[WT Sharpe]

Nominations: [We now have the 10 fully nominated books. Thank you everyone.]

*** A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [John F, Hamlet53, VioletVal]
Inkmesh search| Mobi/PRC upload by djulian | Mobi/PRC / ePub included in the Complete Sherlock Holmes uploaded by HarryT

Spoiler:

From Amazon:

A Study in Scarlet is a popular Sherlock Holmes book written by author Arthur Conan Doyle. Being the first novel is the Holmes detective series by Doyle, A Study in Scarlet largely introduces the reader to the forthcoming series by Doyle. The story features the introduction of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson through mutual friends and a mystery revolving around a corpse found at a derelict house in Brixton, England. A Study in Scarlet is highly recommended for those who enjoy Sherlock Holmes detective novels and also individuals who enjoy the works of Arthur Conan Doyle.

* Moving is Murder by Sara Rosett (Book 1 of A Mom Zone Mystery) [Nyssa]
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Spoiler:

Rosett's cute cozy debut introduces perky Ellie Avery, who prides herself on knowing her way around crying babies, poopy diapers and air force bases. Ellie, pilot hubby Mitch and baby daughter Livvy have hardly settled into their Vernon, Wash., off-base digs when Ellie discovers the body of another 52nd Air Refueling Squadron wife, Cass Vincent, by Cass's SUV alongside the road after a get-acquainted barbecue. Cass is the apparent victim of a nasty allergic reaction to numerous wasp stings, but Ellie later finds evidence that the flirty environmentalist may have been murdered. Though extraneous details sometimes slow the plot to a crawl, the appealing heroine and the intriguing insider peek into air force life (the author is married to an air force pilot) more than compensate.

*** The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series #1) by Alexander McCall Smith [Hamlet53, sun surfer, Nyssa]
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Spoiler:

This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith's widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to "help people with problems in their lives." Immediately upon setting up shop in a small storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witchdoctors.

* True Detective by Max Allan Colins (#1 in the Nate Heller series) [Phogg]
Unavailable as an ebook until September 15.

Spoiler:

Amazon: From the Back Cover
In the mob-choked Chicago of 1932, private detective Nathan Heller may be willing to risk his life to earn a Depression dollar, but he never sacrifices his slicing wit. That’s why mystery fans and critics alike rank the historical thriller True Detective at the top of their lists —and why the book swept up a Shamus Award for best novel from the Private Eye Writers of America. Now, author Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition) reissues the contemporary classic that introduces the inscrutable, wise-cracking Nathan Heller in all his guts and glory. Mayor Cermak aims to scrub up Chicago’s rancid reputation for the World’s Fair, and that daunting task comes down to the youngest plainclothes cop in town, Nathan Heller of the pickpocket detail. When the Mayor’s “Hoodlum Squad” brings Heller along on a raid with no instructions but to keep his mouth shut and his gun handy, he finds himself an unwitting, unwilling part of an assassination attempt on Al Capone’s successor, Frank Nitti. Soon, he’s smack in the middle of a power struggle between the mob and the mayor, and it’s up to the young detective to upend a potentially nation-shaking political assassination in Miami Beach. In Collins’ eruptive and evocative large-landscape historical thriller, readers consort with the likes of “Dutch” Reagan, George Raft, and FDR himself, as the author weaves the intricate history of the Chicago’s Century of Progress with a classic noir mystery. Rich in riveting plot turns, including a beautiful female client and a heartbreaking romance, True Detective is one of the most highly entertaining and unlikely coming-of-age stories ever written. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

*** The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins [arkietech, lila55, GA Russell]
Inkmesh search | ePub & illustrated ePub uploaded by AlexBell | Mobi/PRC uploaded by HarryT

Spoiler:

From HarryT's upload:
"The Moonstone", published in 1868, is widely regarded as the precursor of the modern mystery and suspense novels. T. S. Eliot called it "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels". The story concerns the theft of a large Indian diamond; it contains a number of ideas which became common tropes of the genre: a large number of suspects, red herrings, a crime being investigated by talented amateurs who happen to be present when it is committed, and two police officers who exemplify respectively the "local bungler" and the skilled, professional, Scotland Yard detective. The story is told through a series of first person narratives by the various people involved - before, during, and after the theft.

