December 2019/ January 2020

Signings and Special Events

Saturday, December 7 at 2:00 Shannon Baker will be here to sign and discuss her latest mystery set in Tucson, Echoes in the Sand (17.95), a noir thriller. Please join us for a dark look at our hometown.

Sunday, December 10 at 2:00 the Clues Unlimited Book Club will meet to discuss The Last Policeman (RH, 14.99), a genre-bending mash-up of sci-fi and mystery and to celebrate the season with goodies.

Sunday, January 12 at 2:00 the Clues Unlimited Book Club will meet to discuss The Messenger of Truth (STM, 17.00) by Jacqueline Winspear, a Maisie Dobbs mystery set in London in the 1920s.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, December 26-28, Clues Unlimited will celebrate the holidays with our annual end-of-the-year sale. Please join us for discounts storewide.

New and Forthcoming in Hardcover

Baxter, Cynthia. Last Licks (Ken, 26.00) Jan. Ice-cream shop owner Kate agrees to let a film crew use her shop for a movie, but when an actress is poisoned by a scoop of chocolate almond fudge, she must churn through a list of suspects to find a not-so-sweet killer.

Beaton, M.C. Beating about the Bush (STM, 26.99) Dec. Agatha is hired to investigate a case of industrial espionage at a nearby factory, but a run-in with a bad-tempered donkey is but the first of the dangers she faces, and she may not survive to solve the case.

Berry, Tamara. Potions are for Pushovers (Ken, 26.00) Dec. Ellie has set up shop in a small English village selling magic potions and herbal remedies, and when one of the villagers dies after drinking a potion, she’s both indignant and worried, but when animals begin disappearing, including her cat, then the matter becomes serious in the second in a funny paranormal series.

Blanchard, Alice. Trace of Evil (STM, 26.99) Dec. In the first of a new series set in upstate New York, a rookie cop in a rural community investigates the murder of a schoolteacher while her teenaged niece becomes drawn to magic rituals that may be related to the death of the cop’s older sister.

Cameron, W. H. Crossroad (CL, 26.99) Dec. In the first of a new series set in the high desert of Oregon, an apprentice mortician comes across a grisly automobile accident with strewn with dead bodies, and when the bodies are stolen from the mortuary where she works, she becomes a suspect.

Castrique, Mark de. Murder in Rat Alley (PP, 26.99) Dec. PI Sam Blackman is called in when the remains of an engineer who had worked on the Apollo space mission in 1971 are found at what used to be a NASA tracking station, and the murder of the woman who had been his girlfriend years before makes the search for the murderer more urgent.

Connolly, Sheila. Fatal Roots (CL, 26.99) Jan. Expat pub-owner Maura is besieged by students who want to study the fairy fort on the land surrounding her pub in County Cork, but the villagers are suspicious—and then one of the students is found murdered.

Cook, Robin. Genesis (Put, 27.00) Dec. A pathologist in the office of the medical examiner decides to investigate when a social worker is found dead of an apparent drug overdose, and when she is found to be pregnant, the pathologist uses DNA databases to try to identify the father, a move that puts her in danger.

Coyle, Cleo. Brewed Awakening (Brk, 27.00) Dec. Coffeehouse manager Clare awakens on a NYC park bench with no memory of the last week—and worse, no memory of the last ten years of her life—after meeting with a wealthy socialite who, according to security camera was abducted at knife-point.

Delaney, Vicky. There’s a Murder Afoot (CL, 26.99) Jan. Sherlockian bookstore owner Gemma and her friends go to London to celebrate Sherlock Holmes’s birthday, but soon her father, a retired Scotland Yard detective has become the chief suspect in the murder of an artist, whom he suspected of having stolen a valuable painting years before.

Dornbush, Jennifer Graeser. Secret Remains (CL, 26.99) Jan. Dr. Emily Hartford is called in to investigate when the bones of a woman who went missing twelve years earlier are uncovered, and evidence implicates the sheriff, her high-school love, but she soon discovers that many others in town have strong motives for murder.

Dorsey, Tim. Naked Came the Florida Man (Mor, 27.99) Jan. While on a tour of famous Florida cemeteries, Serge and Coleman come across the legend of a man haunting the sugar cane fields and decide to “investigate.” If you enjoy comic anarchy, you will love this series.

Driscoll, Sarah. No Man’s Land (Ken, 26.00) Dec. FBI agent Meg and her K9 partner find the body of an elderly woman in a derelict building and, after the discovery of a second body, she believes that a serial killer is targeting the elderly.

Dundas, Chad. The Blaze (Put, 26.00) Jan. In a debut set in Montana, an army veteran who received a brain injury that led to memory loss returns home after the suicide of his father and finds that witnessing a fatal house fire triggers a memory of another fire fifteen years before--and his regained memory puts him in danger.

Estleman, Loren D. When Old Midnight Comes Along (STM, 26.99) Dec. Detroit PI Amos Walker is hired by a man who wants him to prove that his missing wife was murdered, even though the man is the main suspect in her disappearance.

Finder, Joseph. House on Fire (Put, 28.00) Jan. Nick Heller is hired by one of four children of the owner of a pharmaceutical company notorious for creating the opioid-addiction epidemic to find the laboratory results that show that the company was aware of the dangerously addictive nature of its successful drug, but the murder of another “security consultant” who was a former lover turns the quest into a murder investigation. Highly Recommended. TFOB.

Fleischmann, Raymond. How Quickly She Disappears (Brk, 26.00) Jan. In a novel of obsession, a woman who lives in a remote area of Alaska is willing to risk her family and her life to discover what happened to her sister who disappeared when they were both children.

Flower, Amanda. Verse and Vengeance (CL, 26.99) Dec. When a PI who has been snooping around Charming Books and is on the point of discovering its magical powers is murdered during a charity bicycle race, Violet becomes the main suspect, with only the animals and a Walt Whitman book that speaks to her to help find a killer.

Fowler, Christopher. Bryant & May: The Lonely Hour (Ban, 28.00) Dec. Bryant and May hunt for a killer who operates only at night in a case involving murder, arson, kidnapping, and bats. This is one of my favorite series: it’s comic, but always very carefully plotted.

Fox, Sarah. An Ale of Two Cities (Ken, 26.00) Dec. Literary pub owner Sadie must protect her employee and find a stone-cold killer during a winter carnival when a chef entered in the ice-sculpting contest is found dead.

Furlong, Susan. Shattered Justice (Ken, 26.00) Jan. Deputy sheriff Brynn Callahan must find a killer who is creating tensions between the Irish Traveller group to which she belongs and the other citizens in the small Appalachian town where she lives.

Gardner, Lisa. When You See Me (Dut, 27.00) Jan. Boston detective D.D. Warren and FBI agent Kimberly Quincy travel with Flora Dane to a small Georgia town where evidence is found relating to a deceased serial kidnapper, but they soon realize that the evidence also points to a present-day crime.

Geddes, Luke. Heart of Junk (SS, 26.00) Jan. A funny, quirky debut mystery set in a Wichita antiques mall, where the vendors band together to hunt for a missing child beauty pageant star in an effort to attract a TV show production crew to their mall. Despite the fact that there is a missing child, this falls definitely into the cozy category with eccentric characters and surprisingly touching moments. Highly recommended.

