Readers' Advisory: Mystery & Thrillers

Federal Investigator Aaron Falk is on his way to a small town deep in Southern Australian wine country for the christening of an old friend's baby. But mystery follows him, even on vacation. This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of Kim Gillespie's disappearance.

After her boss is gunned down in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel in a random attack, Mae takes it upon herself to investigate and runs headfirst into The Beast's lawless machinations and the twisted systems it exists to perpetuate.

A stranded detective tries to solve a murder in a tiny Alaskan town where everyone livesin a single high-rise building, in this gripping debut by an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter.

A young Indian woman finds the false rumors that she killed her husband surprisingly useful--until other women in the village start asking for her help getting rid of their own husbands--in this razor-sharp debut.

Lights, camera, action in bestselling author David Rosenfelt's Flop Dead Gorgeous, as lawyer Andy Carpenter goes bicoastal to prove an old friend's innocence.

When a series of mysterious deaths spoil the Christmas season in Crozet, Virginia, Mary Minor "Harry" Harristeen and her beloved cats and dogs lend the police a helping paw in this exciting holiday mystery from Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown.

Wisconsin veterinarian Ally Winter must solve a well-heeled young woman's a-paw-ling murder in USA Today bestselling author Laura Scott's second Furry Friends mystery.

For the K Team, playing "good dog", "bad cop" is all fun and games... until there's a body on the scene, in the next K Team Novel by bestselling author David Rosenfelt.

Bookmobile-driving librarian Minnie Hamilton investigates after her new cat, Eddie, leads her to the body of a murdered local resident.

For ten years Lucy has enjoyed her job at the Harvard Library, but she hasn't enjoyed her family's social whirl. To clear her head, Lucy visits her aunt Ellen for a little fun in the Outer Banks sun. Her retreat becomes an opportunity when Lucy lands a librarian job in her favorite place. Then a priceless Jane Austen first edition is stolen, and the chair of the library is murdered . . .

Everyone in Athena, knows Charlie Harris, the librarian who walks his cat, Diesel, on a leash. Godfrey Priest, famous author of gory bestsellers and Charlie's former classmate, is the pride of Athena. Charlie remembers him as an arrogant jerk, and he's not alone. Godfrey's homecoming couldn't possibly go worse: by lunch, he's put a man in the hospital. By dinner, Godfrey's dead.

A woman receives an unexpected visitor during a deadly snowstorm in this chilling thriller from New York Times bestselling author Heather Gudenkauf. True crime writer Wylie Lark doesn't mind being snowed in at the isolated farmhouse where she's retreated to write her new book. A cozy fire, complete silence.

One by One is a thriller/mystery about a corporate staff retreat at a ski chalet that goes horribly awry, resulting in members of the group being killed off “one by one.” A group of technology executives arrive at a French Ski Chalet, but not all make it out alive.

A college student, on her way home from visiting her mother, gets stuck with a group of people at a mountain rest stop during a blizzard. Things take a turn for the worse when the young woman discovers a kidnapped child in a car belonging to one of the people inside, putting the group in a terrifying life-or-death situation as they struggle to escape while trying to discover who among them is the kidnapper.

Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can't recognize friends or family, or even his own wife. Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts—paper, cotton, pottery, tin—and each year Adam's wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read.

Shiver is a 2021 British mystery thriller and the debut novel of Allie Reynolds, a former freestyle snowboarder. Published in the United Kingdom through Headline, the novel shifts between the past and present to tell the story of arguments and rivalries between competitive snowboarders that may have led to murder.

A weekend retreat at a cozy mountain lodge is supposed to be the perfect getaway . . . but when the storm hits, no one is getting away.

A peaceful Vermont village turns creepy in this tale of the dead returning to life. Sara Harrison Shea's precious daughter, Gertie, dies in 1908 during a harsh and unforgiving winter in which her mother and father, Martin, struggle to keep food on the table.

Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours. He knows what he's done, and now awaits execution, the same chilling fate he forced on those girls, years ago. But Ansel doesn't want to die; he wants to be celebrated, understood.  Through a kaleidoscope of women--a mother, a sister, a homicide detective--we learn the story of Ansel's life.

A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance. Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge.

In West Adams, a rapidly changing part of South Los Angeles, they're referred to as "these women." These women on the corner ... These women in the club ... These women who won't stop asking questions ... These women who got what they deserved ...

Summer has come to Atlantic City but the boardwalk is empty of tourists, the casino lights have dimmed, and two Jane Does are laid out in the marshland behind the Sunset Motel, just west of town. Only one person even knows they're there. Meanwhile, Clara, a young boardwalk psychic, struggles to attract clients for the tarot readings that pay her rent. When she begins to experience very real and disturbing visions, she suspects they could be related to the recent cases of women gone missing in town.

