Blow Fly by
"The world's number-one-bestselling crime writer is back with another scorching thriller featuring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Dr. Kay Scarpetta has left Virginia in quest of peace but instead finds herself drawn into baffling, horrific murders in Florida. There she becomes entangled in an international conspiracy that confronts her with the shock of her life."
Death of a Department Chair by
In Death of a Department Chair, protagonist Miriam Held recounts the events of the previous fall when she was suspected of killing Isabel Vittorio, the chair of her department and her former lover. The controversial and contrary Vittorio was, at the time of her death, attempting to block the hire of a brilliant African American female professor. Already under siege for her attempts to increase diversity on campus, Miriam is forced to defend her reputation and her life. As she searches for the truth, Miriam amasses evidence that leaves few friends and colleagues free from suspicion. Both a classic whodunit and a witty satire, Death of a Department Chair dramatizes how communities can create the very climate of mistrust and paranoia that victimizes them.
Evil Dead Center by
An Ojibwa woman has been found dead on the outskirts of the Minnesota Red Earth Reservation. The coroner ruled the death a suicide, but after an ex-lover comes back into her life saying foul play was involved, Renee LaRoche wants to prove otherwise. As the events begin to unfold, Renee conducts a presumably normal welfare check on a young Ojibwa boy in foster care. After she learns the boy has suffered abuse, Renee finds herself amid an investigation into the foster care system and the deep trauma it has inflicted on the Ojibwa people. As Renee uncovers horrible truths, she must work through her own childhood issues to help shine a light on the dark web she has stumbled into.
Fadeout by
Fadeout is the first of Joseph Hansen's twelve classic mysteries featuring rugged Dave Brandstetter, an insurance investigator who is contentedly gay. When entertainer Fox Olson's car plunges off a bridge in a storm, a death claim is filed, but where is Olson's body? As Brandstetter questions family, fans, and detractors, he grows certain Olson is still alive and that Dave must find him before the would-be killer does. Suspenseful and wry, shrewd and deeply felt, Fadeout remains as fresh today as when it startled readers more than thirty years ago.
Messenger of Death by
Messenger of Death, a novel by Alex Markman, takes the reader into the frightening and fascinating world of bikers turf wars and encounters with the law. Inspired by gang wars in Quebec, Canada, in the late 1990s, Messenger of Death follows the lifestyle of the fictitious gangsters of two biker gangs, the Devils Knights and the Iron Ghosts. The Knights and the Ghosts illegal drug trade in a Canadian province expands to the point where they cant co-exist. In the terrifying drama of violence that follows, police and the criminal courts are helpless to stop the war. Although penetration of the gang by an informant is impossible, when the police corner Knights hit man, Claude, he agrees to become a police informant. Spearheaded by a woman whose nephew was a victim of the bikers, the government adopts new laws, but victory over the gangs is short lived.
Murder Leaves Its Mark by
When a weekend of horseback rides and beachcombing at the old Haleiwa Hotel turns deadly, Mina Beckwith and Ned Manusia are on the case. The unlikely pair--she a journalist, he a playwright--find themselves once again on the trail of a killer in 1930s Honolulu, where sugar barons cavort at their beachfront mansions while unrest among the working class grows. Their investigation places them in the midst of hot-headed union organizers and the crème de la crème of Honolulu society as well as the riffraff of the city's backstreets. Familiar characters from Ned and Mina's previous adventure, Murder Casts a Shadow, return to lend a hand in another thoroughly entertaining whodunnit from author and playwright Victoria Kneubuhl. Praise for the first Mina Beckwith and Ned Manusia mystery: "Agatha-Christie-in-the-tropics. . . . A tightly plotted novel, crackling dialog, and in Mina and Ned, a pair of intelligent and likable sleuths (think Nick and Nora without the alcoholism and veiled disdain). Murder Casts a Shadow shows the promising beginnings of what one hopes will become a new series." --Honolulu Weekly
Only the Dead by
A Norwegian tourist has been found murdered on the shore of Lake Superior--right where an Ojibwe man may have been killed more than one hundred years earlier. Four months later, the official investigation is supposedly over but still not resolved, and U.S. Forest Service officer Lance Hansen, drawn into the mystery by his grisly discovery of the body, is uncovering clues disturbingly close to home. His former father-in-law, Willy Dupree, may hold the key to the century-old murder of Swamper Caribou. And his own brother, Andy, might know more than he's telling--more than he should know--about the recent homicide. The relationship between the brothers takes a dangerous turn as their annual deer hunt becomes a deadly game. Steeped in the rich history of Lake Superior's rugged North Shore, this follow-up to the Riverton Prize-winning The Land of Dreams pursues two tales through a bleak and beautiful landscape haunted by the lives and dreams of its Scandinavian immigrants and Native Americans. Hansen finds himself equally haunted by the complex mysteries that continue to unravel around him.
