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Reviews

Reviews

by Lyndsay Faye - Fiction, Mystery, Short Stories

OBSERVATIONS BY GASLIGHT is a thrilling volume of both new and previously published short stories and novellas narrated by those who knew the Great Detective, Sherlock Holmes. Beloved adventuress Irene Adler teams up with her former adversary in a near-deadly inquiry into a room full of eerily stopped grandfather clocks. Learn of the case that cemented the lasting friendship between Holmes and Inspector Lestrade, and of the tragic crime that haunted the Yarder into joining the police force. And witness Stanley Hopkins’ first meeting with the remote logician he idolizes, who one day will become his devoted mentor. 

by Charlie Donlea - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Avery Mason, host of "American Events," knows the subjects that grab a TV audience’s attention. Her latest story --- a murder mystery laced with kinky sex, tragedy and betrayal --- is guaranteed to be ratings gold. New DNA technology has allowed the New York medical examiner’s office to make its first successful identification of a 9/11 victim in years. The twist: the victim, Victoria Ford, had been accused of the gruesome murder of her married lover. In a chilling last phone call to her sister, Victoria begged her to prove her innocence. Emma Kind has waited 20 years to put her sister to rest, but closure won’t be complete until she can clear Victoria’s name. Alone she’s had no luck, but she’s convinced that Avery’s connections and fame will help. But the twisted puzzle of Victoria’s private life is just the beginning.

by Loren D. Estleman - Fiction, Hard-boiled Mystery, Mystery

CUTTHROAT DOGS is a new Amos Walker novel from Grand Master Loren D. Estleman. Nearly 20 years ago, college freshman April Goss was found dead in her bathtub, an apparent suicide, but suspicion soon fell on her boyfriend. Dan Corbeil was convicted of her murder and sent to prison. Case closed. Or is it?

by Robert McCaw - Fiction, Mystery

On Hawaii Island, a volcanic earthquake disrupts an abandoned cemetery --- unearthing the body of a woman mutilated by her killer to conceal her identity. The search for her identity leads Hilo Hawaii’s Chief Detective Koa Kane to a mysterious defense contractor with a politically connected board of directors. Defying his chief of police, Koa pursues the killer, only to become entangled in an FBI espionage investigation of Deimos, a powerful secret military weapon. Is the FBI telling all it knows --- or does it, too, have a duplicitous agenda? At the same time, Koa --- a cop who 30 years earlier killed his father’s nemesis and covered up the murder --- faces exposure by the dead man’s grandson.

by James Rollins - Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction

A gifted student foretells an apocalypse. Her reward is a sentence of death. Fleeing into the unknown, she is drawn into a team of outcasts: A broken soldier, who once again takes up the weapons he’s forbidden to wield and carves a trail back home. A drunken prince, who steps out from his beloved brother's shadow and claims a purpose of his own. An imprisoned thief, who escapes the crushing dark and discovers a gleaming artifact --- one that will ignite a power struggle across the globe. On the run, hunted by enemies old and new, they must learn to trust each other in order to survive in a world evolved in strange, beautiful and deadly ways, and uncover ancient secrets that hold the key to their salvation. But with each passing moment, doom draws closer.

by Christopher Fowler - Fiction, Mystery

When 91-year-old Amelia Hoffman dies in her top-floor flat on a busy London road, it’s considered an example of what has gone wrong with modern society: she slipped through the cracks in a failing system. But detectives Arthur Bryant and John May of the Peculiar Crimes Unit have their doubts. Mrs. Hoffman was once a government security expert, though no one can quite remember her. When a link emerges between the old lady and a diplomat trying to flee the country, it seems that an impossible murder has been committed. Mrs. Hoffman wasn’t the only one at risk. Bryant is convinced that other forgotten women with hidden talents are also in danger. And, curiously, they all own models of London Bridge.

by Keigo Higashino - Fiction, Mystery

A popular young girl disappears without a trace, and her skeletal remains are discovered three years later. When the prime suspect isn’t indicted, he returns to mock the girl’s family. And this isn’t the first time he’s been suspected of the murder of a young girl; nearly 20 years ago, he was tried and released due to lack of evidence. Detective Chief Inspector Kusanagi worked both cases. The neighborhood in which the murdered girl lived is famous for an annual street festival. During the parade, the suspected killer dies unexpectedly. DCI Kusanagi turns once again to his college friend, Physics professor and occasional police consultant Manabu Yukawa --- known as Detective Galileo --- to help solve the string of impossible-to-prove murders.

by Alice Blanchard - Fiction, Mystery

Detective Natalie Lockhart gained unwanted notoriety when she and her family became front and center of two sensational murder cases. Burned out and always looking over her shoulder, Natalie desperately thinks that quitting the police force is her only option left. All that changes when a beloved resident --- a practicing Wiccan and founder of the town’s oldest coven --- is killed in a fashion more twisted and shocking than Natalie has ever seen before. Natalie has no choice but to help solve the case along with Detective Luke Pittman, her boss and the old childhood friend she cannot admit she loves, even to herself. There is a silent, malignant presence in Burning Lake that will not rest. And what happens next will shock the whole town, and Natalie, to the core.

by James Lovegrove - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

1889. The First Terror. At a boys’ prep school in the Kent marshes, a pupil is found drowned in a pond. Could this be the fulfillment of a witch’s curse from over 200 years earlier? 1890. The Second Terror. A wealthy man dies of a heart attack at his London townhouse. Was he really frightened to death by ghosts? 1894. The Third Terror. A body is discovered in the dark woods near a Surrey country manor, hideously ravaged. Is the culprit a cannibal, as the evidence suggests? These three chilling and strangely linked crimes test Sherlock Holmes’ deductive powers, and his skepticism about the supernatural, to the limit.

by Sara Foster - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Lainey’s friend, Ellis, is missing. And she’s not the only one. In the six months since the first case of a terrifying new epidemic --- when a healthy baby wouldn’t take a breath at birth --- the country has been thrown into turmoil. The government has passed sweeping new laws to monitor all citizens. And several young pregnant women have vanished without a trace. As a midwife, Lainey’s mum, Emma, is determined to be there for those who need her. But when 17-year-old Lainey finds herself in trouble, this dangerous new world becomes very real. The one person who might help is Emma’s estranged mother, but reaching out to her will put them all in jeopardy.