Recommended Reads: Massachusetts Mysteries

"You've learned that every good lie is threaded with truth and every accepted truth leaks lies." —  Dennis Lehane

Everyone loves a good mystery and what better summertime reading than when the focus is local. Whether it's a cozy, medical, legal or an amateur detective mystery, you are assured of hours of pleasure. Many of these Massachusetts authors have multiple titles too numerous to list here; contact the library to add any of them to your author preferences.

Recorded cassette (RC), local studio produced audio titles (RCM), braille (BR), and large print (LT) copies of these books are available from the Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library. Please contact the library to order any of these materials.

Cold Case by Linda Barnes
RC 62503
Adam Mayhew hires Boston cop-turned-private investigator Carlotta Carlyle to find out whether teen prodigy Thea Janis, who presumably committed suicide twenty-four years ago, could have written a new manuscript. While researching Thea's disappearance, Carlotta uncovers Adam's true identity and the dark secrets of Thea's prominent family. Some strong language. 1997.

Plain Brown Wrapper by Karen Grigsby Bates
RC 61235
African American reporter Alex Powell investigates the murder of prominent black publisher Everett Carson during a national conference.  Some violence and some strong language.

Life Sentences by Alice Blanchard
RC 60760
Boston neurogenetics specialist Daisy Hubbard pursues cures for brain disorders. When her schizophrenic sister Anna, disappears in Los Angeles, Daisy joins detective Jack Makowski in the search. They learn that Anna's lover is a serial killer. Some violence.

Christine Falls by Benjamin Black
RC 64333
Dublin, 1950's. Widowed, alcoholic pathologist Quirke discovers his stepbrother altering the medical files. Quirke's unwelcome investigation takes him to Boston and implicates the Catholic Church and his own family. Some violence and some strong language.

Billingsgate Shoal by Rick Boyer
RC 43011
When Doc Adams suggests Allan Hart swim to an apparently stranded boat to see if help is needed, Adams doesn't expect that his friend will turn up dead. Guilt drives Adams to try to identify the boat and talk to its owner, but he soon finds himself in danger. Violence and some strong language.

Lights Out by Mary Jane Behrends Clark
RC 63214
Television film critic Caroline Enright goes on assignment at a Berkshire Mountains summer theatre festival for a story on actress Belinda Winthrop's new play and to spend time with her new husband. But when bodies pile up and Belinda goes missing, Caroline uses her journalistic skills to solve crimes.

Gaits of Heaven by Susan Conant
RC 64524
Cambridge obedience trainer Holly Winter helps dysfunctional therapists Ted and Eumie Green housebreak their mixed-breed pooch, Dolfo. When Eumie dies from an apparent overdose of various medications, Eumie's daughter Caprice suspects murder. Holly probes the Greens' strange lifestyle to find a motive and a killer. Some strong language.

Coma by Robin Cook
RC 10479, RC 17975 (Spanish language), LT 6022
In this chiller in a hospital setting, a young female medical student attempts to solve a heinous crime.  Some strong language.

The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook
RC 43733
In 1926, free-spirited Elizabeth Channing arrives to teach at the elite  Chatham School on Cape Cod. There she has an affair with a married colleague, provoking scandal, suicide, and a murder that goes unsolved because of one man's deeply held secret. Violence.

With You in Spirit by Steven Cooper
RC 58346
Gay, Native American, and Jewish Graydove Hoffenstein, heir to a parking meter fortune, defends his mother who is jailed for murdering his father. The eccentric family hires blind medium Brenda Cloudholder to intervene at their haunted Vineyard estate. Strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex.

Dead in Vineyard Sand by Philip Craig
RC 62896,  LT 6045
Ex-cop J.W. Jackson and his golfing buddies discover a corpse in a fourth-hole sand trap. It's the body of Henry Highsmith, a pro cyclist and environmentalist with whom J.W. has feuded. Accused of murder, J.W. investigates Henry's enemies and relatives as well as an island drowning. Includes recipes.

