Mystery Women Sleuths

At the luxurious Roarke Palace Hotel, a maid walks into suite 4602 for the nightly turndown - and steps into her worst nightmare. A killer leaves her dead, strangled by a thin silver wire. He's Sly Yost, a virtuoso of music and murder. A hit man for the elite.

Stevie Cartwright-Winterbottom here! Witch and afterlife specialist, along with my reincarnated ghost-talking husband and ex-British spy, Crispin Alistair Winterbottom. After solving one of our hardest cases yet (on our wedding day, no less), we're back from our gloriously perfect, ghost-free Italian honeymoon, rested and ready to begin our lives together! There's just one problem . . . The long line of people outside our door (literally) who've come from parts near and far in Washington, hoping we'll help them solve all their mystery needs.

Trauma victims are not new to medical examiner Faith McIntyre, but this one is different. The unconscious woman clinging to life after a hit and run is FBI agent Macy Crow. What the woman from Quantico was doing in a dark alley after midnight is just one mystery. The other is more unsettling: Macy is Faith’s mirror image—the twin sister she never knew she had.

Five feet two inches of slick repartee, near-purple hair, and poetic imagination, twenty-year-old Rune hasn't been in Manhattan for very long. But she's crafty enough to have found a squatter's paradise in an empty TriBeca loft, and a video store job that feeds her passion for old movies. It's a passion she shares with her favorite customer, Mr. Kelly, a lonely old man who rents the same video over and over. The flick is a noir classic based on a real-life unsolved bank heist and a million missing dollars. It's called Manhattan Is My Beat.

An unspeakable act has ripped apart the idyllic town of Bakersville, Oregon, and its once-peaceful residents are demanding quick justice. But though a boy has confessed to the horrific crime, evidence shows he may not be guilty. Officer Rainie Conner, leading her first homicide investigation, stands at the center of the controversy. It's hitting too close to home, bringing back her worst nightmares, threatening to expose her secret sins. But with the boy's life at stake, she won't let anything stop her from finding the real killer.

For one brief hour on a sunny Texas morning, amateur baker Rosie Hart glimpses the life she’s always dreamed about - thanks to a surprise inheritance from the late Miss Alice. But her benefactor is barely cold in the ground when Rosie is accused of her murder. As the only stranger in the tight-knit Airlie Falls community, and the only person with an obvious motive, all eyes turn to Rosie. Especially when more bodies begin to pile up and mysterious letters from the grave start circulating faster than Rosie can pull a tray of cherry nut clusters out of the oven.

Opening night at New York's New Globe Theater turns from stage scene to crime scene when the leading man is stabbed to death center stage. Now Eve Dallas has a high profile, celebrity homicide on her hands. Not only is she lead detective, she's also a witness - and when the press discovers that her husband owns the theater, there's more media spotlight than either can handle.

Widowed genealogist Ellie McLellan has spent years healing her ravished heart by carefully constructing a new and quiet life away from the hungry glare of the paparazzi. She now fills her days with genealogical research for various clients, safe in the small town of Percyville, Quebec. Until her bid to save a child's life is caught on camera and ambitious tabloid reporter Diane Cooper recognizes her. Turns out Ellie is not safe at all. With Diane sniffing around for dirt and her "big break" story, Ellie learns a dark family secret with the power to destroy the only family she has left.

It was just an ordinary Wednesday lunchtime when Detective Martha Munro's life changed forever. Her sergeant is speaking, but she barely hears what he's telling her. Your mother has been shot dead. Your four-year-old daughter has been taken. There are no leads. Who would want to hurt her family? Martha realizes it's time to ask herself some hard questions about her late father. He led the anti-corruption squad at Scotland Yard. It's rumored he kept a list of everyone who worked for him, from coppers to criminals. And just being on the list was a sure-fire way to lower your life expectancy.

It’s been 12 years since Sandi Parkman went missing after being dropped off at home by her schoolmate, Nick Larson, now the Sheriff of Freeport, Michigan. When a construction crew unearths Sandi’s bones - along with Nick’s letterman jacket and one of his hairs - Nick becomes suspect number one in the murder.

