I've read mystery books since I was a kid in a small Iowa town and my
mother was on the library board and in charge of reviewing books for
purchase. She would bring home mysteries and I grew up reading about
James Bond, The Saint, Miss Marple, and many, many other 'classic'
detectives. I wrote my first mystery 'novel' when I was ten and it took
me forty more years to finally decide to get serious about it. I found I
wanted to write about an older demographic—my heroes and heroines are
usually in their 40s or 50s. I try to make my characters believable and
down-to-earth—except they get involved in the occasional murder!
Jessa was held prisoner for her first sixteen years until she was freed by Nick Kingson, a young police officer. Now Nick is back to protect her when Jessa's father searches for the daughter he abandoned. There's a lot of money involved and a lot of prestige, and those two elements mean that Jessa may not live to see an inheritance.
Jessa and Nick go back to the town where she was once held captive. But she's no longer The Girl in the Tower. Will she get the chance to be the person she was meant to be? Or will an old enemy stop her before she can gain her inheritance?
When I first started writing mysteries, I realized that a different approach had to be used when I wrote in a first-person point of view. Only those clues that are seen by the main character can be shown to the reader. So that might limit what I, the author, can use as clues.
In Doiron's book, the main character is in law enforcement, and he has access to methods and information that a non-LEO person can access. But despite that Mike Bowditch, the main character, often doesn't realize that he's found a clue or a key to a mystery until it almost slips out of his hands. That makes him a person I can relate to.
And I also like that he explains a lot about policies and procedures just as he decides he's not going to follow said procedures.
While on vacation, Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch receives a strange summons from Billy Cronk, one of his oldest friends and a man he had to reluctantly put behind bars for murder. Billy wants him to investigate a new female prison guard with a mysterious past, and Mike feels honor-bound to help his friend. But when the guard becomes the victim in a brutal attack at the prison, he realises there may be a darker cover-up at play - and that Billy and his family might be at risk.
Then Mike receives a second call for help, this time from a…
I love reading books that look underneath what is shown to most people—how things work behind the scenes, or a glimpse into a different world.
This book takes what we think is a modern-day world and gives it a bit of a twist, with a special division of the London police charged with handling supernatural crimes that take place, well, in plain sight.
The thing that was most intriguing about this narrator was that I had the feeling I was learning with him about all the ghosts and goblins and beasties as he discovered them. I was as surprised as he was about the solving of the mystery.
I was my dad's vinyl-wallah: I changed his records while he lounged around drinking tea, and that's how I know my Argo from my Tempo. And it's why, when Dr Walid called me to the morgue to listen to a corpse, I recognised the tune it was playing. Something violently supernatural had happened to the victim, strong enough to leave its imprint like a wax cylinder recording. Cyrus Wilkinson, part-time jazz saxophonist and full-time accountant, had apparently dropped dead of a heart attack just after finishing a gig in a Soho jazz club. He wasn't the first. No one was…
The heroine of this story is as quirky as some of the heroines in my books. In some ways, Flavia de Luce is quite adult, but in other ways she's quite young with a refreshing outlook on life and the people around her.
I love the way she examines a problem, decides if it's something she can research and then just goes about doing so, regardless of what the adults around her say. She has a take-charge attitude that is often misplaced but always confident (often wrong, but never in doubt, perhaps)?
Meet Flavia: Mystery Solver. Master Poisoner. 11 Years Old.
England 1950. At Buckshaw, the crumbling country seat of the de Luce family, very-nearly-eleven-year-old Flavia is plotting revenge on her older sisters.
Then a dead bird is left on the doorstep, which has an extraordinary effect on Flavia's eccentric father, and a body is found in the garden. As the police descend on Buckshaw, Flavia decides to do some investigating of her own.
Praise for the historical Flavia de Luce mysteries: 'The Flavia de Luce novels are now a cult favourite' Mail on Sunday
I enjoy reading historical fiction, especially when I'm in the middle of writing my next mystery story. I like to read outside my genre so historical mysteries satisfy that desire for me to learn about the past while still studying how other mystery authors craft their stories.
This book features a heroine who is an artist and who was also initially ostracized by society because of her first husband. Her current husband is an 'investigative agent' in the 19th century and she's frequently drawn into his cases.
I like her because she's not afraid to speak her mind but she also knows when to keep quiet – a talent she had to acquire when dealing with some of the high-and-mighty people she meets.
Lady Kiera Darby and her husband Sebastian Gage are looking forward to celebrating with new friends at an exciting yearly soiree, but they soon learn that murder never takes a holiday in the latest riveting installment in this national bestselling series.
January 1832. After enjoying a delightful few weeks with her family, expectant mother Kiera and Sebastian Gage have been invited to the Duchess of Bowmontʼs Twelfth Night party in Traquair, Scotland. Though she normally avoids such fashionable, rambunctious events, Kiera is ready to join in the festive merrymaking. But upon their arrival at the opulent estate, it becomes obvious…
This is another historical mystery but it's set in a different time period than Huber's mysteries.
The main character of this book has been hired as an assistant to a detective in Victorian England and through the course of the book, I learned a great deal about the history of law enforcement. I think we take so much for granted in our high-tech, always-connected world.
It's surprising and sometimes amazing to realize how the world functioned before telephones, automobiles, and a unified law enforcement department.
An atmospheric debut novel set on the gritty streets of Victorian London, Some Danger Involved introduces detective Cyrus Barker and his assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, as they work to solve the gruesome murder of a young scholar in London's Jewish ghetto.
When the eccentric and enigmatic Cyrus Barker takes on the recent murder case of a young scholar in London's Jewish ghetto, he realizes that he must hire an assistant, and out of all who answer an ad for a position with "some danger involved," he chooses downtrodden Llewelyn, a gutsy young man with a murky past.
Dressed to kill and ready to make rent, best friends Lisa and Jamie work as “paid to party” girls at the Rose City Ripe for Disruption gala, a gathering of Portland's elite.
Their evening is derailed when Lisa stumbles across Ellen, a ruthless politician and Lisa’s estranged mother. And to make matters worse, Lisa’s boyfriend, Patrick, crashes the party to meet his new boss, Portland's food cart drug kingpin. Lisa makes a fateful choice that traps her, Jamie, and Patrick in Ellen’s web. In this gripping thriller, Lisa must reconcile a painful past and perilous present.
Suspected murder, eclectic food trucks, and artisanal cocaine: just another day in Thorn City.
It’s the night of the Rose City Ripe for Disruption gala—a gathering of Portland’s elite. Dressed to kill in sparkling minidresses, best friends Lisa and Jamie attend as “paid to party” girls. They plan an evening of fake flirtations, karaoke playlists, and of course, grazing the catering.
Past and present collide when Lisa stumbles across Ellen, a ruthless politician who also happens to be Lisa’s estranged mother. Awkward . . . When Lisa was sixteen, Ellen had her kidnapped and taken to the Lost Lake Academy—a…
Interested in
private investigators,
jazz,
and
London?
11,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them.
Browse their picks for the best books about
private investigators,
jazz,
and
London.
