Story Tags

Cover-Devil in the White City

Criminally Addictive Reads

True Crime Tales that Read Like Mystery Novels

It seems like society’s obsession with all things true crime is at its absolute peak. Ever since eager listeners soaked up the first season of last year’s smash podcast, “Serial,” people can’t quench their thirst for more fast enough. If you’re one of those people who binge-listened to that addictive first season of “Serial” like I am, and then steadily made your way through HBO’s The Jinx, Netflix’s Making a Murderer, and FX’s The People vs. OJ Simpson—and you’re still hungry for more true accounts of murder and mayhem—then these books are a great place to start.

The Rook cover image

Who Needs Sleep When You Can Read?

Page-turners to keep you burning the midnight oil

Whether you're stuck in a book rut or just want to test the limits of how little sleep a person can survive on, reach for these books to keep you glued to every page and furiously reading until dawn. Library power user tip for the books everyone's reading at the same time: if there's too many holds on the physical book, try getting the ebook, eaudiobook, or audiobook instead. Ebooks are automatically returned when they're due, so the hold queue usually moves along faster. 

Smilla's Sense of Snow

A Sense of Snow

Mysterious Denmark

Visiting Copenhagen, Denmark, is on most people's bucket list. One can find a decidedly less touristy version of Denmark inside the covers of these mystery novels. This tour will probably not include the Little Mermaid or Tivoli Gardens, but it will be fascinating.

Man Without a Shadow book cover

Fiction With Science, Not Science Fiction

Even those of you who may question the existence of atoms live by the laws of science.  The laws of science apply universally, even in fiction.  Some literary worlds use those laws to solve mysteries, explore individual lives, or test scientific limits.  Others use them to speculate what might have been or may be.  Let’s leave the “What If?” questions for another day--here are some books that incorporate scientific knowledge without falling into science fiction.    

The White Wolf, by Franklin Gregory

Snowy Novellas

Stories that will stay with you long after the snow has gone.

That blizzard we got in January was a great start to making up for the first half of winter 2015-2016 being downright balmy with occasional wintry weather. I know it’s late in the game, but I’m not ready to give up on the idea of more snow.

Agent Zigzag book cover

Agent Zigzag by Ben MacIntyre

February Cleveland Park Mystery Book Club Selection

Join us at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 4, to discuss the World War II espionage story of Eddie Chapman, charming criminal,  con man, philanderer, and one of the most remarkable double agents Britain has ever produced. In 1941, after training as a German spy in occupied France, Chapman was parachuted into Britain with orders to blow up an airplane factory.

Walking the Perfect Square book cover

'Walking the Perfect Square' by Reed Farrel Coleman

Cleveland Park Mystery Book Club September selection

On Thursday, Sept. 3, we'll be discussing Walking the Perfect Square by Reed Farrel Coleman, the first in the nine-book Moe Prager series.

Standing in Another Man's Grave book cover

'Standing in Another Man's Grave' by Ian Rankin

Cleveland Park Mystery Book Club August selection

Date change! We moved the August meeting to Aug. 13, same time (6:30 p.m.), same place (Barnes & Noble).  We'll discuss Ian Rankin's Standing in Another Man's Grave.

The Big Sleep

Returning to the Scene of the Crime

Same Place, Different Crime

This book list compares crime stories that unfold in the same place, but at different times: The first comparison highlights a modern take on a classic in Los Angeles; the second, a progression from the '60s through the '80s in South Florida; and the third, crime sprees across the South-Southwest during the Depression and the late '80s.

Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

Death in the Dormitories

Murder mysteries set at schools and universities

Holden Caulfield describing his classmates (and everyone else in the world) as phonies. The "O Captain! My Captain!" scene in Dead Poets Society. Victorian schoolgirls dipping their rivals' braids in inkpots in A Little Princess. 

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