Wilkie Collins was the master of what were called at the time "sensation novels" - the precursor to modern "thrillers". These were the books that had refined young Victorian ladies "swooning", and requiring frequent recourse to the "smelling salts" . This novel was famed for its vivid depiction of the effects of opium addiction (Collins himself was addicted to opium, and wrote from personal experience).

A fabulous story. Both a classic and fun to read - what more could you ask for?

** The Keep by Jennifer Egan [Ron., Spacechik]
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Spoiler:

In Jennifer Egan's deliciously creepy new novel, two cousins reunite twenty years after a childhood prank gone wrong changed their lives and sent them on their separate ways. "Cousin Howie," the formerly uncool, strange, and pasty ("he looked like a guy the sun wouldn't touch") cousin has become a blond, tan, and married millionaire with a generous spirit. He invites his cousin Danny (who as an insecure teenager left him hurt and helpless in a cave for three days) to help him renovate an old castle in Germany. To reveal too much would ruin the story, just know that The Keep is a wonderfully weird read--a touch experimental in terms of narrative, with a hefty dose of gothic tension and mystery--balanced by an intimate and mesmerizing look at how the past haunts us in different ways. --Daphne Durham

*** The Chinese Maze Murders by Robert van Gulik (1st Judge Dee mystery) [issybird, anjirlly, lila55]
Inkmesh search

Spoiler:

Condensed from the Wikipedia article:

The Chinese Maze Murders is a detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It was based on three actual cases from Chinese criminal investigations. The three mysteries: "The Case of the Sealed Room", "The Case of the Hidden Testament", and "The Case of the Girl with the Severed Head" are all based on actual Chinese murder casebooks. The book contains a postscript by the author on the Chinese Imperial Justice system (something that Van Gulik was an expert on).

Judge Dee is the magistrate in the fictional border town of Lan-fang. He confronts three mysteries involving poisoned plums, a mysterious scroll picture, passionate love letters, a hidden murder, and a ruthless robber. These are all somehow linked to the Governor's garden maze.

* A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin [beppe]
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Spoiler:

Editorial Reviews
Review
“Here is not merely an extraordinary first but an extraordinary suspense novel by the highest professional standards; and you have an evening of incomparable excitement ahead of you. Levin combines great talent for pure novel writing with strict whodunit tricks as dazzling as anything ever brought off by Ellery Queen or Agatha Christie.” —Anthony Boucher, The New York Times
*
“The book is a succession of quite legitimate surprises, the suspense is admirably sustained, the detail is thorough and convincing, and the writing is considerably above the level usually associated with fictional crime and passion. A pleasure to recommend.” —The New Yorker
Product Description
A modern classic, this novel set a*new standard in the art of mystery and suspense in its exploration of the criminal mind

A Kiss Before Dying not only debuted the talent of best-selling novelist Ira Levin to rave reviews and an Edgar Award, it also set a new standard in the art of psychological suspense. It tells the shocking tale of a young man who will stop at nothing—not even murder—to get where he wants to go. For he has dreams, plans. He also has charm, good looks, intelligence. And he has a problem. Her name is Dorothy; she loves him, and she’s pregnant. The solution may demand desperate measures. But, then, he looks like the kind of guy who could get away with murder.
About the Author
Ira Levin is the author of The Boys from Brazil, Rosemary’s Baby, Son of Rosemary, The Stepford Wives, This Perfect Day, Sliver, and A Kiss Before Dying (for which he won the Edgar Award). Levin was also the recipient of three Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Awards. His website is iralevin.org.

*** The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer [JSWolf, voodooblues, WT Sharpe]
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Spoiler:

In six minutes, one of us would be dead. None of us knew it was coming...

