Mystery

The Arizona triangle : a Jo Bailen detective novel

Graves, Sydney, 1962- author.

For readers of Sue Grafton and Sara Gran, a whodunnit about a hardboiled queer private eye whose professional life crosses with her complicated personal history Justine (Jo) Vega is a queer woman private investigator on the cusp of forty who works for an all-female agency based in Tucson, Arizona. As she's staking out a cheating spouse one ordinary morning, she gets a call from her boss: her long-estranged childhood best friend, Rose, is missing, and Rose's mother wants to hire Jo to find her. This whole thing is all kinds of wrong for Jo, but her boss has already accepted the job on her behalf. So Jo heads reluctantly up to her old hometown, Delphi, an hour north of Tucson, where Tyler, her high school boyfriend and the reason her friendship with Rose went south, turns out to be the cop assigned to the missing-persons case. And he's all mixed up in it, too. And, so to find out what happened to Rose, Jo must face the demons from her past The Arizona Triangle is a hardboiled, character-driven whodunit about loyalty, love, and the legacy of trauma.....

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Murder town : a novel

Burr, Shelley, author.

Gemma Guillory has lived in the Australian Outback enclave of Rainier her entire life. She knows the tiny, red-dust town's ins and outs by heart, knows the people like they are her family, their quirks as if they were her own. She also knows her once charming town is now remembered for one reason and one reason only: three innocent people died there at the hands of a serial killer. The last stop on the Rainier Ripper's trail of deaths fifteen years ago was her picturesque little tea shop. She knows that the consequences of catching the Ripper still haunt her policeman husband and their marriage to this day, and some of her neighbors are desperate enough to welcome a dark tourism company keen to cash in on Rainier's notoriety as the "Murder Town." When the tour guide is killed by a Ripper copycat on Gemma's doorstep, the unease that has lurked quietly in the original killer's wake explodes into the light, and Gemma is drawn into the investigation. Unbeknownst to her, so is a prisoner named Lane Holland, a former private investigator who earned a living cracking cold cases before he ran afoul of the law.....

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The undercurrent

Sawyer, Sarah (Teacher), author.

It’s 2011 and Deecie Jeffries’s missing person’s case in Austin, Texas, is still cold. New mom Bee, struggling with postpartum depression, is living in Portland, Maine, having left Austin–and those memories–far behind. Until Leo, her childhood crush and her estranged twin Gus’s best friend, suddenly resurfaces, drawing Bee back into their shared past. Bee’s predictable life is upended, pushing her to return to her childhood home and piece together a neighborhood’s shattered history. Bee becomes consumed with a need to uncover the truth about Deecie’s disappearance and what happened to the families who lived across the field from one another―Gus, Leo, and their mothers: Mary, a homemaker, whose only escape is the local community theater, and Diana, a serious academic dedicated to her studies. Told in multiple perspectives with two different timelines, The Undercurrent is a gripping portrait of motherhood, obsession, broken family bonds, and buried secrets.....

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Ghosts of Waikīkī : a novel

Morita, Jennifer K., author

After the newspaper she works for folds and the freelance assignments no longer pay the bills, Maya Wong reluctantly returns to her native Hawaiʻi to ghostwrite controversial land developer Parker Hamilton's biography. But when the Hamilton patriarch is found dead under suspicious circumstances, Maya is unwittingly drawn into the investigation. Maya’s family and friends aren't happy about her work for Hamilton. And now, with her ex, Detective Koa Yamada, on the case, she’s forced to contend with the very person she was determined to avoid. All too soon, Maya is dodging assailants and digging for clues while juggling girls’ nights out with her old BFFs and weekly family dinners. Convinced the police are after the wrong man, Maya is determined to stop the killer before it’s too late. ....

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Misery hates company : a novel

Hobbs, Elizabeth (Historical mystery writer), author.