Gilbert, Victoria. Bound for Murder (CL, 26.99) Jan. When a body is found on a former “hippie commune” belonging to the parents of her best friend, librarian Amy uses her research skills to help the family that has fallen under suspicion of murder.

Goldenbaum, Sally. A Murderous Tangle (Ken, 26.00) Dec. When a young, outspoken environmental activist becomes the main suspect in the murder of a local business owner, the Seaside Knitters decide to help her.

Grant, Andrew. Too Close to Home (Ball, 28.00) Jan. Former intelligence officer Paul McGrath who is working as a janitor in a courthouse to find his father’s murderer discovers that a missing file holds the key to the dismissal of charges of the man he believes is guilty, and leads to a sinister web of corruption that had entangled his own family. Grant is Lee Child’s brother.

Green, Amy K. The Prized Girl (Dut, 26.00) Jan. The death of a former teenaged beauty queen in a small New England town is assumed to be the work of an obsessed fan, but her half-sister believes otherwise in a debut novel of psychological suspense.

Hauty, Chris. Deep State (SS, 27.00) Jan. An Army veteran working at the White House uncovers a plot against a divisive populist president in a debut, very topical thriller.

Hollis, Lee. Poppy Harmon and the Hung Jury (Ken, 26.00) Jan. In the second in this funny series set in a Palm Springs retirement community, Poppy leaves her detective agency to her partners while she has jury duty, but when a fellow juror is found murdered, she must save herself from similar fate by finding the killer.

Hurwitz, Gregg. Into the Fire (STM, 27.99) Jan. Evan Smoak agrees to help a man whose accountant cousin has left him a flash drive with information about a money laundering scheme used by L.A.’s criminal underworld. Hurwitz creates a suspenseful thriller with detailed character development.

Hyde, Katherine Bolger. Death with Dostoevsky (SH, 28.99) Dec. Professor Emily Cavanaugh helps a young male student who becomes the chief suspect when a predatory female academic is found murdered, and unfortunately for him he has no alibi and no memory of the night of her death.

Ide, Joe. High Five (LB, 27.00) Jan. IQ is hired by a drug kingpin to prove the innocence of his daughter who was a witness to the murder of her fiancé. The only catch is that the woman has multiple personality disorder and all of the five personalities witnessed part of the crime.

James, Miranda. Careless Whiskers (Brk, 26.00) Jan. Charlie and Diesel must put their best paws forward to catch a killer when a disagreeable actor dies during a local production and Charlie’s daughter is the chief suspect.

Jones, Tanen. The Better Liar (Ball, 27.00) Jan. A woman conceals her sister’s death in order to collect a joint inheritance, but the woman she finds to impersonate her sister has dangerous secrets as does she herself in a novel of suspense set in Albuquerque.

Lindsay, Jeff. Just Watch Me (Dut, 26.00) Dec. In the first of a new series a thief who is a master of disguise and who despises the owners of the riches that he steals decides to steal the Imperial Jewels from Iran, but the heist is only the beginning, with an unstoppable cop on his trail and a beautiful female forger. Sort of Raffles with a social conscience.

Littlejohn, Emily. Shatter the Night (STM, 27.99) Dec. Colorado police detective Gemma Monroe investigates when a retired judge is killed and she realizes that it is a copycat of a murder long ago.

Luna, Louisa. The Janes (DD, 26.95) Jan. PIs Alex Vega and Max Caplan are asked by the San Diego police to help track down the identities of two unidentified girls left on the outskirts of the city in hopes that the knowledge will help them prevent other killings.

MacDonald, Philip. The Rasp (HC, 15.99) Jan. The reissue of a classic British mystery from the Golden Age. This is one of my all-time favorites.

MacRae, Molly. Thistles and Thieves (Peg, 25.95) Jan. American ex-pat bookseller in the Scottish Highlands Janet Marsh comes across the body of a retired doctor and then days later his brother is found stabbed to death in a mystery involving rare books and mistaken identities.

McDermid, Val. How the Dead Speak (PGW, 26.00) Dec. While Tony Hill is in jail, Carol Jordan is working for a group investigating miscarriages of justice, but they come together again when a group of skeletons of young men is found on the grounds of an orphanage, and one of the skeletons turns out to be that of a man who is presently behind bars for murder.

Meier, Leslie. Invitation Only Murder (Ken, 26.00) Dec. Lucy Stone accepts an invitation to a house party on a private island in Maine that has been turned into an ecologically-friendly area—no electricity, no internet, no cell phones—but the murder of a young woman turns the simple life into a nightmare.

Melinek, Judy M.D. and T.J. Mitchell. First Cut (HC, 26.99) Jan. A San Francisco medical examiner investigates when a suspected overdose case suggests an underworld plot, even though her superiors encourage her to drop it, but soon more bodies show up.

Moore, Liz. Long Bright River (Png, 26.00) Jan. A policewoman in Philadelphia investigates when her drug-addicted sister goes missing at the same time as a series of murders rocks the city.

Myers, Tamar. Puddin’ on the Blitz (SH, 28.99) Dec. When a guest at the PennDutch Inn is poisoned by a chocolate torte from a newly-opened restaurant, Magdalena vows to find the killer, because her husband may have been the intended victim.

Nellums, Eliza. All That’s Bright and Gone (CL, 26.99) Dec. A debut mystery about a six-year-old girl who decides to find out who murdered her brother so that her mother will come home from the hospital—a charmingly unreliable narrator.

Perry, Thomas. A Small Town (Mys, 26.00) Jan. After a prison break that leads to 1000 prisoners rampaging through a small Colorado town, a police detective whose lover was killed in the violence learns that the twelve ringleaders are still at large and sets out to kill them with the secret backing of the town officials. TFOB.

Petrie, Nick. The Wild One (Put, 26.00) Jan. Peter Ash agrees to help a woman whose daughter was murdered and whose grandson was abducted by the main suspect, her son-in-law, in a case that takes him to Iceland only to find that the U.S. government wants him to stay out of the case—and we all know how well that goes over with Ash. TFOB.

Rankin, Ian. Westwind (Hach, 27.00) Jan. The reissue of one of Rankin’s earliest thrillers, long out of print, a tale of political espionage in the UK and the US.

Rayne, Sarah. Music Macabre (SH, 29.99) Dec. London music researcher Phineas Fox goes to a newly-reopened restaurant that had been a music hall in the late nineteenth century as part of his research into the life of a notorious music-hall dancer who had been one of the loves of Franz Liszt, but his research puts him in danger.

Robinson, Peter. Many Rivers to Cross (HC, 28.99) Jan. Inspector Banks has to deal with two cases: the death of a heroin addict and the murder of an unidentified Muslim boy whose body was probably moved.

Rollins, James. The Last Odyssey (Mor, 28.99) Jan. The SIGMA team discovers the wreckage of a medieval ship containing a gold clockwork map created by an Arab scientist that details the path of Odysseus’ return home from Troy, but it also reveals a fiery river under the Mediterranean Sea, and all too soon after the news of the discovery spreads, the volatile groups in the region are after the supposed treasure hidden there. TFOB.

