Murder by the Book - Regina Public Library’s mystery discussion group
The Body in the Big Apple: Mysteries Set in New York
The Body in the Big Apple list just grazes the surface of mysteries set in
the city that never sleeps. To quote the title of one of Lawrence Block’s
Matt Scudder novels, there are Eight Million Ways to Die.
This list includes series that are still ongoing or have been published in the
last ten years, except for a few classics (Ed McBain, Rex Stout, Mickey
Spillane). For a more complete list, especially of the older series, go to the
Stop, You’re Killing Me! Website (stopyourekillingme.com) and find New York
in the Location Index on the left side of the web page.
When there is a long series, only the first and last series titles are given (or
in some cases, the first book and last book in RPL’s collection)
Anderson, Sheryl J. (Molly Forrester, an advice columnist)
- Killer Heels (2004)
- Killer Cocktail (2005)
- Killer Deal (2006)
- Killer Riff (2007)
Barbieri, Maggie(Alison Bergeron, a newly divorced English professor at
St. Thomas, a small Catholic college in the Bronx)
- Murder 101 (2006)
- Extracurricular Activities (2007)
Black, Ethan (Conrad Voort, NYPD's richest detective)
- The Broken Hearts Club (1999)
- At Hell’s Gate (2004)
Block, Lawrence (John Keller, a hit-man)
- Hit Man (1998) [Short stories]
- Hit List (2000)
- Hit Parade (2006)
- Hit and Run (2008)
Block, Lawrence (Bernie Rhodenbarr, a burglar and bookseller)
- Burglars Can’t Be Choosers (1977)
Many in between
- The Burglar on the Prowl (2004)
Block, Lawrence (Matt Scudder, a reformed alcoholic and unlicensed
private eye)
- The Sins of the Fathers (1976)
- Time to Murder and Create (1976)
- A Stab in the Dark (1981)
- Eight Million Ways To Die (1982)
Many in between
- All the Flowers Are Dying (2005)
Bowen, Rhys (Molly Murphy, an Irish immigrant who wants to be a private
investigator, set in early 20th-century New York City)
- Murphy’s Law (2001)
Several in between
- Tell Me, Pretty Maiden (2008)
Burke, Alafair (NYPD detective Ellie Hatcher)
- Dead Connection (2007)
- Angel’s tip (2008)
Cabot, Meg (Heather Wells, a former teen pop star turned private
investigator)
- Size 12 Is Not Fat (2006)
- Size 14 Is Not Fat Either (2006)
- Big Boned (2007)
Carrington, Tori (Sofie Metropolis, a Greek-American private
investigator, in Queens)
- Sofie Metropolis (2006)
- Dirty Laundry (2006)
- Foul Play (2007)
- Working Stiff (2008)
Chazin, Suzanne (Georgia Skeehan, a rookie fire marshal)
- The Fourth Angel (2001)
- Flashover (2002)
- Fireplay (2003)
Cohen, Gabriel: Red Hook (2001) Solving the murder of a young Hispanic
man becomes an obsession for Brooklyn homicide detective Jack
Leightner, threatening his career and, ultimately his life.
