Mystery Recs

Mysteries I loved!

Updated August 19, 2023
S
St. Lucie County Library System
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The Twyford code : a novel
Hallett, Janice
Paper Book
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER "[A] delicious premise and clever execution....with a bravura final section." --The New York Times The mysterious connection between a teacher's disappearance and an unsolved code in a children's book is explored in this new novel...

This is a great puzzle-type mystery, with so many twists and turns I lost count. If you like epistolary novels & mysteries, this is for you. The main character is endearing, and as he reveals his past he becomes even more sympathetic. I'm not the only one who loved it--the book got starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly, BookPage, and Booklist.

The right sort of man
Montclair, Allison
Paper Book
"A delightful immersion in the period and personalities, with that touch of depth that transforms a good series to a great one." --Laurie R. King First comes love, then comes murder. In a London slowly recovering from World War II, two very different...

The first in the wonderful Sparks & Bainbridge series. This is a British whodunnit set in post-WWII London, where two very different women come together to start up a marriage bureau. Of course, before you know it, some one is murdered and they are forced to solve the crime in order to preserve the good name of their budding business. I love both Sparks and Bainbridge and their journey through healing from the war.

L.A. requiem
Crais, Robert
Paper Book
"Terrific entertainment . . . A powerful portrait of Los Angeles in our time: swift, colorful, gripping, a real knockout."--Dean Koontz The day starts like any other in L.A. The sun burns hot as the Santa Ana winds blow ash from mountain fires to coat the glittering city. But for...

This is the best of the excellent Elvis Cole series. The books are noir detective stories set in L.A., with a savvy, smart-mouthed private detective, and his sidekick, the enigmatic Joe Pike. The plot in this one is fabulous, and the character development has real depth. It's a great place to start this famous series.

Still life
Penny, Louise.
Paper Book
Winner of the New Blood Dagger, Arthur Ellis, Barry, Anthony, and Dilys awards. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a...
Curiosity killed the cat sitter : the first Dixie Hemingway mystery
Clement, Blaize.
Paper Book
Until three years ago, Dixie Hemingway was a deputy with the Sarasota County Sherriff's Department in southwest Florida. Then came a tragic accident. Now Dixie's a pet-sitter on Siesta Key, a lush, exotic barrier island where the people tend to be rich, suntanned, and tolerant of one another's...
"A" is for alibi : a Kinsey Millhone mystery
Grafton, Sue.
Paper Book
READ THE SENSATIONAL BLOCKBUSTER THAT STARTED IT ALL! Take it from the top in #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton's knockout thriller that introduced detective Kinsey Millhone--and a hot new attitude--to crime fiction... A IS FOR...
Death by cashmere : a seaside knitters mystery
Goldenbaum, Sally.
Paper Book
This brand-new mystery series spins a yarn about knitters and murder in a quaint seaside village. Not long after Isabel “Izzy” Chambers opens up a knitting shop in the sleepy fishing town of Sea Harbor, Massachusetts, a diverse group of women begins congregating...
The black echo
Connelly, Michael
Paper Book
Lone LAPD detective Harry Bosch must walk the line between criminals and crooked cops following the death of an old war buddy. Billy had been a fellow "tunnel rat"--fighting with Bosch in the nightmare underground war in Vietnam. But soon Billy's murder is linked to a bank robbery via complex...
Open season
Box, C. J.
Paper Book
Few first mysteries have been welcomed as enthusiastically as Open Season, or with better cause. "When a high-powered bullet hits living flesh, it makes a distinctive -pow-WHOP-sound that is unmistakable even at tremendous distance." And so it begins for Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden who, with...
Magpie murders
Horowitz, Anthony
Paper Book
"Magpie Murders is a double puzzle for puzzle fans, who don't often get the classicism they want from contemporary thrillers." --Janet Maslin, The New York Times New York Times bestseller | Winner of the Macavity Award for Best Novel | NPR best book of the Year | Washington...

This book is a marvelous tour de force with not one but *two* separate murders to solve. A British book editor receives the latest manuscript from her best-selling mystery writer, who is subsequently murdered. She is motivated to investigate when she realizes that the last chapter of the manuscript is missing. This is a story-within-a-story format, where the manuscript is also presented. Part of the brilliance of this book is the distinctive styles of each of the two narratives, both with wonderful, twisty plots and interesting characters.


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