Special Collections
Agatha Award
Description: Named for Agatha Christie, the Agatha Awards are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write in the cozy mystery subgenre. #award
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In The Bleak Midwinter
by Julia Spencer-FlemingHEAVY SNOW ... ICY DESIRES ... COLD-BLOODED MURDER Clare Fergusson, St. Alban's new priest, fits like a square peg in the conservative Episcopal parish at Millers Kill, New York. She is not just a "lady"; she's a tough ex-Army chopper pilot, and nobody's fool. Then a newborn infant left at the church door brings her together with the town's police chief, Russ Van Alstyne, who's also ex-Army and a cynical good shepherd for the stray sheep of his hometown. Their search for the baby's mother quickly leads them into the secrets that shadow Millers Kill like the ever-present Adirondacks. What they discover is a world of trouble, an attraction to each otherand murder. ...
Murphy's Law
by Rhys BowenRhys Bowen, author of the much-loved Constable Evans mysteries, takes on the vibrant world of turn-of-the-century Ellis Island and New York in her newest series. With delightful humor and meticulous research Bowen transports readers to the gritty underworld that swallowed new immigrants who dreamed of a better life, and gives us the unforgettable heroine Molly Murphy, a resourceful Irish woman who lives by her own set of laws... Murphy's Law Molly Murphy always knew she'd end up in trouble, just as her mother predicted. So, when she commits murder in self-defense, she flees her cherished Ireland, and her identity, for the anonymous shores of America. When she arrives in New York and sees the welcoming promise of freedom in the Statue of Liberty, Molly begins to breathe easier. But when a man is murdered on Ellis Island, a man Molly was seen arguing with, she becomes a prime suspect in the crime. Using her Irish charm and sharp wit, Molly escapes Ellis Island and sets out to find the wily killer on her own. Pounding the notorious streets of Hell's Kitchen and the Lower East Side, Molly makes it her desperate mission to clear her name before her deadly past comes back to haunt her new future.
Seldom Disappointed
by Tony HillermanWhen Tony Hillerman looks back at seventy-six years spent getting from hardtimes farm boy to bestselling author, he sees lots of evidence that Providence was poking him along. For example, when an absentminded Army clerk left him off the hospital ship taking the wounded home from France, the mishap put him on a collision course with a curing ceremony held for two Navajo Marines, thereby providing the grist for a writing career that now sees his books published in sixteen languages around the world and often on bestseller lists. Or, for example, when his agent told him his first novel was so bad that it would hurt both of their reputations, he nonetheless sent it to an editor, and that editor happened to like the Navajo stuff. In this wry and whimsical memoir, Hillerman offers frequent backward glances at where he found ideas for plots of his books and the characters that inhabit them. He takes us with him to death row, where he interviews a man about to die in the gas chamber and details how this murderer became Colton Wolf in one of his novels. He relates how flushing a solitary heron from a sandbar caused him to convert Joe Leaphorn from husband to widower, and how his self-confessed bias against the social elite solved the key plot problem in A Thief of Time. No child abuse stories here: The worst Hillerman can recall is being sent off to first grade (in a boarding school for Indian girls) clad in cute blue coveralls instead of the manly overalls his farm-boy peers all wore. Instead we get a good-natured trip through hard times in college; an infantry career in which he "rose twice to Private First Class" and also won a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart; and, afterward, work as a truck driver, chain dragger, journalist, professor, and "doer of undignified deeds" for two university presidents. All this is colored by a love affair (now in its fifty-fourth year) with Marie, which involved raising six children, most of them adopted. Using the gifts of a talented novelist and reporter, seventy-six-year-old Tony Hillerman draws a brilliant portrait not just of his life but of the world around him.
Bubbles Unbound
by Sarah StrohmeyerBubbles, a hairdresser with Barbie-doll curves hot pants and a tube top. With an ex-hubby, a precocious daughter, and a shoplifting mother. What can add highlights to her life? Maybe a murder?
