Detective Science

Private investigator Vincent Rubio is down on his luck: He's out of work. His partner has died mysteriously. And his tail just won't stay put. Vincent is a velociraptor. The dinosaurs faked their extinction 65 million years ago and still roam the planet, disguising themselves as doctors, janitors, senators, athletes, and yes, even P.I.s. When an arson case lures Vincent to New York - the scene of his partner's death and a dangerous nexus of dinosaur-human intermingling - he faces a sinister situation.

It was 1921 when Lord Peter Wimsey first encountered the Attenbury emeralds. The recovery of the magnificent gem in Lord Attenbury's most dazzling heirloom made headlines - and launched a shell-shocked young aristocrat on his career as a detective. Now it is 1951. A happily married Lord Peter has just shared the secrets of that mystery with his wife, the detective novelist Harriet Vane. Then the new young Lord Attenbury - grandson of Lord Peter's first client - seeks his help again, this time to prove who owns the gigantic emerald that Wimsey last saw in 1921.

Fed up with her wild behavior, 16-year-old Lex’s parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than shoveling manure. He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach Lex the family business. She quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next.

Ricky Desmond has been through this all before. If he could just get through to his mother, he could convince her that he doesn't belong at Brookline. From the man who thinks he can fly to the woman who killed her husband, the other patients are nothing like him; all he did was lose his temper just a little bit, just the once. But when Ricky is selected by the sinister Warden Crawford for a very special program - a program that the warden claims will not cure him but perfect him - Ricky realizes that he may not be able to wait for his mom a second longer.

The normal part of Lorelei MacAlister's life didn’t just slip away quietly the day Jared Kovach came to town. Nope. The normal part of her life shattered. It exploded. It burst into a gazillion shards of fleeting light. It went out with a bang. Goodbye normal. Hello dark and eerie. While her best friend, Brooklyn, is focusing all of her energy on helping Lorelei hone her abilities, Lorelei is dealing with the reality that Satan's second in command has taken up residence inside her body. Oh, and the fact that she has a crush on the Angel of Death.

Since her release from Liberty Children's Facility, Anya Balanchine is determined to follow the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, her criminal record is making it hard for her to do that. No high school wants her with a gun possession charge on her rap sheet. Plus, all the people in her life have moved on: Natty has skipped two grades at Holy Trinity, Scarlet and Gable seem closer than ever, and even Win is in a new relationship. But when old friends return demanding that certain debts be paid, Anya is thrown right back into the criminal world that she had been determined to escape.

From Dan Wells, author of the New York Times best-selling Partials Sequence, comes the first book in a new sci-fi-noir series. Los Angeles in 2050 is a city of open doors, as long as you have the right connections. That connection is a djinni - a smart device implanted right in a person's head. In a world where virtually everyone is online 24 hours a day, this connection is like oxygen - and a world like that presents plenty of opportunities for someone who knows how to manipulate it.

When Inspector Peter Glebsky arrives at a remote ski chalet on vacation, the last thing he intends to do is get involved in any police work. He's there to ski, drink brandy, and loaf around in blissful solitude. But he hadn't counted on the other vacationers, an eccentric bunch, including a famous hypnotist, a physicist with a penchant for gymnastic feats, a sulky teenager of indeterminate gender, and the mysterious Mr. and Mrs. Moses.

Forced to flee for their lives after an explosive confrontation with a depraved killer, Selenae novice Catrin and brilliant criminal profiler Simon arrive in the sprawling city of Londunium, hoping for a fresh start and an opportunity for Catrin to hone her newfound magic. To avoid raising suspicion, they pretend to be a married couple, but don’t expect to keep up the ruse for long. Until a ruthless council of magical leaders at the local Selenae university discover Catrin's forbidden “marriage” to an outsider and threaten to erase Simon’s memories to protect their secrets.

Mara Dyer once believed she could run from her past. She can’t. She used to think her problems were all in her head. They aren’t. She couldn’t imagine that after everything she’s been through, the boy she loves would still be keeping secrets. She’s wrong.

Skye Thorn has given tarot card readings for years, and now her psychic visions are helping the police find the town’s missing golden girl. It’s no challenge - her readings have always been faked, but this time she has some insider knowledge. The kidnapping was supposed to be easy - no one would get hurt and she’d get the money she needs to start a new life. But a seemingly harmless prank has turned dark, and Skye realizes the people she’s involved with are willing to kill to get what they want and she must discover their true identity before it’s too late.

On August 11, 2008, 18-year-old Marie reported that a masked man broke into her apartment near Seattle and raped her. Within days, the police swiftly pivoted and began investigating Marie. Confronted with inconsistencies in her story and the doubts of others, Marie broke down and said her story was a lie - a bid for attention. More than two years later, Colorado detectives pursued a serial rapist who photographed his victims, threatening to release the images online, and whose calculated steps to erase all physical evidence suggested he might be a soldier or a cop.

A seemingly innocent concern from Lestrade about his cousin leads Holmes back into a world left behind after the affair of The Five Orange Pips. Investigating the appearance of a body at the base of Tower Bridge unveils a hidden cult of Satanists performing ritual sacrifices, until Holmes and the British Secret Service intervenes. Called to Scotland Yard, Holmes is reunited with an old acquaintance and dragged into a plot to undermine the government and give its secrets to Russian spies.

Leigh's life has been ripped apart. Orphaned, she goes to live with incredibly wealthy relatives she never knew she had. Struggling to fit into her new world, she can't let go of her grief. When the police tell her the investigation into her parents' murder has hit a brick wall, she knows the only way she will ever know peace is to solve the mystery herself. With new family and friends, which includes a ghost with multiple personality issues, Leigh risks everything to find her answers.

I foolishly believed this day would never come, that life in charming Chipping Cheddar would always be pleasant and somewhat predictable—but all good things must come to an end. And it seems the dormant portal is no exception.

Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the 16-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.

As if meeting the parents wasn’t complicated enough… My boyfriend’s snooty parents are coming into town for the Yule Feast and they’re staying at the Beechwood Manor — for an entire week! With a paranormal meet-the-parents on the horizon, the last thing I need is to stumble into yet another murder investigation, but when I become a key witness, there’s no way to avoid it. Especially not when vampires are involved and my human partner-in-sleuthing is racing right into their path.

Annoying but loving family? Check. Picturesque small town with a hot police chief? Check. A rescue hellhound, a black cat with attitude, and a pet python that thinks he’s a puppy? Triple check. My story has all the hallmarks of a sweet and cozy supernatural tale, but there’s a twist—I am evil. Well, I’m supposed to be evil thanks to both nature and nurture, but I fight it with every fiber of my being. I just want to live a normal life. I even joined the FBI instead of the Federal Bureau of Magic, until my powers reared their ugly head and the agency sent me packing back to my hometown.

What did 19th-century cities smell like? And how did odors matter in the formation of a modern environmental consciousness? Smell Detectives follows the 19th-century Americans who used their noses to make sense of the sanitary challenges caused by rapid urban and industrial growth.

This is heralded as the very first mystery novel. Collins, in his great work, created the guidelines for the genre as we know it today: a fabulous diamond stolen, everyone in the house is suspected, three mysterious Indians sworn to protect the jewel at all costs, the upstairs/downstairs tension from the servants, and a brilliant detective who is eccentrically fond of roses.