Meets 3rd Monday of the month at 1:30 p.m.
The Ground Floor, Hedberg Public Library lower level
Book discussion participants receive a 20% discount at the Ground Floor during the meetings.
No registration is necessary. Come to one or all of our discussions - and bring a friend!

The Evolution of the Mystery
The mystery novel has grown and changed over the years. Take a look back - way back - to see where it all began. Journey through time as we explore the evolution of the mystery!

1868: The First True English Mystery
Monday, September 19 at 1:30 p.m.
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Find it on RockCat
A spellbinding tale of romance, theft, and murder that inspired the hugely popular detective mystery genre.

1887: Crime Solving as a Science
Monday, October 17 at 1:30 p.m.
A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Find it on RockCat
A Study in Scarlet marked the debut of Holmes and his assistant, Dr. John Watson, along with their residence at 221 B Baker Street, Inspector Lestrade, and the ragtag band of street urchins Holmes referred to as the Baker Street Irregulars.

1920: Queen of the British Cozy
Monday, November 21 at 1:30 p.m.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
Find it on RockCat
An English country estate, a gold-digging husband (or is he?) and poison all add up to Agatha Christie's first Hercule Poirot mystery, written in 1920 and newly recorded by In Audio with exciting narration by Christie's fellow countryman, Ralph Cosham. If you enjoy cuddling up to a nice, cozy, warm little murder, this is the place to start.In this debut of Poirot's illustrious career, we meet his favorite sidekick, Captain Arthur Hastings, and are introduced to Poirot's odd methods of detection, which include (according to Hastings, anyway) too much sitting about nursing his "little grey cells" and not enough action. But as it turns out, there is action enough for everyone, as well as clever plot twists and eccentric characters.

1930: Hard-Boiled PI Novel
Monday, January 16 at 1:30 p.m.
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Find it on RockCat
A treasure worth killing for. Sam Spade, a slightly shopworn private eye with his own solitary code of ethics. A perfumed grafter named Joel Cairo, a fat man name Gutman, and Brigid O'Shaughnessy, a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a dime. These are the ingredients of Dashiell Hammett's coolly glittering gem of detective fiction, a novel that has haunted three generations of readers.

1980: Police Procedural
Monday, February 20 at 1:30 p.m.
Ghosts by Ed McBain
Find it on RockCat

1982: Strong Female Protagonist
Monday, March 19 at 1:30 p.m.
A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
Find it on RockCat
A tough-talking former cop, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has set up a modest detective agency in a quiet corner of Santa Teresa, California. A twice-divorced loner with few personal possessions and fewer personal attachments, she's got a soft spot for underdogs and lost causes. Eight years ago, Nikki Fife was convicted of killing her philandering husband. Now she's out on parole and needs Kinsey's help to find the real killer. If there's one thing that makes Kinsey feel alive, it's playing on the edge. When her investigation turns up a second corpse, more suspects, and a new reason to kill, Kinsey discovers that the edge is closer--and sharper--than she imagined.

1990: Ethnic Mystery
Monday, April 16 at 1:30 p.m.
Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
Find it on RockCat
Devil in a Blue Dress honors the tradition of the classic American detective novel by bestowing on it a vivid social canvas and the freshest new voice in crime writing in years, mixing the hard-boiled poetry of Raymond Chandler with the racial realism of Richard Wright to explosive effect.

1993: Featured Forensic Science
Monday, May 21 at 1:30 p.m.
Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell
Find it on RockCat
"Killing me won't kill the beast" are the last words of rapist-murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell, written four days before his execution. But they can't explain how Dr. Kay Scarpetta finds Waddell's fingerprints on "another" crime scene -- "after" she'd performed his autopsy. If this is some sort of game, Scarpetta seems to be the target. And if the next victim is someone she knows, the punishment will be cruel and unusual...

2011: Northern European Mystery
Monday, June 18 at 1:30 p.m.
The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
Find it on RockCat
Internationally acclaimed crime writer Jo Nesbo's antihero police investigator, Harry Hole, is back: in a bone-chilling thriller that will take Hole to the brink of insanity. Oslo in November. The first snow of the season has fallen. A boy named Jonas wakes in the night to find his mother gone. Out his window, in the cold moonlight, he sees the snowman that inexplicably appeared in the yard earlier in the day. Around its neck is his mother's pink scarf. Hole suspects a link between a menacing letter he's received and the disapgpearance of Jonas's mother and of perhaps a dozen other women, all of whom went missing on the day of a first snowfall. As his investigation deepens, something else emerges: he is becoming a pawn in an increasingly terrifying game whose rules are devised, and constantly revised, by the killer. Fiercely suspenseful, its characters brilliantly realized, its atmosphere permeated with evil, The Snowman is the electrifying work of one of the best crime writers of our time. From the Hardcover edition

Passport to Murder Titles Fall 2010 - Spring 2011
Readers "traveled around the world" as they enjoyed novels by authors who used distant lands as their setting.

Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
by Alan Bradley
ENGLAND - It is the summer of 1950 and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events. View book trailer.

Death at La Fenice
by Donna Leon
ITALY - There is little violent crime in Venice, a serenely beautiful floating city of mystery and magic, history and decay. But the evil that does occasionally rear its head is the jurisdiction of Guido Brunetti, the suave, urbane vice-commissario of police and a genius at detection.

The Last Camel Died at Noon
by Elizabeth Peters
EGYPT - Bestselling author Peters brings back 19th-century Egyptologist Amelia Peabody and her entourage in a delicious caper that digs up mystery in the shadow of the pyramids.

In the woods
by Tana French
IRELAND - Three children wander into some woods near Dublin, but only one is found, hysterical and bloodied. Some 20 years later, he's a detective investigating a child's murder in the same woods. A superior novel about cops, murder, memory, relationships, and modern Ireland. View website.

The Last Kashmiri Rose
by Barbara Cleverly
INDIA - Conjuring up the last golden days of the Raj and the turbulent early ones of Indian rule, this suspenseful and atmospheric first novel—the winner of the Crime Writer Association's Debut Dagger competition—draws the governor of Bengal, local police authorities, and visiting Scotland Yard detective Joe Sandilands into an increasingly baffling and bizarre case of serial murder.

Extraordinary People
by Peter May
FRANCE - A bet between friends inspires Enzi McLeod, a forensic biologist who is bored with his teaching career, to try using modern techniques to solve the case of Jacques Gaillard, an eccentric yet brilliant man who went missing years before.

Thunder Bay
by William Kent Krueger
CANADA - The past and present collide along the rocky shores of Thunder Bay, where a father’s unconditional love is tested by a son’s deeply felt resentment, and where jealousy and revenge remain the code among men. As Cork O'Connor hastens to uncover the truth and save his friend, he soon discovers that his own life is in danger and is reminded that the promises we keep - even for the best of friends - can sometimes place us in the hands of our worst enemies. Visit author's website.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson
SWEDEN - Larsson combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel. Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption. View book trailer.

Vienna Secrets
by Frank Tallis
AUSTRIA - In the dangerous, dazzling Vienna of 1903, an ingenious doctor and an intrepid detective again challenge psychotic criminals across a landscape teetering between the sophisticated and the savage, the thrilling future and the primitive past.