Quieter Than Sleep: a Modern Mystery of Emily Dickinson by Joanne Dobson
RCM 753
Karen Pelletier takes a professorship at elite Enfield College. where she and her pompous colleague, Randy Astin-Berger, both specialize in Emily Dickinson's poetry. Then Randy, the campus Casanova, is found strangled. As a possible suspect, Karen must solve the case. First, she must find the truth behind Randy's final, very valuable, Dickinsonian discovery.

Fear in Fenway: a Duffy House Mystery by Crabbe Evers
RCM  728
It's Old Timers' Day at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. When two ex-Sox whose critical blunders have robbed the franchise of World Series titles are struck down, sportswriter and ballpark sleuth Duffy House and his niece Petey investigate. Some strong language.

The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen
RC 54928, LT 3636
Bestseller. Boston police detective Jane Rizzoli's nemesis -- serial killer Warren Hoyt from The Surgeon (RC 54007) -- is safely incarcerated when a series of copycat murders begin. With the help of FBI agent Gabriel Dean, Jane tackles the case. Then Hoyt escapes. Violence, strong language, and some descriptions of sex.

Yesterday's News by Jeremiah F. Healy
RC 44116, BR 8326
Newspaperwoman Jane Rust hires Boston private eye John Cuddy to investigate the murder of one of her informants. The next night Jane's body is found in her apartment. Her death is considered a suicide and soon becomes  "yesterday's news." But Cuddy is convinced there is more to it. Strong language and descriptions of sex.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins
RC 45494, BR 1855
The story of Eddie Coyle's life of crime. Trying to avoid a prison term, Coyle turns in his gun dealer, Jackie Brown -- a young guy in his twenties. But Coyle is a marked man after several of Brown's other customers are arrested  as well. Violence, strong language, and descriptions of sex.

Double Homicide: Boston and Santa Fe by Faye and Jonathan Kellerman
RC 60192, LT 6062
Two short mysteries set in different locations. In Still Life, Santa Fe detectives investigate the murder of a wealthy but shady art gallery owner. The novella In the Land of Giants, set in Boston, features the death of a college basketball player. Some strong language.

Mission Flats by William Landay
RC 64101
Versailles, Maine, police chief Ben Truman discovers a Boston assistant district attorney's body in a lakeside cabin. Boston authorities suspect drug dealer Harold Braxton from one of their city's toughest neighborhoods, Mission Flats. Ben travels to Boston unconvinced of Harold's guilt. Violence, strong language, and some descriptions of sex.

God in Concord by Jane Langton
RCM 535, BR 9297, LT 6937
When a developer sets his sights on Walden Pond, and Concord's elderly inhabitants begin to die at an unusual pace, retired detective Homer Kelly goes back to work. Soon the environmentalists, town planners and an owner of souvenir shops are at odds. Meanwhile, Kelly sorts through the people and their politics for a solution to a deadly problem. Some strong language.

Shutter Island by Dennis LeHane
RC 56046, BR 14802
The events of four strange days in late summer 1954, when two U.S. marshals arrive on tiny Shutter Island to investigate a female patient's disappearance from a locked room in the asylum for the criminally insane. And that is only one aspect of the case. Some strong language.

Back Bay by William Martin
RC 58322
Harvard grad student Peter Fallon is drawn into the search for George Washington's priceless silver tea set, which disappeared during the British invasion in the War of 1812. Generations of the Boston Pratt clan have also pursued the Paul Revere treasure. Some violence.

Blanche Cleans Up by Barbara Neely
RC 47262, BR 11910
Blanche White, domestic worker turned accidental sleauth, gets her kids into a private school. To make sure they don't develop too much attitude, she takes them with her to a job at an exclusive, all-black resort in Maine. When one guest commits suicide and another finds a radio in the bathtub, Blanche unravels the web of secrets. Strong language and some descriptions of sex.

