RNIB National Library
Service
Giant Print 24
Crime fiction
Ashton, David.
Shadow of the serpent: an inspector McLevy
mystery. 2007. 3v. McLevy mystery; book 1.
It's 1880 and Edinburgh is gripped by election
fever. But while the rich and educated argue
about politics, in the dank winds of the city it's a
struggle just to stay alive, especially when a
murderous madman seems to have resurfaced
after thirty years. A prostitute is brutally slain and
Inspector McLevy makes it his mission to find the
killer, having failed the first time round. But his
questioning leads him somewhere far more
dangerous than the labyrinth of Leith. It leads him
into a world of politics, perversion, deception and
mystery and into the shadow of the serpent.
Atkinson, Kate.
Case histories. 2004. 4v.
Jackson Brodie is making ends meet in a sweaty
Cambridge summer and trying to deal with his
own failed marriage. But if his life is adrift,
perhaps Brodie can justify his existence via his
belief that he can do some good for the people he
encounters in his job. But he is to find that he will
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be irrevocably changed by those he is trying to
help.
Contains language and scenes of a sexual nature
that some readers may find offensive.
Billingham, Mark
The burning girl. 2007. 4v.
Tom Thorne; book 4. Jessica Clarke had been set
alight twenty years ago. Her attacker, quickly
tracked down and eager to confess, was still in
jail. So who is harassing Carol Chamberlain, the
arresting officer in that case, and claiming that he
is the one who burned the girl? Now retired, Carol
turns to DI Tom Thorne for help.
Booth, Stephen
Dying to sin. 2007. 4v.
Ben Cooper and Diane Fry; book 8. For decades,
Pity Wood Farm has been a source of
employment for poor workers passing through
Rakedale. Now routine building work at the farm
has unearthed a human hand preserved in clay.
When police dig up the farmyard, they find two
bodies buried several years apart. With pressure
from a new Superintendent and scant forensic
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evidence to aid them, DS Diane Fry and DC Ben
Cooper have only the memories of local people to
piece together the history of the farm.
Chabon, Michael.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union. 2007. 4v.
For sixty years Jewish refugees and their
descendants have prospered in the Federal
District of Sitka. Proud, grateful and longing to be
American, the Jews of the Sitka District have
created their own little world in the Alaskan
panhandle, a vibrant, gritty, soulful and complex
frontier city that moves to the Yiddish beat. Now,
after sixty years of federal neglect, the District is
set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is
coming to an end. But homicide detective Meyer
Landsman has enough problems without worrying
about the upcoming Reversion.
Chandler, Raymond
The big sleep. 2008. 2v.
Philip Marlowe; book 1. Called in to deal with a
blackmailer, Marlowe follows a trail littered with
murder and deception. The story evokes the
essence of Southern California in the 30s.
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Chandler, Raymond
The long goodbye. 2005. 4v.
Philip Marlowe; book 7. Down-and-out drunk
Terry Lennox's millionaire wife is dead and he
needs to get out of LA fast. So he turns to his only
friend in the world: Philip Marlowe, Private
Investigator. He's willing to help a man down on
his luck, but later Lennox commits suicide in
Mexico and things start to turn nasty. Marlowe is
sure Lennox didn't kill his wife, but how many
more stiffs will turn up before he gets to the truth?
Chandler, Raymond
Farewell, my lovely. 1998. 3v.
Philip Marlowe; book 2. Philip Marlowe's
accidental entanglement with Moose Malloy
involves him in adventures which end in the
underworld of Los Angeles.
Connelly, Michael.
The brass verdict. 2008. 4v.
Harry Bosch; book 14. When down-at-heel lawyer
Mickey Haller gets the news that his old colleague
Jerry Vincent has died, he also gets an
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unexpected windfall. Jerry had left instructions
that Mickey should inherit all of his clients putting Mickey's stalled career back on track at a
stroke. Not only that, but Vincent was about to go
to bat for Walter Elliott, the Hollywood mogul
accused of brutally slaying his wife and her lover,
in a trial that promises big fees and an even
bigger place in the media spotlight. If Mickey
could find the magic bullet and win that one
against the odds, he'd really be back in the big
leagues. The only problem is that Vincent was
murdered, shot at close range in his office
garage. And the detective handling the case - a
certain Harry Bosch - is convinced the killer must
be one of Vincent's clients. Suddenly Jerry
Vincent's legacy is beginning to look more like a
poisoned chalice, and Mickey is faced with the
biggest challenge of his career: how to
successfully defend a client who might just be
planning to murder him.
Connelly, Michael.
The narrows. 2004. 4v.
