31 results for "Mystery"

All that is mine I carry with me: a novel

Landay, William
"Three grown siblings confront their father's role in their mother's disappearance in this arresting novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Defending Jacob. Jane Larkin disappeared without a trace in November 1976. When ten-year-old Miranda arrives home from school that autumn afternoon, finding her mother's pocketbook in its usual spot in the front hall, she assumes her mother will be back any minute. But as the hours tick by, alone in the house, Miranda becomes filled with a steady certainty that her mother will never come home again. In the absence of other leads, detectives quickly turn their suspicions toward Jane's husband, Daniel. A criminal defense attorney, Dan would know a thing or two about how to stay one step ahead of investigators. Indeed, no evidence is ever found. But nor is any real possible motive. And so Miranda and her two older brothers, Jeff and Alex, are left in limbo, to be raised by the man who may or may not have murdered their mother. Over the years, as the case grows colder, each makes their own uneasy peace with the situation. Until one day, when they are all grown-and a body is found. Suddenly, the investigation is reinvigorated, and everyone has to choose a side in a confrontation they have long avoided. Once lines are drawn, there is no going back. Untangling a web of family secrets, compelling motives, and long-held grudges, William Landay masterfully grapples with a tantalizing case, calling into question the most basic of morals: How deep should family loyalty run? What do we owe to the dead? And what happens when the search for the truth could cost everything?"--
Bantam 2023 320 pages

Bone canyon

Goldberg, Lee
A catastrophic wildfire scorches the Santa Monica Mountains, exposing the charred remains of a woman who disappeared years ago. Eve Ronin, the youngest homicide detective in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, is assigned to the case. She discovers the bones have a horrific story to tell, and Eve unearths dark secrets that reveal nothing about the case is as it seems. With almost no one she can trust, her relentless pursuit of justice for the forgotten dead could put Eve's own life in peril. --
Thomas & Mercer 2021 265 pages

The hunt

Kellerman, Faye
"Peter and his partner, Detective Tyler McAdams, are thrown into an unsolved case and propelled into action when a body is found in Upstate New York, in the very woods where a man previously went missing ... But that's not the only crisis that Peter has to deal with. Teresa McLaughlin, the biological mother of Peter and Rina's foster son, Gabe, has fled to Los Angeles with her two other children in tow, hoping to avoid a court injunction amid a messy divorce. But L.A. is no escape from her problems--she is found by ruthless men and beaten mercilessly. When Terry wakes, barely conscious, she discovers that both of her children are gone and frantically calls Gabe for help. Unable to assist his mother immediately, Gabe enlists the help of Peter and Rina and contacts his biological father, the notorious Christopher Donatti, a former hit man from a known crime family who's now a multi-millionaire in Nevada. By bringing Donatti into the fray, Gabe, Peter, and Rina know they have made a deal with the devil--but with Terry on the verge of death, they have no choice. As these unlikely allies rally to find the kidnappers of Terry's children before things end tragically, they race headlong toward an explosive confrontation from which no one will emerge unscathed..."--Dust jacket flap.
William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 2022 483 pages

Dream town

Goldberg, Lee
"Hidden Hills is a private celebrity enclave of white picket fences and horse trails that seems to exist in a dreamworld. But when reality superstar Kitty Winslow is killed within their gates and corpses are found in the vast state park outside them, LASD detective Eve Ronin realizes there is a deadly, razor-thin line between what's real and what's imagined. Eve discovers that Kitty's surreal on- and off-camera life, a blur of fact and fantasy, shockingly mirrors her own as she struggles to investigate the killings, wade into a music industry war, and battle a vicious Chilean gang--all while her life is being turned into a fictional cop show directed by her estranged father. Eve's grip on reality and the case is strained to the breaking point as the slayings continue, the media frenzy reaches a fever pitch, and the only inescapable truth she can see is death... and it's coming for her"--Dust jacket flap.
Thomas & Mercer 2024 276 pages

