Around the World in 80 Murders: Eastern US and Canda

To kick off Novel Destinations-- our Adult Summer Reading Program-- which begins today, I will be posting the "Around the World in 80 Murders" lists Betty and I compiled.  There are 8 lists with 10 books each.  All are owned by the BPL and were picked both for their quality and their sense of place.

Our goal is to literally take you around the world beginning on the Eastern shores of North America and traveling west.  Enjoy.

Sleuth your way around the world, explore novel destinations, and help catch a killer as you go…Around the World in 80 Murders

Eastern US and Canada

Barrington Street Blues by Anne Emery

Monty Collins, an attorney in Halifax Nova Scotia, solves mysteries with the help of his friend, Father Burke. Here, Collins represents the families in a murder suicide case but soon comes to find that it is more likely a case of double murder, and he is the prime suspect!

The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen

Boston medical examiner Maura Isles and homicide detective Jane Rizzoli are on the case again. This time, two nuns are found brutally beaten, one fatally. The case is complicated by Isles and Rizzoli’s status as lapsed Catholics and their problematic love lives. This is a satisfying addition to the popular, gritty series.

The Purrfect Murder by Rita Mae Brown

Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen and her feline sleuthing partners, Mrs. Murphy and Pewter solve mysteries in the small-town of Crozet, Virginia. In their 16^th cozy outing, they investigate their friend when he is implicated in the murder of his most annoying client.

The Highly Effective Detective by Richard Yancey

After his mother’s death, Teddy Ruzak fulfills his life-long dream to open his own PI business in his hometown of Knoxville, TN.  He begins with a simple case: who ran down a flock of baby geese with their SUV? But he soon learns he may have bitten off more than he can chew.  This novel is both suspenseful and humorous; a winning combination.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Dexter is a splatter analyst for the Miami-Dade police department, but he is also an antisocial, sociopathic serial killer who kills serial killers.  Dexter himself is surprisingly engaging and charming.  He is what makes this book, and the entire series, stand out.

The Julius House by Charlaine Harris

Not all of Harris’ novels are filled with vampires. In the Aurora Teagarden mystery series, our heroine, a librarian turned real estate agent in Georgia, moves into a new home with her new husband—a house formerly inhabited by a family who disappeared into thin air.  While trying to solve the mystery, she also uncovers some not so great facts about her new husband.  This is a fun and suspenseful read,

Green Grown the Victims  by Jeanne M. Dams

Hilda Johansson is a full time housekeeper and part-time sleuth in early 1900s South Bend, Indiana.  In this outing, Hilda is entangled in the case of a murdered politician. This series has much to offer for both mystery and historical fiction fans.

American Detective by Loren D. Estleman

Amos Walker is a hard boiled PI in Detroit, Michigan. In this outing, Amos is hired by a retired Tigers pitcher to help keep his money safe, but when the ball player’s daughter is found dead things get complicated for everyone. This gritty mystery is a must read for noir fans.

Dead Time by Eleanor Taylor Bland

Marti MacAliste is a black female detective in a fictional town outside of Chicago.  In this series debut, Marti is called to investigate the murder of a mentally ill woman. Along with trying to find out who killed the young woman and why, Marti and her new white, male partner are also learning how to work together.  Join this excellent mystery series at its start.

Wolf Pass by Steve Thayer

It is 1962 in Kickapoo County, Wisconsin and Deputy Sheriff P.A. Pennington, a Catholic, is running for Sheriff in a mostly Protestant community.  They don’t trust him, so when a double murder involving one of Pennington’s former lovers, is committed, Pennington becomes the prime suspect. Pennington’s past in WWII comes under scrutiny, until a sexy, Scotland Yard detective with ties to his past comes to his rescue.

Around the World in 80 Murders: Africa

Sleuth your way around the world, explore novel destinations, and help catch a killer as you go…Around the World in 80 Murders

Africa

A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn

A white police officer is mysteriously murdered on the South Africa-Mozambique border in 1952, shortly after the apartheid system has been put in place. Race is a major issue in the narrative; Afrikaners and people of color eye each other warily owing to the recent advent of laws that prescribe how whites and blacks can and can't interact.

