Puzzle Mystery

A featured selection at the 2024 Tucson Festival of Books Distracted by guilt over the serious injuries his best friend sustained while assisting with a case, Vasily Korsokovach doesn’t think much of the envelope that appears in his mailbox at the Rancho Linda Police Department. Containing a bunch of retro Polaroid snapshots showing a series of ordinary objects in everyday situations, the Deputy Chief finds himself at a loss as to why anyone would send him such random photos; whatever hidden message the sender was hoping to pass along is a mystery that Vasily is unwilling to delve into. ...

Gus’s wakes up to discover that he’s been kidnapped by a Mexican mobster. He’s not the only one who has been kidnapped, however. Apparently, someone’s pinched the crime lord’s kid and the head thug of the gang wants Gus to find the missing kid before the crime lord finds out about it. By kid, it turns out that they meant young goat. If the goat doesn’t turn up in time then the ire of the crime lord will surely fall on one of them. Gus needs to figure out which suspect is the correct one. Luckily, Gus has Father Xavier around to help him sort out this tricky situation. Can Gus ...

There's something funny going on here! Was Jeremy Ronson, a top-ranked university official, defenestrated (tossed out a window), or did he defenestrate himself? The police decide his death was accidental, but Mike Woodsen, the university’s PR director, is not convinced. He decides to investigate the death on his own. Woodsen interviews Ronson's colleagues, an odd collection of administrators, nerds, suckups and misfits, and learns that Ronson had a justified reputation as a sonofabitch, earning many enemies in his chequered career. Meanwhile, Woodsen’s day job gives him a bird’s-eye ...

Heitor and Mel are curious and fearless siblings who, upon discovering an ancient and enigmatic book, are transported to a magical and unknown world. There, they find that their path is filled with dangers but also with unimaginable treasures. With courage and unity, the siblings face each challenge, from deciphering mysterious maps, navigating enchanted forests and dark caves, to encountering magical creatures and confronting their greatest fears. Each chapter reveals a new piece of this vast and intriguing world, where nothing is as it seems and everything is possible. From the enigmatic ...

A mentally unbalanced former student exacts revenge, killing thirty and wounding sixty others. He takes perverse delight in taunting the police about his next victims. He leads Jab and his friends in a manhunt throughout Northern California. Will Jab stop this maniac? Or will the nightmare continue?

What happens when a Korean War vet recovering from serious injuries wins a ghost town in a contest, meets a hard-riding, gun-toting cowgirl, and is threatened by three dangerous people all within a few days? Answer: cock-eyed characters, pixilated dialogue, zany romance, and heart-stopping suspense. Thus begins one of Clarence Budington Kelland's finest and rarest novels, previously only published as a seven-part serial in the legendary and best-selling magazine of its era, The Saturday Evening Post.

Former FBI Agent Garrett Keating's treason conviction is overturned by the California Supreme Court. He swears vengeance, not only to the FBI, but to Jab Boone. Keating aligns himself with a terrorist group that Jab brought to justice years back. Jab and his colleagues must somehow delay the group's next move: wreaking carnage upon thousands of innocent people! Their showdown leads to Mt. Jab. Both sides agree that there will be no arrests -- and no mercy! Jab and his friends must not only defeat their enemies with a creative solution, but stay alive themselves!

A dead bride and a missing maiden - in a small town, surrounded by loved ones. Can detectives save lives and bring the killer to justice? Detective Danielle Hall believed in the goodness in everyone. When her best friend found the dead body in the bridal suit she was about to rent for her own wedding, Danielle had no option other than finding the killer in their small town community. She discovered that one of the bride’s maids disappeared. Danielle felt that the bride was not killed because she was hated. She risked her personal relationship with her town folks to get to the bottom of ...

As gumshoes go, I was one of the best, back when it said Triplett on my badge—back when I had a badge, and a uniform to pin it on, not to mention a man’s body instead of a parakeet’s. No joke. Fortunately, though, I still have a few moves up my— Let’s move on. Seymour’s the name. I ended up in this avian form after my untimely demise, but against all odds I have been reunited in sunny Mountain Springs with my wife Sharon and our two children, Lila and Ethan. A lot of mysterious things have happened in this area over the past year, and all four of us have played a part in ...