Former FBI agent Rachel Walling is working a
dead-end stint in South Dakota when she gets the
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call she's been dreading for four years. The Poet
is back. And he has not forgotten Rachel. He has
a special present for her. Harry Bosch is adjusting
to life in Las Vegas as a private investigator and a
new father. He gets a call, too - from the widow of
a friend who died recently. Previously in his FBI
career, the friend worked on the famous case
tracking the killer known as The Poet.
Connelly, Michael.
Nine dragons. 2009. 4v.
Harry Bosch; book 15. The shooting of a Chinese
liquor store owner in LA brings Harry Bosch back
to the Rodney King riots and the moment a
stranger gave a young cop sanctuary. Now the
debt must be repaid, and Harry soon discovers
the old man's death was no ordinary holdup.
Homing in on clues disregarded by the cops on
the scene, Harry builds a picture of corruption and
intimidation, with the local Triads at the heart of it.
But as he tries to build a case and breach the
impenetrable wall of silence in the local
community, he finds he is taking a dragon by the
tail - a dragon whose talons reach well beyond
LA, and even the States. Suddenly the most
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precious thing in Harry's life is under threat, and
he will need to leave the familiarity of his home
turf, alone and without backup, if he is going to
stop his worst nightmare from happening.
Cornwell, Patricia D
Scarpetta. 2008. 4v.
Kay Scarpetta; book 16. Dr. Kay Scarpetta takes
up an assignment in New York City, where the
NYPD has asked her to examine an injured
patient in a psychiatric ward. The handcuffed and
chained patient, Oscar Bane, has specifically
asked for her, and the story he has to tell turns
out to be one of the most bizarre she has ever
heard.
Cornwell, Patricia.
The front. 2008. 2v.
Part of the Winston Garano series. Assumed to
be a victim of the Boston Strangler, blind Janie
Brolin was raped and left for dead in 1962. With
no DNA and sketchy police records, this is a case
that will take Garano on a journey through the
archives, into the latest innovations in forensic
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technology, and into partnership with senior
officers at London's New Scotland Yard.
Crane, Stephen
The red badge of courage. 2008. 2v.
This great classic of the American Civil War is
one of the most important accounts of the reality
of war and its aftermath. It deals with the effects
of war on one man, and speaks for a generation.
Deaver, Jeffrey.
The cold moon. 2007. 1v.
In the aftermath of two brutal New York City
murders, quadriplegic detective Lincoln Rhyme
and his team work doggedly to prevent additional
killings by a time-obsessed serial murderer.
Deaver, Jeffery.
The sleeping doll. 2008. 5v.
California Bureau of Investigation Special agent
Kathryn Dance is an expert in kinesics: the
science of interpreting behaviour. But she's up
against Daniel Pell, a master of control who
mesmerises, seduces and exploits people for his
own murderous ends. A convicted killer who is
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known as The Son of Manson for the chilling
parallels between him and the notorious ritual
murderer.To track down Pell before he destroys
yet more lives, Kathyn Dance must enlist the help
of four people from the killer's past. The three
women who lived under his sadistic sway in the
cult he once headed. And the young girl known as
the Sleeping Doll, the only survivor of her family's
slaughter at Pell's hands.
Doyle, Arthur Conan.
A study in scarlet. 2008. 2v.
In this, the first of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries,
Dr. Watson and Holmes meet and decide to take
rooms together at 221B, Baker Street. Almost
immediately the great detective tackles his first
case.
Doyle, Arthur Conan.
The adventures of Sherlock Holmes. 2008. 3v.
This book contains some of Sherlock Holmes'
most famous cases, including "The Engineer's
Thumb", "A Scandal in Bohemia" and ten other
intriguing tales.
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Doyle, Arthur Conan.
The hound of the Baskervilles. 1996. 2v.
The Baskerville family is haunted by a phantom
beast "with blazing eyes and dripping jaws" which
roams the mist-enshrouded moors around the
isolated Baskerville Hall on Dartmoor. Is this
devilish spectre the manifestation of a family
curse?
Ellory, R J
A simple act of violence. 2008. 6v.
Detective Robert Miller is assigned to the case of
a serial killer in Washington, at the time of midterm elections. Rapidly things begin to
complicate. The victims do not officially exist.
Their personal details do not register on any
known systems. As Miller unearths ever more
disturbing facts, he starts to face truths so farremoved from his own reality that he begins to
fear for his life.
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Evanovich, Janet.
Lean mean thirteen. 2008. 3v.
New secrets, old flames and hidden agendas are
about to send bounty hunter Stephanie Plum on
her most outrageous adventure yet.
