By Anne Perry
Series William Monk Novels
When a murdered body is discovered in the Thames, clues lead to a heinous child-pornography case that police superintendent William Monk thought he had left behind, in an investigation that threatens his friend Oliver Rathbone and forces Monk to consider painful sacrifices.
By Jeff Abbott
Series Sam Capra Novels
Recommended By John Shea, Library Page
“When his pregnant wife and child are kidnapped and he discovers that he has been set up as a traitor, brilliant CIA agent Sam Capra begins a desperate hunt for the unknown enemy who he believes has targeted the wrong man (From the Publisher).”
By Penny Vincenzi
Recommended By Rosemarie Germaine, Senior Library Clerk
“When the seemingly elated Cressida Forrest disappears without a trace the night before her lavish wedding, a frantic search for answers reveals a fragile web of sexual and financial secrets involving two families (From the Publisher).”
Chronicles the lives of two boys - one who is forgotten by history, and one who becomes the creator of the world's most famous detective - as they pursue their separate destinies until they meet in a remarkable alliance.
By Helen MacInnes
A British officer pretending to be French tries to find the Nazi plans for resisting invasion off the coast of France during World War II.
Summoned from her latest dreadful temp job by her lawyers, Lori Shephard discovers that Aunt Dimity--her mother's favorite bedtime story heroine--was a real person who has left her millions and the challenge to solve an eerie mystery.
By Helen Fielding
Recommended By Megan Kass, Systems Manager
The daily chronicle of a 30-something single English woman who is convinced her life would be perfect if she could lose weight, stop smoking and develop "Inner Poise."
By Hilary Mantel
Series Wolf Hall Trilogy
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian
“Depicts the downfall of Anne Boleyn at the hands of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell as Anne and her powerful family fight back while she is on trial for adultery and treason (From the Publisher).”
By Robert Galbraith
Series Cormoran Strike Novels
When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg, and Comoran Strike must look to his past to determine who is behind the horrid parcel.
By Peter Robinson
Series Inspector Alan Banks Novels
Recommended By Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference
“After the body of a disgraced college lecturer is found on an abandoned railway line with a large amount of money in his pocket, Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks suspects that the victim’s death may be connected to his past at a university that was a hot bed of political activism (From the Publisher).”
By Alexander McCall Smith
Series Corduroy Mansions
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian
“While a middle-aged wine merchant tries to emancipate his reluctant adult son from their crumbling Pimlico home, a hated Parliament member incites the disgust of his biography-writing mother and long-suffering literary agent girlfriend (From the Publisher).”
By J.K. Rowling/Robert Galbraith
Series Cormoran Strike Novels
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian
With Stacey Mencher, Readers' Services Librarian
Monday, June 13, 2016. 7:30 PM.
Working as a private investigator after losing his leg in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike takes the case of a legendary supermodel’s suspicious suicide and finds himself in a world of multi-millionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, desperate designers and hedonist pursuits.
By Agatha Christie
Series Hercule Poirot Mysteries
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian, Sue Ann R., Head of Children's Services
Arthritic and immobilized, Hercule Poirot takes up his last case, relying on his old friend Captain Hastings to be his eyes and ears as he hunts down the slipperiest criminal of his career.
By David Mark
Series Aector McAvoy Novels
Recommended By Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference
Investigating a series of suspicious deaths and discovering that each victim was the sole survivor of a tragedy, Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy of the northern England port of Hull struggles to balance the demands of the case with the needs of his beloved family.
By Alexander McCall Smith
Series Corduroy Mansions Novels
Recommended By Rosemarie Germaine, Senior Library Clerk
Terence Moongrove’s estate is turned upside down by the cosmological experiments of two New Age operators, while literary agent Barbara Ragg takes on a companion of the Abominable Snowman and Pimlico terrier Freddie de la Hay is recruited by MI6.
By Emma Healey
Recommended By Sue Ann R., Head of Children's Services
When Maud, an aging grandmother who is slowly losing her memory, is convinced that her best friend Elizabeth is missing and in terrible danger, she becomes obsessed with saving her beloved friend despite the fact that no one believes her.
By Alexander McCall Smith
Presents a modern rendering of Jane Austen's classic that follows the experiences of a college graduate who returns to the side of her health–nut father and interferes in the personal lives of her friends.
By Charles Cumming
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian
When Amelie Levene, who in six weeks is due to take over as the first female Chief of MI6, disappears without a trace while in the south of France, it is the gravest crisis MI6 has faced in more than a decade. Britain's top intelligence agents turn to one of their own: disgraced former MI6 officer Thomas Kell. The trail leads Kell to France and Tunisia, where he uncovers a shocking secret and a conspiracy that could have unimaginable repercussions for Britain and its allies.