Dead before Dying by Deon Meyer

A Capetown detective investigates a bizarre series of murders committed with a century-old Mauser pistol used by the Afrikaners in the Boer War. The killer even uses vintage cartridges. Trouble is, the murders appear to be completely random and unrelated.

Cross Country by James Patterson

Alex Cross, a Washington, D.C. police detective, takes on a very different quarry--a human monster known as the Tiger with ties to the African underworld. Cross pursues the Tiger to Nigeria, where the profiler finds himself at the mercy of corrupt government officials who may be working with the Tiger.

Cape Greed by Sam Cole

Ex-cops-turned-PIs start their new agency investigating “no gun stuff,” but their plans are turned around by the bodies of the Capetown street kids found ritualistically buried in the oceanside dunes.

First Wave by James R. Benn

In this World War II mystery, the focus is on Eisenhower's plan to invade Vichy-held Algeria, anticipating a quick surrender by the French. It doesn't happen quite like that, and along the way, a special investigator with Eisenhower's staff, finds himself trying to solve a series of murders connected to black marketeers and working to rescue a captured British spy.

Alexandria by Lindsey Davis

In the first century B.C.E., the Librarian of the great library in Alexandria is found dead in his sealed office. There's been plenty of controversy surrounding the Librarian already, and the controversy over who will succeed him turns bloody. Who knew that the race for a top library spot could be so intriguing? 

Wings of Fire by Dale Brown

North Africa is in turmoil. The new Libyan president has had the new Egyptian president assassinated, and the latter's widow vows revenge, enlisting the high-tech help of the Night Stalkers. But the Libyans, and their scheming secret allies, hold a trump card and it may be one that will leave even the Night Stalkers powerless...

Away from You by Melanie Finn

A young woman, estranged from her abusive father, now deceased, returns to her childhood home in Kenya to put to rest the conviction that her father was involved in the murder of a neighbor. Her conviction is reinforced when she finds he may be linked to another murder.

Mark of the Lion by Suzanne Arruda

A young woman, who was an ambulance driver in World War I, continues her adventurous life in Nairobi, where she mingles with the colonial elite, kills a hyena, learns Swahili, fingers a drug smuggler, romances a man twice her age, attracts the attentions of a local witch and uncovers a murder.

A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley

In investigating the case of a partially consumed human body found in a remote area of a game reserve, tangential links to Botswana Cattle and Mining, the country's largest company, keep surfacing. As more people connected to the case turn up dead, it looks like multiple murder may just be the byproduct of a much more heinous crime.

The Spies of Sobeck by P. C. Doherty

Egypt, 15^th century B.C.E. isn’t much different than modern times in that murderers must be caught. Deaths under suspicious causes, webs of intrigue and deceit and murder investigations are as common then as now. Forensics are more limited, of course, but detectives’ minds are still as sharp as need be.

Around the World in 80 Murders: Europe

Today ends our trip Around the World in 80 Murders.  Thanks for joining me.  You can also access the archive of these lists on the BPL's website by clicking here.

Now go to your local library and sign up for whatever Adult Summer Reading Program they are offering.

Sleuth your way around the world, explore novel destinations, and help catch a killer as you go…Around the World in 80 Murders

Europe

Wolves Eat Dogs by Martin Cruz Smith

One of Russia's new billionaire class has apparently leapt to his death from the palatial splendor of his ultra-modern Moscow condominium. While there are no signs pointing to homicide, there is one troubling and puzzling bit of evidence...in his bedroom closet, there's a mountain of salt!

The Dogs of Rome by Conor Fitzgerald

A police inspector battles organized crime, political pressure, and his own demons as he investigates the death of an American expatriate. He soon realizes that he is being watched from on high. Forced to negotiate with powerful, suspicious people, he must rely on instinct, drive, and luck to find the killer.

Deadly Slipper by Michelle Wan

Women traveling on their own have gone missing in the Dordogne. The only real clue is a sequence of wild orchids, including a mysterious, previously unknown Lady’s Slipper, captured on a roll of film found in a long-lost camera.

Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg

The daughter of a Danish doctor and an Inuit woman from Greenland now lives in Copenhagen and, as befits her ancestry, is an expert on snow. When one of her few friends, an Inuit boy, dies under mysterious circumstances, she refuses to believe it was an accident.  This is a compelling, literary mystery.