Russell, Kate Elizabeth. My Dark Vanessa (Mor, 27.99) Jan. A lonely young girl at a boarding school begins a sexual relationship with a seemingly sympathetic teacher, but it is not until seventeen years later when another student goes public with his inappropriate behavior that the woman begins to understand the ramifications of her abuse.

Sadowsky, Nina. The Empty Bed (Ball, 27.00) Jan. A British woman who is involved in an organization that helps people disappear is asked to look into the disappearance of a woman of a woman on an anniversary vacation with her husband in Hong Kong.

Shelton, Paige. Thin Ice (STM, 26.99) Dec. A thriller writer who was kidnapped by an obsessed fan moves to a small town in Alaska to recover from her ordeal and becomes involved in investigating the murder of a local woman.

Simon, Clea. An Incantation of Cats (Polis, 26.00) Jan. In a charming (literally) cat cozy, novice witch Becca Colwin agrees to help a Wiccan friend who fears someone is trying to kill her, and she and her feline familiars must find a killer.

Spindler, Erica. The Look-Alike (STM, 27.99) Jan. A woman returns home to care for her mentally-ill mother ten years after she had stumbled upon a murdered classmate, but she begins getting threatening phone calls and fears that she is being watched, and she is terrified that she may be succumbing to her mother’s paranoia.

Stabenow, Dana. No Fixed Line (IPG, 29.95) Jan. Alaska PI Kate Shugak and ex-Trooper Jim Chopin investigate a mysterious airplane crash in a remote area in the mountains during a blizzard, where they find two young children who can’t speak English.

Steadman, Catherine. Mr. Nobody (Ball, 27.00) Jan. When a neuropsychiatrist returns to her hometown in a coastal British village to assess an unidentified patient found on the beach, she is appalled to find that he seems to know the secrets that she fled the town to hide in a novel of psychological suspense.

Stevens, Taylor. Liar’s Legacy (Ken, 26.00) Jan. Trained assassins who are twins are sent to hunt down and kill deadly assassins who have been released by their handler’s death, but soon find themselves caught between the U.S. and Russia in the second in an intricately-plotted espionage series. Stevens demonstrates that women can write edgy, high-octane thrillers as well as men.

Tobey, Danny. The God Game (STM, 26.99) Jan. A techno-thriller about five high-school boys who become involved with a video game that won’t let them quit. Tobey does an excellent job at creating a sense of horror and dread.

Tudor, C.J. The Other People (Ball, 27.00) Jan. A man sees his daughter in the window of a stranger’s car, and when he arrives home the police tell him that his wife and daughter have both been shot by an intruder, but he knows what he saw, so he leaves to hunt for his daughter, finding evidence that points to a dark web group seeking justice for wronged parties. Tudor writes very clever, very chilling mysteries.

Walters, Damien Angelica. The Dead Girls Club (CL, 26.99) Dec. A supernatural thriller about two girls whose scary stories become all too real, leading to the death of one and a horror that follows the other into adulthood.

Weinberg, Kate. The Truants (Put, 26.00) Jan. A student who has chosen to study with a prize-winning author who espouses a theory of hedonism as a way of realizing one’s artistic brilliance, is entranced by her mentor, but when her relationship with a group of other students in an Agatha Christie seminar leads to tragedy, she discovers that her teacher is hiding dark secrets.

Woods, Stuart. Treason (Put, 28.00) Jan. Stone Barrington must fight a villain who threatens to reveal classified Intel to the detriment of the current administration.

New and Forthcoming in Paperback Reprint

Berenson, Laurien. Hush Puppy (Ken, 7.99) Dec.

Berry, Steve. The Malta Exchange (STM, 9.99) Jan.

Box, C.J. Wolf Pack (Put, 9.99) Jan.

Connolly, Sheila. The Lost Traveller (CL, 7.99) Dec. 

Delany, Vicky. A Scandal in Scarlet (CL, 7.99) Dec.

Furlong, Susan. Fractured Truth (Ken, 9.99) Dec.

Griffin, Laura. Desperate Girls (Pkt, 8.99) Dec.

Hoag, Tami. The Boy (Dut, 9.99) Jan. 

Hollis, Lee. Poppy Harmon Investigates (Ken, 7.99) Dec. 

Hurwitz, Gregg. Out of the Dark (STM, 9.99) Dec.

James, Miranda. Six Cats a Slayin’ (Brk, 7.99) Dec. 

Jones, Darynda. Summoned to Thirteenth Grave (STM, 9.99) Jan.

Lupica, Mike. Robert B. Parker’s Blood Feud (Put, 9.99) Dec. 

Robb, J.D. Vendetta in Death (STM, 8.99) Jan.

Woods, Stuart. Skin Game (Put, 9.99) Dec.

New and Forthcoming in Paperback Original

Bartlett, Lorraine and Gayle Leeson. Murder Ink (Brk, 7.99) Jan. When a tattoo parlor is slated to move into charming Victoria Square, the other shop owners are not pleased, but when the owner of the space is found electrocuted in the space, Katie decides to investigate.

Cummins, Fiona. The Collector (Ken, 9.99) Dec. In the second in the series, British DS Etta Fitzroy is hunting for the serial killer who held her captive and escaped with a young girl he had abducted, and as she follows the clues he is leaving she realizes that he is hiding in plain sight.

Davis, Krista. The Dog Who Knew Too Much (Brk, 7.99) Dec. When her beloved Jack Russell terrier Trixie finds a dead body, innkeeper Holly must find a killer and protect her dog when the ensuing publicity brings a stranger claiming that Trixie belongs to him.

Day, Maddie. Murder on Cape Cod (Ken, 7.99) Jan. In the first of a new series set among the members of a mystery book group that finds one of the members a suspect in the murder of a local handyman, sending the whole group to the library to learn sleuthing tips from the mystery classics.

Flower, Amanda. Matchmaking Can Be Murder (Ken, 7.99) Jan. In the first of a new series, a widowed Amish quilt-maker turns matchmaker when she sees her niece set to marry the wrong man, but when the man is murdered she must save her niece from a murder charge.

Griffo, J. D. Murder at Icicle Lodge (Ken, 7.99) Dec. Alberta and her friends tag along when her granddaughter gets a reporting gig at the grand opening of an exclusive lodge in Pennsylvania, but the discovery of a dead body and the reports of an incoming blizzard chill them to the core.

Harris, Sherry. Sell Low, Sweet Harriet (Ken, 7.99) Jan. Yard sale manager Sarah is up to her ears in espionage and military murders, so it’s a good thing her new assistant is a former FBI hostage negotiator.

Kelly, Diane. Paw of the Jungle (STM, 7.99) Dec. Police officer Megan and Sergeant Brigit, a real bitch, are doggedly on the trail of thieves stealing exotic animals from the Fort Worth zoo.

