THE TWO MINUTE RULE (Suspense-Los Angeles-Cont) – G+/VG

Crais, Robert – Standalone

Simon & Schuster, 2006 - Hardcover

Max Holman has served his time for bank robbery. How released, he hopes to reconcile with his son, Richie, who is a cop. But Richie, along with three other cops, was shot to death the night before Max’s

release. Although the police say Richie

was a dirty cop, Max doesn’t believe it and is determine to…

GOODNIGHT SWEET PRINCE (Professional Investigator-UK-1892) – VG

Dickinson, David – 1st in series

Constable, 2002- UK Hardcover

Queen Victoria is on the throne when Irish investigator Lord Francis Powerscourt is informed by his friend, Lord Rosebery, that someone is sending blackmail letters to the

Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII.

The case takes a much darker turn when Edward’s son, Albert, who…

Det. Ins. Jack Spratt is the head of the Nursery Crimes Division. He gets little notice and no respect. His last case failed to get a conviction for the Three Pigs who murdered Mr. Wolff. Now he, and his new sidekick, Mary Mary, are

called to the death scene of Humpty Dumpty.

It’s determined to be murder but the who and why…

NO GRAVES AS YET (Amateur Sleuth-England-1914) - G+

Perry, Anne – 1^st in WWI series

Ballantine Books, 2003-Hardcover

Jospeh Reavley, a Cambridge professor, and his family have their world shattered when their parents are killed in a motor crash. Jospeh’s bother, Matthew, a member of the British secret service, had received a call from their father saying…

UNHOLY TRINITY (Political Thriller-Rome-1945/Cont) – G

Adam, Paul – 4th book

Little, Brown and Company, 1999 – UK Hardcover

Andy Chapman is a Rome correspondent for a London newspaper. While investigating the

brutal murder of a priest, along with his friend Italian correspondent Enzo

Mattei, the evidence seems to implicate the Vatican and a link back to

Mussolini’s Black Shirts during WWII. He

turns the evidence…

OUT OF ORDER (Mystery/Adventure-India-Cont) – Poor

Benoit, Charles – 2nd book

Poisoned Pen Press, 2006- Hardcover

Jason Talley processing loans and is a neighbor to computer programmer Sriram Sundaram and his wife Vidya. After dinner together one evening, Jason is shown a red silk sari Sriram

is planning to give his mother on his next trip to India. Jason comes home from work the next day to

find his neighbors dead and the…

FOR WHOM THE MINIVAN ROLLS (Unlicensed Investigator/Writer-New Jersey-Cont) – G+

Cohen, Jeffrey – 1st in series

Bancroft Press, 2002- Hardcover

Aaron Tucker is a husband, father, ever-hopeful screenwriter and freelance reporter. Madlyn Beckwirth, wife of the town’s wealthy resident, disappears in the middle of the

night. Gary Beckwirth insists that Aaron

is hired to find her, but then refuses to cooperate with…

DEATH CALLED TO THE BAR (Unlicensed Investigator-London-1902) – VG

Dickinson, David – 5th in series

Constable, 2006 – UK Hardcover

Lord Francis Powerscourt is asked to resolve the mystery behind the death of two murdered barristers. Alexander Dauntsey dies in his soup during a dinner at the Queen’s Inn, an inn of the court of London. Woodford Stewart is shot and killed. Both men are members of Queen’s Inn, but Powerscourt soon…

MURDER WEARS A COWL (Historical Mystery-London-1302 – Poor

Doherty, P.C. – 5th in series

Headline, 1992 – UK Hardcover

King Edward has been notified that unless someone uncovers the killer of a number of London’s courtesans, they may begin exposing their high-ranking client’s secrets. It has also been rumored that Richard

Puddlicott, the most wanted man in London,

as been seen. Newly dubbed Sir Hugh

Corbett, the king’s…

WHERE THERE’S A WILL (Forensic Anthropologist-Hawaii-Cont) – G

Elkins, Aaron – 12th in series

Berkley Prime Crime, 2005- Paperback

Forensic Anthropologist Gideon Oliver is vacationing with his friend, FBI Agent John Lau, on the private ranch of the Torkelsson. Years before, the ranch had been owned by two brothers and their sister. One of the

brothers was found murdered and the other disappeared by plane. Now, the family has…

