Dancers in Mourning

Dead Man's Mirror: A Short Story

Agatha Christie · 240 pages

Three Christie novellas from the '30s: Dead Man's Mirror, Murder in the Mews, and Triangle at Rhodes.

Cover Her Face

P.D. James · 254 pages

When a sly and sensuous young woman who had used her body and her brains to climb the social ladder is murdered by someone who had clearly decided that the wages of sin should be death, it falls to Inspector Adam Dalgliesh to find out who the killer is.

Satellite People

Hans Olav Lahlum · 336 pages

False Scent

Ngaio Marsh · 255 pages

In a poisonous cloud of spray, the curtain falls on a drama queen. Little did beloved British actress Mary Bellamy know that she would be done in at her own birthday party-choked by toxic mist from the bottle of "Slaypest," a deadly insecticide. Basking in the glow of her most adoring fans-who all happened to be her most duplicitous enemies-Mary would make her final performance. When Superinten

The Siamese Twin Mystery

Ellery Queen · 325 pages

Ellery Queen and his father are driving through a mountainous area of the United States on vacation when they are forced by a forest fire to seek shelter in a private home on the top of a mountain. The home soon becomes impossible to escape due to the fire. Dr. Xavier's aerie is host to an unusual assortment of characters, including his family and guests, a pair of teenage boys who are "Siamese" o

No Wind of Blame

Georgette Heyer · 320 pages

Tragedy befalls the Carter family following an eventful visit from a Russian prince and a scandalous blackmail letter. The murder of Wally Carter generates a bewildering mystery: how does one shoot a man crossing a narrow bridge without being near the murder weapon when it is fired? The superlatively analytical Inspector Hemingway reveals his unnerving talent for solving a fiendish problem.

A Rule Against Murder

Louise Penny · 360 pages

*Starred Review* Readers who haven’t discovered Louise Penny and her Armand Gamache series yet are in for a treat. In the latest entry, Chief Inspector Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec has traveled to the luxurious and remote Manoir Bellechasse with his wife, Reine-Marie. Each year they return to the manor to celebrate their wedding anniversary on July 1, Canada Day. This year they are fellow guest

Jerusalem Inn

Martha Grimes · 299 pages

Superintendent Richard Tury of Scotland Yard spends his Christmas holiday at a colorful country inn near a vast estate inhabited by the titled, the rich, the famous, and--suddenly--the deceased.

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Arthur Conan Doyle · 207 pages

Hamlet, Revenge!

Michael Innes · 285 pages

Murder at Scamnum Court, the grandest of England's stately homes, a treasure-house guarded only by the marble deities that line its terraces. And murder during a performance of *Hamlet*, played on an Elizabethan stage erected in the Banqueting Hall, and with a cast that includes the Duke of Horton as Claudius, his duchess as Gertrude, and the greatest of English actors, Melville Clay, as Hamlet. A

Hag's Nook

John Dickson Carr · 190 pages

**Hag's Nook**, first published in 1933, is a detective novel by John Dickson Carr and the first to feature his series detective Gideon Fell. Tad Rampole is a young American traveling in England who, in a chance encounter on a railway platform, meets and falls in love with Dorothy Starberth. Rampole has a letter of introduction to Dr. Gideon Fell and both soon become involved in the affairs of

A Speedy Death

Gladys Mitchell · 305 pages

If anything rouses the rancour of guests at Chayning Court, it is that someone should dare be late for dinner. But as it turns out, the object of their disdain and speculation on this occasion, the intrepid explorer Everard Mountjoy, would never apologise for his tardiness. In fact, he would never eat dinner again, for he was slumped dead in the bath... The alarming Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bra

The Clock Strikes Twelve

Patricia Wentworth · 259 pages

**Miss Silver investigates the murder of a great British industrialist.** Though they share a manor house, the Paradines are not close, and their patriarch does nothing to discourage the petty jealousies that divide wealthy families. A cold figure, James Paradine prefers work to his relations, but on New Year’s Eve he convenes the household. Valuable plans have been stolen from his office, and

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

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.

Murder at Holly House

Denzil Meyrick · 410 pages

Busman's Honeymoon

Dorothy L. Sayers · 397 pages

Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane marry and go to spend their honeymoon at Talboys, an old farmhouse in Hertfordshire which he has bought her as a present. The honeymoon is intended as a break from their usual routine of solving crimes (him) and writing about them (her), but it turns into a murder investigation when the seller of the house is found dead at the bottom of the cellar steps with seve

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

Death at the Alma Mater

G.M. Malliet · 286 pages

St. Michael's College, Cambridge, is prestigious, stately, and in frightful disrepair. To replenish the college's dwindling coffers, the Master holds a fundraising weekend for wealthy alums. But all goes awry when Lexy Laurant is found viciously strangled to death. Gorgeous and successful, Lexy inspired jealousy, envy, and spite in everyone. There's a lengthy list of likely suspects: Lexy's debt-r

The Moonstone

Wilkie Collins · 444 pages

One of the first English detective novels, this mystery involves the disappearance of a valuable diamond, originally stolen from a Hindu idol, given to a young woman on her eighteenth birthday, and then stolen again. A classic of 19th-century literature.

Blue Lightning

Ann Cleeves · 368 pages

In the fourth book of Ann Cleeves' critically acclaimed series set in the Shetland Islands, Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez brings his fiancée home to Fair Isle, a birder's paradise, where strangers are viewed with suspicions and distrust. When a woman's body is discovered at the island's bird observatory, the investigation is hampered by a raging storm that renders the island totally isolated. Ji

Love Lies Bleeding

Edmund Crispin · 271 pages

From Agora Books: " Castrevenford school is preparing for Speech Day and English professor and amateur sleuth Gervase Fen is called upon to present the prizes. However, the night before the big day, strange events take place that leave two members of staff dead. The Headmaster turns to Professor Fen to investigate the murders. While disentangling the facts of the case, Mr Fen is forced to deal

A Shilling for Candles

Josephine Tey · 208 pages

A woman's body is found on the English seacoast, and twisted in her hair is an article screaming murder. For Inspector Alan Grant, the case becomes a nightmare, as too many clues and too many motives arise.

Case for Three Detectives

Leo Bruce · 240 pages