Library Mysteries

This anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together 13 tales from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including a newly discovered Gervase Fen novella by Edmund Crispin that has never previously been published. With the Golden Age of detective fiction shining ever more brightly thanks to the recent reappearance of many forgotten crime novels, Bodies from the Library offers a rare opportunity to read lost stories from the first half of the twentieth century by some of the genre’s most accomplished writers.

Lindsey Norris and her staff are gearing up for the Briar Creek Library’s annual Dinner in the Stacks fund-raiser. The night of dinner and dancing is not only a booklover’s dream—it’s the library’s biggest moneymaker of the year. But instead of raising funds, the new library board president is busy raising a stink and making the staff miserable.

When the Briar Creek Public Library holds its first overdue book amnesty day—no fines for late returns—the volume of incoming materials is more than Lindsey and her staff can handle. In a bind, Lindsey drafts the crafternoon ladies to help check in and sort the stacks of books. But one tardy tome catches her attention—a copy of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, twenty years past due. When Lindsey looks up the borrower, she’s shocked to discover it was a murdered teacher named Candice Whitley, whose killer was never found.

What was once the Western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, 15-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, 15-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem. From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect.

There's nothing eight-year-old twins Zach and Zoe Walker love more than playing sports and solving mysteries. And when those two worlds collide...well, it doesn't get any better than that. In the opening installments of the Zach and Zoe Mysteries, best-selling author Mike Lupica begins a series for a new and younger audience, introducing listeners to a sports-loving detective duo who can swing for the fences and catch the culprit in one fell swoop.

Tough, brainy alchemist Sydney Sage and doe-eyed Moroi princess Jill Dragomir are in hiding at a human boarding school in the sunny, glamorous world of Palm Springs, California. The students - children of the wealthy and powerful - carry on with their lives in blissful ignorance, while Sydney, Jill, Eddie, and Adrian must do everything in their power to keep their secret safe. But with forbidden romances, unexpected spirit bonds, and the threat of Strigoi moving ever closer, hiding the truth is harder than anyone thought.

Small town librarian (and accidental dark magic user) Francie Vespertine would prefer her new magic to be fueled by rainbows and butterflies, but you can't always get what you want. Neither can her feline familiar, Kongressman Kittles. When his favorite brand of cat litter is discontinued, he's in a mood—and if the cat's not happy, no one's happy. When a visiting author winds up dead at a book signing, Francie's best friend Penny is accused of the crime. Now she's got to find the real killer before they strike again.

Family meant everything to Ayden Stratton. It always had even when he didn’t always allow it to show. Because of that, he understood the fury in Tobias Blaise’s eyes when they learned that his sister had been dragged out the backdoor of her restaurant despite every effort to stop her from being kidnapped. Fury didn’t begin to describe what he saw in his brother’s face. Cassidy Blaise might be Tobias’s sister, but she was Benjamin’s entire world. Tobias Blaise never expected to find any woman he wanted to spend his life with, let alone one who looked at him the way Ellis did, ...

Tobias Blaise never expected to find any woman he wanted to spend his life with, let alone one who looked at him the way Ellis did, despite that she’d been seriously wounded because of him. Even now, knowing that by allowing her to be anywhere near him made her vulnerable…he couldn’t let her go. He’d always believed he was a fair man. She made him better. Family meant everything to Ayden Stratton. It always had even when he didn’t always allow it to show. Because of that, he understood the fury in Tobias Blaise’s eyes when they learned that his sister had been dragged out the ...

Alice Lawrence is the sole witness in her sister’s murder trial. And in the year since Claire’s death, Alice’s life has completely fallen apart. Her parents have gotten divorced, she’s moved into an apartment that smells like bologna, and she is being forced to face her sister’s killer and a courtroom full of people who doubt what she saw in the corn maze a year prior.

You know it's going to be a rough summer when you spend Father's Day visiting your dad in the local lockup. Noah's dad is sure that the owner of the Coral Queen casino boat is flushing raw sewage into the harbor, which has made taking a dip at the local beach like swimming in a toilet. He can't prove it though, and so he decides that sinking the boat will make an effective statement. Right. The boat is pumped out and back in business within days and Noah's dad is stuck in the clink.

