Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Inspector John Rebus has messed up badly this time, so badly that he's been sent to a kind of reform school for damaged cops. While there among the last-chancers known as "resurrection men," he joins a covert mission to gain evidence of a drug heist orchestrated by three of his classmates. But the group has been assigned an unsolved murder that may have resulted from Rebus's own mistake. Now Rebus can't determine... (more)

Some Buried Caesar

by Rex Stout

A prize bull, a restaurateur's tacky publicity stunt, a family feud (among the bull's owners), and the death of a family scion pit Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin against a special breed of killer. Reissue. NYT.

Nine

by Jan Burke

On the heels of her soaring bestseller Flight, Edgar Award-winning author Jan Burke reaches new heights of suspense in this ingenious novel of hard-hitting justice and cold-blooded murder. Los Angeles County Homicide Detective Alex Brandon lives to bring killers to justice -- but when unknown assailants begin systematically killing off the FBI's Most Wanted suspects, Alex sees no cause for celebration. The... (more)

Sanibel Flats

by Randy Wayne White

Its cool gulf breezes lured him from a life of danger. Its dark undercurrents threatened to destroy him. After ten years of living life on the edge, it was hard for Doc Ford to get that addiction to danger out of his system. But spending each day watching the sun melt into Dinkins Bay and the moon rise over the mangrove trees, cooking dinner for his beautiful neighbor, and dispensing advice to the locals over a... (more)

Sacred Cows

by Karen E. Olson

After a late night on the town, crime reporter Annie Seymour only wants to sleep. But a phone call from her editor drags her to a cold, wet New Haven street where she's soon staring at a murder victim who was a Yale student by day...and a high-priced escort by night. Eager to get the scoop, annie quickly links the girl's death to a trail of vice and fraud that leads to the city's highest levels. Then comes the... (more)

California Fire and Life

by Don Winslow

An insurance claims investigator, Jack Wade speaks the language of fire. He can walk into charred remains and know where the flames ignited and why. Now Jack is investigating a claim he knows isn't just fraudulent, it's murder. The house was a multi million-dollar beauty looking out over the Pacific. The woman died in her bedroom, her alcohol-soaked blood baked on to a $350,000 canopied bed. It's a case Jack... (more)

Kincaid ad James: Book 2

All Shall Be Well

by Deborah Crombie

Perhaps it is a blessing when Jasmine Dent dies in her sleep. At long last an end has come to the suffering of a body horribly ravaged by disease. It may well have been suicide; she had certainly expressed her willingness to speed the inevitable. But small inconsistencies lead her neighbor, Superintendent Duncan Kincaid of Scotland Yard, to a startling conclusion: Jasmine Dent was murdered. But if not for mercy,... (more)

Cold Shoulder

by Lynda LA Plante

Follows the disturbing tale of a down-on-her-luck Los Angeles Police Department officer and the serial killer who could save her career. By the author of Prime Suspect. Reprint. NYT. "

Faded Coat of Blue: A Novel (Abel Jones Mysteries (Paperback))

Faded Coat of Blue: A Novel (Abel Jones Mysteries (Paperback))

by Owen Parry

In this "winning blend of history and mystery" ( Booklist ), Owen Parry brings to life the story of Abel Jones, a Welsh immigrant and Union army enlistee. Jones finds himself mysteriously chosen as confidential agent to General George McClellan, the "savior of the Union." No stranger to the cruel paradoxes of war, Jones is asked to investigate the death of Anthony Fowler, a young volunteer captain shot through the... (more)

The Art of Breaking Glass

by Matthew Hall

Bill Kaiser slashes his wrists in a Manhattan apartment building. An apparent madman, he is rushed to Bellevue Hospital where he meets Sharon Blautner, a nurse suffering from her own mental wounds. Sensing her weakness, Bill makes her an unwitting accomplice in his plot to blow up part of New York City--the city he loves--in order to save the rest of it.

