Novel

  Shaffer, Andrew

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  I'm a big fan of the Sherlock Holmes/Watson relationship and stories. This is a fun modern spin but with more of focus on Biden, maybe a closer comparison is Archie Goodwin/Nero Wolfe. I'd recommend it for anyone that enjoys mysteries and wistfully…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Before the Fall

  Hawley, Noah

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  A private jet to New York with eleven people on it crashes in the ocean, leaving only two survivors: Scott, an aspiring painter, and JJ, the four-year-old son of a wealthy and powerful media mogul. This novel illustrates the development of the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Sherlock Holmes and the Eisendorf Enigma

  Millett, Larry, 1947-

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  Millett always does a great way of blending Minnesota locations and history with the Holmes character. In this book we head to Rochester, MN, home of the Mayo Clinic and its immediate vicinity. Set in the latter years of Holmes' life, when he was on…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Secret History

  Tartt, Donna

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  When a group of precocious classics scholars at a small east coast college discover bacchanalian ecstasy, it ultimately leads to two murders. A sort of murder-mystery in reverse, this novel explores the devastation these murders have on the group's…Read moreRead more of this annotation