Nemesis by Jo Nesbo

Oslo police detective and recovering alcoholic Harry Hole is investigating a bank robbery when an old girlfriend ends up murdered.  While Hole is trying to clear his name in her murder, he finds a link to the crime and his bank robbery. This is chilling Nordic Noir at its best.

Siren of the Waters by Michael Genelin

When Slovakian police commander Jana Matinova is called to a car crash involving six women and a man, she uncovers a human trafficking ring which leads her on a manhunt throughout Europe.

Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Readers are swept back to rural England in 1950 to meet Flavia de Luce, an 11 year-old aspiring chemist with an interest in poisons.  When she finds a man lying in her garden taking his last breaths, she investigates and ends up entangled in a decades’ old rare stamp smuggling ring.

Entanglement by Zygmunt Miloszewski

In this current day, Polish set police procedural prosecutor Teodor Szacki investigates a murder of passion involving a skewer through the eye, while in the midst of a midlife crisis.

Lie in the Dark by Dan Fesperman

Vlado Petric is a homicide investigator amidst the chaos of war torn Sarajevo, trying to find the killer of a government official.  Readers will appreciate the mystery storyline as well as the details about a recent and tragic war.

The One From the Other by Philip Kerr

Bernie Gunther is a PI in 1949 Germany.  In this 4^th installment of the series, Gunther is working for a woman who wants to know the fate of her missing husband, a convicted war criminal.

Around the World in 80 Murders: Asia and Southeast Asia

Sleuth your way around the world, explore novel destinations, and help catch a killer as you go…Around the World in 80 Murders

Asia and Southeast Asia

The Interior by Lisa See

Chinese inspector Liu Hulan and her American boyfriend, American attorney David Stark team up for a second mystery. Here Liu travels from Beijing to Da Shui to help an old friend solve the murder of her daughter.  The toy factory she worked in may be responsible for her death.  This is a compelling mystery series, with a touch of romance, which accurately portrays life in modern China.

Eye of the Jade by Diane Wei Liang

After resigning from the Ministry of Public Security, Mei Wang becomes a PI in late 1990s Beijing. This change of career is disgraceful to her family because being a PI is illegal in Beijing.  However, an old family friend gives Mei her first case: track down a jade seal from the Han Dynasty.  The case and family issues collide in this mystery which also contemplates the human rights abuses of the Chinese government.

The Samurai’s Wife by Laura Joh Rowland

In 17^th Century Japan in the town that will become Tokyo, Sano Ichiro holds the title of Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People.  In this, the fifth title in the series, Sano must get help from his new wife to solve a murder, but the investigation also turns up a plot to overthrow the government. History, intrigue, and suspense meld together perfectly in Rowland’s series.

The Flower Master by Sujata Massey

Amateur sleuth Rei Shimura is a young Japanese American antiques dealer in modern day Tokyo. When her flower arranging teacher is killed and Rei’s Aunt becomes the lead suspect, Rei must try to clear her Aunt’s name.  This series mixes in Japanese culture lessons with the suspense of the mystery.

Bangkok 8 by John Burdett

Bangkok’s only honest police detective searches for the person responsible for the deaths of his partner (a friend from childhood) and an American Marine sergeant killed in his car by a mass of cobras and a giant python.

The Shadow Walker by Michael Walters

In Ulan Bataar, Mongolia, violent crime is relatively unknown. A serial killer has left behind his fourth mutilated corpse with a severed head and limbs this time in a luxurious hotel, so a British CID Inspector is sent to assist in the quest to catch the killer before more people die.

A Corpse in the Koryo by James Church

Inspector O works for the North Korean government. After what appears to be a routine surveillance job, the Inspector starts to realize he may have been set up to fail by his bosses.  Inspector O fights for justice despite his government’s shady dealings.  This is a highly accurate account of life in a secretive country.

The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill

In this series debut, it is 1975 and seventy-two year old Dr. Siri Paiboun is named Chief Coroner of Laos by the newly installed Communist government.  His first case begins with the death of the wife of a Party leader and then the bodies of Vietnamese soldiers start surfacing in a lake.  Siri is an eccentric and original investigator.

