By Russell Andrews

The brutal murder of a young female journalist draws Justin Westwood, a small-town Long Island cop, into a dangerous investigation into a conspiracy that forces him into a dangerous confrontation with his fellow cops, the FBI, and an oddball team of professional killers.

By Louise Penny
Series Inspector Armand Gamacge Mysteries
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian

When a peaceful monastery in Quebec is shattered by the murder of their renowned choir director, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec are challenged to find the killer in a cloistered community that has taken a vow of silence.

By Lisa Gardner
Recommended By Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference, Marie McLaughlin, Head of Circulation

Investigating the cold-case disappearance of a Haitian teen in a gritty Boston neighborhood, Frankie Elkin navigates resident and police resistance as well as the challenges of her own sobriety before risking her life to uncover the truth.

By Michael Connelly
Series Harry Bosch Novels

First book in the Harry Bosch Series. LAPD homicide detective Hieronymus Bosch attempts to solve the murder of Billy Meadows, a soldier he knew while serving in Vietnam.

By Lee Goldberg
Series Eve Ronin Mysteries
Recommended By Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department homicide detective Eve Ronin investigates the cold-case disappearance and death of a woman whose remains are found in the aftermath of a Santa Monica Mountains fire. Recommended by: Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference Genres: Mystery; Police Procedural; Series

By Karin Salvalaggio
Recommended By Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference

When Grace Adams witnesses the murder of her mother, who abandoned her eleven years earlier, Detective Macy Greeley struggles for answers as she investigates the case and reopens old wounds while hunting down the killer.

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 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 John Harvey
Series Charlie Resnick Mysteries
Recommended By Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference

“The discovery of the body of a young woman who disappeared thirty years prior during the British miners’ strike brings Charlie Resnick out of virtual retirement to assist in the murder investigation, forcing him to confront his past (From the Publisher).”

By Thomas Mullen
Recommended By Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference

Hired by the Atlanta Police Department in 1948, Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith confront deep hostility from their white peers before confronting a corrupt officer who complicates their investigation into the murder of a black woman.

By J.A. Jance
Series Joanna Brady Mystery
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian

Juggling the demands of her career and her family, Southwestern Sheriff Joanna Brady faces her most unsettling case yet in the disturbing murder of a loner and her seventeen dogs.

By Henning Mankell
Series Kurt Wallander Mysteries
Recommended By Sue Ann R., Head of Children's Services

"Inspector Kurt Wallander, a local Swedish police officer whose own personal life is falling apart, finds himself coping with a wave of anti-foreigner sentiment when he is put in charge of the investigation into the brutal murders of an elderly couple (From the Publisher)."

By Louise Penny
Series Inspector Armand Gamache Mysteries
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian

Sent to a village south of Montreal to investigate the death of CC de Poitiers, an extremely unpopular woman apparently killed in an electrical accident, Armand Gamache of the Sãuretâe du Quebec finds that nearly everyone in town had a motive to kill her.

By Donna Leon
Series Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian

Going undercover to investigate a new Protestant sect that has begun meeting in Venice, Commissario Guido Brunetti is forced to put his probe aside when the body of a young gypsy girl turns up in a local canal.

By Louise Penny
Series Chief Inspector Gamache Mysteries
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian

When a mysterious figure travels through Three Pines and leaves a dead body in its wake, Armand Gamache pursues a difficult investigation that yields unexpected consequences and forces him into a battle with his own conscience.

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 Michael Connelly

These intricately plotted and gritty mysteries feature Harry Bosch, an anti–establishment LAPD detective who routinely flouts the authority of his superiors, who (to be fair) are often corrupt or making questionable choices. These stand–alone police procedurals are character–driven and psychologically astute, giving readers great insight into Bosch’s inner world.

By Richard Castle
Series Nikki Heat

NYPD detective Nikki Heat must deal with the continual presence of magazine journalist Jameson Rook as she works to solve the murder of a real estate magnate.

By Louise Penny
Series Inspector Armand Gamache Mysteries
Recommended By Jean Buchholtz, Library Clerk

“Struggling to maintain the Homicide group during the holiday season in the wake of interdepartmental estrangements, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache quietly investigates the disappearance of a once-famous mad poet while seeking a safe haven for his loyal colleagues in an increasingly hostile town (From the Publisher).”

