Margaret Maron0.0 A Strom of MysteryNot a lot can ruin the serenity of the lazy, hazy August rhythms of Collection County, North Carolina. Judge Deborah Knott, once again running for election, can count on a round of pleasant softball games, barbecues, and church picnics. But now a hurricane named Fran is gearing up offshore and it looks like the eye of the storm could blow straight through the county. Even worse, the local, scandalous murder of a prominent lawyer's promiscuous wife has shaken up the entire community. As the storm picks up speed, the county gears up with batteries and bottled water -- and a determined killer finds a perfect time to strike again.
Суджата Масси3.6 Рей Симура занимается продажей антиквариата, а в свободное время ведет в японском журнале для иностранцев колонку, посвященную искусству.
Однажды молодой журналистке поручают написать статью про японские комиксы - мангу. Рей и не подозревает, что это безобидное на первый взгляд задание обернется настоящим детективом, а сама она окажется в центре захватывающих событий...
Элизабет Питерс0.0 1914 finds archaelogists Amelia Peabody, narrator, and husband Radcliffe Emerson back in Egypt for another dig, despite civil unrest. Defiantly pacifist son Ramses hides his spy activity with cousin David. He rescues Molly, and his dazzling smile conquers yet another female. An artifact from Giza confirms the return of archnemesis Sethos.
Таффи Кэннон0.0 Colonial Williamsburg turns deadly. Strange things are happening on the History & Gardens of Virginia Tour. Are they odd misadventures? Harmless pranks? Or does somebody have murder in mind? Would-be tour guide Roxanne Prescott may not know how to mollify miffed tourists, but when 'accidents' start happening to her group, this former policewoman has all the skills necessary to separate the real from the illusory. She handles everything from misplaced leeches to murder in a fascinating mystery that will particularly please armchair travelers.
Джеррилин Фармер0.0 Although not about to say "I do" anytime soon, hip party-planner Madeline Bean is no stranger to the phenomenon known as the LA wedding; the good, the bad and the kind where the party lasts longer than the marriage. Still, Maddie never expected to be the guest of Vivian Duncan, the West Coast's grande dame of wedding consultants, at a lavish affair held amidst the dramatically lit fossils in the Nature Museum's Hall of Dinosaurs. While checking out the glittering event, Maddie, with her keen event planner's instinct, realizes something is not quite right, but what? The groom is on time. The bride is beautiful. And a corpse wearing a Cartier bracelet is dangling from the triceratops skeleton. Ah, yes. That. With people disappearing and the bride in tears, Maddie just may be the next species to become extinct...unless she can reveal the murderer fast. Quicker than she can whip up a white chocolate wedding cake, Maddie follows the trail deep into dark jungles---urban and otherwise---amid tantalizing tales of smuggled gems, while fending off a nervous bridegroom, a crazed carjacker, and a half-naked ice-sculptor and his trusty chainsaw. Along the way, she discovers something old, something new, something deadly and something a wedding pro should never, ever do
Розмари Стивенс0.0 In Regency England, Beau Brummell stood as the uncrowned king of genteel society. In this first mystery in a new series, Beau is asked by the Duchess of York for his help in finding the killer of the cantankerous Countess of Wrayburn, who has been fatally poisoned.
Кейт Грилли0.0 Kelly Ryan has her hands full when a hurricane hits her tropical island home, leaving damaged houses, broken windows -- and a dead body.
Ирен Маркузе0.0 When Manhattan social worker Anita Servi stumbles over the body of an elderly female outside her apartment, she recognizes her as Lillian, the homeless person who spent occasional nights in the hallway and whom some tenants call the "lady of the landing." Though the woman's death is ruled accidental, Anita, whose work with New York's elderly gives her uncanny insight into their lives -- and deaths -- digs deeper into Lillian's murky past and makes some stunning discoveries. Why did Lillian choose this building as a place to sleep? And why, despite her wealth, did she need to be homeless? As Anita, uncovers the shocking answers, the dark and dangerous face of a killer emerges, determined to make sure Anita takes the truth to her grave.
Дениз Суонсон0.0 When school psychologist Skye Denison left Scumble River after high school, she swore she would never return to such a small minded town. But when credit card and boyfriend trouble caused her to slink home, she tries to blend in unnoticed. However inconspicuous has never been one of Skyes attributes, as the small-town busybodies try to bring her out in the public eye whenever they can. When she stumbles upon a dead TV personality, the police accuse her brother and she is forced to prove him innocent. This proves to be a daunting task, but Skye is up to the task. She is bright, persistent, gutsy and the perfect amateur sleuth.
Джули Рэй Херман0.0 Greg Whittier was well on his way to becoming fertilizer when Amilou, his long-suffering almost ex-wife, found him. She, Korine and Janey, partners in Three Dirty Women Landscaping, Inc., were busy digging---and slinging a little mud of their own---in the garden of Greg's old flame, Suzannah Graham.