Klein, Libby. Theater Nights are Murder (Ken, 7.99) Jan. When the local Senior Center gets a retired Broadway actor to star in a production, everyone is thrilled including Poppy’s aunt who knew him in high school, but the production is filled with problems, culminating in murder.

Murphy, Catie. Dead in Dublin (Ken, 7.99) Jan. In the first in a new series, an American expat working for a limousine service in Dublin is asked by a restaurateur to look into the death of one of her clients during dinner, a case that involves taking care of two adorable terriers while hunting for a killer.

Penney, Elizabeth. Hems and Homicide (STM, 7.99) Jan. A seamstress who makes fancy aprons moves to a small Maine town to be with her recently widowed grandmother, but her dreams of having a shop run into some problems when a skeleton is found in the basement of the new shop and the corrupt landlord turns up dead in the first of a new cozy series.

Ross, Barbara. Sealed Off (Ken, 7.99) Jan. Julia must take time away from the family clambake business when one of the Russian workers hired to help her with the renovation of a derelict mansion is found dead, and then the workers find a sealed off room containing a diary with Cyrillic text.

Ross, Rosemarie. Cobblered to Death (Ken, 7.99) Dec. In the first of a new series, a host of a cooking show becomes a murder suspect when the cast-iron skillet she used to bake a cherry cobbler becomes a murder weapon.

Smith, Karen Rose. Murder with Cherry Tarts (Ken, 7.99) Dec. After one of her employees becomes a suspect in the murder of an employee at an antiques shop, tea-shop owner Daisy decides to investigate, but the obvious suspect is not easy to spot in the tea leaves.

Swanson, Denise. Come Homicide or High Water (PP, 7.99) Jan. Returning to her job as a school psychologist after maternity leave, Skye is confronted with another murder.

Wait, Lea. Thread and Buried (Ken, 7.99) Dec. When the director of a film being shot in picturesque Haven Harbor is found dead shortly after sexually harassing his leading lady, Angie and her needlework group hunt for a killer.

New and Forthcoming in Quality Paperback

Adams, Ellery. The Whispered Word (Ken, 15.95) Jan. When Nora and her friends from the Secret, Book, and Scone Society befriend a young woman covered with bruises, they know she needs help, but when a customer is found dead, allegedly a suicide, they find a connection to the young woman, who may be a suspect—or the next victim.

Balzo, Sandra. Murder á la Mocha (SH, 17.95) Jan. Driving home one night, coffee-shop owner Maggie finds a bedraggled Chihuahua on the road and discovers that the dog sitter is her business partner’s niece, but when she goes to check on the dog and its sitter later, she finds a dead body and no sign of the other two.

Barry, Jessica. Freefall (HC, 16.99) Jan. When a woman learns that her estranged daughter is missing and presumed dead following the crash of a private plane owned by a powerful pharmaceutical company in the Colorado Rockies, she becomes obsessed with retracing her daughter’s last two years only to discover that she didn’t know her daughter very well at all. 

Bartz, Andrea. The Lost Night (RH, 17.00) Jan. In a debut psychological thriller, when a woman reconnects with old friends years after the supposed suicide of her best friend, she discovers that her memory of the fatal evening is missing, and while investigating, begins to wonder if she can trust herself not to have been involved in the death.

Baxter, Cynthia. Hot Fudge Murder (Ken, 15.95) Dec. Ice cream shop owner Kate must churn through the many suspects to find a cold killer when a fashion designer is killed at his glamorous gala, but her investigation could lead to a double scoop of deadly trouble.

Bellairs, George. The Body in the Dumb River (PP, 14.99) Dec. A mystery from the early 1960s featuring Scotland Yard inspector investigating the death of man with a double life.

Box, C.J. Wolf Pack (Put, 16.00) Jan. Joe Pickett’s return to work as a game warden is complicated when four bodies are found in the park and he fears that a violent Sinaloa cartel is moving in to the area. TFOB.

Burke, James Lee. New Iberia Blues (SS, 16.99) Jan. Dave Robicheaux investigates when the body of a crucified young woman is found on the grounds of a Hollywood director’s backwoods Louisiana estate.

Burns, V.M. Bookmarked for Murder (Ken, 15.95) Dec. A shopping trip to Chicago turns deadly for one of the bus passengers, so mystery bookstore owner Sam and the ladies from the retirement village decide to turn what they’ve learned from their mystery reading to good use.

Carter, Andrea. Death at Whitewater Church (Ocean, 16.00) Dec. In the first of an Irish cozy series, a solicitor is called in by the owners of a deconsecrated church in a small village when a skeleton is discovered in the crypt, but she finds that the local police and the villagers are equally obstructive.

Chesterton, G.K. The Incredulity of Father Brown (SS, 5.95) Dec. A collection of classic stories featuring Father Brown, a Roman Catholic priest who solves mysteries in a small English town in the early twentieth century.

Delany, Vicky. A Scandal in Scarlet (Per, 15.99) Dec. When Gemma puts on an afternoon tea with a charity auction to rebuild the town’s museum, the event is cut short by the discovery of a body in the backroom, so she and her friend must find a killer after a neighboring merchant falls under suspicion in the fourth of this cozy series.

Donlea, Charlie. Some Choose Darkness (Ken, 15.95) Jan. While cleaning out the law office of her recently-deceased father, a forensic reconstructionist happens upon papers that are related to the disappearance of four women four decades earlier and the murder of a woman who claimed to have solved the crime.

Donohoe, Kathleen. Ghosts of the Missing (HMH, 17.00) Jan. An artist returns to her upstate New York hometown and becomes involved with a writer who has returned to investigate what happened to his sister who disappeared as a child during a parade twenty-five years before, and together they uncover dark secrets in the small town.

Dorsey, Tim. No Sunscreen for the Dead (HC, 16.99) Jan. Serge and Coleman are on a visit to one of the largest retirement communities in the world, where they plan to observe the locals in their natural habitat and sample the local cuisine, only to find themselves helping the residents recover their swindled funds. Dorsey is a comic genius.

Elgar, Emily. Grace is Gone (HC, 16.99) Jan. A close-knit Cornish community is shaken when a mother is found bludgeoned to death and her daughter disappeared, and when a journalist investigates he finds countless anomalies in the story of the selfless mother who cared for her sickly child and the child who cheerfully bore her many illnesses.

Elliot, Laura. The Wife Before Me (GC, 12.99) Dec. A woman who begins a relationship with a widower after a brief courtship finds a torn letter that shocks her into hunting for the sender after she realizes that she really doesn’t know the man—or what he’s capable of doing.

Fisher, Tarryn. The Wives (HC, 16.99) Dec. A woman who is aware that her husband has two other wives (and she’s fine with it) gets to know one of the other wives only to discover that the other wife is hiding bruises, leading her to wonder how well she really knows her husband.

French, Nicci. Losing You (Mor, 16.99) Jan. A woman’s search for her missing teenaged daughter reveals a web of lies and deceit as she learns that she really didn’t know her child at all.

Gabrielle, Lisa. The Winters (Png, 17.00) Jan. In a reworking of Rebecca, a young woman marries a wealthy widower and moves to his Long Island estate, but her toxic relationship with her stepdaughter leads to a realization that the family harbors dark secrets that she might not survive.