Pythagoras' Revenge by
The celebrated mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras left no writings. But what if he had and the manuscript was never found? Where would it be located? And what information would it reveal? These questions are the inspiration for the mathematical mystery novel Pythagoras' Revenge. Suspenseful and instructive, Pythagoras' Revenge weaves fact, fiction, mathematics, computer science, and ancient history into a surprising and sophisticated thriller. The intrigue begins when Jule Davidson, a young American mathematician who trolls the internet for difficult math riddles and stumbles upon a neo-Pythagorean sect searching for the promised reincarnation of Pythagoras. Across the ocean, Elmer Galway, a professor of classical history at Oxford, discovers an Arabic manuscript hinting at the existence of an ancient scroll--possibly left by Pythagoras himself. Unknown to one another, Jule and Elmer each have information that the other requires and, as they race to solve the philosophical and mathematical puzzles set before them, their paths ultimately collide. Set in 1998 with flashbacks to classical Greece, Pythagoras' Revenge investigates the confrontation between opposing views of mathematics and reality, and explores ideas from both early and cutting-edge mathematics. From academic Oxford to suburban Chicago and historic Rome, Pythagoras' Revenge is a sophisticated thriller that will grip readers from beginning to surprising end.
Red Rover by
Thalia Spencer is missing. Is she in trouble or simply avoiding her family? When his daughter disappears, conservative businessman John Spencer hires Toronto private eye Calli Barnow to find her. At first it seems like just another runaway case, but when Calli finds out that Thalia's lover, Zoe, hasn't seen her either, she starts to wonder if there's something sinister going on. Then Thalia's ex-boyfriend turns up dead. Is Calli hunting a killer or another victim? This fast-moving thriller follows Calli Barnow through the twists and turns of Toronto's neighbourhoods, from run-down but friendly Kensington Market to the Church Street gaybourhood, through the ravines of Rosedale and Mount Pleasant's mausoleums. Calli is an engaging companion, flawed but determined, pursued by her own demons as she tries to find a missing girl before more trouble finds her.
Sherlock Holmes and the Rune Stone Mystery by
Sherlock Holmes is bored between cases at 221B Baker Street. So when King Oskar II of Sweden--who has heard of the discovery of the Kensington Rune Stone by a farmer in Minnesota--asks to engage his services, Holmes jumps at the chance to decipher the runes and determine whether the find is real or a hoax. With Dr. John H. Watson by his side, faithfully recording every detail, Holmes makes his way to Minnesota for a third time. But, in the first of many strange and unfortunate coincidences, the farmer who found the mysterious stone is murdered, and the stone itself is stolen on the day the famous detective arrives.With the help of one Shadwell Rafferty, now a friend and partner, Holmes must solve this baffling case to find both the stone and the murderer.
Strange Tale of Panorama Island by
Edogawa Ranpo (1894-1965) was a great admirer of Edgar Allan Poe and like Poe drew on his penchant for the grotesque and the bizarre to explore the boundaries of conventional thought. Best known as the founder of the modern Japanese detective novel, Ranpo wrote for a youthful audience, and a taste for playacting and theatre animates his stories. His writing is often associated with the era of ero guro nansense (erotic grotesque nonsense), which accompanied the rise of mass culture and mass media in urban Japan in the 1920s. Characterized by an almost lurid fascination with simulacra and illusion, the era's sensibility permeates Ranpo's first major work and one of his finest achievements, Strange Tale of Panorama Island (Panoramato kidan), published in 1926. Ranpo's panorama island is filled with cleverly designed optical illusions: a staircase rises into the sky; white feathered "birds" speak in women's voices and offer to serve as vehicles; clusters of naked men and women romp on slopes carpeted with rainbow-colored flowers. His fantastical utopia is filled with entrancing music and strange sweet odors, and nothing is ordinary, predictable, or boring. The novella reflected the new culture of mechanically produced simulated realities (movies, photographs, advertisements, stereoscopic and panoramic images) and focused on themes of the doppelganger and appropriated identities: its main character steals the identity of an acquaintance. The novella's utopian vision, argues translator Elaine Gerbert, mirrors the expansionist dreams that fed Japan's colonization of the Asian continent, its ending an eerie harbinger of the collapse of those dreams. Today just as a new generation of technologies is transforming the way we think--and becoming ever more invasive and pervasive--Ranpo's work is attracting a new generation of readers. In the past few decades his writing has inspired films, anime, plays, and manga, and many translations of his stories, essays, and novels have appeared, but to date no English-language translation of Panoramato kidan has been available. This volume, which includes a critical introduction and notes, fills that gap and uncovers for English-language readers an important new dimension of an ever stimulating, provocative talent.
