Staff Picks
Magical Mystery Tour: Mysteries Blended with the Supernatural
- Chantal W.
- Saturday, July 20, 2019
Collection
Do you like your mystery with a supernatural twist? The list of books below will appeal to readers who like mysteries and don't mind magic or ghostly goings-on, to fantasy readers that like a strong sense of suspense in their stories, and even romance readers who like their suspense mixed with the paranormal.
Many of the books in this list are the first in the series, so there are plenty more books to be added to your TBR pile if any of these tickle your fancy!
Midnight Riot
Published in 2011
"As a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic"-- P. [4] of cover.
Aunt Dimity's Death
Published in 1993
...Until the Dickensian law firm of Willis & Willis summons her to a reading of the woman's will. Down-on-her-luck Lori learns she's about to inherit a siazable estate—if she can discover the secret hidden in a treasure trove of letters in Dimity's English country cottage. What begins as a fairy tale becomes a mystery—and a ghost story—in an improbably cozy setting, as Aunt Dimity's indominable spirit leads Lori on an otherworldly quest to discover how, in this life, true love can conquer all.
Broken Monsters
Published in 2014
Detective Gabriella Versado investigates after disturbing displays that fuse the bodies of murder victims with those of animals are uncovered in abandoned Detroit buildings.
Lowcountry Boil
A Liz Talbot Mystery
Published in 2012
"Private investigator Liz Talbot is a modern Southern belle: she blesses hearts and takes names. She carries her Sig 9 in her Kate Spade handbag, and her golden retriever, Rhett, rides shotgun in her hybrid Escape. When her grandmother is murdered, Liz high-tails it back to her South Carolina island home to find the killer. She's fit to be tied when her police-chief brother shuts her out of the investigation, so she opens her own. Then her long-dead best friend pops in and things really get complicated. When more folks start turning up dead in this small seaside town, Liz must use more than just her wits and charm to keep her family safe, chase down clues from the hereafter, and catch a psychopath before he catches her."--Page 4 of cover.
Moon Called
Published in 2010
While trying to live a so-called normal existence, mechanic Mercy Thompson, a shapeshifter raised by werewolves, gets into trouble with the gremlins, witches, and vampires with whom she deals on a daily basis.
Embrace the Grim Reaper
Published in 2009
"In one brief moment of fire and wrenching metal, Casey Maldonado's life seemed over. The car manufacturer was generous with its settlement, but it can never be enough. So she packs up, puts her house on the market, and leaves town. Her only companion: Death, who won't take her, but won't leave her alone. In Clymer, a small blue-collar town in the midst of Ohio farmland, Casey finds tragedy. The town's main employer is moving to Mexico, and a beloved single mother has committed suicide. But many of the citizens don't believe the verdict of suicide. Death encourages Casey to investigate, and she uncovers information that suggests a cover-up. Threatened, Casey decides she'd be better off back on the road, but the murderer can't let her go with everything she knows."--P. [4] of cover.
The Madness of Mercury
A Zodiac Mystery
Published in 2016
San Francisco astrologer Julia Bonatti{u2019}s life is turned upside down when she becomes the target of the city{u2019}s newest cult leader, Reverend Roy of the Prophet{u2019}s Tabernacle. Driven out of her apartment in the midst of a disastrous Mercury retrograde period, she takes shelter with a client who{u2019}s caring for two elderly aunts. One aunt appears stricken with dementia and the other has fallen under the spell of the Reverend Roy. To add to the confusion, a young man claiming to be a long-lost nephew arrives. The longer he stays, the more dangerous things become. Is the young man truly a member of the family? Can astrology confirm that? Julia{u2019}s not sure, but one thing she does know is that Mercury wasn{u2019}t merely the messenger of the gods{u2015}he was a trickster and a liar as well.