Greene, Thomas Christopher. The Perfect Liar (STM, 17.00) Jan. A widow with a child marries a popular university professor who takes her to Vermont, but a series of anonymous notes causes her to question herself, her husband, and their marriage, especially after a neighbor dies in a mysterious accident while on a run with her husband.

Ide, Joe. Wrecked (Mull, 16.99) Jan. Long Beach, CA PI Isaiah Quintabe is asked by an artist to help find her mother whom she hasn’t seen in a decade, but he soon discovers that the ex-military founder of a global security firm is also after her to retrieve a video of their torturing of prisoners at Abu Graib.

Johnston, Tim. The Current (Algonquin, 16.95) Nov. When the car carrying two college students plunges into an icy Minnesota river, killing one, the local sheriff suspects foul play because the crash echoes the death of another young woman ten years before in a crime novel concentrating on how a community deals with the aftermath of death.

Katz, Ani. A Good Man (Png, 17.00) Jan. A devoted family man in Long Island commits an irreparably bad act that calls into question his entire identity and sense of self in a debut novel of psychological suspense.

Kent, Kathleen. The Dime (Mull, 16.95) Dec. In the first of a gritty new series a tough Brooklyn police detective relocates to Dallas, where she finds the transition difficult as she deals with insubordinate subordinates, a stalker, an unhappy girlfriend, and a formidable crime organization.

Kistler, Bonnie. House on Fire (SS, 17.00) Dec. In a debut novel of domestic suspense, a blended family is torn apart when a drunk driving accident leaves one child dead and the other accused of manslaughter—although he insists that he wasn’t driving.

Lee, Tom. The Alarming Palsy of James Orr (Soho, 15.00) Dec. In a debut novel of suburban noir, a normal father, husband, model citizen wakes up one morning with his face paralyzed and while waiting for the affliction to pass, finds that things are not as he thought—and he may not be the man he thought.

LeFanu, J.S. Ghost Stories of the Tiled House (HC, 12.99) Dec. A collection of tales of terror by one of Ireland’s best. Highly recommended.

Leroux, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera (PP, 14.99) Jan. A classic of love and horror set beneath the Paris Opéra.

Lorac, E.C.R. Fell Murder (PP, 14.99) Jan. A classic mystery set in a small farming community overlooking the Lake District.

Lutz, Tom. Born Slippy (Png, 18.95) Jan. A New England building contractor flies to Taipei when a young worker he had mentored during a summer who had later become a millionaire is blown up when one of his buildings explodes, and finds himself in over his head in a noir thriller.

Marwood, Alex. The Poison Garden (Png, 16.00) Jan. A young pregnant woman who grew up in a cult in North Wales must make her way in the outside world, and finds that she is ill-equipped for the task, and especially ill-equipped to save herself from an evil that is stalking her. Marwood is great.

McCall Smith, Alexander. The Peppermint Tea Chronicles (RH, 15.95) Dec. In the latest in the charming 44 Scotland Street series Bertie and his friends are getting older, Irene has yet another drama, and all the neighbors muddle along together.

McDermid, Val. Broken Ground (Per, 16.00) Dec. DCI Karen Pirie investigates a mysterious corpse found in a Highland peat bog where a woman’s grandfather had buried her inheritance at the end of WWII.

McMahon, Jennifer. The Invited (BDD, 15.95) Jan. After a couple buys land in rural Vermont to build their dream house, they discover that the locals believe the area to be cursed by the spirit of a woman who was hanged as a witch a century before in a powerfully creepy supernatural thriller.

Penzler, Otto, ed. Bibliomysteries: Volume Two (Peg, 17.95) Dec. A further collection of fifteen short stories set in the mysterious world of bookselling, by contemporary masters of mystery.

Perry, Thomas. The Burglar (Per, 16.00) Jan. A young woman burglar who specializes in stealing from the Los Angeles super-rich stumbles across a grisly triple murder at the home of a wealthy art dealer and then finds that she must solve the murders in order to save her own life. I love Perry and this is among his best.

Pinborough, Sarah. Cross Her Heart (HC, 16.99) Jan. An overly-protective single mother of a teenaged girl begins to feel vaguely threatened and uneasy, and she knows that the only ways she can protect herself and her daughter is to open up to a friendly coworker and reveal the secrets and betrayals she has hidden.

Rayne, Sarah. Song of the Damned (SH, 17.95) Dec. Musicologist Phineas Fox accompanies a friend to a private school where plans for the bicentenary are underway, but things are complicated by a wealthy donor who insists that her late uncle’s opera be staged, an opera based on the disappearance of some nuns in the eighteenth century.

Robinson, Peter. Careless Love (HC, 16.99) Jan. DCI Banks and his team are faced with two cases of possible murder, that of a young student found in a car that didn’t belong to her and a man found dead in the wild moorland, and it’s up to Annie to find a connection between the two.

Schaffhausen, Joanna. No Mercy (STM, 17.99) Jan. Forced to attend group therapy sessions after unrepentantly killing a murderer, police detective Ellery Hathaway stumbles across two cases, one a woman who was raped and who wants her help capturing the attacker and another case of a man who may have helped wrongly convict a man for arson, so she contacts an FBI profiler for his help. TFOB

Scott, E. G. The Woman Inside (Dut, 16.00) Jan. A debut domestic thriller featuring multiple unreliable narrators about a marriage going wrong, with two partners whose secrets and infidelities create a dangerous situation that could destroy them both.

Shemilt, Jane. The Playground (HC, 16.99) Dec. Three middle-class London families become close during the summer when their children all join the same tutoring group, but shared barbeques become illicit affairs, and soon the children are running wild, resulting in tragedy.

Shepard, Sara. Reputation (Dut, 16.00) Dec. When a college professor is killed shortly after a hacker dumps 40,000 emails into a searchable data base at a small college, his wife and her sister, an investigative reporter, begin to investigate, only to discover that everyone in the small town is hiding secrets.

Simon, Clea. A Spell of Murder (Per, 16.00) Dec. In the first of a new paranormal series set in Cambridge, MA, a woman who has recently lost her job as a historical researcher joins a witches’ coven, but when one of the rather-inept witches is murdered, she becomes a person of interest and must be helped by her talking cats.

Smith, J.P. If She Were Dead (SB, 15.99) Jan. A bestselling novelist caught up in an obsessive affair with a married man finds herself entangled in a deadly web of secrets and lies in a twisty novel of psychological suspense.

Steinhauer, Olen. The Tourist (STM, 9.99) Jan. The reissue of the first in an excellent espionage series featuring a CIA agent now working a desk job who is forced by the arrest of an assassin to go undercover once again to investigate a former colleague. Highly recommended.

Straley, John. The Big Both Ways (Soho, 9.99) Dec. Originally published by a small local press in 2014, this is a novel about a small town in Alaska populated by an assortment of eccentrics and criminals.

Tudor, C.J. The Hiding Place (RH, 17.00) Jan. A teacher returns reluctantly to his old school having gotten a job there with the express motive of exacting revenge for what happened to his sister years ago in a novel of psychological suspense.