Writing Mystery & Mayhem by
This eighth anthology of twelve short stories from Weaver Press reveals again the range and variety, compassion and humour, irony and tragedy with which Zimbabwean writers observe the world around them. Several writers adopt a tongue-in-cheek approach to the subject: Naishe Nyamubaya takes us behind graphic newspaper headlines with a story of goblins, Jonathan Brakarsh turns the world inside out by constantly reversing our expectations, and Lawrence Hoba draws a situation both �collateral and incompatible�. It is a characteristic of crime fiction to defy expectation, as Farai Mudzingwa, Bongani Sibanda and Valerie Tagwira do in exploring the ramifications of sudden death. But if we are surprised by some stories, we can only be moved those which draw on the pain and vulnerablity of both the victims and those left behind. Godess Bvukutwa, Isabella Matambanadzo and Donna Kirstein help us to reflect on injustice and loss. Reading this collection of stories, with subjects ranging from tokolosh to tsunami, and from ghosts to goldfish, reminds us that the world is crazier than we think.
Beggars, Cheats and Forgers by
A History of Frauds through the Ages 'Beggars, Cheats and Forgers' is made up of new research into a neglected area of British history: the stories of historical scams, cheats and forgeries. Former Director of Technology at the National Archives, David Thomas has delved into the archives to uncover unusual tales, from Tudor identity theft to the Spanish Prisoner letter scam of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This book provides an fresh take on criminal history and the roots of identity theft, email scams and pyramid schemes still employed by criminals today. 16 page plate section
Dangerous to Know Updated Edition by
Following the success of their bestselling Gangland Australia, James Morton and Susanna Lobez turn their attention to crime and criminals, both organised and disorganised, in Australia and New Zealand over the last century. Dangerous to Know documents murderers known and not so well known, conmen and their victims, street gangs of the early twentieth century, crime lords of the 1920s, dock warlords of the 1970s, bikers, sex offenders and the drug gangs of today, as well as the wrongly accused and wrongly convicted. They're all here, as well as the police, lawyers and judges who have tried to deal with them.
Gangland Robbers by
Robbers have always seen themselves as the cream of the underworld, at the top of the criminal aristocracy, both in and out of prison. Gangland Robbers follows the stories of the men and women who go to great lengths to organise heists which, if all goes well, will keep them in luxury for many years, if not for life. If their plans fail, then often it is another sort of life.Bestselling Gangland authors Morton and Lobez cover the best stories of the past 200 years: from the tunnel-digging burglary of the Bank of Australia in 1828 through to the hold-ups of the bushrangers; Squizzy Taylor and his crew; the train robbers of the 1930s; Jockey Smith;'Mad Dog'Cox; the ill-fated Victorian Bookie Robbery, as well as the less well-known'Angel of Death','The Pushbike Bandit'and'The Gentleman Bandit'. Gangland Robbers explores the lives—their own and others—that these bandits ruined, those who went to the gallows, and the very few who redeemed themselves.
Murder, Mayhem and Music Hall by
The Strand is one of London's most iconic streets - today the bustling and thriving home of West End theatres and the luxurious Savoy hotel; in the Victorian era, the Strand was a much more seedy and destitute part of the city. Barry Anthony here explores the criminal and socially subversive behaviour which abounded in and around the Victorian Strand. He introduces us to a vast range of personalities - from prostitutes, confidence tricksters, vagrants and cadgers to the actors, comedians and music hall stars who trod the boards of the Strand's early theatres.
