Women Sleuths Detective

The fifth novel in New York Times best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith's beloved Isabel Dalhousie series has the ethical problem solver from Edinburgh finding comforts in unlikely places.

Pixie Pearson, ex-army, now turned private investigator has a new case. Her usual cases involve straying husbands, but it's a lost pet this time. Hot on the trail of the cute white pup with one black eye. She is besieged by pets, photocopiers, and kilt-wearing men. Follow Pixie's pursuit of dog nappers in this cosy crime story. This short, sharp, quick introduction to Pixie's life is the first in a series.

From a small town outside Edinburgh comes the news that a young boy has been recounting vivid recollections of a past life: a perfect description of an island off the coast of Scotland that he couldn't possibly know and a house there where he claims to have spent his former life. When the boy's mother asks Isabel to investigate his claims, she feels she must - of course! - help them learn the truth, and she and her husband, Jamie, set off for the island.

In the Spring of 1926, the corpses of three men are found in shallow graves off the beaten path in Epping Forest outside of London - each shot through the heart and bearing no identification. DCI Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, the lead detective, is immediately given two urgent orders by his supervisor at the Yard: solve the murders quickly and keep his wife, the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher, away from the case! Thankfully, Daisy's off visiting their daughter at school. But when a teacher is found dead, Daisy is once again in the thick of it.

It was summer in the mountains when five small children vanished from their nursery school picnic. The heat was stifling that day, the tinkle of an ice-cream van in the air.... Three-and-a-half years later, in the dead of winter, the children are returned to their families...one by one. All except for Ivy - the granddaughter of Homicide Detective Kate Wakeland. The other four children say Ivy is dead.

One afternoon over coffee at Cat’s delicatessen, a friend of Isabel’s shares a call for help from Duncan Munrowe. Crafty thieves have stolen a prized painting from his collection, a work by the celebrated French artist Nicolas Poussin that was earmarked for donation to the Scottish National Gallery. Munrowe has been approached by the thieves and hopes that Isabel will assist him in recovering the painting. Never one to refuse an appeal, she agrees, and discovers that the thieves may be closer to the owner than he ever would have expected.

Welcome to Sarah’s Eatery: serving hot breakfast daily, with complimentary curbside murder! When Cameron Caldwell, infamously bad waiter and known womanizer, is found dead on the doorstep of Sarah’s Eatery, new owner Kylie Berry yet again becomes the talk of the town. After very publically rejecting Cam’s amorous advances the day before his death, Zoey Jin, Kylie’s regular customer and fledgling best friend, becomes the prime suspect in his murder. To complicate matters, Zoey’s estranged ex, Max, breezes back into town to exonerate the woman he not long ago abandoned… "Winters ...

Christmas is just weeks away, but what Jacobia Jake Tiptree discovers at Faye Anne Carmody's house is far from festive: a dazed Faye Anne covered with blood. Her no-good husband, Merle--Eastport's butcher and least-liked citizen--is nowhere in sight. Nowhere, that is, until Jake finds his body--wrapped in his own butcher paper. It looks like an open-and-shut case, but Jake isn't convinced. Then another resident turns up dead, and Jake knows the trail doesn't begin--or end--with Merle.

An Unknown Caller Foretells an Act of Unspeakable Evil Criminal Psychologist Bridget Bishop returns to her role as a profiler in the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, determined to help U.S. Deputy Marshal Vic Santino identify and capture the twisted serial killer who murdered his wife. When the FBI opens a cold case investigation into the disturbing ritualistic killing that shocked the small town of Sparrow Springs eight years earlier, the unknown killer is drawn out of hiding just as a woman with a dark secret receives an ominous call. But the whispered warning comes too late, and Bridget...

For ex-Wall Streeter Jacobia Jake Tiptree and her teenage son, Sam, September promises tranquil days winter-proofing their rambling handyman's special of a home in Eastport, Maine. But there's nothing idyllic about this Down East autumn. For starters, the return of truly vicious native son Reuben Tate stirs up the town. And when somebody slits Reuben's throat and hangs his corpse on the cemetery gate, the police trace a bloodied scalpel to surgeon Victor Tiptree - Jake's former husband.

