Ex-cop Joe Henderson suffers from excruciating pain after a bullet shattered his leg in the line of duty.  Like all police officers who fire their gun, Joe is forced to visit a psychiatrist in order to collect his disability.  With his career in tatters, Joe turns to drink and pain pills and his wife leaves him.

One August day in 2000, Joe's neighbor, Preston Swedge, is found dead.  Joe gets nosey and wanders over to see his old colleagues.  At the Swedge estate sale, Joe picks up some old government documents that awaken his detective skills.  The papers lead Joe to look for, and find, some hidden diaries that didn't belong to Swedge.  They contain the name Paul Rothstein and a 1944 aerial map showing an Allied bombing mission that came within five miles of Auschwitz.  Joe wonders why, if the Allies were so close and knew what was happening at the camp, why nothing was done?

As Joe sits down to read, hoping to find some answers, the story jumps back to 1938 and the rise of Hitler and Facism.  The diaries tell the tale of Paul, his gangster brother Jack, a young Swedge, and a host of characters fighting anti-Semitism during WWII.  This is the first in a series.

 

Annotation by: St. Louis Public Library staff.

Murder, a missing woman, and a sociopath from the past sweep Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus into a labyrinth of mystery and danger in this electrifying new tale of suspense from New York Times bestselling author Faye Kellerman. Fifteen years ago, high school senior Chris Whitman went to jail for murdering his girlfriend, Cheryl Diggs. Propelled by a misguided sense of chivalry, he confessed, determined to save another classmate, the beautiful and vulnerable Terry McLaughlin, from having to testify at his trial. When the truth came out, Chris was released from prison, married Terry - pregnant with his child - and changed his last name to Donatti. He also became a professional killer. Peter Decker was the detective on the case, and over the years, he and Terry kept in touch. Now his friend is in L.A. and asking for a favor. Though Decker knows full well that getting involved will bring Terry's sociopathic husband back into his life, the obsessive and duty-bound LAPD lieutenant reluctantly agrees. The favor soon becomes complicated when Terry goes missing and Donatti disappears, leaving their fourteen-year-old son, Gabe, with no one to turn to except Decker and his wife, Rina Lazarus. But Peter's search for Terry must share center stage with a gruesome murder. Adrianna Blanc, a neonatal nurse at St. Timothy's Hospital, had signed off her night shift at eight a.m. Six hours later, a foreman supervising the construction of a house in a nearby suburb discovered her body swinging from the rafters, a cable wire around her neck. Her car was found where she had parked it the night before, with no signs of foul play. A dedicated and conscientious professional, Adrianna had a circle of close friends. Yet as Decker and his able team soon learn, the young woman also had her share of detractors. A party-hearty girl, she enjoyed booze, kinky sex, and revenge-cheating on her boyfriend, Garth Hammerling, another nurse at St. Tim's. Suspicions heat up when Decker and his team find that one of Adrianna's last phone calls was a provocative and disturbing message to her vacationing boyfriend - who himself has vanished without a trace. Was Adrianna's death something personal because of her carefree lifestyle? Or was this unusually cruel and very dramatic murder the first signs of a serial killer? With lives hanging in the balance, Decker and his colleagues, Sergeant Marge Dunn and Detective Scott Oliver, need to find answers and fast. As if juggling two investigations weren't enough for the lieutenant (not to mention turning sixty!), things are becoming even more dangerous with his precarious home life. Ever the concerned parent, Decker wants to look after Terry's son, Gabe. Yet who will protect his own family? Because if there's one thing he knows for sure, with a sociopath like Donatti on the loose, no one is ever really safe.

Mystery bookstore owner Tricia Miles has been spending more time solving whodunits than reading them. Now a nearby gas explosion has injured Tricia's sister's boyfriend, Bob Kelly, the head of the Chamber of Commerce, and killed the owner of the town's history bookstore. Tricia's never been a fan of Bob, but when she reads that he's being tight-lipped about the "accident", it's time to take action.

An attorney discovers that he has a most unusual perspective into what truly happened after a deadly housewarming party.

Annotation by: St. Louis Public Library staff.

While in New Orleans, someone tries to put a hex on crime solving park ranger Anna Pigeon.

Annotation by: St. Louis Public Library staff.