Ward, Annie. Beautiful Bad (HC, 16.99) Jan. After she is badly scarred in an accident, a woman with a beautiful home, lovely child, and wonderful marriage begins writing therapy, where she gradually reveals that things are not quite so perfect in her life--and then a shocking crime occurs in a debut novel of psychological suspense. Highly recommended. TFOB.

Watkins, Eileen. Gone, Kitty, Gone (Ken, 15.95) Jan. Cat groomer Cassie must help a celebrity when her cat goes missing and his cat-sitter is murdered--and the police (whose priorities are obviously mixed up) are more interested in finding a killer than a cat.

Westhead, Jessica. Worry (HC, 15.99) Jan. A mother’s worry about her young daughter increases to fever pitch during a visit with friends and the friends’ disturbing neighbor in a novel of psychological suspense.

Winters, Ben. Golden State (Mull, 16.99) Jan. In a sci-fi thriller set in a future state where everyone must tell the truth, a young government agent discovers that total veracity might be less-than-optimal, especially when those in power have ways to twist the truth.

New and Forthcoming in International Mysteries

Baron, Hazel and Janet Fife-Yeomans. My Mother, a Serial Killer (HC, 17.99) Jan. The true story of a wife and mother in a small Australian town who had murdered three men by 1958, and was stopped by her own daughter, the author.

Blackwell, Juliet. The Vineyards of Champagne (Png, 16.00) Jan. A recent widow visiting Provence discovers a cache of letters dating from WWI about the women of the area who used a labyrinth of tunnels to shelter from onslaught of gunfire and who kept other secrets as well.

Elon, Emuna. House on Endless Waters (SS, 27.00) Jan. An Israeli writer travels to Amsterdam where he is shocked to discover a pre-WWII photograph of his parents in the National Jewish Museum, leading him to research his mother’s resistance work during the war, saving Jewish children from the Nazis.

D’Andrea, Luca. Sanctuary (HC, 16.99) Jan. When the wife of an Italian criminal who has stolen a pouch of rubies and fled crashes her car in a remote area in the Dolomites, she is rescued by a peasant who takes her in, but she soon realizes that she may be in a situation far worse than the one she left in a contemporary dark fairy tale.

Engberg, Katrine. The Tenant (SS, 27.00) Jan. A retired Copenhagen academic is shocked by the murder of her tenant in a flat two floors below her, especially because the details of the woman’s death were lifted from the manuscript of a murder mystery that the academic was writing.

Giordano, Mario. Auntie Poldi and the Vineyards of Etna (HMH, 15.99) Dec. German expat Auntie Poldi has retired to Sicily where she cannot stay out of trouble and finds herself confronting a noted Sicilian family-run business after she finds a body in a vineyard in the second in this light-hearted series.

Hammad, Pauline. The Parisian (Grove, 18.00) Dec. A debut novel by a prize-winning author that traces the period in Palestinian history from WWI to the movement for independence through the life of a young man who goes to Paris as a student.

Hammer, Chris. Scrublands (SS, 18.00) Jan. In a debut mystery, a journalist recovering from the trauma of his war-time reporting is sent to a small drought-plagued Australian town to report on the aftermath of a brutal crime where the local priest killed five parishioners before being killed himself, but the discovery of the bodies of two German backpackers who disappeared at the time of the shooting could mean that the accepted view of the crime may be completely wrong.

Keplar, Lars. The Rabbit Hunter (Knopf, 27.95) Jan. Detective Joona is asked by the Swedish Prime Minister to investigate the death of the foreign minister, but he soon discovers that a serial killer targeting politicians.

Kim, Un-Su. The Plotters (DD, 16.95) Dec. The U.S. debut of a Korean thriller writer, whose political thriller features a young boy who is groomed to become an assassin for hire by those in power who control the corruption and intrigue with little or no accountability.

Magson, Adrian. Red Station (PGW, 14.00) Dec. An MI5 agent is posted to a remote station in the Balkans after an operation that went wrong, but he is soon the target of both drug smugglers seeking revenge and invading Russian forces.

Quartey, Kwei. The Missing American (Soho, 27.95) Jan. In the first of a new series set in Ghana, a young private investigator is hired by an American to find his missing father who came to Ghana to visit his online girlfriend to whom he has sent thousands of dollars in a case of Internet scams and fetish priests.

Raisin, Rebecca. The Little Bookshop on the Seine (HC, 16.99) Jan. On an exchange, an American bookseller takes a dream job at a Paris bookshop for six months, but she is appalled that her fantasy is not coming true, so she decides to take matters into her own hands. Come on, it’s not a mystery, but I bet you couldn’t resist ordering it either.

Reza, Yasmina. Babylon (RH, 15.95) Dec. A strange murder mystery set in Paris about a middle-class woman who befriends a neighbor, plans a dinner party, and finds herself moving from a novel of manners to a police procedural all in one evening. I really liked this.

Riva, Peter. Kidnapped on Safari (Sky, 22.99) Jan. A safari guide and a wildlife photographer join forces to find and release the guide’s son who has been kidnapped and taken from Kenya to Tanzania by the terrorist group Boko Harum in a series set in East Africa.

Simenon, Georges. Maigret’s Pickpocket (Png, 15.00) Dec and Maigret Hesitates (Png, 15.00) Jan. Reprints of two of the classic French police procedurals.

Singh, Nalini. A Madness of Sunshine (Brk, 27.00) Dec. A woman who returns to her home on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island finds herself helping the lone policeman when one of the residents fails to return from a run in a case with ties to other disappearances in the small town over the years.

Staalesen, Gunnar. Wolves at the Door (IPG, 15.99) Jan. Norwegian PI Varg Veum investigates the supposedly accidental deaths of two men in prison for child pornography and sexual assault, and finds evidence of a crime that puts him in jeopardy.

Stanley, Michael. Facets of Death (PP, 15.99) Jan. In a prequel set at the beginning of Kubu’s career in the Botswana CID, he must solve a diamond robbery that leaves the three robbers killed execution-style in South Africa.

Szabo, Magda. Abigail (NYRB, 16.95) Jan. The teenaged daughter of a Hungarian general is sent to a boarding school when he goes off to fight in WWII, but she finds herself unable to stand the school and runs away in a suspenseful coming-of-age novel set against the backdrop of war.

Tsao, Tiffany. The Majesties (SS, 27.00) Jan. After one of the daughters of a fabulously wealthy Chinese-Indonesian family poisons everyone during a family celebration, her sole surviving sister thinks back on her sister and the family secrets that bind them together as she fights for her life.

Tursten, Helene. The Winter Grave (Soho, 26.95) Dec. DI Embla Nyström must solve the disappearance of two little girls and the murder of a police officer before the citizens of a small Swedish town take justice into their own hands.

White, Christian. The Nowhere Child (STM, 17.99) Jan. A debut novel of suspense about an Australian woman who is approached by a stranger who claims that she is in fact a child who was abducted at the age of two from her home in Kentucky by her recently deceased mother, and when she investigates in the US, she finds a viper’s nest of family secrets and religious conspiracy.