Coyle, Cleo (Clare Cosi, manager of the Village Blend, a landmark
coffeehouse in Greenwich Village; the Coffeehouse mysteries)
- On What Grounds (2003)
Several in between
- French Pressed (2008)
- Espresso Shot (2008) on order
Cray, David (Julie Brennan, a NYPD detective)
- Little Girl Blue (2001)
- What You Wish For (2002)
Cross, Amanda (Kate Fansler, a university English professor)
- In the Last Analysis (1964)
Many in between
- The Edge of Doom (2002)
Darnton, John: Black and White and Dead All Over (2008) New York
Globe 's investigative reporter Jude Hurley looks into the murder
of an editor
Deaver, Jeffrey (Rune, an aspiring filmmaker with punk tendencies)
- Manhattan Is My Beat (1989)
- Death of a Blue Movie Star (1990)
- Hard News (1991)
Deaver, Jeffery (Lincoln Rhyme, a disabled ex-head of NYPD forensics,
and Amelia Sachs, a rookie beat cop)
- The Bone Collector (1997)
Several in between
- The Cold Moon (2006)
- The Broken Window (2008)
Donohue, John (Connor Burke, a part-time university instructor and
martial-arts student, and his teacher, master warrior Yamashita
Sensei)
- Sensei (2003)
- Deshi (2006)
Edghill, Rosemary (Karen Hightower also known as Bast, a white witch
and graphic designer)
- Speak Daggers to Her (1994)
- The Bowl of Night (1996)
- Bell, Book and Murder (1998) omnibus includes Speak daggers to her;
Book of moons; The Bowl of Night. on order
Eichler, Selma (Desiree Shapiro, a 5' 2" queen-sized private investigator)
First book: Murder Can Kill Your Social Life (1994)
- Murder Can Rain on Your Shower (2003)
Several in between
- Murder Can Crash Your Party (2008)
Fairstein, Linda (Alex Cooper, Assistant District Attorney)
- Final Jeopardy (1996)
Several in between
- Killer Heat (2008)
Fusilli, Jim (Terry Orr, a newly-licensed private investigator, and his
daughter Bella, in Manhattan)
- Closing Time (2001)
- A Well-Known Secret (2002)
- Tribeca Blues (2003)
- Hard, Hard City (2004)
Gaylin, Alison (Samantha Leiffer, a preschool teacher)
- Hide Your Eyes (2005)
- You Kill Me (2005)
Glass, Leslie (April Woo, police officer) First book: Burning Time (1993)
- Judging Time (1998)
Many in between
- A Clean Kill (2005)
Haiblum, Isidore (Morris Weiss, a “Yiddish detective” at Weiss and
Weiss, in 1950s New York City)
- New York Confidential (2005)
- Murder in Gotham (2008)
Hall, Parnell (Stanley Hastings, actor and private investigator) First book:
Detective (1987)
- Favor (1988)
Many in between
- Hitman (2007)
Hawke, Richard (Fritz Malone, a private investigator, and bastard son of
a former police commissioner)
- Speak of the Devil (2006)
- Cold Day in Hell (2007)
Hayter, Sparkle (Robin Hudson, a cable news reporter)
- What’s a Girl Gotta Do? (1994)
- Nice Girls Finish Last (1996)
- Revenge of the Cootie Girls (1997)
- The Last Manly Man (1998)
- The Chelsea Girl Murders (2000)
Hitchcock, Jane Stanton (Jo Slater, a sociopathic socialite)
- Social Crimes (2002)
- One Dangerous Lady (2005)
Huston, Charlie (Henry Thompson, a former high school star baseball
player, now a bartender with a drinking problem in Paul's Place, on
the Lower East Side of Manhattan) note: not for the squeamish,
especially if you’re a cat lover. First book: Caught Stealing (2004)
- Six Bad Things (2005)
- A Dangerous Man (2006)
Huston, Charlie (Joe Pitt, a rogue private investigator and vampire)
- Already Dead (2005)
- No Dominion (2006)
Jahn, Michael (Bill Donovan, Chief of Special Investigation, in New York
City) First book: Night Rituals (1982)
- Murder at the Museum of Natural History (1994)
Several in between
- Murder in Coney Island (2003)
Karp, Larry (Dr. Thomas Purdue, a neurologist and antique music box
collector-restorer)
- The Music Box Murders (1999)
- Scamming the Birdman (2001)
- The Midnight Special (2001)
Killian, Diana (Anna Jolie Alexandra, a 30-something marketing consultant
in Manhattan, in the Yoga mysteries)
- Corpse Pose (2008)
Kellerman, Jesse: The Genius (2008) When a retired cop recognizes the
faces of murdered children in an art gallery exhibit, he and his
assistant DA daughter Susan begin a search to find the artist of
the portraits--and possibly crack open a forty-year murder case.
