MANCHESTER PUBLIC LIBRARY MYSTERY BOOK CLUB READING LIST 2023-2024 The group meets on the last Friday of the month at 10:30 AM - except in November when the date is adjusted for convenience. Club meeting locations may vary. So, stay up to date by subscribing to our email list: http://www.mysterybookfan.com/subscribe/
Meeting Day	Book Title		Author	Type
Sep 29, 2023	Thirteen		Cavanagh, Steve	Lawyer
Oct 27	Better the Blood		Bennett, Michael	Cop
Nov 17	Friday the Rabbi Slept Late		Kemelman, Harry	Amateur
Dec 29	Past Reason Hated		Robinson, Peter	Cop
Jan 26, 2024	Skinny Dip		Hiasson, Carl	Humor
Feb 23	The Bookseller		Pryor, Mark	Cop
Mar 29	What Comes After		Tompkins, Joanne	Literary
Apr 26	The Maid		Prose, Nita	Amateur/ Accused
May 31	Cimarron Rose		Burke, James Lee	Lawyer
Jun 28	All the Sinners Bleed		Cosby, S. A.	Cop
Jul 26	The River We Remember		Krueger, William Kent	Literary
Aug 30	Bitter Medicine		Paretsky, Sara	PI
SAME.... WITH BLURBS
Sep, 2023: Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh (2019)		Eddie Flynn, a lawyer who used to be a con man. What happens when a murder trial defendant is not the real killer – someone on the jury is the killer who has framed the defendant?
Oct, 2023 Better the Blood by Michael Bennett (2023)		Set in contemporary New Zealand, Hana Westerman, a tenacious Māori detective, juggles single motherhood, endemic prejudice, and the pressures of her career as she takes on a bizarre case that has links going back eight generations. Worse, it has connections to an event when Hana was a new cop when a Māori Chief was killed, calling into question her loyalties. Twisty and thought provoking.
Nov, 2023 Friday the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman (1964)		Rabbi David Small is surprised when the local police chief informs him that the body of a young murdered woman was found in the grass, on the synagogue property (in a small fictional town like Marblehead, MA). And the woman's purse was found in the Rabbi's car parked nearby! The Rabbi is the sleuth.
Dec, 2023 Past Reason Hated by Peter Robinson (1991)		Chief Inspector Alan Banks has transferred from the London Metropolitan Police, hoping for a quieter life in the Yorkshire Dales. But the stabbing death of a secretive woman in her own house just three days before Christmas puts proof to the idea that murder and perplexing puzzles are everywhere.
Jan, 2024 Skinny Dip by Carl Hiasson (2004)		Part serious commentary on environmental issues; part series of dark comedic events in Florida. A bumbling scientist hopes to get rich helping ruthless agribusiness tycoons; his wife finds out what he's up to, so he tries to murder her. She survives a push into the Atlantic and is now out to get him with the help of a former, down-on-his-luck cop.
Feb, 2024 The Bookseller by Mark Pryor (2012)		After Hugo Marston, head of security at the US embassy of Paris, watched helplessly as his friendly bookseller was abducted at gunpoint, he chooses to look into the crime. Before long, other booksellers' bodies are found floating in the Seine. As Marston looks deeper, and the police disregard his suggestions, he himself becomes a target of the unknown assassins. Yet he presses on to find his enemy's lair. Just as the killer intended.
Mar, 2024 What Comes After by Joanne Tompkins (2021)		Isaac and Lorrie are both living as neighbors along the Pacific coast in Washington, each having had to deal with the violent death of a son; one was murdered by the other who then killed himself. From anger, abandonment, and violence... can there be redemption, kindness, soul searching and creating a new family from tragedy? After violent crimes, how do people "move on"? What comes after?
Apr, 2024 The Maid by Nita Prose (2022)		A highly professional maid at a boutique hotel in New York City likes her work, but when a wealthy guest is murdered in his bed, and the police begin to suspect her of the murder, she must find a way to clear her name in this unusually told, twisty tale.
May, 2024 Cimarron Rose by James Lee Burke (1997)		Billy Bob Holland, an attorney and former Texas Ranger, is hired to defend a teenager accused of rape and murder. But in fact, the accused is Holland's own son.
Jun, 2024 All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby (2023)		Contemporary setting. Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff of this Virginia county. Titus investigates a school shooting in which both a teacher is shot by a student, and the student shooter is killed by Titus’s deputies. As Titus investigates the shootings, he unearths terrible crimes and a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight. "Cosby delivers a fine climax. Then, in an epilogue, he serves up a final treat that’s worth the whole trip." – Stephen King
Jul, 2024 The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger (2023)		In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, and the Sheriff, a WW2 hero, must solve the crime. But doing so stirs up old secrets and grievances among the townsfolk. Both a complex, spellbinding mystery and a masterful portrait of midcentury American life from an author of novels “as big-hearted as they come.”
Aug, 2024 Bitter Medicine by Sara Paretsky (1987)		Chicago PI "Vic" Warshawski knows from the start that Consuelo Alvarado's baby is trouble. Consuelo is sixteen. Diabetic. And the daughter of a friend. When she goes into labor too early, even Vic's wild drive to get her to the hospital can't save either Consuelo or her child. Frustrated, she starts investigating possible malpractice at the emergency room. Then, when a brutal murder and the violent destruction of a women's clinic put her at the center of a very dirty conspiracy, justice may be the only remedy for a hurt that cuts deep...and chills right to the bone.