By John Galsworthy
This begins the famous saga of a British upper-middle class family, the family patriarch Soames, artist Jolyon, the alluring Irene and others.
By Ruth Rendell
Rendell, Ruth – The Girl Next Door When bones are discovered in a tin box inside the tunnel a group of long-time friends played in as children, they reunite to recall their adventures in the tunnel.
By Denise Mina
Series Alex Morrow Novels
Recommended By Audrey Honigman, Library Clerk
“In the aftermath of an elderly man’s murder during a holiday season bank robbery, DS Alex Morrow discovers that the bank’s alarm system had been disabled before the robbery and uncovers a sinister political network that places the entire city at risk (From the Publisher).”
By Fay Weldon
Series Love & Inheritance
The award-winning writer for Upstairs, Downstairs presents a first entry in a new trilogy about the shared lives of masters and servants at the turn of the 20th century, tracing the family life of Cabinet hopeful Lord Robert, who hopes to alleviate financial woes by marrying his son to a disgraced Chicago heiress.
By J.K. Rowling
Series Harry Potter
Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
By Agatha Christie
There has been a murder at Styles Court. Detective Poirot comes out of retirement to solve who would want the rich heiress Inglethorp dead, and would have the impudence to poison her. The jagged plot turns keep Poirot - and the reader - guessing as suspicion shifts from one peculiar character to the next. In Agatha Christie's first published work, the reader meets Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, destined to become the central detective of her mystery novels.
By John Le Carré
Recommended By Barry Ernst, Reference Librarian
“George Smiley, of England's Secret Service, goes onto the attack, manipulating old Asian hand Jerry Westerby through the Far East and a tangle of money, defection, passion, loyalty and love that severely tests Westerby's hitherto unfaltering allegiances (From the Publisher).”
By Michael Dobbs
A dark tale of greed, corruption, and unquenchable ambition, it reveals that no matter the country, politics, intrigue and passion reign in the corridors of power.
By Clare Mackintosh
Recommended By Rosemarie Germaine, Senior Library Clerk
Devastated by a hit-and-run accident that has ended the life of her young son, Jenna moves to the remote Welsh coast to search for healing while two dedicated policemen try to get to the bottom of the case.
By Martin Amis
Richard Tull, a fortyish book reviewer and failed novelist, is driven to distraction by the effortless and unmerited success of fellow Oxonian Gwyn Barry. While Barry's simpleminded novels become overnight best sellers, Tull's dense experimental manuscripts send a succession of literary agents to the hospital with migraine. Tull finally decides it's payback time, and this novel chronicles his slapstick attempts to annihilate his friend.
In nineteenth-century England, all is going well for rich, reclusive Mr Norell, who has regained some of the power of England's magicians from the past, until a rival magician, Jonathan Strange, appears and becomes Mr Norrell's pupil.
By Julian Fellowes
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian
Two families living in 1840s London must guard a secret that originated at the Duchess of Richmond’s legendary ball on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo.
By Elizabeth George
Series Inspector Lynley Novels
Supporting a friend who has lost custody of his young daughter, Barbara and her partner, Inspector Thomas Lynley, are further shocked when the girl’s mother reports that the child has been kidnapped as a part of a plot that risks Barbara’s career.
By Madeline Martin
Recommended By Donna Burger, Readers' Services Librarian
Taking a job in a London bookshop just as the Blitz begins, Grace finds comfort in the power of words, storytelling and community as the bookshop becomes one of the only remaining properties to survive the bombings.
By Bernard Cornwell
Series Saxon Stories
Recommended By Ralph Guiteau, Readers' Services Librarian
Captured and raised by Danes in the ninth century, dispossessed nobleman Uhtred witnesses the unexpected defeat of his adoptive Viking clan by Alfred of Wessex and longs to recover his father's land. 1st book in the Saxon Tales series.
By Kate Atkinson
Series Todd Family
Recommended By Audrey Honigman, Library Clerk, Pam Martin, Assistant Library Director, Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian
With Sonia Grgas, Health Reference Librarian
Tuesday, July 12, 2016. 7:30 PM.
“Follows the experiences of a woman, who after being born on a snowy night in 1910, repeatedly dies and reincarnates into the same life to correct missteps and ultimately save the world (From the Publisher).”
By Melanie Rose
In this debut novel full of heart, a single, carefree woman wakes up from an accident to discover she's suddenly a married mother of four. As Jessica tries to come to terms with her new situation, she embraces a family in need and helps them heal.