Klensch, Elsa (Sonya Iverson, producer of the network newsmagazine
“The Donna Fuller Show”)
- Live at 10:00, Dead at 10:15 (2004)
- Shooting Script (2005)
- Take Two (2007)
Lehane, Cornelius (Brian McNulty, a bartender in 1980s Manhattan,)
- Beware the Solitary Drinker (2002)
- What Goes Around Comes Around (2005)
- Death at the Old Hotel (2007)
Mahoney, Dan (Brian McKenna, a police detective) First book: Detective
First Grade (1993)
- Edge of the City (1995)
- Justice (2003)
Marcuse, Irene (Anita Servi, a social worker tending the elderly in
Manhattan)
- The Death of an Amiable Child (2000)
- Guilty Mind (2001)
- Consider the Alternative (2002)
- Under the Manhattan Bridge (2004)
Martin, Rosemary (Bebe Bennett, executive secretary in a modeling
agency in 1960s New York City in the Murder a-Go-Go Series) First
book: It's a Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod Murder (2005)
- Twist and Shout Murder (2006)
- Secret Agent Girl (2007)
Martinez, Michele (Melanie Vargas, a federal prosecutor in the U.S.
Attorney’s office in Manhattan)
- Most Wanted (2005)
- The Finishing School (2006)
- Cover-Up (2007)
- Notorious (2008)
Matetsky, Amanda (Paige Turner, a mystery novelist and crime reporter,
and a Korean War widow, in 1950s New York City) First book:
Murderers Prefer Blondes (2003)
- Murder Is a Girl's Best Friend (2004)
- How To Marry a Murderer (2005)
- Murder on a Hot Tin Roof (2006)
McBain, Ed (The 87th Precinct cops in Isola, New York)
- Cop Hater (1956)
Many in between
- The Frumious Bandersnatch (2004)
- Hark! (2004)
- Fiddlers (2005)
McCrea, Grant (Rick Redman, a lawyer, drinker, rookie investigator,
father, and poker hound)
- Dead Money (2006)
McKinty, Adrian (Michael Forsythe, an illegal immigrant from Belfast,
Northern Ireland, in New York City)
- Dead I Well May Be (2003)
The Dead Yard (2006) RPL does not have
- The Bloomsday Dead (2007)
Meyers, Annette (Olivia Brown, a bohemian poet and women’s rights
advocate in 1920s Greenwich Village)
- Free Love (1999)
- Murder Me Now (2001)
Michaels, Kasey (Maggie Kelly, a writer of historical romances, dumped by
her publisher, starts writing mysteries)
- Maggie Needs an Alibi (2002)
Several in between
- Bowled Over (2007)
Nadelson, Reggie (Artie Cohen, a Moscow-born NYPD cop, later a private
investigator) First book: Red Mercury Blues (1995)
- Hot Poppies (1997)
Several in between
- Fresh Kills (2006)
O’Connor, Jane (single Jewish mom Rannie Bookman)
- Dangerous Admissions: Secrets of a Closet Sleuth (2007)
Peacock, Justin: A Cure for Night (2008) lawyer Joel Deveraux in
Brooklyn. Publishers Weekly : Joel is assigned to assist the Public
Defender in defending a young black man charged with the shooting
death of a white college student
Queen, Ellery (Ellery Queen, author in Manhattan) First book: The Roman
Hat Mystery (1929)
- The Dutch Shoe Mystery (1931)
Many in between
- The Fourth Side of the Triangle (1965)
Rand, Naomi (Emma Price, the newly divorced investigator for New York
Capital Crimes)
- The One that got away (2001)
- Stealing for a Living (2003)
- It’s Raining Men (2005)
Reuben, Shelly: Weeping (2004) Fritillary “Tilly” Quilter, an arson
investigator, and Isaac Blessing, a private detective
Robb, J.D. (NYPD detective Eve Dallas, set in the future - 2060 New
York)
- Naked in Death (1995)
Many in between
- Strangers in Death (2008)
Rozan, S. J. (Lydia Chin, a 30-something Chinese American private eye,
and Bill Smith, a 40-something Army brat private eye)
