The Thursday Murder Club (Netflix Tie-In) Richard Osman
2025 384 pp
A New York Times Bestseller | Now a Netflix Film “Think of the Thursday Murder Club itself as a senior version of ‘The A-Team.’...Funny, moving, and suspenseful...So delicious, even adorable.” —The Washington Post Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves. A female cop with her first big case. A brutal murder. Welcome to...THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club. When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?
Retired Sleuths Cold Case Ensemble Cast
Miss Marple Agatha Christie
1986 346 pp
This collection of twenty stories features Miss Jane Marple, the famous amateur sleuth who bases her solutions to crimes on past experiences and on an insistence that human nature is the same everywhere.
Spinster Detective Village Crime Observation
Aunt Dimity's Death Nancy Atherton
1993 256 pp
The debut that kicked off twenty-two books (and counting...) of the bestselling, beloved Aunt Dimity series. Watch out for Nancy Atherton's latest, Aunt Dimity and the King's Ransom , coming in July 2018 from Viking! Lori Shepherd thought Aunt Dimity was just a character in a bedtime story... ...Until the Dickensian law firm of Willis & Willis summons her to a reading of the woman's will. Down-on-her-luck Lori learns she's about to inherit a siazable estate--if she can discover the secret hidden in a treasure trove of letters in Dimity's English country cottage. What begins as a fairy tale becomes a mystery--and a ghost story--in an improbably cozy setting, as Aunt Dimity's indominable spirit leads Lori on an otherworldly quest to discover how, in this life, true love can conquer all.
Cozy Supernatural Inheritance Plot Female Sleuth
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith
2002 235 pp
THE NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY - Book 1 Fans around the world adore the bestselling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the basis of the HBO TV show, and its proprietor Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's premier lady detective. In this charming series, Mma Ramotswe navigates her cases and her personal life with wisdom, and good humor--not to mention help from her loyal assistant, Grace Makutsi, and the occasional cup of tea. Meet Mma Ramotswe, the endearing, engaging, simply irresistible proprietress of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency , the first and only detective agency in Botswana. With persistent observation, gentle intuition, and a keen desire to help people with the problems of their lives, she solves mysteries great and small for friends and strangers alike.
Female Sleuth Community Knowledge Character-Driven
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie Alan Bradley
2010 416 pp
WINNER OF THE AGATHA • ARTHUR ELLIS • DILYS • DEBUT DAGGER AWARDS “Wonderfully entertaining . . . sure to be one of the most loved mysteries of the year . . . [Flavia is] a delightful, intrepid, acid-tongued new heroine.” —Chicago Sun-Times It is the summer of 1950–and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath. For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.” BONUS: This edition contains a The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie discussion guide and an excerpt from Alan Bradley's The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag.
Child Sleuth Eccentric Amateur Period Setting
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Mary Ann Shaffer
2009 305 pp
January 1946 - London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man sheís never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb. Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends - and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is.' The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' - born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island - boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the societyís members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.
Epistolary Form Accidental Sleuth Historical Setting
Magpie Murders Anthony Horowitz
2017 496 pp
"Magpie Murders is a double puzzle for puzzle fans, who don’t often get the classicism they want from contemporary thrillers." --Janet Maslin, The New York Times *A New York Times bestseller *#1 Indie Next Pick *NPR best book of 2017 *Amazon best book of 2017 *Washington Post best book of 2017 *Esquire best book of 2017 From the New York Times bestselling author of Moriarty and Trigger Mortis, this fiendishly brilliant, riveting thriller weaves a classic whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie into a chilling, ingeniously original modern-day mystery. When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the bestselling crime writer for years, she’s intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan’s traditional formula has proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job. Conway’s latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but the more Susan reads, the more she’s convinced that there is another story hidden in the pages of the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder. Masterful, clever, and relentlessly suspenseful, Magpie Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction in which the reader becomes the detective.
Meta-Mystery Accidental Sleuth Nested Narrative
Truly Devious Maureen Johnson
2018 432 pp
New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson weaves a delicate tale of murder and mystery in the first book of a striking new series, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and E. Lockhart. Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. “A place,” he said, “where learning is a game.” Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym “Truly, Devious.” It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history. True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder. The two interwoven mysteries of this first book in the Truly Devious series dovetail brilliantly, and Stevie Bell will continue her relentless quest for the murderers in books two and three. Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2018 * Junior Library Guild Selection * 2019 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Nomination * 2019 ALA's Best Fiction for Young Adults Nomination * Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books 2018 * Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction 2018 * 2018 Nerdy Book Club Young Adult Winner * Seventeen Best YA Book of 2018 * Lincoln Award Nominee * 2020-2021 South Carolina Book Awards Nominee * 2020 Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award Winner
Teen Sleuth Cold Case Boarding School
Death of a Gossip M. C. Beaton
1989 166 pp
Lady Jane Winters, society widow and gossip, is found dead at an angling school in Scotland. Who wouldn't want her shrills silenced? Local policeman, Hamish Macbeth is suspicious. With the inspiring aid of Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, Hamish pursues the case.
Rural Setting Anti-Careerist Sleuth Village Crime
A Caribbean Mystery Agatha Christie
2012 271 pp
The tiny Caribbean island of St. Honore is a tropical paradise. But for Miss Marple, enjoying a well-earned rest from her busy life in the village of St. Mary Mead, it is a place where nothing ever seems to happen. Until old Major Palgrave tells her the strange story of a suspected double murderer. Eventually, her interest is aroused by an old soldier's yarn about a murderer he had known. Just as Major Palgrave is about to show the murderer's picture to her, he looks over her shoulder, appears startled, and changes the subject. The next morning, a servant finds him dead in his room. Doctor Graham concludes that the major died of heart failure, since he showed all the symptoms, and had a bottle of serenite on his table. As rumors begin to circulate, Miss Marple is not alone in suspecting that things are not as they seem. And when a death that is indisputably murder occurs, she finds an unlikely ally in the cantankerous crippled millionaire Mr. Rafiel.
Spinster Detective Underestimated Sleuth Exotic Locale
Maisie Dobbs Bundle #4: Elegy for Eddie and Leaving Everything Most Loved Jacqueline Winspear
2014 503 pp
This eBook bundle includes books 9 & 10 in Jacqueline Winspear's New York Times bestselling Maisie Dobbs series: Elegy for Eddie and Leaving Everything Most Loved.
Working-Class Sleuth Historical Setting Female Agency
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: Reese's Book Club Gail Honeyman
2017 336 pp
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND THE PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick “Beautifully written and incredibly funny, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is about the importance of friendship and human connection. I fell in love with Eleanor, an eccentric and regimented loner whose life beautifully unfolds after a chance encounter with a stranger; I think you will fall in love, too!” —Reese Witherspoon No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine. Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one. Soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . . The only way to survive is to open your heart.
Unreliable Narrator Social Outsider Psychological Mystery