Movieland

Goldberg, Lee
"For decades Malibu Creek State Park was the spectacular natural setting where Hollywood fantasies were made. But when a female camper is gunned down, it becomes a real-life killing ground. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department homicide detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone are assigned the case ... which Duncan fears is the latest in a series of sniper attacks that began long before Eve came to Lost Hills"--
Thomas & Mercer 2022 329 pages

Hidden in smoke

Goldberg, Lee
"After dozens of Hollywood apartment buildings erupt in flames during a single night of terror, arson investigators Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker are assigned to catch the serial torcher and end his spree. But then a catastrophic fire destroys a major freeway, crippling the city and forcing Sharpe and Walker to take on another massive case. Desperate for help, they know exactly who to call: homicide detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone. Together the four detectives must quickly figure out whether the freeway disaster was a tragic accident...or the work of a mastermind with a horrific plan. As the investigations collide, an old foe with a revenge scheme enters the fray, igniting a race against time to stop a conspiracy of deception, corruption, and murder."--
Thomas & Mercer 2025 279 pages

Gated prey

Goldberg, Lee
"Los Angeles County Sheriff's detective Eve Ronin and her soon-to-retire partner, Duncan Pavone, are running a 24-7 sting in a guard-gated enclave of palatial homes in Calabasas. Their luxury McMansion is a honey trap, set to lure in the violent home invaders terrorizing the community. The trap works, leaving three intruders dead, a body count that nearly includes Eve and Duncan. Eve's bosses are eager to declare the case closed, but there are too many unanswered questions for her to let go. Was the trap actually for her, bloody payback for Eve's very public takedown of a clique of corrupt deputies? Or is there an even deadlier secret lurking behind those opulent gates? Eve's refusal to back down and her relentless quest for the truth make her both the hunter ... and the prey." --
Thomas & Mercer 2021 247 pages

The stranger in the lifeboat: a novel

Albom, Mitch
Adrift in a raft after a deadly ship explosion, nine people struggle for survival at sea. Three days pass. Short on water, food and hope, they spot a man floating in the waves and pull him in. The man, strange and quiet, claims to be the Lord. Is the man who he claims to be? What actually caused the explosion? Are the survivors already in heaven, or are they in hell? Years later, when the empty life raft washes up on the island of Montserrat-- the events recounted in a notebook-- it falls to the island's chief inspector to solve the mystery of what really happened. -- adapted from jacket
Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 2021 271 pages

Final judgment: a Samantha Brinkman legal thriller

Clark, Marcia
"A murder investigation draws firebrand attorney Samantha Brinkman into her boyfriend's past in this novel of high-risk suspense by bestselling author Marcia Clark. When it comes to relationships and self-preservation, defense attorney Samantha Brinkman has always been cut and run. But it's different with her new lover, Niko, an ambitious and globally famous entrepreneur. Sam is putting her faith in him. She has to. He's also her new client-a suspect in the murder of an investor whose shady dealings turned Niko's good life upside down. He had the motive: revenge. As did many others who banked a fortune on the wrong man. That's a point in Niko's favor. So is his alibi for the day of the slaying. Until that alibi mysteriously disappears. As Sam's feverish search for another viable killer begins, the investigation only leads deeper into Niko's past and its secrets. From the darkest suspicions to final judgment, fighting for Niko is Sam's job. To do it, she must risk everything on a man who could make all her worst fears come true." --
Thomas & Mercer 2020 404 pages

