The construction project we all love to hate takes center stage in the ninth volume of the Boston-based Carlotta Carlyle series. Carlotta is working undercover as a secretary on a construction site to investigate potential fraud by a contractor, but concurrently takes on a separate missing person case as well. She runs into a series of dead ends on both cases, until the death of a construction worker provides clues suggesting that they may not be unrelated after all.
Brogan, Jan. Final Copy
Struggling journalist Addy McNeil covers the murder of a renowned businessman during the 1990s biotechnology boom in Boston. The prime suspect? Addy’s ex-boyfriend.
Conant, Susan and Jessica Conant-Park. Steamed
(Gourmet Girl Mystery Series #1)
Twenty-something Chloe Carter of Brighton, MA tries her luck at internet dating and immediately meets a fellow foodie. Unfortunately, on their first date Erik winds up dead in the men’s room before the meal is over. At the funeral she meets his hottie friend Josh, who turns out to be a suspect in Erik’s murder. Convinced that he is not only innocent but perfect for her, Chloe sets out to clear his name. This new series, by a mother-daughter team, has definite chick lit appeal.
Cape Cod attorney couple
Marty Nickerson and Harry Madigan each take on a case with a seemingly
untrustable client. Massachusetts Senator Charles Kendrick may be planning a
presidential run, until his 25-year-old spokeswoman disappears, and there is
suspicion that the two were having an affair. Derrick Holliston is charged with
killing a priest, but alleges it was self-defense. The many twists in both
stories provide the two attorneys with ambiguous and complex legal issues to
sort through along with plenty of courtroom drama.
Craig, Philip. Vineyard Enigma (Martha’s Vineyard
Series #13)
Former Boston cop JW Jackson is hired by an African, Abraham Mahsimba, to help recover two soapstone eagles stolen from an archaeological site in Zimbabwe, and which may be linked to an art dealer recently found murdered and decapitated. Meanwhile, Jackson’s wife Zee appears attracted to the charismatic Mahsimba.
Daniel, David. The Marble Kite
When a young woman in Lowell is murdered at a carnival, her estranged boyfriend is the prime suspect. But when Alex Rasmussen is hired by the defense lawyer to investigate the crime, he soon finds a trail pointing towards crooked cops.
Devane, Terry. Uncommon Justice
Mairead O’Clare leaves her corporate law career to join a one-man practice with Sheldon Gold. Her first case is defending a man named Alpha who has been accused of murdering a fellow homeless man. The well-spoken Alpha asserts his innocence and O’Clare is led to a local construction site frequently pilfered by the homeless, and overseen by a foreman who has suddenly disappeared.
Dobson, Joanne. The Maltese Manuscript
Professor Karen Pelletier hosts a famous crime novelist, Sunnye Hardcastle, visiting Enfield College for a conference on crime fiction. But the author gets more than she bargained for when she accepted this speaking engagement. After rare books begin disappearing from the library shelves a researcher is murdered, and it begins to look like both the victim and the PI on the case have some strange connections to Sunnye.
A mysterious woman in a green coat proves elusive to Leonard Sheldrake, but he is determined to track her down. They met at an MC Escher exhibit in a Cambridge art gallery and then she disappears. He finds her green coat for sale in a thrift shop and discovers a videotape in the pocket, leading to a grave in the Mt. Auburn cemetary. He recruits his friends Homer and Mary Kelly to help him, but the closer they come to finding her, the more danger they are in.
The friendship of three young boys is never the same after the summer one of them was kidnapped for four days by a child molester. One of the boys eventually becomes a cop, and one a criminal, while the third drifts through life while struggling with the legacy of his kidnapping. Their lives again converge when the daughter of the ex-con is murdered and all three become involved in the case.
Page, Katherine Hall. The Body in the Bonfire
(Faith Fairchild Series #12)
Faith Fairchild, caterer and amateur sleuth, investigates racial harassment at suburban Mansfield Academy. Teaching a cooking class to allow her to investigate undercover, she thinks she has discovered who is responsible for sending hate-filled messages to junior Daryl Martin. But the case takes a turn for the worse when the prime suspect’s body is found in the remains of a bonfire.
Parker, Robert B. School Days (Spenser Mystery Series
#33)
Two masked students entered a school in suburban Boston where they executed five students and two teachers. One gunman surrendered, and the other is suspected to be Jared Clark, but although he confessed to the crime, his wealthy grandmother is convinced of his innocence and has hired Spenser to prove it.
A pregnant teenager, grasping a piece of paper with his address, dies in the snow in Brady Coyne’s back yard in Beacon Hill. Intrigued by the seemingly strange circumstances of her pregnancy, and curious as to why she had come to his house, the attorney starts talking to street kids hoping to learn more about her identity and is eventually led to a geneticist in New Hampshire where he hopes to finally learn the truth.
The controversial dean of students at Harvard Law School is murdered, and the college president is a top suspect. Nikki Chase, the young economics professor who discovered the body, begins to suspect the victim was having an affair with the newly-appointed president and sets off to discover more clues with the help of her landlady, her best friend, and a local cop.