_____. The Wife and the Widow (STM, 26.99) Jan. Set in a small town on an island off the Australian coast, two women, one discovering the secret life of her recently-dead husband and the other confronting the evidence of her husband’s guilt come together and finally find answers about the men they thought they knew.

New and Forthcoming in Historical Mysteries

Adams, Jane A. Kith and Kin (SH, 17.95) Jan. In this police procedural set in 1928, the discovery of two bodies found in the Kentish marshes, and the fact that one of them has a strange round wound, causes Scotland Yard DCI Henry Johnstone to concentrate on the local area where similar wounds have been found, despite the fact that one of the men worked for a London crime boss.

Airth, Rennie. The Decent Inn of Death (Png, 16.00) Jan.  Snowed-in while staying at a country manor house in 1952, former Scotland Yard detectives John Madden and Angus Sinclair investigate the death of a beloved church organist, the widow of a German clergyman known for his anti-Nazi views in a wonderful mystery that hearkens back to the Golden Age.

Alexander, Tasha. In the Shadow of Vesuvius (STM, 27.99) Jan. Lady Emily and her husband rent a villa near Pompeii, and while exploring the ruins come across the body of an American journalist, who may have a relationship to an archaeologist working there.

Barron, Stephanie. That Churchill Woman (Ball, 17.00) Jan. A novel about the American heiress who became the Duchess of Marlborough and the mother of Winston Churchill whose life for known for scandal and tragedy.

Black, Benjamin. The Secret Guests (HH, 27.00) Jan. During the Blitz of 1939 the young royal princesses are evacuated to an isolated estate in neutral Ireland, guarded by a young female secret service agent, but the villagers around the estate begin to speculate about the identity of the young ladies in a suspenseful novel that the author swears is based on fact.

Correa, Armando Lucas. The Daughter’s Tale (SS, 16.99) Jan. After her husband is sent to a concentration camp, a Berlin bookseller flees to the south of France with her two daughters, only to be caught up in the horrible atrocity of WWII, the Nazi massacre of civilians in the village of Oradur-Sur-Glane.

Daniels, Casey. Smoke and Mirrors (SH, 17.95) Jan. In the first of a new series, the sister of P.T. Barnum must clear the name of the Lizard Man of Borneo when a family friend is found murdered near the mermaid exhibit in Barnum’s American Museum.

Faye, Lyndsay. The Paragon Hotel (Put, 17.00) Dec. In 1921, young woman on the run from a drug and liquor deal gone wrong, flees New York City for Oregon, where she settles in at an all-black hotel whose residents are terrified by the arrival of the KKK in their city and the disappearance of a mulatto child in a satisfying mystery that takes up racism, mental illness, and gender identity.

Fellowes, Jessica. The Mitford Scandal (STM, 26.99) Jan. In the late 1920s Diana Mitford goes on an extended European holiday with her new husband accompanied by Louisa Cannon, her lady’s maid, but Louisa fears that there is a murderer among their group of bright young things when a lady’s maid is found dead.

Finch, Charles. The Vanishing Man (STM, 17.00) Jan. In another prequel, Charles Lennox is retained by the Duke of Dorset to investigate the theft of a painting from his London house, but a kidnapping and a murder take place, and everything that has happened may be linked to a lost Shakespeare play. TFOB

Gaind, Arjun Raj. Death at the Durbar (PP, 26.99) Dec. In Delhi in 1911 on the eve of the British king’s visit to India, Maharaja Sikandar Singh is asked to investigate when the body of a hanged girl is found in the royal quarters in the luxurious Durbar Hotel in the second in the series.

Gentill, Sulari. Give the Devil his Due (PP, 15.99) Jan. Rowland Sinclair decides to race at Australia’s most dangerous racetrack, but finds that racing is not the most dangerous thing when three murders occur.

Glass, Charles. They Fought Alone (Png, 18.00) Dec. The true story of two British brothers who parachuted into Nazi-occupied France in 1940 with the SOE and who established resistance groups to sabotage the Germans.

Griffiths, Elly. Now You See Them (HMH, 26.00) Dec. The swinging sixties have arrived in Brighton and with it comes the disappearance of members of a group of girls, and while DI Edgar Stephens and Max Mephisto investigate, Emma, now Edgar’s wife and a mother, starts an investigation of her own. This is an excellent series.

Harris, Robert J. The Thirty-One Kings (Peg, 15.95) Dec. A continuation of the early-twentieth-century thrillers by John Buchan finds the hero going from Scotland to London and then to France in June, 1940 when a dying pilot begs him to find the eponymous kings and prevent a nefarious plot to topple Churchill in order to accommodate Hitler.

Harrison, Cora. A Shameful Murder (PGW, 14.00) Dec. In the first of a new series set in 1920s Ireland, Mother Aquinas investigates when the body of a well-dressed young woman is found on the convent grounds.

Huie, M.L. Spitfire (CL, 26.99) Jan. In the first of a new series, a woman who spied for the British in France during WWII is recruited in 1946 by Ian Fleming to return to France to find the traitor who led to the execution of her lover, but she discovers that postwar Paris is filled with spies just as dangerous as the Nazis.

Jecks, Michael. A Missed Murder (SH, 17.95) Nov. In the third in this Tudor series featuring a thief and reluctant assassin, Jack Blackjack is hired by John Blount to murder a man, but the murder goes awry and he finds himself on the run from a variety of enemies. Rebellion’s Message (PGW, 14.00), the first of the series comes out in December.

Kelly, Julia. The Whispers of War (SS, 27.00) Jan. When Germany invades Poland in 1939, three friends must band together to keep one of them, a German ex-pat, from being interned in the camps for enemy aliens.

Levy, Lawrence H. Near Prospect Park (Ball, 17.00) Jan. When her journalist husband is murdered while working on a story about corruption in high places, Brooklyn detective Mary Hanley must turn to Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt for help in the latest in this series set in 1890s New York.

Lloyd, Catherine. Death Comes to Bath (Ken, 15.95) Dec. While in Bath, so that her husband can take the waters to cure a wound from the Battle of Waterloo, Lady Sarah Kurland investigates when a wealthy elderly man is found dead—and his will has gone missing.

Loftis, Larry. Code Name: Lise (SS, 16.99) Nov. The true story of the British spy Odette Sansom who worked in occupied France against the Nazis, who was later captured and tortured along with her lover and commanding officer by the Gestapo, and afterwards sent to a German concentration camp.

Maxwell, Alyssa. A Murderous Marriage (Ken, 15.95) Dec. When her sister bows to family pressure and marries a wealthy man many years her senior, Lady Phoebe is concerned, but when the bridegroom is found dead the morning after the marriage, she and her lady’s maid vow to find a killer before a murder conviction destroys her sister’s chance for a love match.

May, James L. The Body outside the Kremlin (HC, 27.95) Jan. A political prisoner in a Russian prison camp in the 1920s is ordered to help an elderly detective investigate when a prisoner who has the job of restoring icons looted from a church is found murdered.

