by K. K. Beck (1996)
What would you expect at a seafood convention in Seattle? A lot of cold fish? Certainly not a red-hot murder . . . and another hopeless case for detective Jane da Silva to solve. Jane--who can only collect on her trust fund by investigating for her family's nonprofit Bureau for Righting Wrongs--is broke and back to singing the blues (professionally). She's belting out "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" in the convention's hotel lounge when a young woman turns up murdered in the hospitality suite bathtub. Is this a crime of passion among fish lovers? Jane quickly agrees to help the girl's grieving parents investigate their daughter's life and death. Now she's knee-deep in slippery suspects and in a stew about following the most attractive one, a Shetland Islands salmon farmer, back to his castle. But in for a penny, in for a pound (of cold smoked, of course), she's about to sniff out a bizarre secret that can rock the salmon industry and reel in a killer . . . or a lover. She just hopes they're not the same man.
J.M. Redmann
New Orleans private detective Micky Knight has been hired to provide security for an exclusive party on the bucolic side of Lake Ponchartrain--the ideal job. But murder crashes this perfect party when the body of a young woman is found in the surrounding woods. Back in the city, Micky's former lover, Dr. Cordelia James discovers another body at her clinic.
Sara Paretsky
How do you look for someone who vanished four decades ago? And how do you deal with the news that your father might have been a cop on the take? Ask V.I. Warshawski.
Alexander McCall Smith
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective AgencyFor All Confidential Matters and InquiriesSatisfaction Guaranteed for all PartiesUnder Personal ManagementThe phenomenal success of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency continues with the bestselling Kalahari Typing School for Men, the fourth book in the series.Mma Precious Ramotswe is content. Her business is well established with many satisfied customers, and in her mid-thirties ("the finest age to be") she has a house, two adopted children, a fine fiance. But, as always, there are troubles. Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni has not set the date for their marriage. Her able assistant, Mma Makutsi, wants a husband. And worse, a rival detective agency has opened in town--an agency that does not have the gentle approach to business that Mma Ramotswe's does. But, of course, Precious will manage these things, as she always does, with her uncanny insight and her good heart.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Carol Higgins Clark
Tracing their ancestry to a small Dublin town while honeymooning in Ireland, newlyweds Regan and Jack Reilly learn disturbing information about their families, a discovery with which they are aided by Jack's colleagues at the Major Case Squad.