The Hellfire Club

Tapper, Jake
"Charlie Marder, a World War II veteran and popular academic, is an unlikely congressman. Thrust into office by his power-broker father's connections, Charlie is determined to use his new position for good. He quickly learns, however, that in 1950s Washington, little is as it seems. Struggling to navigate the treacherous waters alongside real-life figures such as President Dwight Eisenhower, Senator John F. Kennedy, and Roy Cohn, Charlie is confronted by a world in the throes of McCarthyism, where no one trusts anyone. His education in the compromising and occasionally illegal ways of Washington makes him question his own ethical compass and the morality of men he admires, including his father. Alongside his pregnant wife, Margaret, a zoologist with ambitions of her own, Charlie struggles to do what is right while learning more about the mysterious circumstances of his predecessor's death. Amid the swirl of glamorous and powerful politicians and businessmen, a fatal car accident plunges Charlie and Margaret into an underworld of backroom deals, secret societies, and a conspiracy that could change the course of history. When Charlie learns too much, he has to fight not only for his principles and his newfound political career... but for his life.--
Little, Brown and Company 2018 342 pages

Presumed guilty

Turow, Scott
"After Rusty Sabich's heated acquittal in the trial for his life, he's restlessly tried to accept his retirement and get his name out of the spotlight. Now, years later, he's found himself living a quiet life in the town of Mirror with a house on the idyllic lake and a new love, Bea. But the peace that's taken him so long to find comes crashing down when Bea's adoptive son, Aaron, who's under Rusty and Bea's supervision while on probation for a possession conviction, goes missing. The court has ordered that Aaron stay in contact with Rusty and Bea, and if he doesn't return soon, he might get sent back to jail. The trouble doesn't end when Aaron eventually turns up. It turns out that he'd been camping with Mae, his childhood sweetheart who has been an endless source of trouble for Aaron. Except Mae didn't return with Aaron. Mae's prosecuting attorney father, Hardy, brings in all of his resources from local police to the FBI to find his daughter. And when Mae is discovered dead, Hardy immediately points the finger at Aaron and the state jumps to trial. Rusty finds himself coming out of retirement to defend his step-son-to-be from a murder charge where the evidence doesn't seem to add up. But regardless of where the truth is pointing, it seems that the odds are stacked against Aaron. It's going to take all of Rusty's knowledge as a lawyer and judge to show the jury that Aaron isn't a murderer and that if they have any reasonable doubt, they must cast "Not guilty." Aaron's life is on the line and so is the one that Rusty has worked so hard for and all that stands between freedom for both of them is the rage-fueled prejudice against Aaron"--
Grand Central Publishing 2025 536 pages

Hercule Poirot's silent night

Hannah, Sophie,Christie, Agatha
"It's December 19, 1931. Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool are looking forward to a much-needed, restful Christmas holiday, when they are called upon to investigate the murder of a man in a Norfolk hospital ward. Cynthia Catchpool, Edward's mother, insists that Poirot stay with her in a crumbling mansion by the coast, so that they can all be together for the festive period while he solves the case. As Poirot digs into the mystery, he discovers that the murdered man was a retired post office master, and by all accounts very well-liked. The local constabulary's investigation failed to uncover how someone could have entered a hospital room and killed him under the noses of the staff. Cynthia's friend Arnold is soon to be admitted to that same hospital, and his wife is convinced he will be the killer's next victim, though she refuses to explain why. With no obvious motive or suspect, Poirot has less than a week to solve the crime and prevent more murders, if he is to escape from this nightmare scenario and get home in time for Christmas. Meanwhile, someone else also has ideas about what ought to happen to Hercule Poirot"--
William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 2023 362 pages

Held

Michaels, Anne
"A breathtaking and ineffable new novel from the author of the international best sellers Fugitive Pieces and The Winter Vault-a novel of love and loyalty across generations, at once sweeping and intimate. 1917. On a battlefield near the River Aisne, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable to move or feel his legs. Struggling to focus his thoughts, he is lost to memory as the snow falls-a chance encounter in a pub by a railway, a hot bath with his lover on a winter night. 1920. John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near a different river. He is alive but still not whole. Reunited with Helena, an artist, he reopens his photography business and tries to keep on living. But the past erupts insistently into the present, as ghosts begin to surface in his pictures: ghosts with messages he cannot understand. So begins a narrative that spans four generations of connections and consequences that ignite and re-ignite as the century unfolds. In luminous moments of desire, comprehension, longing, and transcendence, the sparks fly upward, working their transformations decades later. Held is affecting and intensely beautiful, full of mystery, wisdom, and compassion, a novel by a writer at the height of her powers"--
Alfred A. Knopf 2024-01-30 219 pages