So says Wes Holloway, a once-cocky and ambitious presidential aide, about the day that changed his life forever. On that Fourth of July, Wes put Ron Boyle, the chief executive's oldest friend, into the presidential limousine. By the time the trip came to an end, Wes was permanently disfigured, and Boyle was dead, the victim of a crazed assassin.

Eight years later, Boyle is spotted, alive and well, in Malaysia. In that moment, Wes has the chance to undo the worst day of his life. Trying to figure out what really happened takes Wes back to a decade old presidential crossword puzzle, mysterious facts buried in Masonic history, and a two-hundred-year-old code invented by Thomas Jefferson.

But what Wes doesn't realize is that The Book of Fate holds everyone's secrets. Especially the ones worth dying for. The Book of Fate. What does it say about you?

*** The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson [voodooblues, The Terminator, VioletVal]
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Spoiler:

From Amazon:
An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.

Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

*** Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie [The Terminator, VioletVal, voodooblues]
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Spoiler:

Subjects: Mystery, Fiction, General Fiction, Mysteries / Crime
Description: E-book exclusive extras: Christie biographer Charles Osborne's essay on Murder on the Orient Express; "The Poirots": the complete guide to all the cases of the great Belgian detective. Just after midnight, a snowstorm stops the Orient Express dead in its tracks in the middle of Yugoslavia. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for this time of year. But by morning there is one passenger … more »less. A 'respectable American gentleman' lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Hercule Poirot is also aboard, having arrived in the nick of time to claim a second-class compartment -- and the most astounding case of his illustrious career. Regarding chronology: Agatha Christie seems not much concerned in the course of her books with their relationship to each other. It is why the Marples and the Poirots may be ready in any order, really, with pleasure. However, the dedicated Poirotist may wish to note that the great detective is returning from 'A little affair in Syria' at the start of Murder on the Orient Express. It is a piece of business after this 'little affair' -- the investigation into the death of an archaeologist's wife -- that is the subject of Murder in Mesopotamia (1936). If one wishes to delay a tad longer the pleasures of Orient Express, Murder in Mesopotamia, available as a PerfectBound e-book, offers no better opportunity. Of note: Murder on the Orient Express is one of Agatha Christie's most famous novels, owing no doubt to a combination of its romantic setting and the ingeniousness of its plot; its non-exploitative reference to the sensational kidnapping and murder of the infant son of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh only two years prior; and a popular 1974 film adaptation, starring Albert Finney as Poirot -- one of the few cinematic versions of a Christie work that met with the approval, however mild, of the author herself. (from Diesel eBook Store)

*** Bruno, Chief of Police: A Novel Of The French Countryside by Martin Walker [lila55, sun surfer, Asawi]
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Spoiler:

Policing in Chief Bruno Courrèges's sun-dappled patch of Périgord involves protecting local fromages from E.U. hygiene inspectors, orchestrating village parades and enjoying the obligatory leisurely lunch—that is, until the brutal murder of an elderly Algerian immigrant instantly jolts Walker's second novel (after The Caves of Périgord) from provincial cozy to timely whodunit. As a high-powered team of investigators, including a criminally attractive female inspector, invade sleepy St. Denis to forestall any anti-Arab violence, the amiable Bruno must begin regarding his neighbors—or should we say potential suspects—in a rather different light. Without sacrificing a soupçon of the novel's smalltown charm or its characters' endearing quirkiness, Walker deftly drives his plot toward a dark place where old sins breed fresh heartbreak (amazon.com)

* Quiller Barracuda by Adam Hall [GA Russell]
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Spoiler:

