Amateur Sleuths Booklist

A list of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist (BL), Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus, and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on this list. Titles are alphabetically by author.Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless noted.
  • Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell
    Author: Beaton, M.C.
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312207662 Date: 2001
    starBooklist
    Recently married to James Lacey, amateur sleuth Agatha Raisin quickly finds that marriage is not all it's cracked up to be. The newlyweds are living in separate cottages and each suspects the other of having an affair. When James turns up missing, a blood stain the only evidence, Agatha is determined to find her husband.
    Suggested Reading: Traditional British
    Updated 8/27/01
  • The Hanging in the Hotel: Fethering
    Author: Brett, Simon
    Publisher: Prime Crime $ 23.95 ISBN: 0425196518 Date: 2004
    starBooklist
    A group of local businessmen has descended upon the hotel where Jude is waitressing as a favor to a friend. In this installment of the Fethering mystery series, Jude suspects foul play as a new member tries to join the group.
    Updated 7.6.04
  • Double Shot
    Author: Davidson, Diane Mott
    Publisher: Morrow $ 24.95 ISBN: 0060527293 Date: 2004
    starPW
    "Today's foremost practitioner of the culinary whodunit" (Entertainment Weekly) whips up a rich souffle of murder and mischief as her trusty heroine Goldy Schultz gets caught up in a web of secrets and lies that could tear her family apart.
    Suggested Reading: Cooked Books
    Updated 9.18.04
  • The Cold Blue Blood: Berger & Mitry
    Author: Handler, David
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312280033 Date: 2001
    starKirkus
    From Edgar Award-winning author Handler comes a fresh new mystery series starring a highly mismatched romantic duo who team up to solve the mystery of the dead man in the vegetable garden.
    Updated 8/23/01
  • Engaged to Die: A Death on Demand Mystery
    Author: Hart, Carolyn
    Publisher: Morrow $ 23.95 ISBN: 006000469x Date: 2003
    starPW
    "The reigning monarch of the amateur sleuth mystery" (Cleveland Plain Dealer) and the multiple winner of the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards serves up a deadly and delightful new tale.
    Updated 2.20.03
  • Murder Off Mike: A Talk Radio Mystery
    Author: Krieg, Joyce
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312310269 Date: 2003
    starPW starBooklist
    The winner of the 2002 St. Martin's Press/Malice Domestic Contest for Best First Traditional Mystery introduces Shauna J. Bogart, a smart, sassy radio talk show host at Sacramento's top-rated local station who launches her own investigation into the "suicide" of a fellow shock jock.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction & Mystery Debuts
    Updated 3.27.03
  • Dead Clever
    Author: Thomas, Scarlett
    Publisher: Justin Charles $ 24.95 ISBN: 1932112014 Date: 2003
    starLibrary Journal
    Lily Pascale is the hippest new heroine to come from London since Bridget Jones. In her first mystery, she finds herself smack in the middle of a real life crime--Stephanie Duncan's decapitated corpse has just turned up on campus!
    Updated 1.16.03