Virgil Flowers is bad (he's called worse in John Sandford's popular Minnesota crime Virgil Flowers series). Walt Fleming catches bad guys and bad animals as sheriff in the Sun Valley, Idaho area — part of the fast-paced adventurous Ridley Pearson series.
Does the cold winter wind make you feel like hibernating? When the temperature drops, I like to curl up in an armchair and solve a crime with Miss Jane Marple. Grab your favorite afghan, and piece together a mystery with one of these entertaining female sleuths:
Food fiction has a growing appeal for multi-tasking women who want a worthwhile literary escape while also gleaning culinary inspiration to answer the nightly question, "What’s for dinner?" Here are a few food fiction series that will have you drooling while you read.
Summer vacation may be drawing to a close, but we haven't seen the end of those high temperatures yet. Still searching for a way to stay cool? Settle down with one of the chilling mysteries from the new teen display at the Blue Springs North Branch, and feel the blood in your veins turn to ice! Whether you prefer your villains with monocles or chainsaws, you will find something to your liking from the wide variety available from MCPL. To get you started, I've included a list of my top picks from a handful of the teen mystery sub-genres.
One dark and stormy night, I discovered a terrible, heinous crime had been committed right here in the library! I was really disturbed to think someone could commit such a crime. It had to be someone I know. Did Ethan have a sinister look in his eyes that I hadn't noticed before? Or...could it be Amy? She was acting a little strange last week. Maybe it was Anna. After all, she did have some wax under her fingernails. I'm sure she knows something.
See that lovely group of ladies up there? You would never think to look at them that their minds are full of murder, would you? Well, fear not: this gaggle of Miss Marples has come together to solve crime, not to commit it! And they’d love to have you join their group of merry mystery-solvers.
For March, the Monday Mystery Book Club read Wild Indigo by Sandi Ault. As mysteries go, this one is weak. We thought it was supposed to be a Tony Hillerman read-a-like, but it was a disappointment when held up to Hillerman’s books. However, there were a couple members who did enjoy this one. They weren’t as put off by the author’s note at the beginning of the book as some others were.
If you like books that fall into the "can’t put them down" category, then you will love the James Patterson series, Women’s Murder Club. Meet Lindsay Boxer, SFPD homicide unit; Cindy Thomas, crime reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle; Claire Washburn, SF Medical Examiner; and Yuki Castellano, SF District Attorney. They are all members of the club, working together to solve the unusual crimes that plague the city of San Francisco. I know you can’t wait to get started on these truly intriguing books, so here is the list of titles to get you started…