By Sarah Waters
Recommended By Jackie, Head of Readers' Services
“Waters reflects on the collapse of the British class system after WWII in a stunning haunted house tale … (Publishers Weekly).”
Genre Gothic Fiction, Supernatural Suspense, British Fiction, Cultural Fiction, European Fiction, Historical Fiction, World War II Fiction, Horror, Literary Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Supernatural Fiction, Suspense & Thrillers, Ghost Fiction, Modern Era, Psychological Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Hauntings
By Edward Rutherfurd
Recommended By Barney Levantino, Reference Librarian
A fictionalized account of the City of London, tracing its role in history and describing succeeding generations of families associated with its fortunes. Interwoven are the everyday lives of ordinary people, from London as a Celtic settlement, 2,000 years ago, to its finest hour during the Blitz in World War II.
By Maeve Binchy
A collection of twenty-two short stories follows the adventures of a woman who reaches a turning point during an affair with a married man, a dress designer who's had a god-awful day, and more.
By Jojo Moyes
Recommended By Betty Petreshock, Reference Librarian, Lisa C., Library Clerk, Lisa V., Library Clerk, Evelyn Hershkowitz, Readers' Services Librarian, Rosemarie Germaine, Senior Library Clerk, Jackie, Head of Readers' Services
With Betty Petreshock, Reference Librarian
Tuesday, November 12, 2013. 7:30 PM.
Taking a job as an assistant to extreme sports enthusiast Will, who is wheelchair bound after a motorcycle accident, Louisa struggles with her employer's acerbic moods and learns of his shocking plans before demonstrating to him that life is still worth living.
By George Eliot
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian
“In nineteenth-century England, Dorthea Brooke’s wishes to defy social conventions are inhibited by the strict nature of her surroundings (From the Publisher).”
Miss Jane Marple, spinster sleuth extraordinaire, is introduced in this first mystery to feature her brilliant talents. Here she must use all her intuitive powers to solve the murder of the detested Colonel Protheroe when he is found shot in the local vicar's study.
Became the TV show: Miss Marple.
By Ariana Franklin
Series Mistress in the Art of Death/Adelia Aguilar
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian
“…In her second historical novel, Franklin presents a fascinating character in Adelia, who is odd for her era and profession yet familiar in her flaws and complexity. This novel will surely please mystery fans as well as lovers of historical fiction (From Library Journal).”
By Natasha Solomons
Recommended By Rosemarie Germaine, Senior Library Clerk
After Jack and Sadie Rosenblum and their baby daughter escape Berlin at the beginning of World War II, they settle in England, where Jack discovers that he is barred from joining a golf club, after which he hatches a plan to start his own.
After a series of grisly London murders, opium-addict and writer Thomas De Quincey becomes the main suspect after discovering that the killer is imitating his true-crime essay and must enlist the help of his daughter to clear his name.
By Agatha Christie
Series Hercule Poirot Mysteries
Recommended By Audrey Honigman, Library Clerk, Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian
On a three–day journey through the snowbound Balkan hills, Hercule Poirot must weed through an array of international suspects to find the passenger who murdered a gangster on the Orient Express.
Genre Series, Detective Fiction, Mystery, Cultural Fiction, European Fiction, British Fiction
Teen Genre Classical Literature, Fiction
By Neil Gaiman
Recommended By Jessikah Chautin, Community Engagement Specialist
With Jackie Ranaldo, Head of Readers' Services
Monday, January 17, 2011. 7 PM.
Richard Mayhew's life is forever changed after he rescues a young girl named Door and finds himself living in a city of monsters, saints, murderers, and angels, and he must help Door on her mission to save this strange underworld kingdom from destruction.
By Zadie Smith
Growing up in the same 1970s urban planning development in Northwest London, four young people pursue independent and reasonably successful lives until one of them is abruptly drawn out of her isolation by a stranger who is seeking her help.
By Jane Gardam
Old Filth is torn away from the only person who loves him and sent to be educated at "home", where he is boarded with strangers.
Overview Jeanette is a bright and rebellious orphan who is adopted into an evangelical household in the dour, industrial North of England and finds herself embroidering grim religious mottoes and shaking her little tambourine for Jesus. But as this budding missionary comes of age, and comes to terms with her unorthodox sexuality, the peculiar balance of her God-fearing household dissolves. Jeanette's insistence on listening to the truths of her own heart and mind - and on reporting them with wit and passion - makes for an unforgettable chronicle of an eccentric, moving passage into adulthood.
By Frances Osborne
When Grace Carlisle arrives in London, she takes a job as a housemaid where she becomes caught up in the lives of its inhabitants--in particular, those of privileged son, Edward, and daughter, Beatrice.