Suspense Amateur Detective

In the small village of Kilbane, County Cork, Ireland, Natalie's Bistro has always been warm and welcoming. Nowadays, 22-year-old Siobhan O'Sullivan runs the family bistro named for her mother, along with her five siblings, after the death of their parents in a car crash almost a year ago. It's been a rough year for the O'Sullivans, but it's about to get rougher. One morning, as they're opening the bistro, they discover a man seated at a table with a pair of hot pink barber scissors protruding from his chest.

England, 1914. Joanna Blalock's keen mind and incredible insight lead her to become a highly skilled nurse, one of the few professions that allow her to use her finely tuned brain. But when she and her 10-year-old son witness a man fall to his death, apparently by suicide, they are visited by the elderly Dr. John Watson and his charming, handsome son, Dr. John Watson Jr. Impressed by her forensic skills, they invite her to become the third member of their investigative team.

Marshall Miller would’ve remembered her face even if he hadn’t seen it on a MISSING poster. When a young woman disappears in his small town, the investigation hinges on Marshall’s haunted sighting of her, crying in the back seat of a police car driven by a cop named Maddox. There’s only one problem: no local cop named Maddox exists. But the speeding ticket he handed to Marshall certainly does.

It's June 1814, and the royal families of Austria, Russia, and the German states have gathered in London at the Prince Regent's invitation to celebrate the defeat of Napoleon and the restoration of monarchical control throughout Europe. But the festive atmosphere is marred one warm summer evening by the brutal murder of a disgraced British nobleman long thought dead.

Meg's neighbors, the Smetkamps', have won a makeover for their old home from Marvelous Mansions, a flashy, yet dubious company, focused on making historic homes more "modern." The company already several days into its makeover of the Smetkamps' house, and tensions are running high—not only between the officious, demanding Mrs. Smetkamp and her neighbors, but also between her and the renovation crew.

Gideon is happy to be in Mexico with his wife - until he's asked to examine the mummified corpse of a drifter thought to be shot to death. Gideon's findings reveal that the cause of death is far more bizarre. Then he's asked to examine the skeleton of a murder victim found a year earlier - only to discover another coroner error.

Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's premier lady detective, is a little short on help. The codirector of the agency, Grace Makutsi, is busy with her own case, her client none other than their erstwhile assistant, Mr. Polopetsi, who has unwittingly involved himself in a pyramid scheme. The agency's other assistant, Charlie, may also need more help than he can offer, as he is newly embroiled in a romance with a glamorous woman about whom the others have their doubts.

Join Stevie, Win, and gang for another new adventure!

When the body of the glamorous film star Margot Browne washes ashore, Max's former colleague, Patrice Logan, requests his help. It's a perfect closed-circle murder: Margot must have been killed by one of the actors, stylists, scriptwriters, or second-tier royalty aboard the yacht. Patrice suspects the yacht's owner, a playboy film director she's been keeping tabs on for smuggling, but Max isn't so sure.

Upon finding a mysterious note at the scene of an accident, spunky Ann Beddingfeld throws caution to the wind and sets sail for an adventure to South Africa. She gets more thrills than she bargained for when she finds herself embroiled in a crooked diamond scheme, a murder, and in the clutches of the mysterious “Colonel".

The next book in the perennially adored No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series sees Precious Ramotswe calling upon all her maternal instincts when she's faced with a two-ton case. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but can Mma. Ramotswe and the rest of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency come together to raise a pipsqueak pachyderm? We may find out in this novel. We may not. Who can say?

Mma Ramotswe reconnects with an old friend who has been having problems with her daughter. Though Precious feels compelled to lend a hand, she discovers that getting involved in family affairs is always a delicate proposition. Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni finds himself embroiled in familial drama as well, when one of his clients asks for help evicting an unwanted houseguest who turns out to be the man's own brother. Elsewhere, Charlie and Fanwell are also involved in tricky matters of the heart, as Queenie-Queenie, Charlie's girlfriend, seems to have transferred her affections to Fanwell.

It's the day of the Christchurch Dog Show. The whole town is aquiver with excitement. The ladies of the Charity Shop Detective Agency are hoping to make lots of new furry friends. After a very dramatic Best Biscuit Catcher competition, Fiona, Sue, and Daisy from the Dogs Need Nice Homes charity shop come across a shocking scene. The dog show's vet is performing CPR on a woman. The ladies rush over, but it's too late. Back at the shop, the ladies learn that the poor woman was murdered. Someone injected Sylvia Steadman with something very nasty indeed.

In The Red Thumb Mark, the doctor works to clear young Reuben Hornby of stealing a parcel of diamonds from his uncle's safe, despite the apparently damning evidence. Then, in The Eye of Osiris, an amateur Egyptologist abruptly goes missing, leaving behind a strangely vexatious will. In The Mystery of 31 New Inn, Thorndyke's long-time collaborator Dr. Jervis consults his mentor regarding a mystery who may be being slowly poisoned. And in A Silent Witness, someone is making very determined attempts to murder inoffensive newly-qualified Doctor Humphrey Jardine.

Separated from friends and family and haunted by personal demons, park ranger Anna Pigeon finds solace in the quiet ruins of the Anasazi civilization of Colorado's Mesa Verde. But the rugged beauty of the park and the mystery of the Anasazi are cruelly overshadowed by danger and death. Lately, visitors to Mesa Verde have been bringing home more than photos - they're also carrying a strange, deadly disease, and once it strikes, Anna Pigeon must find the very human source of the evil wind.

Lottery winner and ex-journalist Donal Fitzgerald joins forces with his girlfriend, DNR conservation officer Mercy Virdon, to solve the mysterious death of a beloved angler, Charlie, who was murdered in his tent in a state campground and who was known by all - and who may have known too much. Set in the engaging small town of Ossning on the Borchard River in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula - an angler’s dream, filled with eccentric, believable, sympathetic, and unforgettable characters - Riverwatcher is a classic whodunit.

Frolicking with dogs is Melanie Travis's idea of heaven. So when she's invited to be a "puppy wrangler" at a benefit for a local dog rescue, the last thing she expects is to be chasing after a tricky killer.

After a disastrous accident derails Tempest Raj’s career, and life, she heads back to her childhood home in California to comfort herself with her grandfather’s Indian home-cooked meals. Though she resists, every day brings her closer to the inevitable: working for her father’s company. Secret Staircase Construction specializes in bringing the magic of childhood to all by transforming clients’ homes with sliding bookcases, intricate locks, backyard treehouses, and hidden reading nooks.

Newly single magician Eli Marks reluctantly attends his high school reunion against his better judgment, only to become entangled in two deadly encounters with his former classmates. The first is the fatal mugging of an old crush's husband, followed by the suspicious deaths of the victim's business associates.

A casual glance out his apartment window turns magician Eli Marks' life upside down. After spotting a dead body in the projection booth of the movie theater next door, Eli is pulled into the hunt for the killer. As he attempts to puzzle out a solution to this classic locked room mystery, he must deal with a crisis of a more personal nature: the appearance of a rival magician who threatens not only Eli's faith in himself as a performer, but his relationship with his girlfriend.