Mystery of the Haunted Cave
by Penny WarnerThirteen-year-old Becca and her friends Sierra, CJ, and Jonnie are determined to win the gold medal for Troop 13 at the Gold Rush Jamboree. But they face stiff competition from the other troops--especially Troop 7, whose members love to pull pranks on them. When a mysterious clue hints at treasure buried in Camp Miwok's Haunted Caves, Becca and her friends are determined to get their hands on that, too--even if it means sneaking from camp, hanging out with bats, and being threatened by robbers....
Death On A Silver Tray
by Rosemary StevensIn the days of Regency England, Beau Brummell stood as the uncrowned king of genteel society. The quintessential style-maker, trend-setter, and fashion-forger, Brummell was the last person one would expect to find in the middle of a murder mystery. But then, Beau Brummell was never one to do what was expected. When the Duchess of York begs for his help, Beau Brummell wouldn't think of refusing. The Countess of Wrayburn has been poisoned, and her paid companion is the prime suspect. Unfortunately, the Duchess is the one who arranged the young woman's employment with the late Countless, and the scandal could ruin the Duchess' good name.
Mariner's Compass
by Earlene FowlerTo claim an inheritance that a mysterious stranger left her, Benni must delve into the secrets of her own past--and a place she once called home.
Murder with Peacocks
by Donna AndrewsMeg is given the difficult task of coordinating three of her friends' weddings. Her situation becomes more difficult when people begin to be murdered.
Butchers Hill
by Laura LippmanTess Monaghan has finally made the move and hung out her shingle as a p.i.-for-hire, complete with an office in Butchers Hill. Maybe it's not the best address in Baltimore, but you gotta start somewhere, and Tess's greyhound Esskay has no trouble taking marathon naps anywhere there's a roof. Then in walks Luther Beale, the notorious vigilante who five years ago shot a boy for vandalizing his car. Just out of prison, he says he wants to make reparations to the kids who witnessed his crime, so he needs Tess to find them. But once she starts snooping, the witnesses start dying. Is the "Butcher of Butchers Hill" at it again? Like it or not, Tess is embroiled in a case that encompasses the powers that-be, a heartless system that has destroyed the lives of children, and a nasty trail of money and lies leading all the way back to Butchers Hill.
The Doctor Digs A Grave (Dr. Fenimore Mysteries)
by Robin HathawayHathaway introduces sleuth cardiologist Dr. Andrew Fenimore, whose expert medical knowledge helps unravel the mysterious death of a Lenape woman. When Fenimore spots a street kid named Horatio unsuccessfully trying to bury his dead cat in a public park on Philadelphia's affluent Society Hill, he befriends the youth and offers to help him lay his pet to rest in what is rumored to be an ancient burial ground of the Lenape. Descendants of this East Coast tribe still live in the eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey area. While burying the animal, the doctor and Horatio stumble upon the body of a young girl who is buried in an upright position facing east as is traditional with the Lenape. From this curious discovery, Hathaway's novel weaves the forgotten culture of this tribe, the doctor's unconventional avocation as a P.I., and a cast of lovable but eccentric characters into a well-crafted tale of suspense. -Amazon.com
The Salaryman's Wife
by Sujata MasseyWinner of the Agatha Award."Sujata Massey blasts her way into fiction with The Salaryman's Wife, a cross-cultural mystery of manners with a decidedly sexy edge."-- Janet EvanonichJapanese-American Rei Shimura is a 27-year-old English teacher living in one of Tokyo's seediest neighborhoods. She doesn't make much money, but she wouldn't go back home to California even if she had a free ticket (which, thanks to her parents, she does.) She's determined to make it on her own. Her independence is threatened however, when a getaway to an ancient castle town is marred by murder.Rei is the first to find the beautiful wife of a high-powered businessman, dead in the snow. Taking charge, as usual, Rei searches for clues by crashing a funeral, posing as a bar-girl, and somehow ending up pursued by police and paparazzi alike. In the meantime, she attempts to piece together a strange, ever-changing puzzle—one that is built on lies and held together by years of sex and deception.The first installment in the Rei Shimura series, The Salaryman's Wife is a riveting tale of death, love, and sex, told in a unique cross-cultural voice.