The Damascened Blade by Barbara Cleverly

Scotland Yard commander Joe Sandilands is in India during the 1920s.  He is trying to take a vacation near the Afghan border when he receives orders to chaperone an American heiress who wants to experience the “real India.”  The two end up at a frontier outpost, a tribal prince is killed, and Sandilands must find the murderer quickly in order to avoid starting a war.

The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall

Meet Vish Puri, an accomplished private detective and owner of Delhi’s Most Private Investigators Ltd.  Expect interesting and eccentric characters, and storytelling like Agatha Christie with the addition of current technology. It also explores the contradictions of modern India without sacrificing the playfulness of the story.

Around the World in 80 Murders: Middle East and Arab Countries

Sleuth your way around the world, explore novel destinations, and help catch a killer as you go…Around the World in 80 Murders

Middle East and Arab Countries

A Woman in Jerusalem by Abraham B. Yehoshua 

The body of a woman killed in a terrorist bombing is claimed by the Human Resources manager of the bakery where she worked. Who was she and why did she come to Jerusalem?

The Mosaic of Shadows by Tom Harper

Byzantium, 1096. A mysterious assassin releases an arrow aimed at the emperor, but he has more than just a man in his sights. A keystone of a crumbling empire, the emperor is the solitary figure holding all the enemies in check. And if he falls, the mightiest power in Christendom will be torn apart.

My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk

In Istanbul, in the late 1590s, the Sultan secretly commissions a great book: a celebration of his life and his empire, to be illuminated by the best artists of the day - in the European manner. But when one of the miniaturists is murdered, their master has to seek outside help. Did the dead painter fall victim to professional rivalry, romantic jealousy, or religious terror?

Night Falls on Damascus by Frederick Highland

In 1930s French controlled Syria, a police inspector, investigating the gruesome murder of woman known as a social reformer, finds that she apparently had a dark side. But rather than a gruesome crime of passion, this murder seems to have political overtones of a kind more sinister and elusive than originally believed.

Murder in Jerusalem by Batya Gur 

A woman's body is discovered in the wardrobe warehouses of Israel Television, and a tangled and bloody trail of detection begins through the corridors and studios of Israel's official television station, and through the fears, loves, and contradictions of the people who work there.

The Last Prophecy by Jon Land

Sixty years after making a bizarre discovery under a body-filled trench in a Nazi concentration camp, the survivors of the medical unit responsible are being systematically murdered, and  a massacre in a Palestinian village could be tied to the killings.

Assassins of Athens by Jeffrey Siger

The body of the teenage son of one of Greece’s wealthiest wheeler-dealers is found behind a seedy gay bar. Within days his family flees the country. As bodies start dropping, it is increasingly difficult to dismiss hints of a colossal conspiracy—one that might stretch to the loftiest levels of Athenian society as well as way back into its bloodstained past.

A Darker God by Barbara Cleverly

In 1928 in Athens, archeologist Sir Andrew Merriman directs a production of Aeschylus's Agamemnon in the Athenian amphitheatre. During a dress rehearsal, Sir Andrew replaces the dummy in the bathtub stabbing scene. He is dead with a knife to his heart as his wife  and his former lover watch the practice session.

House Justice by Mike Lawson

An American defense contractor goes to Iran to sell missile technology, and the CIA knows all about it thanks to a spy in Tehran. But the story is leaked to an ambitious journalist and the spy is burned, brutally tortured, and executed.

City of Veils by Zoe Ferraris

When the body of a brutally beaten woman is found on the beach in Jeddah, the city's detectives are ready to dismiss the case as another unsolvable murder, chillingly common in a city where the veils of conservative Islam keep women as anonymous in life as the victim is in death.

Around the World in 80 Murders: Pacific Islands and Australia

Sleuth your way around the world, explore novel destinations, and help catch a killer as you go…Around the World in 80 Murders

Pacific Islands and Australia

One Man’s Paradise by Douglas Corleone

Manhattan defense lawyer Kevin Corvelli moves to Hawaii after an innocent client he failed to keep out of prison is killed in jail. He wants to live a simpler life but gets drawn into another high profile murder investigation in his new hometown. This novel is as much about defending an innocent man as it is about Corvelli’s own redemption.

The Flaming Luau of Death by Jerrilyn Farmer

Hula lessons! Passion Fruit martinis! A dead body washing in on the warm island tides! An uninvited corpse makes a surprise appearance at a luau bachelorette party, leading to a hilarious investigation.

