There’s just something about the incoming chilly, dark days that makes us want to curl up with an intriguing murder mystery…. right? All the better if it’s a murder mystery in the style of classic Agatha Christie stories or if it conjures up Clue vibes! We’ve been on the hunt for those perfect Whodunits that keep you guessing until the very end and have rounded up our favorite picks here. Come check out the display on the 2nd floor anytime before December 15th!
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
by Stuart Turton
Aiden Bishop knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others. With a locked-room mystery that Agatha Christie would envy, Stuart Turton unfurls a breakneck novel of intrigue and suspense.
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a breathlessly addictive mystery that follows one man’s race against time to find a killer, with an astonishing time-turning twist that means nothing and no one are quite what they seem.
Check it out:
- FIC Tur
- LP FIC Tur
- Ebook on Libby/Overdrive
- Ebook and audiobook on Hoopla
Crooked House
by Agatha Christie
In the sprawling, half-timbered mansion in the affluent suburb of Swinly Dean, Aristide Leonides lies dead from barbiturate poisoning. An accident? Not likely. In fact, suspicion has already fallen on his luscious widow, a cunning beauty fifty years his junior, set to inherit a sizeable fortune, and rumored to be carrying on with a strapping young tutor comfortably ensconced in the family estate. But criminologist Charles Hayward is casting his own doubts on the innocence of the entire Leonides brood. He knows them intimately. And he’s certain that in a crooked house such as Three Gables, no one’s on the level…
Check it out:
Finlay Donovan is Killing It
by Elle Cosimano
Finlay Donovan is killing it . . . except, she’s really not. She’s a stressed-out single-mom of two and struggling novelist, Finlay’s life is in chaos: the new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written, her ex-husband fired the nanny without telling her, and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head after an incident with scissors.
When Finlay is overheard discussing the plot of her new suspense novel with her agent over lunch, she’s mistaken for a contract killer, and inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet . . . Soon, Finlay discovers that crime in real life is a lot more difficult than its fictional counterpart, as she becomes tangled in a real-life murder investigation.
Fast-paced, deliciously witty, and wholeheartedly authentic in depicting the frustrations and triumphs of motherhood in all its messiness, hilarity, and heartfelt moment, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is the first in a brilliant new series from YA Edgar Award nominee Elle Cosimano.
Check it out:
- FIC Cos
- LP FIC Cos
- Ebook on Overdrive
- Audiobook on Overdrive
Magpie Murders
by Anthony Horowitz
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?
Check it out:
The Thursday Murder Club
by Richard Osman
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?
Check it out:
- FIC Osm
- LP FIC Osm
- Ebook on Overdrive/Libby
- Audiobook on Overdrive/Libby
Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts
by Kate Racculia
A handsome stranger. A dead billionaire. A citywide treasure hunt. Tuesday Mooney’s life is about to change . . . forevermore.
Tuesday Mooney is a loner. She keeps to herself, begrudgingly socializes, and spends much of her time watching old Twin Peaks and X-Files DVDs. But when Vincent Pryce, Boston’s most eccentric billionaire, dies—leaving behind an epic treasure hunt through the city, with clues inspired by his hero, Edgar Allan Poe—Tuesday’s adventure finally begins.
Puzzle-loving Tuesday searches for clue after clue, joined by a ragtag crew: a wisecracking friend, an adoring teen neighbor, and a handsome, cagey young heir. The hunt tests their mettle, and with other teams from around the city also vying for the promised prize—a share of Pryce’s immense wealth—they must move quickly. Pryce’s clues can’t be cracked with sharp wit alone; the searchers must summon the courage to face painful ghosts from their pasts (some more vivid than others) and discover their most guarded desires and dreams.
A deliciously funny ode to imagination, overflowing with love letters to art, from The Westing Game to Madonna to the Knights of the Round Table, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts is the perfect read for thrill-seekers, wanderers, word lovers, and anyone looking for an escape to the extraordinary.
Check it out:
- FIC Rac
- LP FIC Rac
- Ebook and audiobook on Overdrive
- Ebook and audiobook on Hoopla
An Unwanted Guest
by Shari Lapena
It’s winter in the Catskills and Mitchell’s Inn, nestled deep in the woods, is the perfect setting for a relaxing–maybe even romantic–weekend away. It boasts spacious old rooms with huge woodburning fireplaces, a well-stocked wine cellar, and opportunities for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, or just curling up with a good murder mystery.
So when the weather takes a turn for the worse, and a blizzard cuts off the electricity–and all contact with the outside world–the guests settle in and try to make the best of it.
Soon, though, one of the guests turns up dead–it looks like an accident. But when a second guest dies, they start to panic.
Within the snowed-in paradise, something–or someone–is picking off the guests one by one. And there’s nothing they can do but hunker down and hope they can survive the storm–and one another.
Check it out:
The Westing Game
by Ellen Raskin
A bizarre chain of events begins when sixteen unlikely people gather for the reading of Samuel W. Westing’s will. And though no one knows why the eccentric, game-loving millionaire has chosen a virtual stranger—and a possible murderer—to inherit his vast fortune, on things for sure: Sam Westing may be dead…but that won’t stop him from playing one last game!
Check it out:
- YA FIC Ras
- Ebook on Overdrive
- Audiobook on Overdrive
Even More titles available online
In the Hall With the Knife by Diana Peterfreund
When a storm strikes at Blackbrook Academy, an elite prep school nestled in the woods of Maine, a motley crew of students—including Beth “Peacock” Picach, Orchid McKee, Vaughn Green, Sam “Mustard” Maestor, Finn Plum, and Scarlet Mistry—are left stranded on campus with their headmaster. Hours later, his body is found in the conservatory and it’s very clear his death was no accident. With this group of students who are all hiding something, nothing is as it seems, and everyone has a motive for murder. Fans of the CLUE board game and cult classic film will delight in Diana Peterfreund’s modern reimagining of the brand, its characters, and the dark, magnificent old mansion with secrets hidden within its walls.
The Watersplash by Patricia Wentworth
A gardener’s death sends a country house into a frenzy, and Miss Silver swoops in to set things right Edward Random returns to Deeping a forgotten man. Although raised in the village’s manor house, he is no longer wealthy-the result of a quarrel with an uncle, which left him out of the old man’s will. For years Edward’s name has not been spoken in the town, save for wild rumors that he had gone to prison for dueling, decamped to the Orient, or had simply died of mysterious circumstances. In fact, he is in good health, ready to start life where he left off, money or no money. But the old family feud stands in his way, and the situation at the manor house grows vicious in the wake of the under-gardener William Jackson’s death. Did he drown by accident, or was he murdered? Only Maud Silver, the demure but brilliant detective, can say for sure.
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
From the author of the beloved Ruth Galloway series, a modern gothic mystery for fans of Magpie Murders and The Lake House. Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school English teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she teaches a course on it every year. But when one of Clare’s colleagues and closest friends is found dead, with a line from R. M. Holland’s most famous story, “The Stranger,” left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with the storylines of her favorite literature.