Fyfield, Frances
Blood from stone. 2008. 3v.
Marianne Shearer is at the height of her career, a
dauntingly successful barrister, respected by her
peers and revered by her clients. So why has she
killed herself? Had this wholly professional and
unemotional lawyer been struck by guilt or
uncertainty, or is there some secret to be
discovered in her blandly comfortable private life?
Fairstein, Linda A
The kills. 2004. 4v.
Alex Cooper; book 6. Prosecuting Andrew
Tripping for the assault of Paige Vallis is already
hard enough for Assistant District Attorney
Alexandra Cooper. Without evidence or forensics,
Alex is pinning her hopes on two contrasting
individuals: Kevin Bessemer, Tripping's cellmate
at Rikers, who claims to have incriminating
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information; and Dulles, Tripping's ten-year-old
son, who was in the house on the night in
question. But on the way from Rikers to meet
Alex, Bessemer manages to escape. Then, as the
trial begins, a murder overtakes the events inside
the courtroom, and Alex is plunged into a race
against time to discover the truth.
Goddard, Robert
Past caring. 1987. 6v.
Martin Radford, disaffected and unemployed,
jumps at the chance to visit Madeira when he is
offered a lucrative commission to research the
mysterious resignation and subsequent obscure
retirement on Madeira of Edwardian cabinet
minister Edwin Strafford. However, his
investigation triggers a bizarre and inevitably
violent train of events.
Grafton, Sue
T is for trespass. 2008. 4v.
Kinsey Millhone; book 20. When her elderly
neighbour Gus has an accident, his niece
organises a nurse for him. Verifying a background
check on Solana Rojas doesn't turn up anything
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suspicious but Kinsey's not convinced. Especially
when Gus seems to be getting worse under his
nurse's tender care. Not only is Solana not who
she seems to be but she's more than able to play
Kinsey at her own game.
James, Peter
Dead simple. 2005. 4v.
DS Roy Grace series; book 1. It was a harmless
stag-night prank. But a few hours later, the groom
is left buried in a coffin and the four friends who
know where he is are dead. With three days until
the wedding, Detective Superintendent Grace
begins to investigate the shocking events of the
night in question. Contains strong language.
Hill, Reginald
A clubbable woman: a Dalziel and Pascoe
novel. 1994. 3v.
Dalziel and Pascoe; book 1. Home from the
Rugby Club after taking a nasty knock in a match,
Connon finds his wife even more
uncommunicative than usual. After passing out on
his bed for five hours, he comes downstairs to
discover communication has been cut off forever 14
by a hole in the middle of her forehead. Down at
the club passions run high, on and off the field.
Hoffman, Jilliane
Plea of insanity. 2007. 6v.
The perfect father and model husband, David
Marquette seemingly just snapped. His
experienced defence team claims paranoid
delusions caused by schizophrenia drove him to
slaughter his entire family, but his prosecutor
believes Marquette could be responsible for a
string of unsolved, brutal homicides.
James, P. D.
The lighthouse. 2006. 4v.
Adam Dalgliesh; book 13. Combe Island off the
Cornish coast has a bloodstained history of piracy
and cruelty but now, privately owned, it offers
respite to over-stressed men and women. But the
peace of Combe is violated when one of the
distinguished visitors is bizarrely murdered. Adam
Dalgliesh has hardly begun to unravel the mystery
when there is a second brutal killing.
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James, P. D.
The private patient. 2009. 4v.
Adam Dalgliesh; book 14. When the notorious
investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn booked
into Mr Chandler-Powell's private clinic in Dorset
for the removal of a disfiguring facial scar, she
had every prospect of a successful operation by a
distinguished surgeon, and the beginning of a
new life. She was never to leave Cheverell Manor
alive. Dalgliesh and his team, called in to
investigate the murder.
Jardine, Quintin.
Aftershock. 2008. 5v.
Still reeling from the tragic death of their muchloved colleague, Skinner's men are about to
discover that a disturbed serial killer is still at
large and very close to home. It's the second
week of July Trades holiday in Edinburgh and
things seem very quiet. Until, that is, DCC Bob
Skinner and his men get a call informing them
that the body of a young woman has been found
on a golf course. It's been there for ten days so
she's not a pretty sight. But the way she has been
laid out is uncannily familiar. The body has been
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'composed', just like the bodies of three other
young women in a previous case.
Joseph, Alison.
Shadow of death. 2008. 3v.
Sister Agnes is supervising the distribution of a
library before the building in which it is housed is
demolished to make way for a new
developement. There is a clinic dealing with
mental health issues in the same building. Things
are progressing well until one of the clinic patients
is murdered on Agne's doorstep, and her small
daughter disappears along with a member of
Agnes' convent. The house appears to be
haunted and Agnes finds a disturbing diary
belonging to a former owner.
