Recommendations based on "Oystercatcher"

Superintendent Richard Jury's investigation into the seemingly unrelated crimes of a London mugging and murder in the town of Littlebourne takes him to the local pub, the Anodyne Necklace, which is inhabited by a variety of colorful village characters. Reprint.

When Enola Holmes encounters her friend Lady Cecily hiding behind a pink fan, she finds it peculiar. In fact, she realizes Cecily is in danger! But what, exactly, is the matter? And how can Enola help? After examining the clues, Enola discovers Lady Cecily is being held hostage in an abysmal orphanage, and if she isn?t rescued, she?ll be forced into a miserable marriage!This complicated case has Sherlock and Enola (literally) running into each other all over London. If Enola joins forces with the brother she has fought desperately to elude, she risks her freedom?yet, if she doesn?t, Lady Cecily could be doomed!Edgar Award?winning Nancy Springer offers the riskiest case yet for our well-loved, critically acclaimed heroine.

In the third captivating Enchanted Garden Mystery from Bailey Cattrell, Elliana Allbright will need to dig up clues from the past to weed out a killer...Elliana Allbright is happy running her perfume shop, Scents & Nonsense, in the charming town of Poppyville, California. And she's even happier when she can use her inherited abilities to infuse her perfumes with an extra special something that eases woes or solves problems for her customers. But she'll need those abilities and more when murder comes to town.Ellie and her women's business group, the Greenstockings, are helping to open a new museum about local history, and while sorting through the collection of artifacts they discover a time capsule from the days of the Gold Rush. Among the contents is a strange botanical manuscript, recognized by local history professor Eureka Sanford as extremely rare and valuable. When the professor is found dead in the museum, Ellie has no choice but to sniff out the murderer... but this one may have roots that are as old as Poppyville.

The problem with being a bounty hunter is it's all on-the-job training. And Stephanie Plum is still learning the ways to get yourself killed. Take the case of Maxine Norwicki.... When Maxine failed to turn up for her day in court, Stephanie was given the task of bringing her in. Simple. Except Maxine's boyfriend has now begun receiving mysterious, coded notes from the runaway that hint at buried treasure. In fact the notes are so indecipherable that Stephanie has to call on the help of Sally Sweet, giant drag queen and code-breaker extraordinaire. And Steph's knight errant, cop Joe Morelli. is also proving useful - although he can't decide what he wants most: Maxine's bounty or Stephanie's body. Meanwhile a friend loses a finger, a mother is scalped, an apartment is firebombed and a store clerk is murdered. And out in the street, the crazy treasure hunt game goes on.... 'Stephanie Plum is ass-kicking form..... utterly delightful.' Cosmopolitan 'As smart and sassy as high-gloss wet paint.' Time Out ' Among the great joys of contemporary crime fiction.' GQ 'All the easy class and wit that you expect to find in the best American TV Comedy, but too rarely find in modern fiction.' GQ

Everyone who knew Faith Usher knew she always carried a bottle of poison around with her, so when she dies after drinking champagne, everyone from the police to her friends to the father of her child assumes she killed herself. Nero Wolfes ace assistant Archie Goodwin is the only one who insists it was a murder. As the portly detective investigates, all the people he talks to seem to be trying to get him to stop investigating, which of course only makes Wolfe all the more stubborn. The devilish question he has to answer is, How do you solve a murder when everyone connected to the victim swears its a suicide?

"This is Agatha Christie's masterpiece, and if she never wrote another word, she'd have still gone down as the Queen." -LOUISE PENNY, #1 New York Times bestselling author "Ingenious and unexpected." -NEW YORK TIMES The official edition of the beloved classic voted by the British Crime Writers' Association as the "Best Crime Novel of all Time," now featuring a new introduction by Louise Penny, a foreword from Agatha Christie's great grandson, and exclusive content from the Queen of Mystery. Roger Ackroyd knew too much. He knew that the woman he loved had poisoned her brutal first husband. He suspected also that someone had been blackmailing her. Then, tragically, came the news that she had taken her own life with an apparent drug overdose. However, the evening post brought Roger one last fatal scrap of information, but before he could finish reading the letter, he was stabbed to death. Luckily one of Roger's friends and the newest resident to retire to this normally quiet village takes over--none other than Monsieur Hercule Poirot . . . Not only beloved by generations of readers, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was one of Agatha Christie's own favorite works--a brilliant whodunit that firmly established the author's reputation as the Queen of Mystery.