Executive Power by Vince Flynn

Navy SEALs are sent to the Philippines to save an American family kidnapped by radical Islamic terrorists and get  caught in a deadly ambush. The mission had been top secret -- so who told the enemy?

Colour Scheme by Ngaio Marsh

Marsh’s Roderick Alleyn mysteries follow a Scotland Yard Inspector as he works in New Zealand in the WWII era. In Colour Scheme, Alleyn is called to investigate an odd murder at a dilapidated spa and uncovers a large criminal espionage ring. The Alleyn mysteries are a fabulous backlist option that you may have forgotten about.

The Ripple Effect by Paul Garrison

Travel around the South Pacific on a stolen sailboat with 15 year old Morgan.  Her father Aiden supposedly died in the 9/11 attacks, but Morgan knows that he used the tragedy as an excuse to escape those who are trying to frame him for multiple crimes. Can she find him and prove his innocence?

Murder on a Midsummer Night  by Kerry Greenwood

The extremely popular Phryne Fisher series follows an Australian flapper and PI during the years between the World Wars as she fights for justice for the less fortunate. Here, Phryne is embroiled in a suicide case, which looks more like murder, while she is also trying to locate an illegitimate child that stands to inherit a fortune. Fans of Maisie Dobbs will love Phryne too.

Death by the Book by Lenny Bartulin

Jack Susko is a second hand book dealer in Australia who wants nothing more than a quiet life with his books; however, he is struggling financially. Jack accepts a commission to help a dealer buy up every copy of the books by an obscure poet. It all seems straight forward until Jack finds out he is not the only one looking for these books. This is a newer series which is gaining quite a following.

Office of Innocence by Thomas Keneally

In the midst of WWII, a young Australian priest is having trouble reconciling his oath with his attraction to a female parishioner whose husband has been captured in North Africa.  When she turns up murdered, the priest needs to clear his name.  This is an engaging, literary novel that gives the reader a detailed sense of both the time and the place.

The Broken Shore by Peter Temple

In this unforgettable and award winning thriller, American readers will experience a completely different side of Southern Australia than the stereotypes we are used to.  Homicide detective Joe Cashin is reassigned to his small hometown while he rehabilitates from injuries.  Of course, while “resting” Cashin lands a complicated case that will have him questioning everything he holds dear.

Inspector Singh Investigates:  A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder by Shamini Flint

Dispatched to Kuala Lumpur to solve a perplexing case involving a famous model on death row who swears she is innocent, bumbling Inspector Singh confronts formidable circumstantial evidence and police resistance.

Around the World in 80 Murders: Mexico, Central America, and South America

Sleuth your way around the world, explore novel destinations, and help catch a killer as you go…Around the World in 80 Murders

Mexico and Central America

Grave Secrets  by Kathy Reichs

While investigating an old massacre in a Guatemalan village, a forensic archeologist begins to uncover evidence of a new one. What happened, she wonders, to the four missing girls of Guatemala City and who was the woman on the phone, screaming until her last breath?

Fallen Idols by J. F. Freedman

Walt Gaines is a prominent archaeologist, husband of thirty years, and father of three. But after his wife is murdered near an ancient Mayan ruin, he cuts off nearly all contact with his family. Now Walt's sons decide to perform an excavation of their own.

Down Among the Dead Men by Robert Gregory Browne

Five Catholic nuns were brutally murdered in a grisly house of horrors in the Mexican desert. A freelance journalist looking to revitalize his career knows this will be a terrific subject for a true crime book, but he learns there may have been a sixth victim, an American woman whose body has disappeared, and he has to find her…..

Desert Blood by Alicia Gaspar de Alba

By the summer of 1998, over a hundred mangled bodies have been found dumped in the desert outside of Juarez, Mexico. Most of the dead are poor Latino women, and inhabitants on both sides of the border are terrified. A young woman’s sister is missing and, despite her growing fear, she must try to find her.

Skull Duggery by Aaron Elkins

A forensic anthropologist on vacation in Mexico is asked to help the local police chief by examining the mummified remains of what appears to be a murder victim. One skeleton swiftly leads to a second—and from there smack into a secret someone will apparently kill to protect.