Le Carré, John
The spy who came in from the cold. 2006. 2v.
George Smiley series. Cold War between spy and
counterspy, played between the Berlin Wall and
British Control in London.
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La Plante, Lynda
Above suspicion. 2008. 4v.
Anna Travis; book 1. Young Anna Travis has
been assigned to her first murder case - a series
of killings that started eight years ago - the body
count is up to six. The method of killing is
identical, the backgrounds of the girls identical all drug-users and prostitutes. Then a seventh
body is found. The modus operandi is the same but the victim is a young student with the 'face of
an angel'.
La Plante, Lynda
The red dahlia. 2007. 4v.
Anna Travis; book 2. When the body of a young
girl is found dumped on the banks of the Thames,
even the police are shocked. Horrifically
mutilated, severed in half and drained of blood,
her death is an ominous mirror image of an
infamous 1940s case in Los Angles known as the
'The Black Dahlia'. Detective Inspector Anna
Travis is brought in on the case.
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Kernick, Simon.
Relentless. 2007. 3v.
John Meron, a happily married father of two who's
never been in trouble, receives a phone call that
will change his life for ever: his friend Jack Calley,
a high-flying City lawyer, is screaming down the
phone for help. As Meron listens, Calley is
murdered. His last words, spoken to his killer, are
the first two lines of Meron's address. Confused
and terrified, Meron scoops up his children and
hurries out of the house. Within minutes, a car
pulls up outside, and three men get out. He's
being hunted and has no idea why. With his wife
missing, an unidentified corpse in her office and
the police after him for murder, his life's about to
get one hell of a lot worse.
Manotti, Dominique
Lorraine connection. 2008. 2v.
When a cathode ray tube factory in a small
French town is hit first by a strike and then by a
suspicious fire, the battle for the take-over of the
plant's beleaguered parent company heats up.
Alcatel calls in its intrepid head of security
Charles Montoya to investigate. He soon
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uncovers explosive revelations and a trail of
murders, dirty tricks, blackmail, and corporate
malfeasance.
McEwan, Ian.
The child in time. 1997. 2v.
Stephen Lewis, a successful author of children's
books, takes his 3-year-old daughter on a routine
Saturday morning trip to the supermarket. While
waiting in line, his attention is distracted and his
daughter is kidnapped. From there, Lewis spirals
into bereavement that has effects on his
relationship with his wife, his psyche and time
itself.
McDermid, Val.
A darker domain. 2008. 4v.
It seemed like an unsolvable mystery at the time:
a wealthy heiress and son kidnapped in Fife, then
a botched payoff, leaving her dead with no trace
of the child. So when, over twenty-five years later,
a possible clue is discovered by a journalist in
Tuscany, cold case expert DI Karen Pirie doesn't
hold much hope of unravelling the infamous
enigma.
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Mills, Mark
The savage garden. 2007. 3v.
Behind a villa in the heart of Tuscany lies a
Renaissance garden of enchanting beauty. Its
grottoes, pagan statues and classical inscriptions
seem to have a secret message for those with
eyes to read it. Young scholar Adam Strickland
arriving in 1958, finds the Docci family, their
house and the unique garden as seductive as
each other. But the Doccis have some dark
skeletons hidden away which Adam finds himself
compelled to investigate.
Mitchell, Dreda Say.
Running hot. 2004. 4v.
Schoolboy Campbell (actually a black man aged
twenty-nine) is trying to turn his life around after a
long spell of petty crime and prison. He's learned
how to cook, and a mate has promised him a job
in a new restaurant down in sunny, peaceful
Devon. There's one proviso: Schoolboy has to
take his own set of knives. How can he possibly
afford such a luxury? He will not housebreak or
deal drugs again. But when he finds a mobile
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phone on a dead man, Schoolboy is tempted. The
only problem is, when he tries to fence it, he finds
two separate gangs of very unpleasant people are
after him.
Poe, Edgar Allan.
The murders in the Rue Morgue: the Dupin
tales. 2009. 2v.
Edgar Allan Poe invented the genre of detective
fiction with these three mesmerising stories of a
young French eccentric named C.Auguste Dupin:
The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of
Marie Rogêt and The Purloined Letter.
Prado, Benjamin.
Snow is silent. 2005. 2v.
The story concerns three friends, one of whom,
an unassuming insurance clerk, becomes
enthralled with a glamorous young woman who
entices him to kill her abusive husband. Once the
murder has occurred she disappears and the
clerk finds himself falling into an abyss of betrayal
masterminded by one of his friends - who is also
the narrator of the story and whose identity is
revealed in the closing pages of the novel.
