1. A river in the sky, Elizabeth Peters
Amelia and Emerson follow an expedition searching for the vanished treasures of the Temple in Jerusalem. Besides suspecting the leader of the expedition of inept excavation practices, they believe him to be secretly working for German intelligence.
2. Death at La Fenice, Donna Leon
When renowned opera conductor Helmut Wellauer is found dead in his dressing room, the victim of cyanide poisoning, Guido Brunetti, the Vice Commissario of the Venice police, must sift through several suspects
3. Long time no see, Ed McBain
Carella and the detectives of the 87th Precinct search for the killer of a blind Vietnam veteran, Jimmy Harris, and his blind wife, and the only clue to the crime lies in a chilling nightmare that Jimmy had described to an Army psychiatrist a decade earlier.
4. Rattlesnake crossing, Judith A. Jance
The hardworking single mother of a young daughter, Joanna Brady still feels the acute pain of loneliness and loss, and the hole that was left in her heart when her policeman husband was brutally murdered. But Sheriff Brady is the law in Cochise County, and she will never allow her private trials to interfere with the job she was elected to perform--especially now that murder has shattered the small town's fragile peace. (amazon)
5. Slightly shady, Amanda Quick
Amanda Quick's bestselling trademark is a combination of suspense and passion in historical tales alight with sparkling wit and brimming with dangerous intrigue. Now she serves up the most tantalizing novel of her career as an enterprising woman allies herself with a mysterious spy, only to be caught in a seething brew of treachery — and temptation.... (amazon)
6. In the woods, Tana French
As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours. (amazon)
7. Still life, Louise Penny
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of Canada's Sûreté du Quebec is called to Three Pines, a tiny hamlet south of Montreal, to investigate the suspicious hunting "accident" that claimed the life of Jane Neal, a local fixture in the village.
8. Three men out, Rex Stout
Nero Wolfe and sidekick Archie Goodwin attempt to solve three puzzling cases of murder: in one, a person's questions lead to his death; another finds a man killed in a soundproof office; and in the last, a baseball rookie is removed from the lineup through murder. (amazon)
9. Tea time for the traditionally built, Alexander McCall Smith
Precious Ramotswe tries to recover her trusty white van after her husband sells it and replaces it with a characterless modern vehicle, while The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency tries to discover if a local football team's games are fixed.
10. Acqua alta, Donna Leon
Venice detective Guido Brunetti swings into action when the curator of Venice's most prestigious museum turns up dead, bludgeoned by a priceless artifact, and American archaelogist Brett Lynch, a close friend, narrowly escapes the killer. (amazon)
