Contemporary & Classic Mysteries

Fiction is shelved alphabetically by author.

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Contemporary Mysteries


Reed Arvin
The Last Goodbye
Pulled into the power web of Atlanta, lawyer-cum-detective Jack Hammond works with computer hackers and others on the fringe to solve a series of murders related to hepatitis C, an old affair of Hammond's, and a captivating opera diva.

Stephanie Barron
Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor: Being the First Jane Austen Mystery
Scargrave Manor is the home of Jane's dear friend, Isobel Payne, Countess of Scargrave, whose husband dies mysteriously while Jane is visiting there, beginning a tale of intrigue that leads to a prison and to the House of Lords.

Charlotte Carter
Rhode Island Red
Nanette Hays becomes embroiled in trouble after an undercover cop is murdered in her New York apartment and more murders begin to occur, encouraging Ms. Hays to discover the killer and how the string of murders relate to the unsolved jazz mystery, Rhode Island Red.

Michael Connelly
Blood Work
When former FBI agent Terry McCaleb discovers that the donor of the heart he received in transplant surgery was murdered, he comes out of retirement to track down the woman's killer.

James Ellroy
The Black Dahlia
Ellroy's examination of the famous 1947 unsolved Los Angeles murder of Elizabeth Short, dubbed the "Black Dahlia", brings together Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard of the LAPD, who both happen to be in love with the same woman.

Earlene Fowler
Steps to the Altar
Threatened adultery, an unsolved decades-old murder, and three impending weddings combine to keep Benni Harper on her toes, turning her folk art knowledge to solving the murder mystery and her charm to preventing her marriage from falling apart.

Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza
Southwesterly Wind: An Inspector Espinosa Mystery
Gabriel, told by a psychic that he would commit murder before his next birthday, is terrified to find out how her prediction will ultimately conclude, so he approaches Rio de Janeiro's Inspector Espinosa for help as the southwesterly wind of change blows into the Copacabana precinct.

Carol Goodman
The Seduction of Water
Searching for her late mother's unpublished final manuscript in the Catskill hotel where her parents worked, struggling writer and teacher Iris Greenfeder is sucked into the mystery of her mother's death nearly thirty years earlier.

David Liss
A Conspiracy of Paper
In 1719, Benjamin Weaver works as a small-time investigator for London's aristocrats. He is estranged from his family until he is asked to investigate his father's death, which may be related to his success as a stock trader.

Margaret Maron
Bootlegger's Daughter
In this first in a series of Deborah-Knott mysteries, North Carolina attorney Deborah Knott becomes involved in an unsolved murder investigation while running for district judge in an entrenched, "old boy" community.

Sujata Massey
The Pearl Diver
Japanese-American sleuth and antiques dealer Rei Shimura moves to Washington D.C. to be with her fiancé, and just as their relationship wanes, she becomes embroiled in an investigation into her cousin's disappearance, the disappearance thirty years before of a Japanese woman, and a presidential candidate's political ambitions that might relate to both disappearances.

Sharon McCrumb
If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him
Elizabeth MacPherson is a forensic anthropologist who has to apply her skills to more recent corpses when she begins working as a private investigator for her brother's Virginia law firm.

Walter Mosley
Fear Itself: A Fearless Jones Mystery
In 1950's Los Angeles, bookstore owner Paris Minton and Fearless Jones are hoodwinked into taking on a case involving the nephew of L.A.'s wealthiest woman.

Murder is No Mitzvah: Short Mysteries about Jewish Occasions
A wonderful collection of mystery stories from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, these intrigues are sure to delight every mystery lover.

Jaqueline Winspear
Maisie Dobbs
British private investigator Maisie Dobbs, a former World War I nurse, discovers a string of possible murders in a convalescent home for soldiers injured during the war.



Classic Mysteries:


Agatha Christie
The Body in the Library
Always intrigued by a challenge, can Miss Marple discover who murdered the stylish blond woman whose body was found in Colonel Bantry's library in Gossington Hall?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The stories that made Holmes one of the world's most famous sleuths are collected in this volume, which includes tales such as "The Blue Carbuncle" and "A Scandal in Bohemia" in which Holmes is outsmarted by a woman.

Complete Stories of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe is hailed as the father of the mystery genre, and this classic collection includes the world's first famous detective, C. Auguste Dupin, who is featured in three of Poe's mysterious tales.

Edgar Allan Poe, Rosebud Graphic Classics (Issue no. 1, 2001)
Graphically depicting thirteen classics from Poe, this collection is illustrated by some of today's greatest graphic novel artists.



NonFiction Books about Mystery Writers


Natalie Hevener Kaufman and Carol McGinnis Kay
"G" is for Grafton: The World of Kinsey Millhone
A biography of Sue Grafton's beloved female detective, Kinsey Millhone, created with Grafton's approval and by using her notes, Kaufman and Kay also provide an insightful look at how the author created her popular series.

Daniel Stashower
Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle
This well-received biography of the creator of Sherlock Holmes fascinates readers with its exploration of Doyle's career (from whaling ships to struggling doctor to writer) and his relationships with such famed personalities as George Bernard Shaw and Harry Houdini.