THE BURNING GIRL (Police Procedural-London-Cont) – G+

Mark Billingham – 4^th in series

Little Brown, 2004 – U.K. Hardcover

Detective Inspector Thomas Thorne is in the middle of an investigation of what appears to be contract killings. A former colleague asks for his help with an old case of a girl, mistaken for the daughter of a mob boss, is murdered. It shortly becomes clear the two cases are,

in fact,…

Attorney Tal Jackson has returned to her hometown determined to give up practice after a major defeat in her last defense. But a local judge demands she

defend Crystal Walker, whom she hasn’t seen since childhood and who is accused

of murdering one of the town’s wealthy locals.…

THE FALL (Suspense-Illinois-Cont)- G-

Michael Allen Dymmoch – Standalone

Thomas Dunne Books, 2004- Hardcover

Photographer Joanne Lessing instinctively takes pictures of a hit-and-run accident. But that instinct nearly costs her everything when her son discovers a bomb in their

car. The driver of the hit-and-run turns

out to be a contract killer for the mob.

The plot has way too many unnecessary…

Alexandra Barnaby receives an alarming late night call from her brother that’s cut off mid-conversation with a woman’s scream in the background. She files to Miami to find her

brother, and hooks up with NASCAR driver Sam Hooker, whose boat her brother has

taken. Together they are trying to

outrun the bad guys to find her brother, a boat, a…

EARLY 8: A Working Man’s Mystery (Amateur Sleuth/Carpenter-Ohio-Cont) -G+

L.T. Fawkes – 3^rd in series

Signet Mystery, 2004- Paperback

Carpenter Terry Saltz once again become involved in crime solving when find one of the women in a competing pool league, murdered in her car.

Slightly edgier, which I liked, than the previous two entries, Terry and his friends are blue collar, realistically…

THE WEAVER AND THE FACTORY MAID (Gothic-England-Cont) - VG

Deborah Grabien – 1^st in series

Thomas Dunn Books, 2003- Hardcover

Ringan Laine, a British folk musician and period architecture restoration expert, accepts a piece of land containing a cottage and tithe barn in lieu of payment. What

he didn’t know, at the time, was it also contained a pair of ghosts. With the help of his girlfriend, benefactor

and band…

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME (Mystery-England-Cont) – VG

Mark Haddon – Standalone

Jonathan Cape, 2003- U.K. Hardcover

Christopher Boone is 15 and has Asperger’s autism. He is brilliant at math, but doesn’t understand humans. When he finds his neighbor’s dog murdered, he sets goals of finding out who killed the dog,

writing a book and taking his Math A-levels.

With the title taken…

CITY OF MASKS (Paranormal Mystery-New Orleans-Cont) – G+

Daniel Hecht – 1^st in series

Bloomsbury, 2003 – Hardcover

Parapsychologist Cree (short for Lucrecia) Black has been hired by the son of one of New Orleans top families. His sister, Lila

Beauforte, wants to move back into the historic family home but is being

terrorized by something of which only she is aware. While think she needs psychiatric help,…

A HARD TICKET HOME (Unlicensed Sleuth/Former Cop-Minnesota-Cont) – VG

David Housewright - Standalone (or 1^st of series, I hope)

St. Martin’s Minatour, 2004- Hardcover

Former policeman Rushmore McKenzie has enough money that he doesn’t need to work, but he likes helping people. He agrees to look for Jamie Carlson in hopes that she might be a bone marrow match for her younger sister. But a simple search turns much more…

POISONED CHERRIES (Amateur Sleuth/Carpenter-Scotland-Cont) - VG

Quintin Jardine – 6^th in Oz Blackstone series

Headline, 2002- U.K. Hardcover

Oz Blackstone, former inquiry agent, is now an actor whose star is on the rise. He is asked by a favor by former lover, Alison Goodchild, that results in them finding her

business partner dead and Alison framed for the murder.

Oz Blackstone is the…

SMOKE SCREEN (Thriller-Cont) - G

Kyle Mills – Standalone

Signet-2004, Paperback

Trevor Barnett, living off a trust fund and promised inheritance, is a descendant of the founders of the tobacco industry. He is drifting through his job and life until a one-line report ends up being seen by the company’s CEO, resulting in a

promotion and confusing thrust into the front line of a battle between the

tobacco industry, federal…

WINTER HOUSE (Psychological suspense-NYC-Cont) - VG

Carol O’Connell – 8^th in series

G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2004- Hardcover

Mallory is called to investigate the murder by scissors of an intruder by an elderly woman. But it turns out the intruder was a serial killer, the murder weapon was actually an

ice pick, the elderly woman someone who had been missing for fifty-eight years

since…

A CHRISTMAS VISITOR (Historic Mystery-England-1850’s) - VG

Anne Perry – Standalone

Ballantine Books, 2004- Hardcover

Harry Rathbone is off to spend Christmas with his newly widowed goddaughter, Antonia Dreghorn, and her family. But when he finds her husband’s death may not have been accidental, he decides to find out the truth.

This is the second year Ms. Perry has taken one of the secondary characters…

FLESHMARKET CLOSE (Police Procedural-Scotland-Cont) – G+

Ian Rankin – 16^th in series

Orion, 2004- U.K. Hardcover

Rebus and Siobhan have been moved to a new station, with John being given broad hints that people think it’s time for him to retire. But there’s an illegal immigrant

murdered in a housing project, a teenager who’s disappeared and two skeletons

found buried beneath a concrete floor.…

CHASING THE DRAGON (Unlicensed-San Francisco-Cont) – Ok

Domenic Stansberry – 6^th book

St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2004- Hardcover

Dante Mancuso, forced out after seven years with the San Francisco police, as been working around the world for “The Company.” They’ve now sent him back to San Francisco just at the time when his

father has died. But when his uncle

gives him photo negatives from…

THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND (Fantasy-London) – VG

Jonathan Stroud – 1^st in The Bartimaeus Trilogy

Hyperion Books for Children, 2003- Hardcover

Bartimaeus, a 5000-year-old djinni, has been summoned by 12-year-old Nathaniel, a magician in training, to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from ruthless magician Simon Lovelace, after having been publicly humiliated by

him. But simple revenge becomes

something much bigger when…

THE LADY VANISHES (Amateur Sleuth-England-1930’s) – Ok

Ethel Lina White

Ibooks, 2004 (originally published 1936)- Paperback

Iris Carr, a beautiful young English socialite, is on a train headed home after vacationing in Europe. Suffering sunstroke, she is befriended by compartment mate, Miss Foley. When Miss

Foley disappears and everyone else claims she never existed, Iris is determined

to solve the mystery.…