Amateur Detectives Mystery

The Queens are intrigued when a grisly murder mars a small town's Christmas. It's Christmas in Chicago, and Detective Richard Queen is enjoying a busman's holiday at a conference on gangland violence - but his son, amateur sleuth Ellery, is bored silly. Until, that is, Ellery reads of an unusual killing in rural Arroyo, West Virginia. A schoolmaster has been found beheaded and crucified. Ellery hustles his father into his roadster and heads east, since there is nothing he'd like better for Christmas than a juicy, gruesome puzzle.

When the Girls accept a very strange invitation to a lavish party on a remote island estate, they find that murder has a way of ruining even the most glamorous of evenings. The invite delivered to 6151 Richmond Street was short on details, only promising to celebrate “the greatest artist of the century” and accompanied by a jewel-encrusted brooch—the whole package a brand of mysterious opulence that another Saturday night of gin rummy just can’t match.

*A finalist for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel* *A finalist for the Shamus Award for Best First P.I. Novel* From the cocreator of Deadpool comes a highly entertaining debut featuring two unlikely and unforgettable amateur sleuths. An engrossing murder mystery full of skewering social...

What really happened the night Edie died? Years later, her best friend Lindsay will learn how unprepared she is for the truth in this “impressive debut” (People) from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick We Were Never Here. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE...

The year is 1910, and in the small and seemingly sleepy English municipality of Haxford, there’s a new chief police inspector. At first, the dapper and unflappable Pignon Scorbion strikes something of an odd figure among the locals, who don’t see a need for such an exacting investigator. But it isn’t long before Haxford finds itself very much in need of a detective. Luckily, Scorbion and the local barber are old acquaintances, and the barbershop employs a cast of memorable characters who are nothing less than enthralled by the enigmatic new chief police inspector.

“Today’s foremost practitioner of the culinary whodunit.” —Entertainment Weekly “In the genre of culinary mystery writers, Davidson is a Julia Child among Betty Crockers, and there is no question that Double Shot is her best book.” —Denver Post New York Times bestseller Diane Mott...

Librarian Minnie Hamilton spreads the joy of reading throughout Chilson, Michigan, with her bookmobile, but she doesn't ride alone. Her rescue cat, Eddie, and a group of volunteers are always on board to deliver cheer - until one of her helpers gets checked out for good....

"Peppered with fascinating local history, this is a riveting listen for mystery and history lovers alike." -- AudioFile Magazine In what promises to be a breakout in Charles Finch's bestselling series, Charles Lenox travels to the New York and Newport of the dawning Gilded Age to investigate the...

Caterer and sleuth extraordinaire Goldy Schulz jumps from the frying pan into the fire as she tries to solve a puzzling murder that is much too close to home, in this latest entry in the New York Times bestselling series from ""today's foremost practitioner of the culinary whodunit""...

Barely three weeks after catching the killer of Erin’s mother and their biology teacher, Erin and her crew are back, up to their elbows in forensics projects. But this time it’s with the full approval of their parents. With Uncle Victor at the helm, Erin and her best friends, Spam and Lysa, are prepping a new classroom for CSI summer camp, where they will serve as camp counselors. Meanwhile, Erin's super-hot new boyfriend, Journey, is graduating, just in time for him to take a position as Victor’s intern in the new CSI lab on campus.

Mrs. Laetitia Rodd, aged 52, is the widow of an archdeacon who makes her living as a highly discreet private investigator. Her brother, Frederick Tyson, is a criminal barrister living in nearby Highgate with his wife and 10 children. Frederick finds the cases, and Laetitia solves them using her arch intelligence and her immaculate cover as an unsuspecting widow. When a case arises involving the son of the highly connected Sir James Calderstone, Laetitia sets off for Lincolnshire undercover as the family's new governess.

Doc Ford is on a collision course with death in this extraordinary new novel from the New York Times bestselling author. Alot is going on in the trailer park known as Little Guadalajara, inhabited principally by illegal laborers. The park manager is the hired gun of a financial syndicate that...

An extraordinary woman living in extraordinary times, Lady Frances Ffolkes is an Edwardian era suffragette who has an uncanny ability to attract danger and romance. When Major Colcombe, a family friend and war veteran, dies under mysterious circumstances, the good Lady discovers that he was working on a manuscript, about South Africa's bloody Boer War, that reportedly revealed a scandalous mistake that cost many innocent lives.

Death on Demand Mystery series Invited to stage a Mystery Night for the annual antebellum house tour of the Historical Preservation Society of Chastain, South Carolina, Annie Laurance instead finds herself the leading lady in a flesh-and blood drama. The play's the thing when the curtain falls...

6th in Death on Demand series At Annie Laurance's Death on Demand bookstore on Broward's Rock Island, South Carolina, murder suddenly isn't confined to the well-stocked shelves. Author Elliot Morgan's abrupt demise during a weekly gathering of famous mystery writers called the Sunday Night...

Charlie Harris is stressed out. The Southern Academic Libraries Association is holding this year's annual meeting at Athena College. Since Charlie is the interim library director, he must deliver the welcome speech to all the visiting librarians. And as if that weren't bad enough, the keynote address will be delivered by Charlie's old nemesis from library school. It's been 30 years since Charlie has seen Gavin Fong, and he's still an insufferable know-it-all capable of getting under everyone's skin.

The Devil in the White City meets Pride and Prejudice in this romantic historical murder mystery set at the 1904 World’s Fair. The St. Louis World’s Fair, 1904: A miniature city of palaces and pavilions that becomes a backdrop for romance, betrayal—and murder. Cousins Grace and Lillie have...

Jeanie’s getting married, and – despite her completely impossible four sisters – her best friends Clio and Amber are determined to give her a bachelorette weekend to remember. They’re in matching pink T-shirts and the drinks are flowing... But the night turns out to be unforgettable for all the wrong reasons when a girl turns up dead on the dancefloor. And – even though she’s a stranger – she is wearing one of Jeanie’s hen T-shirts.

When Robin Anstey KC comes upon the beautiful Miss Blake, who has been wounded while courageously attempting to detain a fleeing murderer, he calls upon his long-time legal collaborator Dr. John Thorndyke to investigate the killing. But what at first looks like a mere robbery gone wrong, leaving a scene awash with clues, in fact proves to be far from straightforward. And while trying to untie that knot, Thorndyke also interests himself in the still more complex mystery of Miss Blake's family inheritance, and the cat's eye pendant....

It gives us considerable pleasure to be able to offer to the public the “inside” record of those of former District Attorney Markham’s criminal cases in which Mr. Philo Vance figured so effectively. The true inwardness of these famous cases has never before been revealed by S. S. Van Dine, Mr. Vance’s lawyer and almost constant companion, being the only person who possessed a complete record of the facts and has only recently been permitted to make them public.