fiction / mystery & detective / women sleuths

"From the small towns of Appalachia they came, the young men who joined the fight for liberty in World War II. Now they are elderly, and some of them--like Harmon Strayer, father of prosecutor Bell Elkins's former law school classmate--suffer from Alzheimer's. When Harmon dies in an Alzheimer's care facility from what appear to be natural causes, Bell confronts a mystery that brims with questions about memory, grief and the lethal cost of burying the past. During a winter of record snow and cold, Bell and the people of Acker's Gap, West Virginia, face isolation and hardship--and the threat from a killer who preys upon the old and the sick and the helpless"--Provided by publisher.

"A lifetime ago, every year Carole Shipley looked forward to her wedding anniversary. But then a celebratory trip to Mexico for the occasion with her husband and friends ended in the unsolved kidnapping of her infant daughter, Samantha. Now, fifteen years after that horrific time, divorced and isolated, Carole is forced to relive the kidnapping by reporters who call every year on the anniversary of Samantha's disappearance. However, this year when the phone rings, Carole hears the sweet voice of a girl claiming to be her long-lost daughter. Plunged back into the world of heartbreak, suspicion and questions that led the case to run cold so many years ago, Carole doesn't know what or who to believe. But when she starts to figure it out, she finds the answers dangerously close to home"--Provided by publisher.

Lady Kiera Darby and Sebastian Gage become tangled in a dangerous web of religious and political intrigue. In July 1831, in the midst of their idyllic honeymoon in England's Lake District, their seclusion is interrupted by a missive from Kiera's new father-in-law asking them to investigate a deadly incident involving a distant relative of the Duke of Wellington which has taken place at an abbey south of Dublin, Ireland. Intent on discovering what kind of monster could murder a woman of the cloth, the couple travel to Rathfarnham Abbey school. As they work to unravel the crime, a second nun is slain in broad daylight near a classroom full of young girls.

It is a normal afternoon in Sussex when Russell and Holmes return home to find a peculiar addition to their garden: a beautiful stone that once occupied the Imperial Gardens in Kyoto, Japan. The stone immediately recalls the spring of 1924, when, on their way back from India (The Game), Russell and Holmes agreed to perform a small but exceedingly dangerous job for the emperor of Japan. At the time, Russell encountered a young Japanese woman on board their ship who tutored the two foreigners about her country and guided them into a secret meeting with the Prince Regent himself. Now, when Russell heads for Oxford to resume her long-delayed studies, she comes face-to-face with that very same young Japanese woman. Mary quickly realizes Miss Sato Haruki is not all that she seems.

"A riveting, sharply observed and thoroughly modern police procedural featuring a stellar but unlikely female dectective team, perfect for fans of Tess Gerritsen and Deborah Crombie Detective Constable Janet Scott is subtle and reliable, a diplomatic thinker with a wry sense of humor. She's put in the time and seen it all, but has no desire for the boss's job--she loves her own too much. Rachel Bailey couldn't be more different--she's energetic, impulsive, and ambitious, and has just been transferred to the Manchester murder squad. Their commander thinks Rachel's intuition could make her a great cop, but has reservations about her shoot-first-think-later approach, so she partners her with Janet. At first, the match seems to have been made somewhere considerably lower than heaven, but when a teenage girl is found brutally murdered, stabbed to death in her squalid flat on a North Manchester housing estate, both detectives realize they must work together to stop a vicious killer. But the case quickly becomes more complicated than it seems, fraught with dangers neither woman could see coming. Eager to make her mark, Rachel's reckless pursuit of the truth could threaten her future on the squad. And an unexpected turn in the investigation forces Janet to face personal demons. No matter the cost, both must race to stop a vicious killer before it's too late in this riveting novel from award-winning author Cath Staincliffe. "It's always exciting to see a writer get better and better, and Cath Staincliffe is doing just that." --Val McDermid"--.

Rachel and Clara have been friends since high school, now in their late twenties Rachel has the television career, the apartment, and the boyfriend, while Clara's life is spiraling out of control. When Rachel's news editor assigns her to cover a police press conference, and she is shocked to learn that the subject is Clara, reported missing.

Scotland, 1830. Lady Kiera Darby is no stranger to intrigue--in fact, it seems to follow wherever she goes. After her foray into murder investigation, Kiera must journey to Edinburgh with her family so that her pregnant sister can be close to proper medical care. But the city is full of many things Kiera isn't quite ready to face: the society ladies keen on judging her, her fellow investigator--and romantic entanglement--Sebastian Gage, and ultimately, another deadly mystery. Kiera's old friend Michael Dalmay is about to be married, but the arrival of his older brother--and Kiera's childhood art tutor--William, has thrown everything into chaos.