The Real Sherlock Holmes by
Jerome Caminada was a legendary policeman and real life Victorian super-sleuth. A master of disguise with a keen eye for detail and ingenious methods of detection, Caminada tracked notorious criminals through the seedy streets of Manchester's underworld, from pickpockets to poisoners, unscrupulous con artists to cold blooded murderers. In this first full length biography of his life, Caminada's compelling story bears all the hallmarks of Arthur Conan Doyle and establishes this indefatigable investigator as one of the most formidable detectives of the Victorian era and 'The Real Sherlock Holmes'. 16 pages of plates
Wayward Women by
We most often think of the Victorian female offender in her most archetypal and stereotypical roles; the polite lady shoplifter, stowing all manner of valuables beneath her voluminous crinolines, the tragic street waif of Dickensian fiction or the vicious femme fatale who wreaked her terrible revenge with copious poison. Yet the stories in popular novels and the 'Penny Dreadfuls' of the day have passed down to us only half the story of these women and their crimes. From the everyday street scuffles and pocket pickings of crowded slums, to the sensational trials that dominated national headlines; the women of Victorian England were responsible for a diverse and at times completely unexpected level of deviance. This book takes a closer look at women and crime in the Victorian period. With vivid real-life stories, powerful photos, eye-opening cases and wider discussions that give us an insightful illustration of the lives of the women responsible for them. This history of brawlers, thieves, traffickers and sneaks shows individuals navigating a world where life was hard and resources were scarce. Their tales are of poverty, opportunism, violence, hope and despair; but perhaps most importantly, the story of survival in the ruthless world of the past.
Whiteley on Trial by
It was a cause célèbre: the biggest case of alleged art fraud to come before the Australian criminal justice system, a $4.5 million sting drawing in one of the country's most gifted and ultimately tragic artists, Brett Whiteley, a heroin addict who died alone in 1992.It started with suspicions raised about artworks being produced in the style of Whiteley in a Melbourne art restorer's studio. Secret photographs were taken as the paintings took form.A jury finds two men guilty of faking Whiteleys, but a year later the appeal bench sensationally acquits them. The paintings are returned to their owners, leaving the legitimacy of the artworks in limbo. Whiteley on Trial investigates this remarkable case and exposes the avarice of the art world, the disdain for connoisseurship and the fragility of authenticity.
The Witness by
A professional behavioral witness to more than a hundred capital trials explores the making of a murderer. CSI shows us where a crime is committed. Forensic detectives show us how. But what really goes on in the mind of killer? What is it in each potential victim that sparks in them the urge to take a life? What are the reasons behind a quick thrill kill, or slow torture? Between choosing someone they know, or a stranger? As they stand before a jury, after reams of graphic evidence, the question is no longer whether or not they committed the unthinkable. The question posed to Wanda Draper, expert in behavioral science and child development, and key witness in more than a hundred high-profile trials, is why? The answer is all that stands between a sentence of life in prison or death row. In this unique true-crime investigation, Draper shares some of the darkest cases of her career. She sheds light on the personal circumstances and critical life events that perverted childhoods and brought convicted murderers to trial. She reveals how the past casts a grave shadow over one's future. And in doing so, explores one irrefutable fact: killers aren't born, they're made.
Want to find other mystery or true crime books available through Gumberg Library? Try using these search terms:
FICTION -- Mystery & Detective -- General
Detective and mystery stories
Mystery fiction
True crime stories
TRUE CRIME / General
Looking specifically for e-books? In the search results use the filter field "Limit by source type" and select "e-books".
Interested in discovering more about the mystery and true crime genres? Take a look at our guide Mystery & Detective Fiction: A Research Guide or peruse these e-book titles:
Adapting Detective Fiction by
Adapting Detective Fiction is a study of specific instances of adaptation, with close readings of both the originating sources and adapted texts. But it is also more than this. It is a study of the politics of representation in the last decades of the twentieth century, and the role television detective fiction plays in this. It is about the mutually-informing interrelation of cultural texts and political rhetoric, about the connection between the popular-cultural depiction of crime and criminality and how we come to understand human behaviour and culpability; most of all, it is a detailed consideration of what the process of adaptation reveals about the shifting nature of the world in which we live. With specific reference to television series such as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Cadfael, and Midsomer Murders, Adapting Detective Fiction uses adaptation as the basis for an exercise in later twentieth-century cultural history, illustrating the fundamental role detective fictions play in popular beliefs about the nature of crime and Englishness.
Creatures of Darkness by
More than any other writer, Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) is responsible for raising detective stories from the level of pulp fiction to literature. Chandler's hard-boiled private eye Philip Marlowe set the standard for rough, brooding heroes who managed to maintain a strong sense of moral conviction despite a cruel and indifferent world. Chandler's seven novels, including The Big Sleep (1939) and The Long Goodbye (1953), with their pessimism and grim realism, had a direct influence on the emergence of film noir. Chandler worked to give his crime novels the flavor of his adopted city, Los Angeles, which was still something of a frontier town, rife with corruption and lawlessness. In addition to novels, Chandler wrote short stories and penned the screenplays for several films, including Double Indemnity (1944) and Strangers on a Train (1951). His work with Billy Wilder and Alfred Hitchcock on these projects was fraught with the difficulties of collaboration between established directors and an author who disliked having to edit his writing on demand. Creatures of Darkness is the first major biocritical study of Chandler in twenty years. Gene Phillips explores Chandler's unpublished script for Lady in the Lake, examines the process of adaptation of the novel Strangers on a Train, discusses the merits of the unproduced screenplay for Playback, and compares Howard Hawks's director's cut of The Big Sleep with the version shown in theaters. Through interviews he conducted with Wilder, Hitchcock, Hawks, and Edward Dmytryk over the past several decades, Phillips provides deeper insight into Chandler's sometimes difficult personality. Chandler's wisecracking Marlowe has spawned a thousand imitations. Creatures of Darkness lucidly explains the author's dramatic impact on both the literary and cinematic worlds, demonstrating the immeasurable debt that both detective fiction and the neo-noir films of today owe to Chandler's stark vision.