Of course, Amilou is in big trouble. The dead man was her husband and she's the prime suspect. And when it turns out that Greg's love affair with Susannah was heating up again, things look even worse. But Amilou and her friends know Greg's philandering past earned him the spite of more than a few women in town. A killer's out there, ready to be found---by three women willing to dig deep, and get dirty....
Джим Хуан0.0 The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association list of 100 favorite mysteries of the 20th century represents the accumulated wisdom of the most knowledgeable people in the business. These are the books we most enjoy, the books we present to our customers over and over again, and the books that we return to when we want to visit with cherished friends.In this book, we journey through our list of 100, with reviews contributed by booksellers across the US and Canada. The book also features booksellers' lists of titles that did not make the list of 100 but should have, insights about mysteries and what our favorites mean to us, a directory of independent mystery booksellers and, finally, a 100 favorites shopping list.
Марвин Лахман0.0 Penzler Pick, February 2001: More than 30 years ago, Marvin Lachman began writing a series of articles for a now defunct mystery fan magazine (fanzine, to the informed), The Mystery Reader's Newsletter. The subject was regional mysteries, which previously had not been written about. When that pioneering newsletter folded, it was picked up by the greatest of all mystery fanzines, The Armchair Detective, under the impressive editorship of Allen J. Hubin. The series required 14 installments, running from February 1970 to October 1977. The impetus for a subject that at first flush appeared somewhat arcane was the realization that the mystery genre had undergone a major transformation after World War II. While fully 50 percent of all American mysteries had traditionally been set either in New York or California, authors had begun to discover new locales in which to set their tales. Equally important, or perhaps of even greater significance, it no longer seemed sufficient merely to mention that a story was set in, say, Boston. Writers began to fill out the description of their locales to bring a greater sense of place and ambience, moving the genre away from mere puzzles to fully developed novels.
While occasional stories from earlier times did evoke a place and time (no better examples come to mind than Melville Davisson Post's Uncle Abner stories or O. Henry's marvelous tales of turn-of-the-century New York), it is Raymond Chandler who receives credit for making locale an integral element of a story. His Southern California is more real to most Americans than the actual place ever could have been.
Is this really a big deal, you might ask. The answer is yes. Mystery novels, not unlike mainstream novels, made a point of becoming more realistic, so various locales no longer served as a convenient setting for a murder in a vicar's garden, but as a real place filled with people of varying socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds who spoke, dressed, and behaved according to the region in which they lived. From these mystery novels, historians and sociologists of the next century will probably be able to have a more accurate view of life in these 50 United States than could be gleaned from the history and sociology texts of our time, with all the biases and agendas toted around by their authors.
The American Regional Mystery is more than a compilation of those 14 very learned and surprisingly comprehensive articles. The past quarter-century has seen a greatly heightened level of regional writing, and the entire project had to be dramatically researched, rethought and rewritten. And what a job Lachman has done. One can only imagine the amount of reading and note-taking he needed to put together this superb tome of more than 500 densely packed pages. If you have any interest whatever in mystery fiction beyond the element of puzzle-solving, this should be a book for your reference shelf. --Otto Penzler
Мэтью Бансон0.0 Included in this volume: a comprehensive biography of Christie, including new theories on her strange disappearance in 1926; plot synopses that offer colorful capsules of the stories (without giving away the solutions!); A-to-Z entries on characters from vicars to butlers, police sergeants to maids, each cross-referenced to the story or novel; detailed listings of all films, television programs, radio shows, and documentaries of Christie and her works; up-to-date entries on the most recent releases of previously unpublished Christie writings; and sixty illustrations, including book covers, shots from movies, and stage productions." "Whether you've read every title in the giant Christie canon, or are just discovering her writing, The Complete Christie reveals in delectable detail why the mystique, fascination, and brainteasing fun of the mysteries penned by the century's most successful writer remain forever undiminished.
Марта Дюбоз, Маргарет Колдуэлл Томас0.0 In this remarkable book, Martha Hailey DuBose has given those multitudes of readers who love the mystery novel an indispensable addition to their libraries. Unlike other works on the subject, 'Women of Mystery' is not merely a directory of the novelists and their publications with a few biographical details. DuBose combines extensive research into the lives of significant women mystery writers from Anna Katherine Green to P.D. James, with evaluations on their work, anecdotes, critical opinions and some of the women's own comments. She takes us through the Golden Age of the British women mystery writers, Christie, Sayers, Marsh, Allingham and Tey, to the leading crime novelists of today, focusing on the women who have become legends of the genre. And though she laments, "So many mysteries, so little time," she makes a good effort a mentioning "some of the best of the rest."
When DuBose writes of the lives of her principal players, she relates them to their times, their families, their personal situations, and above all to their books. The biographies of these women are as engrossing as the stories they wrote, and Martha DuBose has shined a different, intimate, and intriguing light on them, their works, and the lives that informed those works.
This book is so full of treasure it's hard to see how any mystery enthusiasts will be able to do without it. And what a gift it would make for anyone on your list who has been heard to announce "I love a mystery."
