New Mystery Books – May 2010

Among Thieves David Hosp, M HOS – In the early hours of March 18, 1990, two men entered Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, tied up the guards, and escaped with 500 million dollars’ worth of paintings.  Based on a true story.

 

 

Apple Turnover Murder Joanne Fluke, M FLU – It’s June in Lake Eden, and for Hannah Swensen, that means bridal showers galore, a massive fundraising event and a killer who never learned that charity begins at home.

 

 

Death at the Alma Mater G.M. Malliet, M MAL – Detective St. Just is called in when the glamorous—and despised—Lexy Laurant is found strangled on the grounds of St. Michael’s College, Cambridge during a fundraising weekend.

 

 

Diary of a Confessions Queen Kathy Carmichael, M CAR – Seven years ago, Amy Crosby’s husband disappeared.  She presumes he’s dead, but when she begins legal proceedings to have him declared deceased, things take a chaotic turn.

 

 

The Double Comfort Safari Club Alexander McCall Smith, M MCCA – A wonderful new installment in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.  Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are traveling to a safari camp to carry out a delicate mission.

 

 

Drink the Tea Thomas Kaufman, M KAU – Street-kid Willis Gidney grows up to become a private investigator on the gritty streets of Washington, D.C.   Unfortunately, while investigating a missing person, he is accused of murder.

 

 

Eye of the Red Tsar Sam Eastland, M EAS – A decade after the assassinations of the Romanov family, former secret agent Pekkala is now Prisoner 4745-P and banished to a forest on the outskirts of humanity.

 

 

The God of the Hive Laurie R. King, M KIN – Shocking events force Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes to separate and go on the run, wanted by the police and pursued across the Continent by a ruthless enemy.

 

 

Haunt Me Still Jennifer Lee Carrell, M CAR – The author of Interred with Their Bones returns with a tale of an ancient web of murder that surrounds Shakespeare’s Macbeth,

 

 

Hazard Gardiner Harris, M HAR – Inspector Will Harris is sent to investigate a mining accident and told to clear things up quickly.  But Will senses something suspicious, and decides to follow through, whatever the cost.

 

 

Holly Blues Susan Wittig Albert, M ALB – Ex-lawyer and herbalist Chian Bayles finds that an unwelcome holiday guest creates a very thorny situation for her and her husband.

 

 

If the Dead Rise Not Philip Kerr, M KER – International corruption and dangerous double-dealing involve Bernie Gunther as he is caught in the tense atmosphere surrounding the German 1936 Olympics.

 

 

The Inheritance Simon Tolkien, M TOL – When a famed Oxford historian is found dead in his study one night, all the evidence points to his son, Stephen.

 

 

Known to Eviln Walter Mosley, M MOS – Leonid McGill knows something suspicious is going on as soon as the phone rings.  Alphone Rinaldo, New York’s ultimate fixer has a problem, and he is not someone that a private investigator can say no to.

 

 

Laughed ‘Til He Died Carolyn Hart, M HAR – Intrigue and foul play are no strangers to the  South Carolina sea island of Broward’s Rock.  Mystery bookstore owner Annie Darling and her husband Max are plunged into a web of danger and deceit.

 

 

A Murderous Procession Ariana Franklin, M FRA – The fourth installment of the Mistress of the Art of Death series finds Adelia Aguilar traveling with the King Henry II’s ten-year-old daughter to Palermo, Sicily for her wedding.

 

 

Naked Moon Domenic Stansberry, M STA – Before Dante Mancuso became a San Francisco private investigator, he worked for a secret corporate security firm.  When Dante left, it was not on good terms, buthis past is not quite over.

 

 

Off Track Clare Curzon, M CUR – Superintendent Mike Yeadings is confronted with the aftermath of a vicious and mistaken attack.  During his investigation, grim secrets of national importance begin to emerge.

 

 

Question of Belief Donna Leon, M LEO – The 19th Guido Brunetti mystery finds the stellar commissario longing for a vacation in the mountains, but forced to bake in the Venetian heat as a violent crime puts his vacation plans on hold.

 

 

Requiem In Vienna J. Sydney Jones, M JON – After a singer is killed during rehearsals at Vienna’s Court Opera, the evidence suggests something even more sinister: someone may be trying to murder the famous composer, Gustav Mahler.

 

 

The Shadow of Your Smile Mary Higgins Clark, M CLA – As the last of her line, Olivia Morrow knows that she faces a momentous choice: expose a long-held family secret, or it take it with her to the grave.

 

 

The Spellmans Strike Again Lisa Lutz, M LUT – The latest in the zany world of the Spellmans.  Former wild child Isabel has finally agreed to take over the family business.

 

 

The Spies of Sobeck P.C. Doherty, M DOH – It’s 1477 B.C. and treacherous forces are on the rise in Egypt.  Queen Hatusu’s Chief Judge Amerotke must confront murder and treason.

 

 

This Body of Death Elizabeth George, M GEO – On compassionate leave after the murder of his wife, Thomas Lynley is called back to Scotland Yard when the body of a woman is found stabbed in an isolated London cemetery.

 

 

The Tulip Virus Daniëlle Hermans, M HER – A fast-paced mystery that revolves around real-life events surrounding the economic collapse of the tulip bubble in 17th century Holland.  Much later, in 2007, a murder seems to mirror an earlier one centuries before.

 

 

The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag Alan Bradley, M BRA – Flavia de Luce who was featured in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie returns to untangle two deaths — separated by time, but linked by the unlikeliest of threads.