Crime Fiction by
A volume in the Writers and Their Work series, which draws upon recent thinking in English studies to introduce writers and their contexts. Each volume includes biographical material, an examination of recent criticism, a bibliography and a reappraisal of a major work by the writer.
The Readers' Advisory Guide to Mystery by
Something sinister is afoot out there--and this newly updated readers' advisory has all the clues to help librarians solve the mystery of which titles readers should check out next. Equally useful for novice librarians and seasoned gumshoes, this handbook * Summarizes the history of mystery fiction, highlighting key figures in its development * Covers the latest and most popular classic titles in the genre, as well select suspense and thriller fiction with crossover appeal * Offers examples of how library staff can help readers move back and forth from fiction to nonfiction * Suggests ways to conduct an effective reference interviewWith several well-chosen booklists, practical programming ideas, and a brand new compendium of print and web-based resources, your only crime would be not adding this guide to your collection!
The Rise of True Crime by
During the 1950s and 1960s True Detective magazine developed a new way of narrating and understanding murder. It was more sensitive to context, gave more psychologically sophisticated accounts, and was more willing to make conjectures about the unknown thoughts and motivations of killers than others had been before. This turned out to be the start of a revolution, and, after a century of escalating accounts, we have now become a nation of experts, with many ordinary people able to speak intelligently about blood-spatter patterns and organized vs. disorganized serial killers. The Rise of True Crime examines the various genres of true crime using the most popular and well-known examples. And despite its examination of some of the potentially negative effects of the genre, it is written for people who read and enjoy true crime, and wish to learn more about it. With skyrocketing crime rates and the appearance of a frightening trend toward social chaos in the 1970s, books, documentaries, and fiction films in the true crime genre tried to make sense of the Charles Manson crimes and the Gary Gilmore execution events. And in the 1980s and 1990s, true crime taught pop culture consumers about forensics, profiling, and highly technical aspects of criminology. We have thus now become a nation of experts, with many ordinary people able to speak intelligently about blood-spatter patterns and organized vs. disorganized serial killers. Through the suggestion that certain kinds of killers are monstrous or outside the realm of human morality, and through the perpetuation of the stranger-danger idea, the true crime aesthetic has both responded to and fostered our culture's fears. True crime is also the site of a dramatic confrontation with the concept of evil, and one of the few places in American public discourse where moral terms are used without any irony, and notions and definitions of evil are presented without ambiguity. When seen within its historical context, true crime emerges as a vibrant and meaningful strand of popular culture, one that is unfortunately devalued as lurid and meaningless pulp.
Swedish Crime Fiction by
Swedish crime fiction became an international phenomenon in the first decade of the twenty-first century, starting first with novels but then percolating through Swedish-language television serials and films and onto English-language BBC productions and Hollywood remakes. This book looks at the rich history of 'Scandinavian noir', examines the appeal of this particular genre and attempts to reveal why it is distinct from the plethora of other crime fictions. Examining the popularity of Steig Larsson's international success with his Millennium trilogy, as well as Henning Mankell's Wallander across the various media, Peacock also tracks some lesser-known novels and television programmes. He illustrates how the bleakness of the country's 'noirs' reflects particular events and cultural and political changes, with the clash of national characteristics becoming a key feature. It will appeal to students and researchers of crime fiction and of film and television studies, as well as the many fans of the novels and dramatic representations.
These streaming videos available through Alexander Street may be of interest:
The 2012 BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens's unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
Or check out this 2002 version of a classic Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story, The Hound of the Baskervilles, featuring his legendary Sherlock Holmes.
Or look into the common misperception of famed horror author Edgar Allan Poe in PBS's Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive, which "draws on the rich palette of Poe’s evocative imagery and sharply drawn plots to tell the real story of the notorious author."