James Lee Burke's eagerly awaited new novel finds Detective Dave Robicheaux back in New Iberia, Louisiana, and embroiled in the most harrowing and dangerous case of his career. Seven young women in neighboring Jefferson Davis Parish have been brutally murdered. While the crimes have all the telltale signs of a serial killer, the death of Bernadette Latiolais, a high school honor student, doesn't fit: she is not the kind of hapless and marginalized victim psychopaths usually prey upon. Robicheaux and his best friend, Clete Purcel, confront Herman Stanga, a notorious pimp and crack dealer whom both men despise. When Stanga turns up dead shortly after a fierce beating by Purcel, in front of numerous witnesses, the case takes a nasty turn, and Clete's career and life are hanging by threads over the abyss. Adding to Robicheaux's troubles is the matter of his daughter, Alafair, on leave from Stanford Law to put the finishing touches on her novel. Her literary pursuit has led her into the arms of Kermit Abelard, celebrated novelist and scion of a once prominent Louisiana family whose fortunes are slowly sinking into the corruption of Louisiana's subculture. Abelard's association with bestselling ex-convict author Robert Weingart, a man who uses and discards people like Kleenex, causes Robicheaux to fear that Alafair might be destroyed by the man she loves. As his daughter seems to drift away from him, he wonders if he has become a victim of his own paranoia. But as usual, Robicheaux's instincts are proven correct and he finds himself dealing with a level of evil that is greater than any enemy he has confronted in the past. Set against the backdrop of an Edenic paradise threatened by pernicious forces, James Lee Burke's The Glass Rainbow is already being hailed as perhaps the best novel in the Robicheaux series.

The police can't help you - Former Marine helicopter pilot Jack Morgan runs Private, a renowned investigation company with branches around the globe. It is where you go when you need maximum force and maximum discretion. The secrets of the most influential men and women on the planet come to Jack daily--and his staff of investigators uses the world's most advanced forensic tools to make and break their cases. The press will destroy you Jack is already deep into the investigation of a multi-million dollar NFL gambling scandal and the unsolved slayings of 18 schoolgirls when he learns of a horrific murder close to home: his best friend's wife, Jack's former lover, has been killed. It nearly pushes him over the edge. Instead, Jack pushes back and devotes all of Private's resources to tracking down her killer. Only one place to turn: Private But Jack doesn't have to play by the rules. As he closes in on the killer and chooses between revenge and justice, Morgan has to navigate a workplace love affair that threatens to blow the roof off his plans. With a plot that moves at death-defying speeds, Private is James Patterson sleekest, most exciting thriller ever.

As she has since childhood, Benni Harper looked forward to a week of fun activities and guilty pleasure food at the San Celina Mid-State Fair.  What she' not counted on was the arrival of grandma Dove's sister Garnet or Garnet's discovery of a body covered with a quilt from Benni's booth at the Fair.  When Benni discovers the body is that of a young man with no family, she worries his death will become a cold case.  Now Benni must combine sleuthing with refereeing Dove's and Garnet's not so sisterly quarrels.  And it's only day one of the Fair.

Earlene Fowler brings California's Central Coast to life as Benni enlists her friends, and 'slightly' unusual family, to help solve the latest murder that's intruded on their small-town life.  Fowler's multi-layered characters and twisted plots are both fun and thought provoking.  Readers who enjoy Sue Grafton, Emilie Richards, or Susan Wittig Albert will want to add this Agatha Award winning series to their reading list.

Annotation by: St. Louis Public Library staff.

Trenton, New Jersey, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has inherited a "lucky" bottle from her Uncle Pip. Problem is, Uncle Pip didn't specify if the bottle brought good luck or bad luck. . . .BAD LUCK: Vinnie, of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, has run up a gambling debt of $786,000 with mobster Bobby Sunflower and is being held until the cash can be produced. Nobody else will pay to get Vinnie back, leaving it up to Stephanie, office manager Connie, and file clerk Lula to raise the money if they want to save their jobs. GOOD LUCK: Being in the business of tracking down people, Stephanie, Lula, and Connie have an advantage in finding Vinnie. If they can rescue him, it will buy them some time to raise the cash. BAD LUCK: Finding a safe place to hide Vinnie turns out to be harder than raising $786,000. Vinnie's messing up Mooner's vibe, running up pay-per-view porn charges in Ranger's apartment, and making Stephanie question genetics. GOOD LUCK: Between a bonds office yard sale that has the entire Burg turning out, Mooner's Hobbit-Con charity event, and Uncle Pip's lucky bottle, they just might raise enough money to save the business, and Vinnie, from ruin. BAD LUCK: Saving Vincent Plum Bail Bonds means Stephanie can keep being a bounty hunter. In Trenton, this involves hunting down a man wanted for polygamy, a turnpike toilet paper bandit, and a drug dealer with a pet alligator named Mr. Jingles. GOOD LUCK: The job of bounty hunter comes with perks in the guise of Trenton's hottest cop, Joe Morelli, and the dark and dangerous security expert, Ranger. With any luck at all, Uncle Pip's lucky bottle will have Stephanie getting lucky---the only question is . . . with whom? Sizzling Sixteen. . . so hot, the pages might spontaneously combust!

