Cozy Crimes

Agatha Christie - A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED (1950)

Guests invited to a "murder" don't expect the real thing in this cozy tale featuring Miss Marple.

Ruth Dudley Edwards - THE ENGLISH SCHOOL OF MURDER (1990)

Former civil servant Robert Amiss is asked by his friend DC Pooley to take a job as a teacher at the Knightsbridge School of English, where one teacher's "accidental" death has aroused police suspicions. Very funny.

Dick Francis - NERVE (1964)

Steeplechase jockey Rob Finn is the only person to suspect a sinister plot behind a series of increasingly serious "mishaps" involving jockeys. Hard to put down thriller.

Georgette Heyer - ENVIOUS CASCA (1941)

Murder in a locked room at an English Country House at Christmas. Cozy and humorous.

Laurie King - THE BEEKEEPER'S APPRENTICE (1994)

Fifteen-year-old Mary Russell meets Sherlock Holmes during his retirement, and the two join forces in this very entertaining novel.

Elizabeth Peters - CROCODILE ON THE SANDBANK (1975)

Amelia Peabody travels to Egypt in search of adventure in this very funny Victorian mystery. The first in this award-winning series.

Mary Monica Pulver - ORIGINAL SIN (1991)

Police Detective Peter Brichter and his wife Kori's Christmas house party goes awry when one of their guests is found murdered on the library floor. A classic traditional "locked room" mystery.

Rex Stout - THE DOORBELL RANG (1965)

New York private detectives Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin take on J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI.

Dorothy Sayers - GAUDY NIGHT (1936)

Mystery writer Harriet Vane, with some help from Lord Peter Wimsey, investigates a rash of poison pen letters at Oxford. A lively, intelligent classic.

Josephine Tey - THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR (1949)

A respectable mother and daughter are accused of kidnapping teenager. Betty Kane and holding her prisoner on their run down estate.

TOWN HALL BRANCH LIBRARY

December 2001