Up Jumps the Devil
by Michael Poore“The sustained comedy in this hilarious novel is equaled only by its heart, and the myriad ways there are for it to break. I love this book. Michael Poore writes like an angel.”—Daniel Wallace, author of Big FishJohn Scratch, the Devil himself, is the protagonist in this stunningly imaginative, sharp, funny, and tender novel, as he tricks, teases, and prods America to greatness in the hope of luring his lost love back down to Earth from Heaven. Up Pops the Devil is fiction with humor and heart, the kind of hilarious, off-beat, and original reading experience that fans of Chris Moore, Joe Hill, Chuck Palahniuk, and Jim Shepard would sell their souls for—a brilliant blending of the occult and the outrageous starring the anti-hero of anti-heroes, the one and only Prince of Darkness.
Detecting Women 2
by Willetta L. HeisingIf you love the Fantastic Fiction website, you'll love Detecting Women 2. It's a small book of lists of series of women detectives with the authors and the books in the series. More than 600 series detectives created by women. Over 3400 mystery titles in correct series order.
Murder on a Girls' Night Out
by Anne GeorgeA Different Kind of Sister ActPatricia Anne -- "Mouse" -- is respectful, respectable, and demure, a perfect example of genteel Southern womanhood. Mary Alice -- "Sister" -- is big, brassy, flamboyant, and bold. Together they have a knack for finding themselves in the center of some of Birmingham's most unfortunate unpleasantness.Country Western is red hot these days, so overimpulsive Mary Alice thinks it makes perfect sense to buy the Skoot 'n' Boot bar -- since that's where the many-times-divorced "Sister" and her boyfriend du jour like to hang out anyway. Sensible retired schoolteacher Patricia Anne is inclined to disagree -- especially when they find a strangled and stabbed dead body dangling in the pub's wishing well. The sheriff has some questions for Mouse and her sister Sister, who were the last people, besides the murderer, of course, to see the ill-fated victim alive. And they had better come up with some answers soon -- because a killer with unfinished business has begun sending them some mighty threatening messages...
If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him ...
by Sharyn Mccrumb"Whenever Sharyn McCrumb suits up her amateur detective, Elizabeth MacPherson, it's pretty certain that a trip is in the offing and that something deadly funny will happen on the road. " --The New York Times Book Review Now, the author of She Walks These Hills brings her storytelling gifts to a novel about crimes committed a century apart. For forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson, solving mysteries hardly seems the fun it used to be--even if she is the official private investigator for her brother Bill's fledgling Virginia law firm. Then Bill and his feminist firebrand partner, A. P. Hill, take on two complex cases that will require Elizabeth's special participation. Eleanor Royden, a perfect lawyer's wife for twenty years, has shot her ex-husband and his beautiful late-model wife in cold blood. And Donna Jean Morgan finds herself married to a Bible-thumping bigamist who has the nerve to die in circumstances that implicate his wife. A. P. does her damnedest for Eleanor, an abused wife in denial, and Bill gallantly defends Donna Jean. Meanwhile, Elizabeth's forensic expertise, including her special knowledge of poisons, gives her the most challenging case of her career. As questions of wife abuse and abandonment emerge in the court of public opinion, Elizabeth becomes a war correspondent in the battle of the sexes--a battle as old as the hills and unlikely to reach a truce any time soon. . . .
The Body in the Transept
by Jeanne M. DamsDorothy, a charming amateur sleuth and widowed American, relocates to England. The Christmas service is painful as her first holiday without her husband. She stumbles over the body of Canon and finds herself in the case very much alive & sleuthing.
She Walks These Hills
by Sharyn MccrumbFrom School Library Journal YA?Mystery and folklore are skillfully blended in this contemporary Appalachian tale. Driving the plot are "Harm" (Hiram) Sorley, an aging prisoner suffering from recent memory loss, who receives a spiritual message to escape from prison and return home to North Carolina; history grad student Jeremy Cobb, who wants to hike the trail used by Katie Wyler in the late 1700s when she escaped from Indians who held her captive; and members of the sheriff's department who search for both of these men
Do Unto Others
by Jeff AbbottJordan Poteet has left the big city to work as a librarian in his hometown of Mirabeau, Texas. But his dream of the quiet life is shattered when he locks horns with Miss Beta Harcher, the town's prize religious fanatic, in a battle over censorship. When Jordan finds her murdered body in the library, he becomes the prime suspect. And when the police find a cryptic list stashed next to her fanatical heart, it seems as if Beta Harcher has the whole town in a death grip . . .From the Paperback edition.
