by Edmund Crispin, 1946 Delightful English mystery set in the town of Oxford in 1938, involving Gervase Fen (pronounced Jer-voz) and his poet friend, Richard Cadogan. Richard is bored and in need of a holiday in order to be inspired to write poetry again. He decides to go to Oxford and arrives late at night […]
Category: Mystery
Flashback
by Nevada Barr, 2003 Took me too long to finish, but it was interesting. Ranger Anna Pigeon is on temporary assignment on Dry Tortugas National Park, where Fort Jefferson was built during the Civil War to house war prisoners. She intersperses Anna’s mystery – finding out why she’s seeing ghosts and why her assistant was […]
Last Seen Wearing
by Colin Dexter, 1976 I love Inspector Morse mysteries. I miss them when I’ve finished because Inspector Morse and Sergeant Lewis are so likable, so human, and I just want to be with them. They take me to England and back to a time before much technology, except for color TVs. Morse consults maps, phone […]
Evil Under the Sun
by Agatha Christie, 1940 Hercule Poirot solves the murder of Arlena Stuart, strangled on the beach of a beautiful English sea-side resort hotel called the Jolly Roger. This one had me fooled – I could not figure out who did it. Could have been her husband, Capt. Marshall, who was fed up with her cheating […]
Birds of a Feather
by Jacqueline Winspear, 2004 So-so book – Maisie Dobbs, the WWI nurse turned private investigator, discovers the murders of 3 young women are linked – she finds a white feather at each of the scenes. The women were part of the “Order of the White Feather” and handed out white feathers to men who were […]
Thereby Hangs a Tail
by Spencer Quinn, 2010 A Chet and Bernie Mystery. Fun read! Chet and Bernie catch the murderer – an Italian count married to Adelia Borghese – who owns “Princess,” a dog show star. They also save Susie, trapped in a lunatic’s basement, in the nick of time. Love Chet and Bernie! Chet loves grass – […]
Death on the Nile
by Agatha Christie, 1937 Rich English girl, Linnet Ridgeway, steals her best friend’s fiance, Simon Doyle, and marries him. They go on their honeymoon to Egypt, where Hercule Poirot is also vacationing. Jacqueline deBellefort, ex-fiance of Simon and ex-best befriend, turns up in Egypt and stalks the couple – turns up everywhere they go. Wants […]
Borderline
By Nevada Barr, 2009 Anna Pigeon and her new husband, Paul Davidson, a wonderful man, priest and cop, go on a raft trip in Big Bend N.P. on the Rio Grande which borders Texas and Mexico. The border has been closed since 9/11 and the book opens with a young pregnant Mexican woman crossing with […]
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1892 LOVED IT! 12 stories of cases told by Dr. Watson. Loved the interplay between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Loved how incredibly smart Sherlock Holmes is. He can look at someone and tell where they’ve been recently and what they’ve done as well as their whole life story. He’s […]
Maisie Dobbs
by Jacqueline Winspear, 2003 Maisie is a Private Detective after WWI in England. She was a nurse on the front lines in France during the war. As a young girl, she was the daughter of a costermonger, a vegetable-seller, from a horse-drawn cart. She works as a maid for the Compton’s, Lord Julian and Lady […]
A Caribbean Mystery
by Agatha Christie, 1964 Quick read – set on Caribbean Island, St. Honore, where Miss Marple has gone for her health. Ends up solving a murder mystery. Fun, quick read – nice setting – English-type socializing at a Caribbean resort. Eccentric characters, lots of conversation, getting to know one another, figuring out who-dun-it. Miss Marple […]
A Fistful of Collars
by Spencer Quinn, 2012 Another Chet & Bernie mystery. This one about a movie star, Thad Perry, come to make a movie and Bernie is hired to make sure he sees it through. At one point, Thad is ready to kill himself, but Bernie and Chet show up in time. He’s haunted by the thought […]
Dog On It
by Spencer Quinn, 2009 GREAT MYSTERY! Chet the Dog and Bernie the Private I find Madison, the 15 yr. old kidnapped by Russian gangsters because her Dad got involved in shady financing. The story is told by Chet, the dog. It’s so funny and cute and enlightening about what dogs think about things – like […]
Into the Blue
by Robert Goddard, 1990 (Nord’s book) Intriguing mystery. Starts out on the Greek Isle of Rhodes. Harry Barnett, middle-aged, over-weight, is hiking with Heather Mallender, young girl (20’s), visiting from England, trying to recover from her sister’s death. She wants to go to the top of Profitis Ilias but Harry doesn’t. She goes on, he […]
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection
by Alexander McCall Smith (#13 in the series), 2012 Another sweet book where Precious Ramotswe meets her hero, Clovis Andersen, who wrote the Principals of Private Detection. He is visiting Botswana after the death of his beloved wife. He’s from Muncie, Indiana. A lady in Botswana doing charitable work is in love with him. He […]
Murder on the Orient Express
by Agatha Christie, 1933 I LOVE Hercule Poirot!!! Who stabbed Ratchett 12 times on the train called the Orient Express? Turns out all 12 of the 13 passengers took a turn! Except for the one who had the biggest motive, the sister of Daisy Armstrong’s mother, who Ratchett (Cassetti) kidnapped and murdered but was “acquitted […]
The Testament
by John Grisham, 1999 Recommended by the church newsletter library writer, Wayne Clegern. Very interesting characters – page-turner. A billionaire leaves his entire estate, 11 billion dollars, to an illegitimate daughter, Rachel Lane, who is a missionary in the Pantanal of Brazil. Nate O’Riley, an alcoholic lawyer, is sent to find her. No one knows […]
Blood Lure
by Nevada Barr, 2001 Anna Pigeon, District Ranger, is working in Glacier National Park with Joan Rand, a National Park Service bear expert, and Rory, a young man interested in bears. They are attacked at night in their camp by a bear, which they don’t see, but which destroys their tents. Rory runs away. Anna […]
The Double Comfort Safari Club
by Alexander McCall Smith, 11th #1 Ladies Detective Series, 2010 Phuti Radiphuti has his leg crushed by one of his delivery men who backed his truck into him. He has to have the lower part amputated. His Aunty won’t let Mma Makutsi visit in the hospital but Mma Ramotswe gets that changed and he heals […]
Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
by Alexander McCall Smith, 2009 Great book! LOVED this one!! Mma Ramotswe solves the mystery of why the soccer team, the Kalahari Swoopers, are losing all of their games. Actually, her foster son, Puso, figured it out – it was that the owner, Mr. Molofololo, kept changing things and their shoes were uncomfortable so they […]