New Mysteries
Death of a Dreamer by M. C. Beaton.
Occasionally, the rugged landscape of Scotland attracts dreamers who move north, wrapped in fantasies of enjoying the simple life. They usually don+t last, defeated by the climate or by inhospitable locals. But it looks as if Effie Garrand has come to stay. When local constable Hamish Macbeth calls on her, he is amazed to find the small woman still in residence after a particularly hideous winter. Unfortunately, Effie is also quite delusional, having convinced herself-and everyone else-that local artist Jock Fleming is in love with her, and that they are engaged. After a huge fight with Jock, Effie is found in the mountains, poisoned by hemlock. Now, it+s up to Hamish Macbeth to find the dreamer+s killer-before any more nightmares unfold.
Mourners by Bill Pronzini.
“Nameless” had seen enough death in his years; spending his time watching someone drive to several funerals a day, funerals for people he didn’t know, was more than he could take. And he had a non-professional problem of his own: his relationship with his wife, Kerry, had hit a wall and nothing he did got him over it and to the other side. There was one possibility, one thing he’d done (or not done), but knowing that didn’t seem to help…
Nails by Peter Bowen.
A vanful of praying, protesting fundamentalist Christians has arrived in Toussaint at about the time that Gabriel Du Pre precocious granddaughter Pallas returns from her studies in Washington, DC. A young soldier follows, just back from Iraq missing a leg, an eye, and his grip on reality. Du Pre suspects that he's going to have his hands full for the forseeable future.First, graffiti appears on the door of a local church, and then a cryptic phone call from a missing girl causes concern in town. When a confluence of these strange events and even stranger people threatens problems that even laid back Du Pre can't ignore, another quirky, compelling, and purely enjoyable mystery unfolds in Peter Bowen's Montana, a land trouble tends to visit often, with unpredictable but fiercely entertaining results.
Old Wine Shades by Martha Grimes.