The Eyre Affair
A Novel
Published in 2003
Great Britain circa 1985: time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodas are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. Based on an imaginary world where time and reality bend in the most convincing and original way since The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Eyre Affair is a delightful rabbit hole of a read: once you fall in you may never come back. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in Wordsworth poems, militant Baconians roam freely spreading the gospel that Bacon, not Shakespeare, penned those immortal works. And forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. This is all business as usual for brainy, bookish (and heat-packing) Thursday Next, a renowned Special Operative in literary detection -- that is, until someone begins murdering characters from works of literature. When this madman plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Bronte's novel Thursday faces the challenge of her career. Aided and abetted by characters that include her time-traveling father, an executive of the all-powerful Goliath Corporation, and Edward Rochester himself, Thursday must track down the world's Third Most Wanted criminal and enter the novel herself to avert a heinous act of literary homicide. A brilliantly outlandish and absorbing caper destined to become a classic adventure tale, The Eyre Affair is an irresistible thriller and the introduction to the imagination of a most distinctive writer. In Jasper Fforde's singular fictional universe no literary character is safe from crime. And for Special Operative Thursday Next this is only the beginning ...
Flowers and Foul Play
A Magic Garden Mystery
Published in 2018
"Fiona Knox lost her fiancé and her flower shop--but when she flies to Scotland to inherit her godfather's cottage and possibly magical walled garden, she may lose her life as well when she's swept into a murder investigation"--Amazon.com.
The Widow's House
Published in 2017
When Jess and Clare Martin move from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to their former college town in the Hudson River valley, they are hoping for rejuvenation -- of their marriage, their savings, and Jess's writing career. They take a caretaker's job at Riven House, a crumbling estate and the home of their old college writing professor. While Clare once had dreams of being a writer, those plans fell by the wayside when Jess made a big, splashy literary debut in their twenties. It's been years, now, since his first novel. The advance has long been spent. Clare's hope is that the pastoral beauty and nostalgia of the Hudson Valley will offer some inspiration. But their new life isn't all quaint town libraries and fragrant apple orchards. There is a haunting pall that hangs over Riven House like a funeral veil. Something is just not right. Soon, Clare begins to hear babies crying at night, see strange figures in fog at the edge of their property. Diving into the history of the area, she realizes that Riven House has a dark and anguished past. And whatever this thing is -- this menacing force that destroys the inhabitants of the estate -- it seems to be after Clare next
Stealing Shadows
Published in 2000
Psychic Cassie Neil flees to a small North Carolina town seeking refuge from the work she's done for the Los Angeles Police Department, but when Cassie predicts a murder it is up to her and Ben Ryan, the town's prosecuting attorney to find the killer.
First Grave on the Right
Published in 2011
Using her ability to see ghosts in her work as a private investigator, Charley Davidson begins experiencing intense sensual dreams about a mysterious entity that has been following her throughout her life.
Joyland
Published in 2013
Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.
Murder on Millionaires' Row
A Mystery
Published in 2018
"Rose Gallagher might dream of bigger things, but she's content enough with her life as a housemaid. After all, it's not every girl from Five Points who gets to spend her days in a posh Fifth Avenue brownstone, even if only to sweep its floors. But all that changes on the day her boss, Mr. Thomas Wiltshire, disappears. Rose is certain Mr. Wiltshire is in trouble, but the police treat his disappearance as nothing more than the whims of a rich young man behaving badly. Meanwhile, the friend who reported him missing is suspiciously unhelpful. With nowhere left to turn, Rose takes it upon herself to find her handsome young employer. The investigation takes her from the marble palaces of Fifth Avenue to the sordid streets of Five Points. When a ghostly apparition accosts her on the street, Rose begins to realize that the world around her isn't at all as it seems--and her place in it is about to change forever."--Inside flap.
The 7 1
2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
Published in 2018
Doomed to repeat the same day over and over, Aiden Bishop must solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle in order to escape the curse in a world filled with enemies where nothing and no one are quite what they seem.