By J.D. Robb

Eve Dallas is a New York police lieutenant hunting for a ruthless killer. In over ten years on the force, she’s seen it all—and knows her survival depends on her instincts. And she’s going against every warning telling her not to get involved with Roarke, an Irish billionaire, and a suspect in Eve’s murder investigation. But passion and seduction have rules of their own, and it’s up to Eve to take a chance in the arms of a man she knows nothing about, except the addictive hunger of needing his touch.

By Peter Robinson
Series Inspector Alan Banks Novels
Recommended By Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference

A scorched van and a peculiar bloodstain in an abandoned airport hangar challenge Inspector Alan Banks and his team in the aftermath of two disappearances and a string of murders.

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 Jussi Adler-Olsen
Recommended By Jackie, Head of Readers' Services

Chief detective Carl Mørck, recovering from what he thought was a career-destroying gunshot wound, is relegated to cold cases and becomes immersed in the five-year disappearance of a politician.

By Rachel Howzell Hall
Series Detective Elouise Norton Novels

A skeptical Lou Norton of the Los Angeles police department investigates increasingly compelling parallels between the suspicious suicide of a teenage girl and the unsolved murder of Lou’s sister.

By Clare Mackintosh

When homegrown celebrity Rhys Lloyd is murdered after opening the doors to his new luxury resort on New Year’s Eve, Ffion Morgan, called in to investigate, fears her deep ties to this once tranquil village will reveal dark truths about her neighbors, friends, family and even herself.

By Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
Series Children's House Series
Recommended By Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference

Required to both question and protect a traumatized seven-year-old girl who is the only witness to a murder, rookie detective Huldar and psychologist Freyja navigate elusive clues left behind by an unusually slippery killer.

By Nelson Demille
Series John Corey Novels
Recommended By Pam Martin, Assistant Library Director

“Libyan terrorist Asad Khalil, known as "The Lion," returns to the U.S. to take care of unfinished business, and the only man who can stop him is John Corey, a special agent for the NYPD's Anti-Terrorist Task Force (From the Publisher).”

By Liz Moore
Recommended By Evelyn Hershkowitz, Readers' Services Librarian

A policewoman races to find her missing sister, a homeless addict, amid a vicious killing spree in a Philadelphia neighborhood, in a story that alternates between the investigation and memories of their shared childhood.

By Louise Penny
Series Chief Inspector Gamache Series
Recommended By Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference

Enjoying a peaceful retirement, former Quebec homicide detective Armand Gamache reluctantly agrees to help a neighbor search for her missing estranged husband and teams up with two former colleagues on a search that reveals the workings of a damaged mind.

By Georges Simenon
Series Jules Maigret Mysteries

Inspector Maigret investigates the death of fortuneteller Mademoiselle Jeanne, a case remarkable for its wealth of unconnected suspects and fragmentary clues.

By Susie Steiner
Recommended By Audrey Honigman, Library Clerk, Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference

Assigned to the high-profile case of a missing graduate student, brilliant detective and lonelyheart Manon Bradshaw uncovers the abductee’s erratic behavior, a close friend’s secrets and the role of a sex offender while struggling to maintain a professional distance.

By J.D. Robb
Series In Death

Three young women have been brutally murdered. After 10 years on the New York City police force, Lieutenant Eve Dallas knows better than to become emotionally involved with her work. But the prime suspect is a suave, sophisticated Irish billionaire with a mysterious past and she finds herself powerless to resist his charm.

By Sophie Hannah
Series Zailer and Waterhouse Mysteries

Connie Bowskill sees a bloody, murdered woman in the virtual tour of an online real estate listing, but the images aren’t there when she shows her husband.

By J.A. Jance
Series Joanna Brady Mysteries
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian

When the body of an elderly widow turns up in the desert, Sheriff Joanna Brady searches for a killer among the victim’s greedy offspring, her mysterious much younger live-in handyman turned lover, and corrupt local politicians

By Judith A. Jance
Series Joanna Brady Mysteries & J.P. Beaumont Mysteries
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian

"Sent to Cochise County in Arizona by the Washington State attorney general to investigate the murder of a star witness, J.P. Beaumont teams up with Sheriff Joanna Brady and is surprised to find in her a savvy fellow detective (From the Publisher)."