It's 1999 and Samantha has danced for years at the Lovely Lady strip club. She's not used to mixing work and friendship--after all, between her jealous boyfriend and his young daughter, she has enough on her plate. But the newest dancer is so clueless that Samantha feels compelled to help her learn the hustle and drama of the club: how to sweet-talk the boss, fit in with the other women, and make good money. One night, when the new girl needs a ride home, Samantha agrees to drive: a simple decision that turns deadly.

Fifteen years ago, Sara Linton's life changed forever when a celebratory night out ended in a violent attack that tore her world apart. Since then, Sara has remade her life. A successful doctor, engaged to a man she loves, she has finally managed to leave the past behind her.

Moving between past and present, ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS delves into the darkest corners of the life of one mother as she investigates the disappearance of her son one year prior—and, in the process, confronts long-buried secrets from her own childhood.

An urban Alaska detective unlocks menacing secrets in a frigid, sinister small town while struggling to recover from a personal tragedy. The discovery of dismembered body parts in rugged, remote Point Mettier brings police detective Cara Kennedy from Anchorage to investigate.

Six minutes after takeoff, Flight 1421 crashes off the coast of Hawaii. During the evacuation, an engine explodes and the plane is flooded. Those still alive are forced to close the doors—but it's too late. The plane sinks to the bottom with twelve passengers trapped inside.

William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he's been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter Avery unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.

Set in the tumultuous year of 1968 in southern Virginia, a racially-charged murder case sets a duo of white and Black lawyers against a deeply unfair system as they work to defend their wrongfully-accused Black defendants in this courtroom drama from #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci.     Jack Lee is a white lawyer from Freeman County, Virginia, who has never done anything to push back against racism, until he decides to represent Jerome Washington, a Black man charged with brutally killing an elderly and wealthy white couple. Doubting his decision, Lee fears that his legal skills may not be enough to prevail in a case where the odds are already stacked against both him and his client. And he quickly finds himself out of his depth when he realizes that what is at stake is far greater than the outcome of a murder trial.    Desiree DuBose is a Black lawyer from Chicago who has devoted her life to furthering the causes of justice and equality for everyone. She comes to Freeman County and enters a fractious and unwieldy partnership with Lee in a legal battle against the best prosecutor in the Commonwealth. Yet DuBose is also aware that powerful outside forces are at work to blunt the victories achieved by the Civil Rights era.     Lee and DuBose could not be more dissimilar. On their own, neither one can stop the prosecution's deliberate march towards a guilty verdict and the electric chair.  But together, the pair fight for what once seemed impossible: a chance for a fair trial and true justice.  Over a decade in the writing, A Calamity of Souls breathes richly imagined and detailed life into a bygone era, taking the reader through a world that will seem both foreign and familiar.

Clare used to manage New York City's Village Blend coffeehouse, until she opted for quieter pastures. But after ten years away she's back in action, serving up steaming hot caffeine one cup at a time. With a rent-free apartment directly above the coffeehouse and her cat Java by her side. Clare is thrilled to return to work--until she discovers the assistant manager dead in the back of the store, coffee grounds strewn everywhere.

Hannah Swensen already has her hands full, but when the Cozy Cow Dairy's beloved deliveryman is found murdered behind her bakery with her famous Chocolate Chip Crunchies scattered around him, Hannah sets out to track down a killer.

When Goldy's former father-in-law passes out from rat poison in the coffee she's catering, and her kitchen is closed down, Goldy wants answers. Everyone--from her ex-husband's other ex-wife to her eleven-year-old son Arch--seems to know more than Gold does. But she's had enough. And as she begins following the recipe to its logical conclusion, she discovers that some unsavory ingredients are flavoring the neighborhood and poisoning her own family with the bitter taste of deceit and revenge....

When a body is discovered at Sea Harbor's opening reception for the autumn art series, the Seaside Knitters must take a break from stitching baby gear to unravel a series of secrets in Sally Goldenbaum's 15th Seaside Knitters Society mystery.

Kelly Flynn has been enjoying motherhood and avoiding murder, but when a friend's life is cut short, she enlists the Lambspun knitters to catch a heartless killer in the last Knitting Mystery novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Only Skein Deep.

These are the dog days of August, but you won't catch the Tarzana Hookers crochet club napping. While Molly Pink knits together an idea for a new project, Miami Wilson busily converts a house she inherited into a rental property. But Miami is left shorthanded when Sloan Renner, the woman helping her clean out the house ends up dead under a pile of smelly seafood.