Montgomery, Jess. The Hollows (STM, 27.99) Jan. The newly-elected sheriff of a small Ohio town in the 1920s investigates the death of a woman by the railroad tracks amid tales of ghostly apparitions, but the trail takes her to a shuttered asylum and the secrets that it harbors. TFOB

_____. The Widows (STM, 9.99) Jan. Set in Ohio in 1924, the widow of a sheriff killed while transporting a prisoner is shocked when a woman arrives at her door seeking her help after her daughter has gone missing—an encounter that shows both women that the sheriff was not the man they thought they knew and that his death may have been more complex.

Moreira, Peter. Hitman on Haight (SS, 21.95) Dec. A SFPD detective must find who killed and dismembered the hippie daughter of an industrialist, leaving her body in Golden Gate Park in the second in the series set in the 1960s in the Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco.

Odden, Karen. A Trace of Deceit (HC, 16.99) Dec. A young art student at the Slade joins forces with a Scotland Yard detective after her art-restorer brother is murdered, and they discover a connection to an elegant auction house and a missing masterpiece in a Victorian mystery.

Parker, Ann. Mortal Music (PP, 15.99) Jan. Pianist Inez Stannert must investigate when a diva for whom she is accompanist is menaced by someone who murders her pet bird and destroys her theatrical costumes in a mystery set in 1880s San Francisco.

Parry, Ambrose. The Art of Dying (PGW, 26.00) Jan. In the second in the series of medical mysteries set in 19^th century Edinburgh where Will Raven must clear the name of his mentor when patients begin dying of a mysterious malady all over the city.

Patrick, Renee. Script for Scandal (SH, 28.99) Jan. In the third in this series set in 1930s Hollywood, designer Edith Head works with a friend to clear the name of the friend’s boyfriend, a policeman who is implicated according to the script of a new film of being part of a bank robbery ring.

Quincy, D.M. Murder at the Opera (CL, 26.99) Dec. In the third in this series set in Regency London, adventurer and sometimes sleuth Atlas Catesby investigates the shooting death of a nobleman’s mistress at the Covent Garden opera house.

Rowland, Laura Joh. The Woman in the Veil (CL, 26.99) Jan. When Victorian photographer Sarah Bain comes across the body of a gravely-injured unidentified amnesiac woman on the banks of the Thames, she is pleased to find her family, but when other claimants to the woman are murdered, she and her associates must uncover the mystery of her identity and her attackers.

Russell, Craig. The Devil Aspect (BDD, 16.95) Jan. Set in Czechoslovakia in 1935, a psychiatrist takes a job at a notorious asylum for the criminally insane to study the six inmates, while a detective investigating a series of murders in Prague asks for the psychiatrist’s help because he fears that there is a connection between the killer and the asylum in a brilliant combination of horror and mystery set in the shadow of Nazism.

Saunders, Kate. The Case of the Wandering Scholar (Bloom, 17.00) Dec. Clergyman’s widow Laetitia Rodd goes to Oxford to look for the estranged brother of her dying neighbor, but the clergyman with whom she is staying is poisoned and she must save his curate from a murder charge in the second in this mid-Victorian series.

Sansom, C.J. Tombland (Mull, 18.99) Dec. Matthew Sheldrake continues to work for the young princess Elizabeth during the period of her brother’s reign, a period of political and religious upheaval, but when a distant relation of the princess is found dead, and then a second murder is found on her estate he must examine where his loyalty lies.

Simpson, Rosemary. Death Brings a Shadow (Ken, 26.00) Dec. Prudence and Geoffrey go to the Sea Islands in Georgia for the wedding of a friend, but the bride is found dead in an alligator-filled swamp, and the two must investigate a crime that involves voodoo and the last days of slavery in the latest in this Gilded Age series.

Street, Karen Lee. Edgar Allan Poe and the Jewel of Peru (Peg, 15.95) Dec. In the second in this series featuring Poe as the detective, he receives an anonymous package containing three dead crows, leading him to believe that his nemesis is on his trail again, while at the same time he is investigating the murder of a bird collector.

Taylor, Andrew. The Second Midnight (HC, 16.99) Jan. In 1939 an agent tasked with a minor mission for British Intelligence takes his son with him to Prague as cover, but when German tanks roll in he is forced to flee, leaving the boy who is taken care of by a Nazi colonel.

Thynne, Jane. The Words I Never Wrote (RH, 28.00) Jan. A woman who buys a vintage typewriter that belonged to a celebrated journalist discovers that inside the case there is a novel based on the WWII experiences of the journalist and her sister who married a German industrialist in the 1930s in a powerful look at women’s roles during the rise of Nazism.

Wolfe, Suzanne M. The Course of all Treasons (CL, 26.99) Dec. In the second in this series set in the Elizabethan court, Nicholas Holt, a spy for Walsingham, must find the killer of another agent amidst the intrigue swirling in the court involving Mary, Queen of Scots.

Of Special Interest

These are only a few of the wonderful mysteries and thrillers that came out in the year, so you have hours of great reading ahead of you!

Grimes, Martha. The Old Success (Grove, 26.00). I seldom miss a Martha Grimes because I need to keep up with Jury, Melrose Plant, and the assortment of eccentrics that people her well-plotted mysteries. That this one has a race horse named Aggrieved who is central to the story is icing on the cake.

Kanon, Joseph. The Accomplice (SS, 28.00). A brilliant, multi-layered mystery about a man who is asked by his dying uncle to go after a Nazi war criminal who escaped to Argentina after the war. This is an intelligent, thought-provoking mystery with surprising depth.

Khan, Vaseem. Bad Day at the Vulture Club (Hach, 26.99). I have always been fascinated by India since I read the Just-so Stories as a child and I’ve always wanted to have an elephant, so when the first Inspector Chopra and Baby Ganesh mystery came out, I was hooked. These are wonderfully cozy mysteries set in Mumbai and the latest in the series is about the Parsees—and even Ganesh is afraid of the stern matriarch.

Mina, Denise. Conviction (Hach, 27.00). I loved this fresh, fast-moving mystery that was surprisingly comic, featuring two people whose spouses ran off together who go to the south of France to investigate a sunken yacht and its murdered family. Great characters and great plotting.

Riley, Lucinda. The Royal Secret (SS, 17.00). Like all Americans, I am both repelled and obsessively interested in the British Royal Family, and this mystery was a can’t-put-it-down for me, a layered mystery with a royal connection. Great fun.

Ware, Ruth. The Turn of the Key (SS, 27.99). There have been a number of mysteries released lately that give a contemporary spin to classic mysteries and this homage to The Turn of the Screw is one of the best. A lonely governess, an isolated house, and creepy children, all in a twisting plot will keep you reading late.

And for something a little different, recommended by Cappy, consider Merry Christmas, Squirrels (Hach, 17.00), a wonderfully clever picture book for younger readers.

Our holiday hours are as follows: We will be open the week of Christmas, December 23 and 24, 10-4:00, closed Christmas Day, and open December 26-28 for our super after-Christmas sale. Then Clues will be closed until January 2. Remember, your gift certificates will be worth 20% more during the sale.

We wish you a happy—and mysterious--holiday season.

Chris and Cappy, the cute but grumpy terrier