By Archer Mayor
Series Joe Gunther Mysteries
Recommended By Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference

Investigating the death of a Vietnam veteran whose PTSD culminated in a hoarding disorder, Joe Gunther learns that the victim’s collection of combat photos contains information that a sinister adversary desperately wanted to keep hidden.

By Tess Gerritsen

Combining the police procedural and the forensic medical thriller, these gritty mysteries feature a homicide detective and a forensic pathologist who use their intelligence and intuition to solve crimes. The flawed, feisty women find themselves in dangerous situations as they track down twisted serial killers. The gory descriptions of forensics and the graphic violence add to the pulse pounding suspense.

By James Lee Burke
Series Dave Robicheaux novel
Recommended By John Shea, Library Page

While investigating a homicide, Dave Robicheaux, who is struggling with PTSD, alcoholism, and the loss of his wife, suspects he may have been the killer and endeavors to clear his name and make sense of the killing.

By Louise Penny
Series Inspector Armand Gamache Mysteries
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian

In this classic drawing room mystery, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is looking forward to celebrating his wedding anniversary at the remote, luxurious Manoir Bellechasse. As Gamache's holiday becomes a busman's anniversary, he learns that the seemingly peaceful lodge is a place where visitors come to escape their past, until that past catches up with them.

By Alex Grecian

Victorian London—a violent cesspool of squalid depravity. Only twelve detectives—The Murder Squad—are expected to solve the thousands of crimes committed here each month.

By Stan Jones
Series Nathan Active Mysteries
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian

"Alaska State Trooper Nathan Active is regarded as "half-white" by the Inupiats of the village where he is stationed. He was born in Chukchi but was adopted by Anglos and raised in Anchorage. Now he is called upon to investigate the murder of a tribal leader who was stabbed to death with an antique harpoon, which had been recently returned to the community under the Indian Graves Act (From the Publisher)."

By J.A. Jance
Series Joanna Brady Mysteries
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian

“… Joanna Brady becomes caught up in a deadly family tragedy initiated by a pair of star-crossed lovers … (From the Publisher).

By Deborah Crombie
Series Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mysteries
Recommended By Jean Buchholtz, Library Clerk

"While investigating the murder of a well-respected barrister who was found dead at a seedy hotel in Crystal Palace, Detective Inspector Gemma James and her partner, Detective Sergeant Melody Talbot, begin to question everything they think they know about their world and those they trust most (From the Publisher)."

By Anne Hillerman
Series Leaphorn & Chee

When one of her colleagues is gunned down, Navajo Nation Police Officer Bernadette Manality helps her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee, find the shooter and discovers a link to a cold case involving Jim's former boss and partner, Inspector Joe Leaphorn.

By Val McDermid
Series Karen Pirie Novels
Recommended By Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference

DCI Karen Pirie is drawn into a murder investigation involving a historic disappearance, art forgery and secret identities, while dealing with the release of the man responsible for the death of the love of her life from prison.

By Richard Castle
Series Derrick Storm

When high-level bankers around the world are being tortured and murdered by his old nemesis Gregor Volkov, Derrick Storm is called in by the CIA to figure out who Volkov is working for and why.

By Robert Crais
Recommended By John Shea, Library Page

“Struggling to reclaim his career after the devastating murder of his partner eight months earlier, LAPD cop Scott James is teamed with a traumatized military canine named Maggie who assists Scott in an effort to track down his late partner’s killer (From the Publisher).”

By Caz Frear
Recommended By Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference

A London policewoman from a troubled family is forced to investigate dark secrets in her estranged father's past to solve the murder of a young housewife and the disappearance of a teenage girl years earlier.

By Lynda La Plante

From the creator of the award–winning Prime Suspect comes the gripping story of DCI Jane Tennison's past, and her first ever murder case.

By Donna Leon
Series Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian

Hired to investigate a suspicious near-drowning that left a girl permanently brain damaged years earlier, Brunetti struggles to determine if a crime was actually committed in a case set against a backdrop of dynamic transitions in contemporary Venice.