Miss Marigold Manners may be steeped in the etiquette of her old-money Boston family, but she is also an accomplished, modern woman and an avid student of archaeology who can handle any situation with poise. When the death of her parents leaves her too destitute to pursue her academic career and she receives a letter from a distant relative on Great Misery Island, Marigold decides she must do what any person of superior sense and greater-than-average curiosity would: she mounts her trusty bicycle and heads up the craggy, fog-shrouded coast of New England for a date with fate. Marigold arrives at Hatchet Farm, a moldering, gothic pile of a house inhabited by relatives so mired in the sins of the past, they have no future. She sets out to modernize the recluses with a brisk, ruthless efficiency, but her well-intentioned plans to manage their lives lead to malice—and murder. Marigold spies a body floating in the stormy waters surrounding the island, and her suspicions immediately turn to her hostile, weapon-wielding relatives when one of the local girls turns up missing. And she might not be the only one. When another dead body is found in the garden of the estate, Marigold finds herself accused. She must enlist the help of an eccentric, colorful cast of friends and found family to save herself—and everything she holds dear. As secrets are uncovered and lies exposed, the question of “who done it?” turns into “who didn’t do it?” and Marigold must face a truth that shatters her steely poise and shakes her very sense of self.....

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Golden hour

Woods, Stuart, creator.

Teddy Fay is ready to embark on the European press tour of Peter Barrington's latest film Storm's Eye, when he receives an unexpected visit from Lance Cabot, director of the CIA. Several CIA agents have been turning up dead. The commonality? They were all part of a mission Teddy was involved in: Golden Hour. Lance wants Teddy to use his trip as a cover to investigate who is behind these killings. From Venice and Budapest to their last stop at a film festival in Berlin, Teddy must dodge excited fans, enamored women, and a few too many assassins who seem dead set on tracking down Golden Hour agents. And if Teddy doesn't work fast enough, his identity--and life--might just be the next target in the killer's ruthless plot for revenge.....

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Midnight and blue

Rankin, Ian, author.

John Rebus spent his life as a cop putting Edinburgh's most deadly criminals behind bars. Now having been convicted of a homicide, he's joined them... A convict is brutally murdered in his locked cell deep in the heart of Scotland's most infamous prison. Sleeping in a cell across the floor lies John Rebus, the equally notorious detective. Stripped of his badge and estranged from his police family, he is now fighting for his own life -- protected by an old nemesis but always one wrong move away from the shank. As new allies and old enemies circle, and the days and nights bleed into each other, even this legendary figure struggles to keep his head. They say old habits die hard, though. The death stirs Rebus's deductive -- and manipulative -- impulses, setting off a domino-chain of scheming criminals, corrupt prison guards and perhaps only one or two good souls who may see it all through. But how do you find a killer in a place full of them?....

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Guilt and ginataan

Manansala, Mia P., author.

The annual Shady Palms Corn Festival is one of the town's biggest moneymakers, drawing crowds from all over the Midwest looking to partake in delicious treats, local crafts, and of course, the second- largest corn maze in Illinois. Lila Macapagal and her Brew-ha Cafe crew, Adeena Awan and Elena Torres, are all too happy to participate in the event, though their fun is cut short when their wager on who can make it through the corn maze fastest ends with a dead body in the middle of the maze and an unconscious Adeena next to the body, clutching a bloody knife. With her best friend and business partner the main suspect in the murder, Lila and her crew put on their sleuthing caps yet again to find the killer who framed Adeena and show them what happens when they mess with a Brew-ha.......

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Time will tell : a novel

Brown, Rita Mae, author.

Between organizing a joint session with her friends at Bull Run Hunt, leading her own Jefferson Hunt Club’s fox hunting season, and looking after her beloved hounds and horses, “Sister” Jane Arnold is as busy as can be. She and her friend Tootie Harris are helping to lure home hunt club member Cindy Chandler’s two escaped cows, Clytemnestra and Orestes, when they discover an expensive watch carelessly abandoned on an overgrown path. The last thing Sister needs is another mystery to solve, but when one falls into her lap, she can’t help but get involved. Days later, a young man is murdered, one with seemingly no connection to the pricey jewelry or a life of crime. His mother is distraught, and Sister vows to find the murderer. But when hounds on the hunt discover a truck covered in blood – with no body in sight – she quickly realizes she’s in over her head with a cunning and clever adversary. Can she find the link and stop the murderer before they strike again? Only time will tell.....

