Resort to Murder authors keep bringing out great new works. Here are some from Fall, 2012.
Fifteen Tales of Murder, Mayhem and Malice from the Land of Minnesota Nice
Minnesota Crime Wave
(Nodin Press)
William Kent Krueger, Jess Lourey, Rich Thompson, Lois Greiman, Mary Logue, Pat Dennis, David Housewright, Elizabeth Gunn, Judith Borger, Joel Arnold, Lori L. Lake, Michael Allen Mallory, Marilyn Victor, Carl Brookins, and Ellen Hart, with an introduction by Pete Hautman
"These short pieces are prefect for a quiet evening cozied up in front of the fireplace or to share around a flickering campfire. Some of them will scare you. Some may make you cringe. A few might bring a smile to your lips. All of them, we guarantee, will put to rest forever the myth of Minnesota Nice."
Trickster's Point
William Kent Krueger
(Atria)
“In addition to having a plot as cunningly treacherous as Trickster’s Point itself, Krueger’s latest mystery has that elegiac tone that’s perfectly suited to O’Connor’s character and to the harsh landscape where he lives and works.” --Booklist
Nighttime Ninja
by Barbara DaCosta, Illustrated by Ed Young
(Little, Brown)
DaCosta is now writing thrillers for the younger set! Her children's picture book debut, with Caldecott Medalist Ed Young illustrating, is the gripping story of a late-night ninja mission, one that ends with a humorous twist. Publisher's Weekly gave it a star and wrote " DaCosta crafts her spare text carefully and with humor .... The depth of feeling DaCosta and Young give to the boy’s fantasy makes this a standout." (Ages 3-6)
Jess Lourey has two books coming out this season. December Dread (mystery), about which Publishers Weekly writes: "Lourey, who keeps her secrets well, delivers a breathtaking finale." The Toadhouse Trilogy is a Young Adult work.
"Lourey's wonderful way with words will whisk readers away to an amazing new world!" --Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author Chris Grabenstein
REST FOR THE WICKEDEllen Hart
(St. Martin's/Minotaur)
"In Hart’s absorbing 20th mystery featuring Minneapolis restaurant owner Jane Lawless, Jane looks into the stabbing death of DeAndre Moore, the nephew of Alf Nolan, whose PI agency employs Jane as a fledgling partner...The answers to the killing may lie within the confines of the strip club and in the hands of its smarmy owner, Vince Bessetti, whose questionable relationships are explored in blistering detail. A host of complex characters—all living full, rich, and dangerous lives—bolsters the brisk, suspenseful story." ---Publishers Weekly
Cookie Cutter Shop Mystery series
Virginia Lowell (Deborah Woodworth)
(Berkley Prime Crime)
A bestseller! As the town of Chatterley Heights prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, Olivia and Maddie are working feverishly to complete a magnificent gingerbread house replica of the Chatterley Mansion. The mansion itself, newly renovated by the town, will be the main attraction during the festivities. But on the eve of the celebration, the last surviving Chatterley family member, long assumed dead, arrives in town and demands his mansion be returned to him. In short order, Paine Chatterley is found dead under questionable circumstances, and there are more than enough angry suspects to keep the police, Olivia, and Maddie busily searching for the murderer.
David Housewright
"McKenzie, who navigates a treacherous path just to stay (barely) alive, not only delivers a Nick Charles-like ending but metes out poetic justice to a fair number of participants." -- Publishers Weekly Starred Review
"Like the other entries in this entertaining series, the book is a contemporary mystery with overtones from the era of classic hard-boiled detectives: the Jade Lily itself, with its perhaps not so mythical curse; the first-person narration; the wonderfully named femme fatale, Heavenly Petryk. Rushmore is a likable series hero, a guy who'd rather be doing not much of anything but who won't back down from a fight. The book works as a stand-alone, too, so readers unfamiliar with the series can jump right n." -- Booklist
FINDERS KEEPERS
David Housewright"Thirteen-year-old James Richard McNulty has problems. His mother has just divorced his father. His grades are plummeting. Bullies are menacing him on the school bus. The coach is threatening to kick him off the basketball team. And his smart and lovely "girlfriend" thinks he's gone insane. Then he finds a suitcase filled with cash - and thinks all his problems are over."
Borger has been busy writing short stories and another Skeeter Hughes novel. This year editors from Once Upon A Crime included her short story in WRITES of SPRING, an anthology of stories and prose set in the Minnesota spring. Her short story, "Spring Rowing" shows what can happen when jealousy mixes with high water on the Mississippi River. (Nodin Press) Another of her short stories DEAD IN THE WATER, a 99-cent offering available through the Kindle app on any ereader, tells the fate of a developer who has the audacity to buy a Minnesota resort.
