Sanibel Flats

"Doc" Ford lives quietly as a marine biologist on Sanibel Island, having left a secret past behind, but an old friend seeking help is murdered and Doc finds himself back in Central America searching for a kidnapped boy

Literature & Fiction

White, Randy Wayne

United States

Minotaur

Spending his time on southwest Florida's Sanibel Island, collecting marine specimens and concentrating on his love life with tennis pro Dewey Nye, Doc Ford is drawn into a murder involving the owner of a local marina.

The Heat Islands

It's a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill, and newly ordained Clare Fergusson is on thin ice as the first female priest of its small Episcopal church. The ancient regime running the parish covertly demands that she prove herself as a leader. However, her blunt manner, honed by years as an army pilot, is meeting with a chilly reception from some members of her congregation and Chief of Police Russ Van Alystyne, in particular, doesn't know what to make of her, or how to address "a lady priest" for that matter. The last thing she needs is trouble, but that is exactly what she finds. When a newborn baby is abandoned on the church stairs and a young mother is brutally murdered, Clare has to pick her way through the secrets and silence that shadow that town like the ever-present Adirondack mountains. As the days dwindle down and the attraction between the avowed priest and the married police chief grows, Clare will need all her faith, tenacity, and courage to stand fast against a killer's icy heart. In the Bleak Midwinter is one of the most outstanding Malice Domestic winners the contest has seen. The compelling atmosphere-the kind of very cold and snowy winter that is typical of upstate New York-will make you reach for another sweater. The characters are fully and believably drawn and you will feel like they are your old friends and find yourself rooting for them every step of the way.

In the Bleak Midwinter: A Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Spencer-Fleming, Julia

Mystery

Where Colorado's border pushes against New Mexico, autumn is short. Rancher and tribal investigator Charlie Moon has fat cattle and a prowling cougar that demand his attention. He doesn't have the time to investigate the assault that killed hard-drinking limo driver, Billy Smoke, and put his boss, a U.S. Senator, in a wheelchair. But Moon has an obligation to the People, the Southern Utes, to look into the murder of one of their own. The FBI couldn't solve the case. Now Moon can walk the same paths and get to the same place. Or he can listen to his acid-tongued Aunt Daisy, a tribal shaman as well as a thorn in Moon's side. She insists a distraught red-haired girl is looking for Charlie. It may be about Billy Smoke's murder. Or-since this involves Aunt Daisy-the girl may be looking for a justice of her own.

DEAD SOUL

Doss, James

Asian scholar and black-belt artist Connor Burke labors as a deshi, a student under the tutelage of a master warrior-a practice that draws him into the execution-style murder of a Japanese businessman, into the dangers of a lethal samurai heritage, and finally, into the unknown darkness of an elite mountain temple where Connor's deadliest challenge awaits.

Deshi

John Donohue

Thrillers & Suspense

A family with secrets---is murder one of them?  Membery Place has been the home of the Calvert family for over one hundred years.  Below it, set in a forest clearing, is a modern, award-winning house designed by architect Mark Calvert, one of Alyssa Calvert's three sons. Mark's wife, Francesca, has been conscious of an intriguing element of mystery surrounding Bianca Morgan ever since Chip, the eldest Calvert brother, brought her and her child to live with him at Membery.  No one, except possibly Chip, knows anything about her previous life.  Bianca remains an enigma---and then one day her body is found in a pool beneath a waterfall on the estate. The three brothers have always been very close, but the subsequent inquiry now reveals that they all had their own secret connection with Bianca. Could one of them have had reason to kill her? Perhaps Jonathan, to save his career as an international cello soloist; Mark, to save his marriage---or even Chip? The focus of the inquiry shifts dramatically when Bianca's nine-year-old son goes missing.  Has the child too been killed, or has he been abducted because he saw his mother's murder? The fruitless search for Bianca's killer and the kidnapper forces Francesca to take matters into her own hands, determined to resolve the mystery of the Calvert family.