Radhi returns home to Mumbai to lick her wounds after a failed relationship and a bout of writer's block, but she soon gets caught up in a tangled mystery. Radhi's pregnant best friend Sanjana's father is found dead in his study. Everyone says it's suicide. And yet, just hours before, he was telling Sanjana that he couldn't wait to hold his grandchild in his arms. Something feels off to Radhi. Her suspicions are further raised by the surly cook and timid young maid's odd behavior. And who did the second cup of tea on his desk belong to? Radhi is determined to uncover the truth.

For modern-day detective Mallory Atkinson, being trapped in the body of a Victorian housemaid means overcoming endless obstacles. Her current challenge is winning over the suspicious young parlormaid, Alice. Mallory’s plan starts with teaching the girl to make Molotov cocktails, which is a perfectly valid science experiment and not at all a desperate ploy to gain Alice’s attention. Before the lesson can begin, though, Alice receives a letter that has her slipping off in the night. Concerned for her safety—and naturally curious—Mallory follows.

Thanks to a series of unfortunate events - and one backstabbing frenemy - home is exactly where I'm headed. Back to Winterspell Lake, where magic runs rampant and humans are outlawed. Faster than you can say hocus pocus I'm unpacking my bags and settling into the guest room of my parents' house, trying to ignore the creeping sensation that I'll never break free again. The one thing Winterspell has going for it is the sweets shop in the center of town, a bakery filled with magical creations designed to enchant the taste buds and charm even the pickiest of connoisseurs.

A FINALIST FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW BEST CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR A CrimeReads Best Crime Novel Notable selection Harry Bosch and LAPD Detective Renée Ballard come together again on the murder case that obsessed Bosch's mentor, the man who trained...

Set in the 1980s, the Jennifer Pierce mystery series features a prototypical small town in Maine going through the transition from a self-reliant semi-rural mill town to distant suburb of the information age. In Barnburner, secretary turned reporter Jennifer Pierce finds the incendiary mix of a fundamentalist preacher and an unabashedly pagan back-to-the-earth couple could be worth a story - and someone's life. When a new computer BBS pops up in town around the same time, there are complications that reach far beyond Maine, and as close as her own front door.

Ellie Sawyer has always felt more comfortable with books than people, which explains why she's a PhD history student neck deep in research and trying to complete her doctoral dissertation in time to graduate. But the final books she needs are half a world away in the tiny European kingdom of Lethersby, and the only time she can access the secretive Royal Castle Library is during the Christmas holiday.

"Existe-t-il encore un jardin secret que nous ne livrions pas aux machines ?" Partout, il y a la terreur. Celle d'une jeune femme dans une chambre d'hôtel sordide, ventre loué à prix d'or pour couple en mal d'enfant, et qui s'évapore comme elle était arrivée. Partout, il y a la terreur. Celle d'un corps mutilé qui gît au fond d'une fosse creusée dans la forêt. Partout, il y a la terreur. Celle d'un homme qui connaît le jour et l'heure de sa mort. Et puis il y a une lettre, comme un manifeste, et qui annonce le pire.

After nearly dying in the line of duty, the FBI's top criminal profiler, Genevieve Callow, contemplates a quieter life while struggling with survivor's guilt. She's reminded every day that while she was fighting for her life, another predator was stalking the night in her hometown—the Icebox Killer. She knows now that home isn't safe. But she's haunted, tired, and barely recovered. There are other agents on the killer's tail. They should be able to catch him. Or can it only be her? Now, in one brazen act, the killer has called out to her by name, taunting her―a game of cat and mouse.

When Lady Arlene Archibald tracks Wolf down and begs him for help, he plans to travel to Brighton alone to see her. What was he thinking? Instead, he finds himself with an unruly entourage of lords, ladies, servants, children, and even a dog. Can and will he help Arlene prove her friends innocence? How will he manage Tabitha coming face-to-face with his first love? And how is he to dissuade the Dowager Countess of Pembroke from insinuating herself into the investigation?

Philippa Watson, a good-natured yet troubled 17-year-old, has just moved to Washington, DC. She’s lonely until she meets Judy Peabody, a brilliant and tempestuous classmate. The girls become unlikely friends and fashion themselves as intellectuals, drawing the notice of Christine Martins, their dazzling English teacher, who enthralls them with her passion for literature and her love of noirish detective fiction. When Philippa returns a novel Miss Martins has lent her, she interrupts a man grappling with her in the shadows.