Pandemic lockdowns have Ruth Galloway feeling isolated from everyone but a new neighbor--until Nelson comes calling, investigating a decades-long string of murder-suicides that's looming ever closer, in USA Today Elly Griffiths' penultimate novel in the beloved series. Three years after her mother's death, Ruth is finally sorting through her things when she finds a curious relic: a decades-old photograph of her own Norfolk cottage--before she lived there--with a peculiar inscription on the back. Ruth returns to the cottage to uncover its meaning as Norfolk's first cases of Covid-19 make headlines, leaving her and Kate to shelter in place there. They struggle to stave off isolation by clapping for frontline workers each evening and befriending a kind neighbor, Zoe, from a distance. Meanwhile, Nelson is investigating a series of deaths of women that may or may not be suicide. When he links a case to an archaeological discovery, he breaks curfew to visit Ruth and enlist her help. But the further Nelson investigates the deaths, the closer he gets to Ruth's isolated cottage--until Ruth, Zoe, and Kate all go missing, and Nelson is left scrambling to find them before it's too late. PRAISE FOR ELLY GRIFFITHS AND THE RUTH GALLOWAY SERIES Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel Winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award Winner of the CWA Dagger in the Library Award "Galloway is an everywoman, smart, successful and a little bit unsure of herself. Readers will look forward to learning more about her." --USA Today "Elly Griffiths draws us all the way back to prehistoric times . . . Highly atmospheric." --New York Times Book Review "Forensic archeologist and academic Ruth Galloway is a captivating amateur sleuth--an inspired creation. I identified with her insecurities and struggles, and cheered her on." --Louise Penny

Ghosts, a kidnapping, a crew of young detectives, and family secrets mix in this new standalone mystery set in the world of the best-selling Greenglass House, from a National Book Award nominee and Edgar Award–winning author.   Marzana and her best friend are bored. Even though they live in a notorious city where normal rules do not apply, nothing interesting ever happens to them. Nothing, that is, until Marzana’s parents are recruited to help solve an odd crime, and she realizes that this could be the excitement she’s been waiting for. She assembles a group of kid detectives with special skills—including the ghost of a ship captain’s daughter—and together, they explore hidden passageways, navigate architecture that changes overnight, and try to unravel the puzzle of who the kidnappers are—and where they’re hiding. But will they beat the deadline for a ransom that’s impossible to pay?   Legendary smugglers, suspicious teachers, and some scary bad guys are just a few of the adults the crew must circumvent while discovering hidden truths about their families and themselves in this smart, richly imagined tale.  

Young lawyer Daniel Pitt must defend a British diplomat accused of a theft that may cover up a deadly crime in this riveting novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Twenty-one Days. Daniel Pitt, along with his parents, Charlotte and Thomas, is delighted that his sister, Jemima, and her family have returned to London from the States for a visit. But the Pitts soon learn of a harrowing incident: In Washington, D.C., one of Jemima’s good friends has been assaulted and her treasured necklace stolen. The perpetrator appears to be a man named Philip Sidney, a British diplomat stationed in America’s capital who, in a cowardly move, has fled to London, claiming diplomatic immunity. But that claim doesn’t cover his other crimes. . . . When Sidney winds up in court on a separate charge of embezzlement, it falls to Daniel to defend him. Daniel plans to provide only a competent enough defense to avoid a mistrial, allowing the prosecution to put his client away. But when word travels across the pond that an employee of the British embassy in Washington has been found dead, Daniel grows suspicious about Sidney’s alleged crimes and puts on his detective hat to search for evidence in what has blown up into an international affair. As the embezzlement scandal heats up, Daniel takes his questions to intrepid scientist Miriam fford Croft, who brilliantly uses the most up-to-date technologies to follow an entirely new path of investigation. Daniel and Miriam travel to the Channel Islands to chase a fresh lead, and what began with a stolen necklace turns out to have implications in three far greater crimes—a triple jeopardy, including possible murder. Praise for Triple Jeopardy “Another deftly crafted and original mystery by a true master of the genre . . . is ideal reading for all dedicated mystery buffs.”—Midwest Book Review

 The Blackbird sisters are back--and as witty and wonderful as ever! For richer, for poorer...                                                               Nora Blackbird, the Bucks County ex-debutante with a haute couture wardrobe, a hot job as a glamorous society columnist and a stone cold bank account, might finally have her own life just right, but everyone around her is going down in flames. Her sister Libby seems destined to be the lead character in a tabloid sex scandal.  Her sister Emma is expecting a mysterious love child.  Her best friend, Lexie Paine, is serving time in the slammer.  And now her mobbed-up boyfriend, Mick Abruzzo--who might actually be her husband--is conducting clandestine capers from Blackbird Farm while under house arrest. What's a good girl to do?  Find a killer, that's what!  Word arrives that the sisters' great aunt, Madeleine Blackbird, has died in a volcanic eruption on an Indonesian island and left her fabulous country estate, worth millions, to the three of them.  But when the Blackbird sisters show up to claim their windfall, they find the house in a state of disheartening decay and all of Madeleine's to-die-for treasures gone. Worse, the mansion has been hiding a grisly secret: the body of a woman who died there many years ago.  All the evidence points to a high society murder... Nora's special bond with flamboyant Aunt Madeleine compels her to seek out the truth.  With her aunt's amorous stepson dogging her footsteps, her unscrupulous lawyer acting like a skunk, and her devoted housekeeper not to be found, Nora's investigation is going nowhere.  Good thing Mick's close by to offer Nora distractions both dark and delightful.  And, as ever, her irrepressible sisters provide some unexpected... and highly unorthodox... assistance when she most needs it.