Beneath a Panamanian Moon by David Terrenoire

An ex-spy/piano player takes a job at a fading luxury hotel in Panama City, where ongoing paramilitary training appears to be building to an unknown event planned for New Year's Eve. The previous piano player got eaten by a shark that increasingly appears to have had help.

South America

Bel Canto  by Ann Patchett

Somewhere in South America, a band of gun-wielding terrorists breaks into a birthday party for the vice president and takes the entire party hostage. The drawn-out hostage situation comes to seem normal until the inevitable rescue attempt occurs, with astonishing consequences.

Buried Strangers by Leighton Gage

In the Brazilian rain forest, a sheepdog discovers a human bone. This discovery leads to a secret cemetery in a park near Brasilia that contains more than three dozen corpses, including those of 24 children who have been buried in family groups.

Resurrecting Midnight by Eric Jerome Dickey

An assassin-for-hire’s latest assignment takes him to Argentina to obtain and secure a package, a package that many will kill for and that many will die for. This package is now in the possession of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, a team of ruthless mercenaries led by an assassin simply known as The Beast.

Innocence by David Hosp

Operating solo in the legal world after leaving a prestigious firm, Boston lawyer Scott Finn accepts a dangerous assignment involving an attack on a policewoman and an El Salvadoran immigrant with ties to one of South America's most notorious gangs.

The Hunters by W.E.B. Griffin

Acting on orders from the president, the presidential agents team travels to Uruguay to find out who ordered the murder of an American diplomat involved in an oil-for-food scandal. Who is responsible? Most likely, the people higher up in the money chain, those willing to risk anything to keep their secrets from being revealed.

Around the World in 80 Murders: Western US and Canda

Sleuth your way around the world, explore novel destinations, and help catch a killer as you go…Around the World in 80 Murders

Western U.S. and Canada

St. Louis Bullet by Laurell K. Hamilton,

Anita Blake is home in St. Louis, trying to live a normal life – for a vampire hunter, that is. Then a vampire from her past reaches out. She was supposed to be dead, killed in an explosion, but the Mother of All Darkness is the first vampire, their dark creator. It's hard to kill a god. 

No Reservations Required by Ellen Hart

Two victims in the twin cities who were murdered within an hour of one another were killed by the same gun. No one can figure out the motive that ties both homicides, except sleuthing Minneapolis Times food critic Sophie Greenway.

Mercy Kill by Lori Armstrong

A former Black Ops army sniper trying to adjust to life on her family’s farm in South Dakota finds herself in the middle of a controversy over an underground pipeline that results in a friend’s murder.

The Bookman’s Promise by John Dunning

When a former Denver homicide cop turned antiquarian book dealer investigates the provenance of a signed first edition by Sir Richard Burton, he also finds he has to investigate a murder.

Arizona Dreams by Jon Talton

A deputy sheriff in Phoenix loves the challenge of solving cold cases, like a 40-year-old murder confession. Then there is a fresh corpse that may have a link to another series of crimes involving real estate fraud, as well as murder.

Borderline by Mark Schorr

Portland’s reputation as America’s safest small city may be at risk when it is discovered that a string of suspected criminals have been murdered without explanation. Is a vigilante serial

killer who targets criminals at work here?

Name Withheld by Judith A. Jance

A prominent Seattle biotech executive is found floating in Elliott Bay. He died, not by drowning, but from a bullet hole in the back of the head. It turns out too many people are eager to take responsibility for the crime. Undoubtedly, the victim was not a very nice guy.

The 8^th Confession by James Patterson 

First, there was the "perfect" double homicide, the murder of San Francisco's most celebrated society couple. Then there is another slaying. the victim, a populist preacher with a local following. The Women’s Murder Club has their work cut out for them.

Borderline by Nevada Barr

On vacation in Texas’ Big Bend National Park, a ranger on leave spots the body of a pregnant woman caught at the foot of some rapids. Then, a sniper kills the couple's guide and a fellow rafter. Not a very good start to a vacation.

Among the Departed by Vicki Delany

The successful search for a missing boy in the woods near the British Columbian town of Trafalgar also uncovers a human bone that may belong to a man who disappeared years earlier.