Killing a Unicorn

Marjorie Eccles

Owls Well That Ends Well (Meg Langslow Mysteries)

Meg and Michael have bought a dilapidated mansion which, over the years, has become a giant warehouse of junk. Since the wealthy owner never threw anything away, the happy pair must now move everything out before moving in. The solution is clear: they announce a giant lawn sale. The barn is off limits, but it's discovered that at least two visitors have trespassed. One has wisely disappeared, leaving the other's murdered body in an old chest.

Donna Andrews

Humor & Satire

"What happened here last night isn't allowed," said Madame Dubois. It was such an extraordinary thing to say it stopped the ravenous Inspector Beauvoir from taking another bite of his roast beef on baguette. "You have a rule against murder?" he asked. "I do. When my husband and I bought the Bellechasse we made a pact....Everything that stepped foot on this land would be safe." It is the height of summer, and Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache are celebrating their wedding anniversary at Manoir Bellechasse, an isolated, luxurious inn not far from the village of Three Pines. But they're not alone. The Finney family--rich, cultured, and respectable--has also arrived for a celebration of their own. The beautiful Manoir Bellechasse might be surrounded by nature, but there is something unnatural looming. As the heat rises and the humidity closes in, some surprising guests turn up at the family reunion, and a terrible summer storm leaves behind a dead body. It is up to Chief Inspector Gamache to unearth secrets long buried and hatreds hidden behind polite smiles. The chase takes him to Three Pines, into the dark corners of his own life, and finally to a harrowing climax.

A Rule Against Murder: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel

PENNY, Louise

A Safe Place for Dying, the first in Jack Fredrickson’s highly acclaimed Dek Elstrom mystery series, was nominated for the Shamus Award for Best First Novel. Now, Chicago P.I. Dek Elstrom is back in an electrifying new mystery. A lawyer calls Dek with a fast, seven-hundred dollar proposition. A dead client named Dek to execute her will. No matter that Dek didn’t know the woman. No matter, too, that the woman’s estate was only worth a few hundred. Happens all the time, the lawyer said. To Dek Elstrom, broke and huddling in a cold stone turret in the middle of February, the sound of seven hundred falling down his chimney is louder than his voice of reason. He agrees, heads up to a hamlet ten miles north of nowhere. But instead of finding an easy-to-close estate, he finds blood and the markers of a shattered life. And something worse: links to the darkest part of his own past. He races to chase down leads to the killer, and his own ghost…before the dead woman is killed again.

Honestly Dearest, You're Dead

Fredrickson, Jack

A New York Times Notable Book!
Stella Hardesty, avenger of wronged women, is getting cozy with Sheriff "Goat" Jones when a tornado blows none other than Goat’s scheming ex-wife, Brandy, through the front door. Adding to the chaos, the tornado destroys the snack shack at the demolition derby track, pulling up the concrete foundation and unearthing a woman's body. The main suspect in the woman’s murder is Neb Donovan---he laid the foundation, and there's some pretty hard evidence pointing to his guilt. Years ago, Neb's wife asked Stella for help getting him sober. Stella doesn't believe the gentle man could kill anyone, and she promises his frantic wife she'll look into it. 
Former client Chrissy Shaw is now employed at Stella's sewing shop and she helps with the snooping as Stella negotiates the unpredictable Brandy and the dangerously magnetic sheriff. 
This is the thrilling sequel to Sophie Littlefield’s critically-acclaimed debut, A Bad Day for Sorry, which won an Anthony Award and an RT Book Award, was an Edgar Award Finalist, and was shortlisted for Barry, Crimespree, and Macavity Awards. Stella Hardesty is a heroine to watch---join her on this next adventure for as fiercely funny and riveting a story as there is to be found in crime fiction.

A Bad Day for Pretty (Stella Hardesty Crime Novels)

Sophie Littlefield

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