IMMORAL (Police Procedural-Duluth, MN-Cont) – Ex

Freeman, Brian – 1st book

St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2005- Hardcover

Lt. Jonathan Stride, is investigating the second case of a girl who has disappeared without a trace. The first girl was sweet, well-liked and never found. Now a second girl has disappeared, but she’s hard,

promiscuous, has a very adversarial relationship with her mother and there’s

something not right about the…

THE VESUVIUS CLUB (Satirical Mystery-Edwardian England/Italy-early 1900s) – G+

Gatiss, Mark – Standalone

Simon & Schuster, 2004- UK Hardcover

Lucifer Box is an elegant, bi-sexual rake and a secret service agent who lives at Number Nine Downing Street. When two leading scientists are murdered it’s up to Lucifer to find who and why. His

investigation takes him to Naples. With a beautiful woman on his arm and a young

lover,…

THEM BONES (Amateur Sleuth-Zinnia-MS-Cont) – G+

Haines, Carolyn – 1st in series

Bantam, 1999-Paperback

Sara Booth Delaney is trying to save Dahlia House, the antebellum family home, where she lives alone, except for Jitty, the ghost of her great-great-great-Grandmother’s nanny.

She gets some money by taking her friend’s dog, sending a ransom note

and pretending to rescue him. In turn,

her friend…

DEAD SIMPLE (Police Procedural-UK-Cont) – VG

James, Peter – 1st of series

Macmillan, 2005 – UK Hardcover

Detective Superintendent Roy Grace’s wife disappeared several years ago without a trace. Now Grace is asked by Ashley Harper to find her fiancée, missing three days before their wedding. Michael Harrison is a practical joker. But his friends have turned the table, taken

him out, got him drunk and buried him in a coffin with an…

SORROW’s ANTHEM (Private Investigator-Cleveland, OH-Cont) – VG

Koryta, Michael – 2nd in series

Thomas Dunne Books, 2006- Hardcover

Private investigator Lincoln Perry’s childhood friend, Ed Gradduck has been videotaped leaving an arson fire; a house containing the body of a murdered woman. Lincoln and Ed have

been estranged for years, but Lincoln

doesn’t believe his friend is guilty and offers to help Ed. Ed bolts and is run…

BLOOD FROM A STONE (Police Procedural-Venice-Cont) – G+

Leon, Donna- 15th in series

William Heinemann, 2005- UK Hardcover

Commissario Guido Brunetti is investigating the murder of a street vendor; one of the many illegal immigrants from Africa who sell imitation designer handbags.

What makes his death unusual is that it was a professional hit done in

plain few of tourists. When Brunetti

finds where…

ICE (Police Procedural-Isola (Fict. City)-Cont) – VG

McBain, Ed - 36th in series

Arbor House, 1983- Hardcover

Members of the 87th Precinct are faced with three seemingly unrelated murders but the victims—a drug dealer, a dancer in a hit show, and a diamond merchant--were all killed by the same gun. Add to plot someone who is brutally slashing their victims, a stackout to catch The

Dirty Panties Bandit and Carella worrying about…

THE FALLEN (Police Procedural-San Diego-Cont) – G+

Parker, T. Jefferson – 12th book

William Morrow, 2006- Hardcover

Detective Robbie Brownlaw was thrown from a 6th floor window and survived. But one result is that he now has synesthesia which causes him to see shapes that represent the emotions

behind people’s words. When ethics

investigator Garrett Asplundh is found murdered, it leads Brownlaw into an

investigation…

BURY THE LEAD (Legal Thriller-New Jersey-Cont) – VG

Rosenfelt, David – 3rd book

Mysterious Press, 2004- Hardcover

Defense attorney Andy Carpenter inherited $22 million so working isn’t something he has to do. But when a serial killer is murdering woman and cutting off their hands,

Daniel Cummings, a local reporter and son of one of Andy’s friends, is arrested

for the murders. Andy doesn’t believe

he’s guilty and, with…

AN UNACCEPTABLE DEATH (Amateur Sleuth/Mechanic-Santa Monica, CA-Cont) – VG

Seranella, Barbara – 8th in series

Thomas Dunne Books, 2006-Hardcover

“Munch” Mancini is clean, sober, raising her daughter and about to get married to undercover policeman “Rico” Chacón. Rico is killed in a drug bust and Munch told he’d been killed by officers as a duty cop. But Munch doesn’t believe it and,

in working to find out the truth, finds herself…