Dead Man's Island
by Carolyn G. HartHart, whose fanciful Death on Demand series captured every major mystery award, debuts a sassy, sixtyish new sleuth: former journalist, crime writer and amateur detective Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins. When a media magnate narrowly escapes a murder plot, he enlists Henrie O's help in uncovering the would-be murderer.
Track of the Cat
by Nevada BarrAnna Pigeon takes a job as a park ranger looking for peace in the wilderness-but finds murder instead.
Bootlegger's Daughter
by Margaret MaronUnconventional, still unwed (at the ripe old age of 34) North Carolina attorney Deborah Knott has done the unthinkable: tossed her hat into the heated race for district judge of old boy-ruled Colleton County. The only female candidate, she's busy defending indigent clients and reeling in voters. Then suddenly, the young daughter of Janie Whitehead begs her to help solve Janie's senseless, never-solved, eighteen-year-old murder. Deborah takes on the case: following twisted, typically Southern bloodlines, turning up dangerous, decades-old secrets, and inspiring someone to go on an all-out campaign to derail her future--political and otherwise. But it will take more than sleazy smear tactics to scare this determined steel magnolia off the scent of down-home deceit...even in a town where a cool slug of moonshine made by Deborah's father can go down just as smoothly as a cold case of triple murder.
Edgar Allen Poe Award Winner.
Blanche on the Lam
by Barbara NeelyIt's hard enough making ends meet on the pittaful Blanche White earns doing day work for the Southern families of North Carolina. But when her fourth bad check lands her a jail sentence, Blanche goes on the lam. Inadvertently, she finds work at the summer home of a well to do family, the members of which have plenty of secrets of their own And when a dead body is discovered, Blanche finds herself the prime suspect. Using her wit and intelligencenot to mention the remarkably efficient old-girl network among domestic workersshe gets to work uncovering the real duller before she lands in more hot water.
I.O.U.
by Nancy PickardThe layered plot of the latest in the excellent Jenny Cain series (SAY NO TO MURDER) finds the Port Frederick, Mass., sleuth probing the cause of her recently deceased mother's insanity. Cain discovers that her mother's mental collapse many years before coincided with the bankruptcy of the family business. The closing of Cain Clams created considerable unemployment locally and countless enemies for the Cains--one such foe may now be trying to prevent the amateur detective from delving further into her family's past and the town's secrets. As she tracks down public mysteries, Cain unearths painful personal issues; an attempt on her life, construed as an effort at suicide, forces her to deal with the legacy of her mother's madness. Pickard masterfully resolves both plot lines in this affecting, provocative novel centering around the mystery at the heart of mother-daughter relationships.
Zero at the Bone
by Mary Willis Walker“Texas dog trainer Katherine Driscoll embarks on a perilous quest to unravel family mysteries in Walker’s gripping debut . . . harrowing.” —Publishers WeeklyWinner of the Agatha and Macavity Awards for Best First NovelIn Mary Walker’s Zero at the Bone, Katherine Driscoll is just three weeks away from disaster: foreclosure on her home and dog training business, even the sale of her beloved golden retriever, Ra. She has no hope of raising the $91,000 she so desperately needs—until the father she hasn’t seen for thirty years writes to her, offering her enough money to solve her problems . . . if she will do one thing in return.But Katherine may never learn what that is. When she arrives in Austin, she is hours too late: her father has died in a bizarre accident at the zoo where he worked. As she sifts through the cryptic notes he left behind, she finds herself caught up in terrible family secrets—and a deadly illicit trade. The more she learns, the more determined she becomes to prove her father’s death was no accident. In doing so, Katherine will make a bitter enemy—one desperate enough to kill . . . and perhaps, kill again.“Walker is terrific at goosebumps!” —The Philadelphia Inquirer“This book grabs readers from the beginning paragraphs and doesn’t let go until a satisfying conclusion . . . Katherine is a likable heroine with a gutsy intelligence that mixes well with her realistic human frailties. A gripping book.” —School Library Journal