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Pynchon, Thomas.
Inherent vice. 2009. 4v.
Private eye Doc Sportello comes, occasionally,
out of a marijuana haze to watch the end of an
era as free love slips away and paranoia creeps
in with the L.A. fog. It's been awhile since Doc
Sportello has seen his ex-girlfriend. Suddenly out
of nowhere she shows up with a story about a plot
to kidnap a billionaire land developer whom she
just happens to be in love with.
Rankin, Ian.
A cool head. 2009. 1v.
Gravy worked in the graveyard - hence the name.
He was having a normal day until his friend Benjy
turned up in a car Gravy didn't recognise. Benjy
had a bullet hole in his chest, but lived just long
enough to ask Gravy to hide him and look after
his gun. Gravy's not too bright but he wants to
help his friend. So Gravy finds himself caught up
in the middle of a robbery gone wrong, a woman
who witnessed a murder, and some very
unpleasant men who will do anything to get back
the money Benjy stole.
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Rankin, Ian.
Doors open. 2009. 3v.
Mike Mackenzie is a self-made man with too
much time on his hands and a bit of the devil in
his soul. He is looking for something to liven up
the days and settles on a plot to rip-off the
National Gallery of Scotland. So he devises a
plan to lift some of the most valuable artwork
around. But the real trick is to rob the place for all
its worth whilst persuading the world that no crime
was ever committed.
Rees, Matt
The Bethlehem murders: an Omar Yussef
novel. 2007. 2v.
Omar Yussef; book 1. For decades, Omar Yussef
has taught history to the children of Bethlehem.
When a favourite former pupil, George Saba, is
arrested for collaborating with the Israelis in the
killing of a Palestinian guerrilla, Yussef is
convinced that he has been framed. It is up to
Omar to act, even as bloodshed and heartbreak
surround him. Contains strong language
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Reichs, Kathy
206 bones. 2009. 3v.
Temperance Brennan; book 12. Dr Temperance
Brennan is accused of mishandling the autopsy of
a missing heiress. Before Tempe can get to the
one man with information, he's dead. Back in
Montreal, three more women have died, their
bodies brutally discarded and Tempe is convinced
there's a link between their deaths and that of the
heiress.
Reichs, Kathy.
Break no bones. 2006. 4v.
It's the second-to-last day of archaeological field
school - the students are working on a site of
prehistoric graves on Dewees, a barrier island
north of Charleston, South Carolina, when a much
more recent burial is uncovered...The skeleton is
articulated, the bone fresh and the vertebrae still
connected by soft-tissue - it's a case forensic
anthropologist Temperance Brennan has to take.
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Rendell, Ruth
A new lease of death. 2009. 2v.
Inspector Wexford; book 2. Of course Chief
Inspector Wexford remembered the Painter case;
it was the first murder case he had handled on his
own. More than fifteen years later, the case is to
be dug up again; there is someone who wants it
retraced and re-examined and who wants
Wexford proved wrong.
Sansom, C. J.
Revelation. 2008. 5v.
Shardlake; book 4. King Henry VIII is wooing
Lady Catherine Parr, Archbishop Cranmer is
watching keenly, for Lady Catherine is known to
have reformist sympathies. When an old friend is
horrifically murdered Matthew Shardlake
promises his widow, he will bring the killer to
justice. His search leads him to both Cranmer and
Catherine Parr - and with the dark prophecies of
the Book of Revelation.
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Slaughter, Karin
Skin privilege. 2007. 4v.
Grant County; book 6. Lena Adams has spent her
life struggling to escape her past. She has only
unhappy memories of Reece, the small town
which nearly destroyed her. A vicious murder
leaves a young woman incinerated beyond
recognition. And Lena is the only suspect.
Tomlin, Jenny
Sweetie. 2008. 3v.
A series of horrific assaults on young children
spreads through an East End community, each
one more brutal. In a battle to protect their
families - and seek revenge - it is the women of
the community who make sure the attacker gets
his just desserts.
Vargas, Fred.
The chalk circle man. 2009. 2v..
When strange blue chalk circles start appearing
overnight on the pavements of Paris, the press
take up the story with amusement and
psychiatrists trot out their theories. Adamsberg is
alone in thinking this is not a game and far from
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amusing. Adamsberg senses the cruelty that lies
behind these seemingly random occurrences.
Soon a circle with decidedly less banal contents is
discovered: the body of a woman with her throat
savagely cut. Adamsberg knows that other
murders will follow.
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