The Old Contemptibles

Payment in Blood

Elizabeth George · 374 pages

Detective Thomas Lynley and his partner are called in to investigate the murder of playwright Joy Sinclair at an isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands.

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 Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Alan Bradley · 375 pages

In his wickedly brilliant first novel, Debut Dagger Award winner Alan Bradley introduces one of the most singular and engaging heroines in recent fiction: eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. It is the summer of 1950--and a series of inexplicable events has struck Buckshaw, the decaying English mansion that Flavia's family calls home. A dead bird is found

Death of a Peer

Ngaio Marsh · 303 pages

The killingly aristocratic Lamprey family exemplifies charm, wit, and a chronic lack of funds. Their only source of hope is the wealthy but unpleasant Lord Wutherwood, and the Lampreys may perhaps be forgiven for doing a little jig when his Lordship is killed and the resulting inheritance saves their bacon. Inspector Roderick Alleyn wouldn’t dream of judging the Lampreys’ joy. But he would like to

Where There's a Will

Rex Stout · 272 pages

The Brutal Telling

Louise Penny · 395 pages

A stranger is found murdered in the village bistro and antiques store and all clues point to bistro owner Olivier being the killer. Once again, Chief Inspector Gamache and his team are called in to strip back layers of lies, exposing both treasures and rancid secrets long buried--but not forgotten.

They Found Him Dead

Georgette Heyer · 312 pages

**Inspectors Hannasyde & Hemingway #3** ONE HEIR AFTER ANOTHER TURNS UP DEAD…. Silas Kane's sixtieth birthday party is marred by argument and dissension amongst his family, and then the next morning, Kane is found dead. The coroner's verdict of death by misadventure would seem to confirm that Silas accidentally lost his way in the fog. But then Clement, his heir, is shot, and threats are mad

The Last Girl

Jane Casey · 480 pages

London defense attorney Philip Kennford's money provides a gorgeous house, a wardrobe worthy of Milan runways-- but it can't provide a happy marriage, or good relationships with his twin daughters. And it does nothing to protect his family when someone brutally murders his wife and daughter in their own home. When Detective Constable Maeve Kerrigan arrives at the scene, the two survivors-- Philip

About Face

Donna Leon · 278 pages

The wonderful new Commissario Brunetti novel, from Sunday Times Bestselling author Donna LeonAt a dinner party given by his parents-in-law, Commissario Brunetti meets Franca Marinello, the wife of a prosperous Venetian businessman. He's charmed – perhaps too charmed, suggests his wife Paola – by her love of Virgil and Cicero, but shocked by her appearance.A few days later, Brunetti is visited by C

Voice of the Violin

Andrea Camilleri · 249 pages

Inspector Montalbano, praised as "a delightful creation" (USA Today), has been compared to the legendary detectives of Georges Simenon, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler. As the fourth mystery in the internationally bestselling series opens, Montalbano's gruesome discovery of a lovely, naked young woman suffocated in her bed immediately sets him on a search for her killer. Among the suspects

The Cuckoo's Calling

J.K. Rowling · 480 pages

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, thelegendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the

The Lighthouse

P.D. James · 381 pages

From Amazon.com: A secure and secluded retreat for the rich and powerful becomes the setting for an unsettling series of murders.Combe Island off the Cornish coast is a restful haven for the elite. But when one of its distinguished visitors is found hanging from the island’s famous lighthouse in what appears to have been a murder, the peace is shattered. Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called in to h

Last Seen Wearing

Colin Dexter · 312 pages

The statements before Inspector Morse appeared to confirm the bald simple truth. After leaving home to return to school, Valerie Taylor had completely vanished and the trail had gone cold. Until, two years later, somebody decided to supply some surprising new evidence for the case.

End In Tears

Ruth Rendell · 336 pages

The twentieth book to feature the classic crime-solving detective, Chief Inspector Wexford. A lump of concrete dropped deliberately from a little stone bridge over a relatively unfrequented road kills the wrong person. The young woman in the car behind is spared. But only for a while...A few weeks later, George Marshalson lives every father's worst nightmare: he discovers the murdered body of his

Mourn Not Your Dead

Deborah Crombie · 333 pages

The Trespasser

Tana French · 488 pages

"Being on the Murder Squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she's there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she's getting close to the breaking point. Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers' qu

A Drop of Corruption

Robert Jackson Bennett · 481 pages

Death Without Company

Craig Johnson · 368 pages

The Fifth Elephant

Terry Pratchett · 460 pages

Everyone knows that the world is flat, and supported on the backs of four elephants. But weren't there supposed to be five? Indeed there were. So where is it?...When duty calls. Commander Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork constabulary answers. Even when he doesn't want to. He's been "invited" to attend a royal function as both detective and diplomat. The one role he relishes; the other requires, well, rub

An Advancement of Learning

Reginald Hill

A body is discovered buried beneath a statue in the grounds of Holm Coultram College. Superintendent Andy Dalziel and Sergeant Peter Pascoe get started on the case. Only, just as they think they have solved one problem, a second body turns up.

Entanglement

Zygmunt Miloszewski · 295 pages

The morning after a grueling psychotherapy session in a Warsaw monastery, Henryk Telak is found dead. World-weary State Prosecutor Teodor Szacki feels that life has passed him by, but this case changes everything. His search for the killer unearths another murder that took place twenty years earlier-- and to facts that, for his own safety, he'd be better off not knowing.

The Big Over Easy

Jasper Fforde · 416 pages

A False Mirror

Charles Todd · 371 pages

Hampton Regis, a small harbor town on the southern coast of England, is a most unlikely place for violence. Yet, one spring morning, a man is found on the strand so severely beaten that he slips in and out of consciousness. The prime suspect? His wife's jilted lover, who served with Rutledge in the recently ended Great War—but who left the Front under a cloud. Badly wounded, yes, but did someone a

After the Funeral

Agatha Christie · 196 pages

When Cora is savagely murdered with a hatchet, the extraordinary remark she made the previous day at her brother Richard's funeral suddenly takes on a chilling significance. At the reading of Richard's will, Cora was clearly heard to say: 'It's been hushed up very nicely, hasn't it. But he was murdered, wasn't he?' In desperation, the family solicitor turns to Hercule Poirot to unravel the mystery