The apple in the dark

Lispector, Clarice
""It's the best one," Clarice Lispector remarked on the occasion of the publication of The Apple in the Dark: "I can't define it, how it is, I can only say that it's much better constructed than the previous ones." A book in three chapters, with three central characters, The Apple in the Dark is in fact highly sculpted, while being chiefly a metaphysical book, and in this stunning new translation, the novel's mysteries and allegories glow with a fresh scintillating light. Martim, fleeing from a murder he believes he committed, plunges into the dark nocturnal jungle: stumbling along, in a state of both fear and wonder, eventually he comes to a remote, quiet ranch and finds work with the two women who own it. The women are tranquil enough before his arrival, but are affected by his radical mystery. Soaked through with Martim's inner night (his soul is in the darkness where everything is created), the novel vibrates with his perpetual searching state of vigil. Often he feels close to an epiphany: "for the first time he was present in the moment in which whatever is happening is happening." Yet such flashes flicker out, so he's ever on the watch for "life to take on the dimensions of a destiny." In an interview, Lispector once said: "I am Martim." As she puts it in The Apple in the Dark: "All I've got is hunger. And that unstable way of grasping an apple in the dark-without letting it fall.""--
A New Directions Paperbook Original 2023 389 pages

Trouble is what I do

Mosley, Walter
Leonid McGill's spent a lifetime building his reputation as a private investigator in New York. His seemingly infallible instincts and inside knowledge of the crime world make him the ideal man to help when Phillip "Catfish" Worry comes knocking. Catfish is a ninety-four-year-old Mississippi blues-man who needs Leonid's help with a simple task: deliver a letter revealing the black lineage of a wealthy heiress and her corrupt father. The opportunity to do a simple favor while shocking the prevailing elite is impossible for Leonid to resist. But when a famed and feared assassin puts out a hit on Catfish, Leonid has no choice but to confront the ghost of his own felonious past. Working to protect his client, and his own family, Leonid needs to reach the heiress on the eve of her wedding before her powerful father kills those who hold their family's secret. Joined by a team of young and tough aspiring investigators, Leonid must gain the trust of wary socialites, outsmart vengeful thugs, and, above all, serve the truth -- no matter the cost.
Mulholland Books, Little, Brown and Company 2021 166 pages

Gray dawn

Mosley, Walter
"A number of below-the-law powerbrokers plead with Easy to locate a mysterious, dangerous woman--Lutisha James, though she's gone by another name that Easy will immediately recognize. 1970s Los Angeles is a transient city of delicate, violent balances, and Lutisha has disturbed that. She also has a secret that will upend Easy's own life, painfully closer to home." --
Mulholland Books, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company 2025 319 pages

Big time

Winters, Ben H.
" What if time could be taken from us-the minutes, the hours, the years of our lives, extracted like organs taken for transplant? What would it mean for the world? And what would it do to the person from whom it's taken? Grace Berney is a mid-level bureaucrat in the Food and Drug Administration, a woman who once brimmed with purpose but somehow turned into a middle-aged single mom with a dull government job and a melancholy sense that life has passed her by. Until the night a strange photo comes across her desk, of a young woman in a hospital bed who has been subjected to a mysterious procedure. Against orders and against common sense, Grace sets out to bring the girl to safety, and finds herself risking her job, her future, and her life on whether she can find the missing girl before an obsessive and violent mercenary who's also looking. Big Time is a fast-paced thriller and a metaphysical mystery about the very nature of our lives." -- Amazon.
Mulholland Books/Little, Brown and Company 2024-03 275 pages