Isabel's life is thrown for a few loops when her cousin Mimi arrives from Dallas with her husband Joe. Through Mimi and Joe, Isabel meets Texas hotshot Tom Bruce, who is about to marry someone Isabel suspects of gold-digging. Further complicating matters, Tom seems to have an unusual level of interest in Isabel. Meanwhile, Isabel has her own feelings to deal with, not to mention those of her beloved niece Cat, whose romantic interest may not be up to snuff.

More malefaction, malevolence, and misdeeds rise to the surface as Holmes investigates. A complicated string of clues leads him to a ring of corrupt cops with a deadly agenda.

It was Beth Katz’s serial killer father who made her like she is: a successful FBI agent and an unstoppable vigilante dedicated to hunting down murderers who have evaded capture. Beth will push herself to the limits to deliver justice. Even if it means killing those who deserve to die.

SFPD Sergeant Lindsay Boxer has guns on her mind. There’s buzz of a last-ditch shipment of drugs and weapons crossing the Mexican border ahead of new restrictive gun laws. Before Lindsay can act, her top informant tips her to a case that hits disturbingly close to home. Former cops. Professional hits. All with the same warning scrawled on their bodies.

Scotland, 1912: When Maud and Daisy travel to Clachan Castle on the Isle of Mull to investigate the theft of a valuable statuette, at first the case seems straightforward. But when their prime suspect, bad-tempered fellow guest Mr Tremain, is found dead in his bed, the detective duo realise the castle is under attack… At first, it appears the murder is impossible. All the doors and windows to the room were locked from the inside, and there was no way for the killer to escape.

Isabel Dalhousie grapples with complex matters of the heart as she tries to juggle her responsibilities to friends, family, and the philosophical community. With two small boys to raise, a mountain or articles to edit for the Review of Applied Ethics, and the ever-increasing demands of her niece, Cat, who always seems to need a helping hand at the deli, Isabel barely has any time for herself. Her husband, Jamie, suggests acquiring extra help, and she reluctantly agrees.

The seventh Mary Russell novel finds her searching for the missing Kimball O'Hara, the famous "Kim" of the Rudyard Kipling novel.

Detective Josie Quinn lifts the baby from the pram, holding her close and gently soothing her. Josie scours the scene for the sweet little girl’s mother, but the park is deserted. Glancing down, something catches her eye. Nestled amongst the child’s soft pink blankets is a polaroid photo, the corner smudged with blood. The search for Cleo Tate has Josie and her team in a chokehold; the abandoned newborn needs her mother, and every second counts now lab results show the blood belongs to her. The blurred photo of a body of water is Josie’s only lead. But what does it mean?

Fall 1889: Lady Rotherton has arrived from London intent on chaperoning her niece Prudence through a New York social season to find a suitable husband. It's certainly not her niece's devilishly handsome partner in Hunter and MacKenzie Investigative Law. Aunt Gillian's eye for eligible suitors is surpassed only by her ability to discern genuine gems from nearly flawless fakes. At the Assembly Ball at Delmonico's, she effortlessly determines that the stones in the spectacular diamond waterfall necklace adorning the neck of the wife of banker William De Vries are fake.

Welcome to The Berry Home: where the food is to-die-for! When Kylie's friend Jack is accused of murder, she must go the distance to uncover the real killer... Meanwhile Kylie's nemesis, Detective Gregson, appears to be joining forces with her BFF Zoey - but to what end? "Winters will have you giggling into your book!" Zoey refuses to tell Kylie about Gregson's secret, leaving her to figure it out on her own. Meanwhile, the odds seem to be stacked against Kylie's friend Jack. He had every reason to want the horrible Gary dead - but then again, so did quite a few other people. Will Kylie ...