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Big breath in

Straley, John, 1953- author.

Diagnosed with terminal cancer, retired marine biologist Delphine is on the brink of throwing in the towel. She has outlived her PI husband and feels like a burden to her son and his growing family. One night, while contemplating how to go on, Delphine witnesses a woman and her young child being victimized by her apparent boyfriend. When Delphine later discovers the woman has gone missing, she embarks on a quest to track her down and help her and the child. What begins as a chance encounter balloons into an at-once zany and heartfelt rescue mission across the Pacific Northwest. Along the way, Delphine encounters the dregs of humanity-grappling with schemers, kidnappers, and murderers-as well as its joys. With the help of a few friends, a retired PI, and a queer biker gang, Delphine becomes determined to stop the bad guys from getting away with it . . . knowing full well it may be her last hurrah. While Big Breath In stands alone, longtime Straley fans will recognize the characteristic wit, heart, and contemplation of life that threads through every one of his books-and discover a new heroine to fall in love with.....

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Eight very bad nights : a collection of Hanukkah noir

Across eleven stories, award-winning authors spin tales of family, corruption, buried treasure and delightful yet twisted capers that will entertain readers through all eight nights of the Festival of Lights. In Stefanie Leder’s “Not a Dinner Party Person,” an unstable pharmaceutical rep tries not to kill anyone at her family dinner on the last night of Hanukkah; in Ivy Pochoda’s “Johnny Christmas,” a taciturn Gulf War vet commissions a tattoo from a man he knew from his prison days, a man not named Christmas but Goldfarb; in David L. Ulin’s “Shamash,” it’s the last night of Hanukkah, and a live-at-home adult son considers doing something drastic to get out of his elderly father’s Upper West Side apartment; in James D.F. Hannah’s “Twenty Centuries,” a pair of detectives solve a curiously unprompted murder during the holiday season. This captivating collection contains old-school slapstick comedy, hardboiled noir, gritty procedurals, and poignant reminders of the meaning of Hanukkah, offering something for almost every reader willing to take the journey through these twisted tales. With stories by Ivy Pochoda, David L. Ulin, James D.F. Hannah, Lee Goldberg, Nikki Dolson, J.R. Angelella, Liska Jacobs, Gabino Iglesias, Stefanie Leder, and Jim Ruland, plus a foreword and story by Tod Goldberg.....

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Guide me home

Locke, Attica, author.

Texas Ranger Darren Mathews isn’t sure he’s been a good cop, but believes he’s got a shot at being a good man—if he manages to dodge the potential indictment hanging over his head and if he, from here on out, pledges allegiance to the truth. It’s a virtue the country appears to have wholly lost its grip on, but one Darren sees as his salvation. He is in the midst of remaking his life with the woman he loves, hoping for the peace of country living at his beloved farmhouse, when he is visited by someone who couldn’t hold the truth on her tongue if it was dipped in sugar, a woman who’s always been bent of tearing his life apart. His mother. Armed with a tall tale about a missing Black college student, Sera (whose white sorority sisters insist she isn’t missing at all). Darren must decide if his can trust his mother is telling the truth—and what her ulterior motive may be, and what if that motive has to do with a grand jury deciding his fate. Darren gets his hooks into the investigation, along the way discovering things about Sera’s family and her hometown that are odd at best, vaguely sinister at worst. Hamstrung by local law enforcement and the Texas Rangers who likewise doubt the account of a missing girl, if Darren wants answers, he’ll need help from the person whom he swore to never trust again—his mother.....

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