- China Trade (1994)
Several in between
- Winter and Night (2002)
Santlofer, Jonathan (Kate McKinnon, a former NYPD cop who traded in
her badge for a PhD in art history)
- The Death Artist (2002)
- Color Blind (2004)
- The Killing Art (2005)
Santlofer, Jonathan (Nate Rodriguez, a talented NYPD police sketch
artist)
- Anatomy of Fear (2007)
- The Murder Notebook (2008)
Scoppettone, Sandra (Faye Quick, a private investigator in 1940s New
York City)
- This Dame for Hire (2005)
- Too Darn Hot (2006)
Silvis, Randall (author Edgar Allan Poe, in 1800s New York City)
- Disquiet Heart (2001)
- On Night’s Shore (2002)
Solomita, Stephen: Monkey in the Middle (2008) a hard-boiled noir with
all the ingredients: “a racketeer, a hit man and a bent cop” Kirkus
Reviews
Soos, Troy (Rebecca Davies, a child of privilege running a home for
desperate women, and Marshall Webb, a freelance reporter for
Harper’s Weekly who secretly pens dime novels, set in 1890s New
York) First book: Island of Tears (2001)
- The Gilded Cage (2002)
Burning Bridges (2004) RPL does not have this book
- Streets of Fire (2008)
Spiegelman, Peter (John March, the black sheep of a staid merchantbanking family, now an ex-deputy sheriff working as a private
investigator, in Manhattan)
- Black Maps (2003)
- Death’s Little Helpers (2005)
- Red Cat (2007)
Spillane, Mickey (Mike Hammer, a private eye) First book: I, the Jury
(1947)
- One Lonely Night (1951)
Many in between
- Black Alley (1996)
Sprague, Gretchen (retired attorney Martha Patterson) First book:
Death in Good Company (1997)
- Maquette for Murder (2000)
- Murder in a Heat Wave (2003)
Stella, Charlie: Cheapskates (2005) ex-con and former city bus driver
Reese Waters is determined find out who killed his cellmate and
friend on the day they were released from prison
Stout, Rex (Nero Wolfe, a private investigator, orchid cultivator, and
gourmet, and his assistant, Archie Goodwin) First book: Fer-deLance (1934) also published as Meet Nero Wolfe (194?)
- Too Many Women (1947)
Many in between
- Please Pass the Guilt (1973)
Tanenbaum, Robert K. (Roger “Butch” Karp, Criminal Courts Bureau chief,
and Marlene Ciampi, assistant District Attorney in 1970s New York
City) note: the books in this series from 1987-2003 were
ghostwritten by Michael Gruber and are worth reading. Don’t waste
your time reading the series after Resolved:
- No Lesser Plea (1987)
Many in between
- Resolved (2003)
Thompson, Victoria (Sarah Brandt, a midwife in turn-of-the-19th-century
New York City, the Gaslight Mysteries series) First book: Murder
on Astor Place (1999)
- Murder on St. Mark’s Place (2000)
Many in between
- Murder on Bank Street (2008)
Unger, Lisa (Ridley Jones, a freelance writer)
- Beautiful Lies (2006)
- Sliver of Truth (2007)
Westlake, Donald E. (John Dortmunder, criminal master planner)
- The Hot Rock (1970)
Many in between
- What’s So Funny? (2007)
Wiprud, Brian M. (Garth Carson, a taxidermy dealer)
- Pipsqueak (2001)
- Stuffed (2005)
- Tailed (2007)
Wishnia, K.J.A. (Filomena Buscarsela, an NYPD cop from Ecuador, who
becomes an apprentice private eye) First book: 23 Shades of Black
(1998)
- Soft Money (2000)
- Blood Lake (2002)
Woods, Stuart (Stone Barrington, an ex-cop and attorney)
- New York Dead (1991)
Many in between
- Shoot Him If He Runs (2007)
- Hot Mahogany (2008) – on order
(this list was created using Novelist and the Stop You’re Killing Me databases. These databases were
also used for series information and plot descriptions.)
October 2008