More Fall Mysteries

I am continuing with the fall mysteries/suspense titles. Sometimes, it can be difficult telling the difference between mystery and suspense but the easiest way I know if is - if there is a reoccuring detective or investigator - it is probably a mystery. So - some of these fit that definition and some don't. See what you think. I am going to include quite a few on list list so I can move on to other genres next week.

Archer Mayor comes out with Paradise City in Oct. This is the 23rd in his Joe Gunther series. Joe and his Vermont Bureau of Investigation cohorts track a string of thefts across Vermont. Their trail leads them to a murder in Boston. Who is buying up all these things and can they find the killer? Of course, it is hard to defeat Joe.

Maggie Barbieri's title Extra Credit comes out in Dec. Her detective is Professor Alison Bergeron who is pulled into investigating when the estranged uncle of her two stepdaughters gives both of them $10,000 and then is found dead with $250,000 stuffed in his mattress. Is it a suicide? Can Alison get to the bottom of the mystery? This is part of a series which includes Murder 101, Extracurricular Activities, Third Degree, Quick Study and Final Exam.

Jane Tesh comes out with the 2nd in her Grace Street Mysteries featuring North Carolina based P.I. David Randall. He investigates a long-ago murder with the assistance of his psychic friend. Mixed Signals comes out in Oct.

Also in North Carolina (who knew that so many exciting things happened in the state) Snadra Balzo's Dead Ends investigates two murders in the North Carolina High Country. This title, the second in the Main Street Murders series featurning journalist AnnaLise Griggs, comes out in September.

Garment of Shadows, the next in Laurie R. King's Sherlock Holmes and wife Mary Russell series, comes out in September. Mary wakes up in Morocco, covered in blood, with no memory of how and why she got there. Has she killed someone? Holmes has been pulled into the intrigues surrounding a possible war between Spain and France when he realizes his wife is missing. Mary searches for her memory and Holmes searches for Mary while becoming involved in a highly charged political situation. The cultural atmosphere descriptions are fantastic. This is one of the best in the series.

OK - I admit it. I love San Francisco. My daughter lives in the area and I have an affinity to any of the fiction titles that use SF as a background. I can't say that isn't why I have included Death on Telegraph Hill in this list. Shirley Tallman's historical mystery series features Sarah Woolson, a female lawyer, comes out in Oct. It has the atmosphere of the 1880's San Francisco down perfectly. Walking home from listening to Oscar Wilde with her brother, a shot comes through the fog, strikes and injures her brother. Was he the target? What could be the reason?