Crime in the City on NPR

NPR is running this fascinating summer series about fictional detectives and the cities where they live.  They are calling it Crime in the City, and if you click here they have all of the entries with a nice map. For each entry they interview the author but the focus is on how the city is captured in the novels.  For many of these series, the city in which they are set becomes a character in the books itself.  It can become a huge draw for bringing readers back again and again to many a long running series.

Setting is a huge appeal factor for many readers. I know for me it is key.  Look at all these books I have read and loved precisely because of the amazing sense of place.

When you talk about crime fiction, it becomes even more important to a wide range of readers.  You can see this in the popular website Stop You're Killing Me's Location index (a weekly stop for me as I help readers) and the popularity of our Around the World in 80 Murders last year.

BPL Display: Books in Translation and BPL RA Road Show Part 2

As I have mentioned before, we are using the theme of Novel Destinations for the Adult Summer Reading Program.  We have had our on-going Around the World in 80 Murders Display as well as a great display on Westerns which proved fairly popular.

Now we have Betty's take on a unique "Novel Destination"-- books in translation.  Here are her thoughts and a link to the list:

A translator must convey an author’s thoughts into another language in a way that is authentic to the author’s meaning, and that stays true to the author’s style and culture. Some authors will let only one person translate their work and are willing to wait years, if necessary, for that person to be available.  The list is here: Literature without Borders – Books Translated from Other Languages

 I also want to give readers of the blog a heads up on our second BPL RA Roadshow of the summer.  After the great success of Trivia Night, we are excited about the energy and interest surrounding our Book Lovers Club set to meet on Tuesday, July 12th at 7pm at Olive or Twist.  Click here for more details.

Anyone is welcome to come, Berwyn resident or not.  We won't discuss one book, but instead come ready to share what you are reading or a book you just love.  Then stay to mingle and chat with other book lovers.  This eclectic martini bar offers a refreshing backdrop to thoughtful literary conversations.  And if the weather is nice, we will sit on the patio! There will be snacks provided by the library, but you are welcome to order dinner for yourself.  Again, like Trivia Night, drinks are on you; we can't buy you alcohol with tax payer money.

Kathy and I will be there to get the conversation started.  We will also keep track of the books mentioned as well as a bit of what each person says about their book(s).  I will post those the list and comments here on the 13th, so if you can't make it, you can still be part of the conversation.

Hope to see you there.

Karin Slaughter Coming to the BPL!

I am happy to announce that the Adult Reading Round Table will be welcoming bestselling author Karin Slaughter at the Berwyn Public Library.  Karin will be interviewed by Rebecca Vnuk on Thursday, June 23rd at 1:30 PM.  Anyone can sign-up and pay $15 to attend this event.  Click here for the official flyer and signup form.

However, residents of Berwyn can enter a drawing for one of at least 25 free tickets.  Stop in at the library starting tomorrow to sing up for the Adult Summer Reading Program, "Novel Destinations," for your chance to be up close and personal with Karin Slaughter!

Also, beginning tomorrow, I will unveil the work Betty and I have done on our "Around the World in 80 Murders" lists in honor of the Novel Destinations themed Adult Summer Reading Program.  I will release one list a day over the next eight days.

In more great news, Slaughter's newest novel, Fallen, which comes out June 21st, just got a starred review in Booklist.  Place your reserves today!

I hope to see some of you at this fun event.

More Summer Reading Lists

I hope you enjoyed going "Around the World in 80 Murders" this week. While that feature was running, I was scanning the web for some of the other best summer reading lists.

Since the theme for summer reading at the BPL is "Novel Destinations" this year,  we are focusing on the fact that every book takes you on a journey somewhere.  So we say, read anything, just tell us where it took you.  I will add my own "Novel Destinations" line to each of my reviews this summer too.

Kathy and I are also taking the BPL RA department out of the building and to some Novel Destinations ourselves this summer.  More on the first trip later today...

But for now, here are further suggestions to set you off on a journey to a "novel destination" of your own choosing (nonfiction also encouraged):

• 10 Must Read Summer Books from Newsweek
• People Magazine's picks for summer reading via Early Word
• Speaking of Early Word...Here is the link to their Summer 2011 Archive
• NPR's Summer Reading Page (lots of lists)
• NY Times Summer Reading Issue
• RA Online's compiled lists of summer reading lists 
• Omnivoracious, the Amazon.com blog, has Summer 2011 picks