Clea's Moon

by Edward Wright

Set in post-World War II Los Angeles, Clea's Moon introduces a complex and fascinating character, John Ray Horn. Horn is a former actor in B westerns who is now, after serving prison time for assault, collecting debts for his erstwhile American Indian sidekick. A call from an old friend leads Horn to old secrets that involve his former stepdaughter, Clea, who has recently disappeared. When his friend dies under... (more)

Cracked Earth (Jack Liffey Mystery)

by John Shannon

Her name is Lori Bright. One might remember seeing her in "A Weekend in Palm Springs", lounging enticingly in the bathtub while an aging and flustered Cary Grant tries to find her a suitably revealing towel. Jack Liffey remembers, and even now he can't help but fall for her a little. The problem is she's paying him good money to locate her missing daughter--a case that's about to wrap Jack up in the seedy violence... (more)

Molly Murphy Series: Book 1

Murphy's Law (A Molly Murphy Mystery)

by Rhys Bowen

Molly Murphy always knew she'd end up in trouble, just as her mother predicted. So, when she commits murder in self-defense, she flees her cherished Ireland, and her identity, for the anonymous shores of America. When she arrives in new York and sees the welcoming promise of freedom in the Statue of Liberty, Molly begins to breathe easier. But when a man is murdered on Ellis Island, a man Molly was seen arguing... (more)

Killer Swell: A Noah Braddock Novel (Noah Braddock Mysteries)

Killer Swell: A Noah Braddock Novel (Noah Braddock Mysteries)

by Jeff Shelby

San Diego P.I. Noah Braddock has a six-pack in the fridge, a solid beach view, and a killer past that's come knocking. The snobby mother of Kate, his old high school girlfriend, claims that her daughter is missing, and mom thinks Noah can find her for old time's sake. But what Noah discovers about Kate is hardly the stuff of bittersweet reunions. In fact, it's murder.

The Night of the Dance

by James L. Hime

A retired Texas Ranger, a good ol' boy sheriff, and a hotheaded deputy team up to solve a Texas county's most notorious missing-persons case in this jaunty debut crime novel Sissy Fletcher has been missing since the night of the Rodeo Dance, ten years ago. Until now, that is-a team drilling an oil well has just made a grisly discovery in an isolated pasture. Sleepy Washington County, Texas, has never seen anything... (more)

One Grave Too Many

by Beverly Connor

With spot-on details, a smart new voice, and ingenious plot twists, Beverly Connor has been compared to the hottest crime writers on the scene. Now, she ratchets up the suspense with a brand new series featuring one of today's most cunning and complex sleuths: forensic anthropologist Diane Fallon. Her new job as director of the RiverTrail Museum of Natural History in Georgia takes Diane out of the game-until a... (more)

Coffin's Got the Dead Guy on the Inside

by Keith Snyder

An edgy thriller that moves from the underground music scene of southern California to the high-tech world of Silicon Valley, Keith Snyder's latest is a return trip with Jason Keltner, a starving artist and composer of electronic music who's drawn into a world where reality is a construct that depends on the hardware that creates it. When multimedia guru Huey Benton dies at a party in front of Jason's eyes,... (more)

Bloody Waters (Lupo Solano Mystery)

by Carolina Garcia-Aguilera

Young private investigator Lupe Solano struggles to find the birth mother of an illegally adopted baby who needs a transplant, but when the search gives way to murder, Lupe must uncover the truth before it is too late. Reprint. LJ. K.

The Samurai's Wife (A Sano Ichiro Mystery)

Sano Ichiro Mysteries: Book 5

The Samurai's Wife (A Sano Ichiro Mystery)

by Laura Joh Rowland

IN THE IMPERIAL CITY OF KYOTO, POWER IS MERELY CEREMONIAL. BUT AN ANCIENT EVIL STILL SURVIVES...Far from the shogun's court at Edo, Most Honorable Investigator Sano Ichiro begins the most challenging case of his career. Upon the insistence of his strong-willed and beautiful wife Reiko, Sano arrives with her at the emperor's palace to unmask the murderer-who possesses the secret of kiai-"the spirit cry"-a powerful... (more)

Line of Vision

by David Ellis

Marty Kalish has been accused of murdering his lover's husband. He had a motive. He was at the scene of the crime. He manipulated evidence to hide his guilt. He even confessed. But that's not the end of the story. That's only the beginning. "The best suspense novel I've read in a while...surprising." (James Patterson) "Wicked...A twisty spellbinding story." ( Publishers Weekly )

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Tags: mystery club

by Ian Rankin