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Mystery Mayhem Author Spotlight

Mystery lovers know --- there's nothing more fun than solving a mystery. Legends in this genre include Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Well-known authors include Ruth Rendell, P.D. James and Marcia Muller. To help you unravel the endless question of "what mystery authors should I read next?" we bring you our Mystery Mayhem feature. It's a chance to get to know a group of authors who sleuth, track clues, and captivate readers by bringing fictitious characters to justice. We call them "Authors Who Keep You Guessing." We hope you enjoy exploring their work as much as we did tracking them down.

Lisa Lutz, author of Trail of the Spellmans: Document #5

For the first time in Spellman history, Isabel Spellman, PI, might be the most normal member of her family. Mom has taken on an outrageous assortment of extracurricular activities---with no apparent motive. Dad has a secret. Izzy’s brother and sister are at war --- for no apparent reason. And her niece keeps saying “banana” even though she hates bananas.

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Helene Tursten, author of Night Rounds: A Detective Inspector Irene Huss Investigation

Irene Huss is a former Ju-Jitsu champion, a mother of twin teenage girls, the wife of a successful chef, and a Detective Inspector with the Violent Crimes Unit in Goteborg, Sweden. And now she’s back with a gripping follow-up to DETECTIVE INSPECTOR HUSS.

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Helene Tursten, author of Detective Inspector Huss

One of the most prominent citizens of Göteborg, Sweden, plunges to his death off an apartment balcony, but what appears to be a “Society Suicide” soon reveals itself to be a carefully plotted murder. Irene Huss finds herself embroiled in a complex and high-stakes investigation. As Huss and her team begin to uncover the victim’s hidden past, they are dragged into Sweden’s seamy underworld of street gangs, struggling immigrants and neo-Nazis in order to catch the killer.

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William Kent Krueger, author of Northwest Angle

With his family caught in the crosshairs of a group of brutal killers, detective Cork O'Connor must solve the murder of a young girl in NORTHWEST ANGLE, the latest installment of William Kent Krueger's unforgettable New York Times bestselling series.

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Livia J. Washburn, author of Killer on a Hot Tin Roof: A Delilah Dickinson Literary Tour Mystery, Book 3

Delilah Dickinson is finally looking forward to a nice, relaxing time leading her literary travel agency’s latest tour at the annual Tennessee Williams Literary Festival in New Orleans.

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William Kent Krueger, author of Vermilion Drift

William Kent Krueger’s gripping tale of suspense begins with a recurring nightmare, a gun, and a wound in the earth so deep and horrific that it has a name: Vermilion Drift.

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Joanne Fluke, author of Plum Pudding Murder

The yuletide season in Lake Eden, Minnesota, guarantees a white Christmas, delectable holiday goodies from Hannah Swensen's bakery, The Cookie Jar --- and murder.

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Dorothy Howell, author of Handbags and Homicide: A Haley Randolph Mystery

Witty, smart, and always chic, Haley Randolph has it all: Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Coach, Burberry, and she’d kill for the newest Louis Vuitton handbag... but it seems she’s not the only one.

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Tana French, author of The Likeness

Six months after the events of IN THE WOODS, Detective Cassie Maddox is still trying to recover. She’s transferred out of the Murder squad and started a relationship with Detective Sam O’Neill, but she’s too badly shaken to make any commitment either to him or to her career.

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Christopher Fowler, author of The Victoria Vanishes

It’s a case tailor-made for the Peculiar Crimes Unit. A lonely hearts killer is targeting middle-aged women at some of England’s most well-known pubs --- including one torn down eighty years ago.

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