Body in the Cast by Katherine Hall Page
RC 49505, LT 0783
Faith Fairchild, former Manhattan caterer, is hired to feed the movie company that is filming a version of The Scarlet Letter in the scenic town of Aleford, Massachusetts. But the leading lady is poisoned and two supporting cast members are killed before Faith discovers who the culprit is. Some strong language.

Silent Treatment by Michael Palmer
RC 41073, LT 6631
Just before brain surgery, Dr. Corbett's wife, Evie, suspiciously dies in her hospital bed. Another doctor accuses Corbett, claiming Evie had just admitted having an affair. Evie's roommate at the hospital saw the real murderer, but she was experiencing d.t.'s. Corbett must find the killer to clear his name. Strong language, violence, and some explicit descriptions of sex.

Dante Club by Mathew Pearl
RC 55723
Bestseller. Boston, 1865. Famous poets and scholars, including Harvard professors Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell, are preparing the first American translation of Dante when a serial killer strikes with gruesomeness reminiscent of the Inferno. They help African American policeman Nicholas Rey investigate the murders. Some violence and some strong language.

The Verdict by Barry Reed
RC 52018, BR 04689
Courtroom-drama novel centers on a likable, cynical Boston attorney who is aiming a shaky malpractice suit at the largest Catholic hospital in the country. Galvin is briefly tempted by a generous out-of-court settlement, but rises to the occasion.  Some strong language.

The Cooking School Murders by Virginia Rich
RC 21819
This story takes place in the small farming town of Harrington, Iowa. After the first session of a gourmet cooking class, one of the 13 class members is found with her throat slashed; another is a suicide and the apparent murderer; a third member drowns. All remaining members are suspect.

Deadly Nightshade by Cynthia Riggs
BR 14578, LT 2693
Ninety-two-year-old poet Victoria Trumbull witnesses a body being dumped in the harbor of her native island, Martha's Vineyard. Victoria's granddaughter, Elizabeth, and her boss, the harbormaster Domingo, retrieve the body. The three investigate islanders and wealthy visitors alike, but can't prevent another murder. Some violence and some strong language.

Death in Paradise by Robert B. Parker
RC 53490, LT 2945
Jesse Stone investigates the murder of a young girl, and all he has to go on is a young man's school ring on a chain, and a hunch or two. Some strong languauge

Family Honor by Robert B. Parker
RC 48857, BR 14400, LT 794
Bestseller. Ex-cop Sunny Randall works as a Boston private detective while she completes her BFA and paints. She recently divorced her husband because of his family mob ties, but still cares for him. In her current case, Sunny is suspicious of the wealthy couple looking for their runaway daughter. Strong language and violence.

The Dark House by John Sedgewick
RCM 731
Edward Rollins, scion of a notable Boston family, works at a fine investment house, But, each night, an obsession forces him to pick out a car, follow it, and catalog the driver's habits. One night, his observations lead him to a mystery involving a vanishing heiress -- and, Rollins discovers that he holds the key. Explicit descriptions of sex, strong language, and violence.

Dead Meat by William G. Tapply
RC 26223, LT 1070
Lawyer-sleuth Brady Coyne goes to a lake for some salmon fishing and to reassure the lodge's owner about Indian lawsuits claiming the lake. But a guest disappears and his brother, arriving to join the search party, turns up dead in the lake. Some strong language and some descriptions of sex.

Bum Steer by Nancy Pickard
RC 31491, BR 8222
Jenny Cain, the director of a civic foundation in Massachusetts, learns that "Cat" Benet intends to leave the foundation his four-million-dollar Kansas ranch. He wants to meet her before he dies, and she flies to Kansas City, only to find that Benet has been smothered in his hospital bed. Jenny's investigations take her to the ranch, to Dallas, to Santa Fe, and to an old-fashioned shoot-out ending. Some strong language.

Prepared by Registration Services Manager Eileen Morange
Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library