Carl Hiaasen takes us deep in the Everglades with an eccentric eco-avenger, a ticked-off panther, and two kids on a mission to find their missing teacher. Florida - where the animals are wild and the people are wilder! Bunny Starch, the most feared biology teacher ever, is missing. She disappeared after a school field trip to Black Vine Swamp. And, to be honest, the kids in her class are relieved. But when the principal tries to tell the students that Mrs. Starch has been called away on a "family emergency", Nick and Marta just don't buy it.

Move over Bond. Here comes Kiku! Get Ready to Strap in, Buckle up and Hang on for the ride of your life! Kiku has gone rogue. Now hunted by the Russian mob and the Yakuza, Kiku heads to Hong Kong’s underbelly to rescue her lover. Faced with impossible odds, Kiku must outwit, outfight, and outrun everyone trying to capture her and collect the two-million-dollar bounty. Rats fueled by greed and vengeance, driven by ruthless leaders, run rampant, all hoping to score. The mob, Yakuza, and Hong Kong’s black market all want to fight—so Kiku started a war. Award-winning, Wall Street Journal ...

Faith Newberry's dream job may be morphing into a nightmare. Newly hired as the librarian at the upscale and pet-friendly Castleton Manor literary retreat, Faith sees her move from Boston to the quaint Cape Cod village of Lighthouse Bay, Massachusetts, as a boon. But things turn ugly when she discovers that the first edition book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle proudly displayed in the library - also his first in the Sherlock Holmes series - is a counterfeit, and not a very good one at that. Who could have absconded with the real volume?

Arcadia “Dia” Gannon has been obsessed with Louisiana Veda, the game designer whose obsessive creations and company, Darkly, have gained a cultlike following. Dia is shocked when she’s chosen for a highly-coveted internship, along with six other teenagers from around the world. Why her? Dia has never won anything in her life. Darkly, once a game-making empire renowned for its ingenious and utterly terrifying toys and games, now lies dormant after Veda’s mysterious death. The remaining games are priced like rare works of art, with some fetching millions of dollars at auction.

Braclass hamster, Goldi, for the summer. But on the first day of school, when they plan to bring her back, Goldi is missingdley, Brian, Nate, and Lucy have taken care of the first-grade ! In place of her cage is a green-and-orange sneaker key chain. Soon, the kids spot green-and-orange sneakers all over Green Lawn. And they find out other things have been disappearing around town, too. Can the four friends track down the sneaker sneak and get Goldi back?

For Milo, everything’s a bore. When a tollbooth mysteriously appears in his room, he drives through only because he’s got nothing better to do. But on the other side, things seem different. Milo visits the Island of Conclusions (you get there by jumping), learns about time from a ticking watchdog named Tock, and even embarks on a quest to rescue Rhyme and Reason. Somewhere along the way, Milo realizes something astonishing. Life is far from dull. In fact, it’s exciting beyond his wildest dreams.

Twelve-year-old criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl has discovered a world below ground of armed and dangerous—and extremely high-tech—fairies. He kidnaps one of them, Holly Short, and holds her for ransom in an effort to restore his family's fortune. But he may have underestimated the fairies' powers. Is he about to trigger a cross-species war?

Helen Vaughan doesn't know why she and her mother left their ancestral home at Harrowstone Hall, called Harrow, or why they haven't spoken to their extended family since. So when her grandfather dies, she's shocked to learn that he has left everything—the house, the grounds, and the money—to her. The inheritance comes with one condition: She must stay on the grounds of Harrow for one full year, or she'll be left with nothing. There is more at stake than money. For as long as she can remember, Harrow has haunted Helen's dreams.

It is A.D. 79. In Ostia, near Rome, Flavia Gemina and her three friends, Nubia, Lupus, and Jonathan, are celebrating Jonathan's birthday. Then a visitor from the past arrives to see Jonathan's father. The next day, the visitor has disappeared, and so has Jonathan. When the three friends discover that Jonathan has gone on a secret mission to Rome, they immediately follow him. Their journey takes them to the Golden House of the Emperor Nero, where a deadly assassin is at work.