P is for Peril

The Silkworm

J.K. Rowling · 464 pages

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days--as he has done before--and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home. But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realizes. The novelist has just completed a

Might as Well Be Dead

Rex Stout · 192 pages

Eleven years ago, wealthy Nebraska businessman James Herold gave his only son, Paul, a very raw deal. Now he wants Nero Wolfe to track Paul down so that he can make amends. But what if the young man doesn’t want to be found . . . and what if he’s the same P.H. who’s currently on trial for cold-blooded murder? It’s a case that will draw the great detective and his dedicated sidekick into a sticky w

The Big Sleep

Raymond Chandler · 220 pages

Philip Marlowe, a private eye who operates in Los Angeles's seamy underside during the 1930s, takes on his first case, which involves a paralyzed California millionaire, two psychotic daughters, blackmail, and murder

The Last Place You Look

Kristen Lepionka · 336 pages

"Nobody knows what happened to Sarah Cook. The beautiful blonde teenager disappeared fifteen years ago, the same night her parents were brutally murdered in their suburban Ohio home. Her boyfriend Brad Stockton--black and from the wrong side of the tracks--was convicted of the murders and is now on death row. Though he's maintained his innocence all along, the clock is running out. His execution i

Sherlock Holmes

Arthur Conan Doyle · 230 pages

Fallout

Sara Paretsky · 433 pages

V.I. Warshawski travels to Kansas to investigate the disappearances of a young film student and a faded Hollywood star, but long-simmering racial tensions stir up more mysteries as the body count rises.

The A.B.C. Murders

Agatha Christie · 252 pages

There's a serial killer on the loose, bent on working his way though the alphabet. There seems little chance of the murderer being caught - until her makes the crucial and vain mistake of challenging Hercule Poirot to frustrate his plans . . .

The Monkey's Raincoat

Robert Crais · 245 pages

When Los Angeles private detective Elvis Cole investigates the disappearance of Ellen Lang's husband and young son, he stumbles into a bizarre nightmare of high-level intrigue, missing drugs, and murder in Hollywood's seamy underworld.

Bless the Bride

Rhys Bowen · 261 pages

Before the wedding bells can ring for PI Molly Murphy, a wealthy Chinese immigrant wants her to find his missing bride, and Molly---sure she isn't getting the whole story---suspects that his bride ran off. Set in early-twentieth-century New York.

Case Histories

Kate Atkinson · 336 pages

"Case One: Olivia Land, youngest and most beloved of the Land girls, goes missing in the night and is never seen again. More than thirty years later, two of her surviving sisters, each achingly lonely in her own way, reunite when their cruel and distant father dies. There, among the clutter of their childhood home, they unearth a shocking clue to Olivia's disappearance." "Case Two: All of Theo's h

Vanishing Point

Marcia Muller · 323 pages

In the latest installment in this critically acclaimed series, Sharon McCone is hired to investigate one of San Luis Obispo County's most puzzling cold cases. A generation ago, Laurel Greenwood, a housewife and artist, inexplicably vanished, leaving her young daughter alone. Now, new evidence suggests that the missing woman may have led a strange double life. But before McCone can penetrate the ta

The Instant Enemy

Ross Macdonald · 217 pages

"Generations of murder, greed and deception come home to roost in time for the most shocking conclusion ever in a Lew Archer novel.At first glance, it's an open-and-shut missing persons case: a headstrong daughter has run off to be with her hothead juvenile delinquent boyfriend. That is until this bush-league Bonnie & Clyde kidnap Stephen Hackett, a local millionaire industrialist. Now, Archer is

Deaths of Jocasta

J.M. Redmann · 338 pages

New Orleans private detective Micky Knight has been hired to provide security for an exclusive party on the bucolic side of Lake Ponchartrain--the ideal job. But murder crashes this perfect party when the body of a young woman is found in the surrounding woods. Back in the city, Micky's former lover, Dr. Cordelia James discovers another body at her clinic.

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows

Alan Bradley · 286 pages

It's Christmastime, and the precocious Flavia de Luce - an eleven-year-old sleuth with a passion for chemistry and a penchant for crime-solving - is tucked away in her laboratory, whipping up a concoction to ensnare Saint Nick. But she is soon distracted when a film crew arrives at Buckshaw, the de Luces' decaying English estate, to shoot a movie starring the famed Phyllis Wyvern. Amid a ragin

In Big Trouble

Laura Lippman · 342 pages

Tess receives a clipping featuring her musician ex-boyfriend, prompting her to investigate his disappearance and that of the woman who was with him, as well as the victims of a killer who dances to his own deadly tune.

Live Wire

Harlan Coben · 384 pages

Is a pretty lie better than the ugly truth? Harlan Coben published his first Myron Bolitar thriller, Deal Breaker, in 1995, introducing a hero that would captivate millions. Over the years we have watched Myron walk a tight rope between sports agent, friend, problem solver and private eye, his big heart quick to defend his client’s interests so fiercely that he can’t help but jump in to save th

Death on Deadline

Robert Goldsborough · 185 pages

Enemies at Home

Lindsey Davis · 347 pages

In Ancient Rome, the number of slaves was far greater than that of free citizens. As a result, often the people Romans feared most were the "enemies at home," the slaves under their own roofs. Because of this, Roman law decreed that if the head of a household was murdered at home, and the culprit wasn't quickly discovered, his slaves, all of them, guilty or not, were presumed responsible and were

Innocent Monster

Reed Farrel Coleman · 291 pages

Seven years have passed since the brutal murder that tore Moe Prager's family apart, when his estranged daughter Sarah comes to him with a request he cannot refuse. Sashi Bluntstone, an eleven-year-old art prodigy and daughter of Sarah's dearest childhood friend, has been abducted. As Moe stumbles around the fringes of the New York art scene, he discovers that suspects abound beyond the usual pred

The Complete Adventures of Feluda, Vol. 1

Satyajit Ray · 785 pages

Melancholy Baby

Robert B. Parker · 296 pages

"My ex-husband was getting married to a woman I wanted to kill. I didn't actually know her, and killing her would only make matters worse. But I got as much pleasure out of the idea as I could before I had to let go of it." "And so begins Melancholy Baby, the fourth novel in the bestselling series featuring Sunny Randall, who now faces the unthinkable: the marriage of her ex-husband, Richie, to so

Storm Front

Jim Butcher · 362 pages

The novels of the Dresden Files have become synonymous with action-packed urban fantasy and non-stop fun. Storm Front is Jim Butcher's first novel and introduces his most famous and popular character-Harry Dresden, wizard for hire.For his first case, Harry is called in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with the blackest of magic. At first, the less-than-solvent Harry's eyes light up w

A Place Of Safety

Caroline Graham · 288 pages

When Lionel Lawrence opens his rambling rectory to rehabilitate young offenders he has no idea of the consequences, least of all that they will include blackmail and murder. Chief Inspector Barnaby has a good idea of the identity of the violent individual responsible, now all he needs is evidence.

The Tainted Cup

Robert Jackson Bennett · 410 pages