Subjects: Thrillers, Spy Stories & Tales Of Intrigue, Kindle Ebooks, Mystery & Thrillers
Description: Quiller's latest field mission on behalf of British Intelligence is to discover whether a fellow British agent, located in Miami, is secretly working for another government or organization. Quiller finds himself in the crosshairs of the Florida mafia, Soviet spies and a cabal bent on world domination as he struggles to uncover the truth. The 14th novel in the series that began with Edgar Award … more »winner THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM. "Hall has created a new form: the spy thriller that is all action and yet cerebral, a writing feat few can match." - The Boston Globe "Fast and tense. Quiller is one of suspense literature's great secret agents!" - Houston Chronicle "They don't get any tougher or more intelligent than the Quiller tales." - Rocky Mountain News "Quiller is by now a primary reflex." - Kirkus Reviews "Tension in a novel is difficult to maintain at a pitch that actually creates a physical impact on the reader. A few of the best writers can do it, and among them is Adam Hall." - London Times Literary Supplement "Tense, intelligent, harsh, surprising..." - The New York Times (Quiller is) "the greatest survival expert among contemporary secret agents." - The New York Times Elleston Trevor’s novels, plays, and short stories range from light, witty mysteries to dramas, usually about ordinary individuals experiencing extraordinary situations. To cover a wide diversity of subject matter Elleston wrote under various pseudonyms: Adam Hall, Trevor Burgess, Roger Fitzalan, Simon Rattray, Mansell Black, Caesar Smith, Howard North, Warwick Scott, and even a woman’s name, Leslie Stone. Elleston is best known for his classic, The Flight of the Phoenix, and for his nineteen novels about a spy named Quiller. In 1966, The Quiller Memorandum won the Edgar award for the best mystery of the year. The Flight of the Phoenix and Quiller Memorandum both became major motion pictures. The author was born Trevor Dudley Smith in London on February 17, 1920. He died in Scottsdale, Arizona, on July 21, 1995. (from Amazon.com)

* The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux [norway1456]
Inkmesh search | Mobi/PRC & ePub uploaded by crutledge

Spoiler:

This story is one of the first (if not the first) of the locked rooms mysteries. The victim is found murdered in a locked room. How did the murderer escape?

Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux (6 May 1868[1] – 15 April 1927) was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.
In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, 1910), which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, such as the 1925 film starring Lon Chaney; and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical.

This novel - the classic French detective story - was written in 1907 by Gaston Leroux, once a reporter who covered the famous trials of his time. (He also wrote THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.) Match your wits with his rival detectives - one amateur, one professional - as they try to crack the mystery. Mademoiselle Stangerson retires to bed in the Yellow Room. Suddenly revolver shots echo through the house and she screams for help. Her father and a servant run to the locked room where they find the wounded girl - alone. The only other exit, a window - barred. How had the assailant escaped?

*** Ghost Story: A Novel of the Dresden Files (The Dresden Files, Book #13) by Jim Butcher [alansplace, jgaiser, JSWolf]
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Spoiler:

Description: The eagerly awaited new novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series. When we last left the mighty wizard detective Harry Dresden, he wasn't doing well. In fact, he had been murdered by an unknown assassin. But being dead doesn't stop him when his friends are in danger. Except now he has nobody, and no magic to help him. And there are also several dark spirits roaming the … more »Chicago shadows who owe Harry some payback of their own. To save his friends-and his own soul-Harry will have to pull off the ultimate trick without any magic... Jim Butcher is a full-time writer who lives in Independence, Missouri, with his wife, son, and ferocious guard dog. (from Amazon.com)

*** Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book #1) by Jim Butcher [alansplace, Nyssa, JSWolf]
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Spoiler:

Description: My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. I'm a wizard. I work out of an office in midtown Chicago. As far as I know, I'm the only openly practicing professional wizard in the country. You can find me in the yellow pages, under Wizards. Believe it or not, I'm the only one there.With rent past due and a decent meal becoming an issue of some importance, … more »Harry needs work, and soon. A call from a distraught wife, and another from Lt Murphy of the Chicago PD Special Investigation Unit makes Harry believe things are looking up, but they are about to get worse, much worse. Someone is harnessing immense supernatural forces to commit a series of grisly murders. Someone has violated the first law of magic: Thou Shalt Not Kill. Tracking that someone takes Harry into the dangerous underbelly of Chicago, from mobsters. (from Audible.com)