THE LAST THING YOU SEE . . . IS THE KNIFE IN YOUR HEART John Bloom is losing his sight. Bad timing because someone is murdering those closest to him. A ring of death spirals down to the center where Bloom waits for the final stab! From Erik Handy, the New King of Horror and Suspense, this thriller dares you to take a peek at evil. But don't stare!

Amateur sleuths, Rod & Bryony Kane race to solve a murder mystery after a sudden storm strands them on an isolated island resort in Lake Superior.

In *Cipher, Mobsters & a Sphinx,* retired cipher decoder Candeedo Brewdinkle seeks the peaceful life of Killian Cove after years of globe-trotting adventures. Alongside his witty, mysterious feline companion, Bartholomew, Candeedo settles into a quiet routine of crossword puzzles and decoding cryptic messages sent by Norman, the local bookstore owner. He anticipates a tranquil life in this charming seaside town, but things take a sudden dark turn. A mysterious coded message leads Candeedo to Norman’s bookstore, where he stumbles upon a chilling discovery: a dead body, a missing bookmark ...

Agosto del 2016. México llora la muerte de su máximo ídolo, El Divo. Pero tras la congoja masiva, se descubre otro hecho: han sustraído un cuadro, propiedad del cantante y parte del patrimonio cultural del país: La Doña, el retrato que Diego Rivera hiciera de una célebre actriz. Y esto desata un alud de vertiginosos hechos. El novato detective Peter Endejo, ser de apariencia casi risible, queda a cargo de la investigación. Y deberá atar cabos entre personajes de nombres arquetípicos, pero a los que el autor dota de arrolladora personalidad individual.

In book 10, the gang witness the horror of a house going up in flames. Then there's the theft of a very valuable violin. Are the two incidents connected? The Seven mean to use all their detective know-how to find out!

Tempting apple. Killer stepmom. Princely love. Fun contemporary Y.A. romance❤️ While playing a game to match herself to a famous piece of art, Peony van Veer gets a shocking result. She looks exactly like the woman in a painting from the roaring twenties. Peony has to get a closer look at her doppelganger, but the piece is housed in a private collection. In Scotland. Her best chance to see the painting means signing up for a teen artist retreat -- hosted by the aristocratic Sinclair family. One problem. Peony gave up painting because critics compared her to her famous Van Veer ancestor....

Are you a Law & Order Junkie? Then take the challenge. Read each chapter. Find the evidence. Solve the case. Become a Couch Detective.

Archibald Cloyd was an ubergeek and as pedantic as it is possible to be. Hollywood hired him at thousands of dollars a week as the technical director on a movie about Napoleon. Wilson Page, Archibald's secretary, figured he didn't deserve anything better than being nursemaid to a strutting egomaniac.

Branson loves his job as an analyst for the CIA. Working on the investigation into the assassination of the president is fascinating, and even more so when Ryder, a geeky forensic accountant without a filter, joins the team. But Ryder doesn’t seem to like Branson. At all. And when he explains to Branson why, Branson is forced to face an uncomfortable truth in the mirror Ryder holds up. Somewhere along the way, he lost sight of who he really is.

Ghent, the bizarre, gothic City of Witches, of lore, and evidently, of murder! A man is dead and a missing antique manuscript of scientific and philosophical merit is missing. Poisoned chocolates, creepy dolls, thievery, treachery, and yes, waffles. I’m Honorio, a cat, and with my extraordinary detective skills, my three traveling lady companions and I are out to solve the latest case. I try not to fall in love. I try not to be run over by bicycles. I try not to be paralyzed. And I try my best to be brilliant. At that I am successful. Come with us as we continue our European tour. Visit ...

In the quaint village of Bearstone, Leonor, a former mercenary with a bounty on her head, is hiding under the guise of an innkeeper. She leads a life as unassuming as her inn, until a winter storm brings an unexpected influx of travelers and with them, a dark secret. When a snobbish mage is found murdered in her best room, Leonor's past skills are unwittingly summoned back to life. With the road to the city snowed and help days away, she must navigate through a web of village gossip, ancient secrets, and unexpected alliances. As she delves deeper, she discovers that the key to solving the ...