When Special Agent Will Trent arrives in Grant County, he finds a police department determined to protect its own and far too many unanswered questions about a prisoner's death. As he investigates, Trent will unleash a case filled with explosive secrets--and encounter a thin blue line that could be murderous if crossed.

A husband is the prime suspect of his wife's murder.

Annotation by: St. Louis Public Library staff.

A writer returns to her hometown and obsessively investigates the death of a childhood friend.

Annotation by: St. Louis Public Library staff.

Lincoln Rhyme is back, on the trail of a killer whose weapon of choice cripples New York City with fear.The weapon is invisible and omnipresent. Without it, modern society grinds to a halt. It is electricity. The killer harnesses and steers huge arc flashes with voltage so high and heat so searing that steel melts and his victims are set afire. When the first explosion occurs in broad daylight, reducing a city bus to a pile of molten, shrapnel-riddled metal, officials fear terrorism. Rhyme, a world-class forensic criminologist known for his successful apprehension of the most devious criminals, is immediately tapped for the investigation. Long a quadriplegic, he assembles NYPD detective Amelia Sachs and officer Ron Pulaski as his eyes, ears and legs on crime sites, and FBI agent Fred Dellray as his undercover man on the street. As the attacks continue across the city at a sickening pace, and terrifying demand letters begin appearing, the team works desperately against time and with maddeningly little forensic evidence to try to find the killer. Or is it killers...? Meanwhile, Rhyme is consulting on another high-profile investigation in Mexico with a most coveted quarry in his crosshairs: the hired killer known as the Watchmaker, one of the few criminals to have eluded Rhyme's net.Juggling two massive investigations against a cruel ticking clock takes a toll on Rhyme's health. Soon Rhyme is fighting on yet another front - and his determination to work despite his physical limitations threatens to drive away his closest allies when he needs them most...

Although not a native Vermonter, author and linguist David Carkeet has easily used his ear for language to replicate Vermontese in his latest novel.  The story opens on an icy patch of highway and protagonist Denny Braintree is doing his best to correct the rented car's steering before slamming into a guardrail.  The accident sets the stage for Denny to assume a new persona, that of native son Homer Dumpling.

Denny, a model railroad enthusiast and writer, is desperate to shed his obnoxious image and step out of his social awkwardness.  As he works toward convincing the hometown crowd that he is really Homer, Denny becomes the prime suspect in a murder.  This is almost two novels in one.  On one level it's an old-fashioned murder mystery and on another, it's a literary novel of social manners.

Plan on setting aside several hours when starting this howlingly funny story.  It's Carkeet at his best.

Annotation by: St. Louis Public Library staff.

Kiki Lowenstein is back with another murder to solve.  This time, the murder happens in her daughter's school, an exclusive private school where the children of all the old, wealthy families of St. Louis have gone for generations. Kiki's daughter, Anya, and a friend see the dead body of a teacher who is not well-liked and has plenty of enemies.  When her African American boyfriend, who is also a coach at the school, is arrested, most people believe the crime is solved, but Detective Detweiler is a friend of the coach and asks Kiki to use her connections with the school to help him investigate, because he doesn't believe the coach is a killer.  Kiki uncovers a number of secrets among the families, but someone wants to stop her from finding out the true.

Annotation by: St. Louis Public Library staff.

The latest book in the #1 "New York Times"-bestselling series--the basis for HBO's "True Blood." After enduring torture and the loss of loved ones during the Faery War, Sookie is hurt and angry. Worst of all, there are still some Fae on the human side--and one of them is very angry at Sookie.