Recommendations based on "Murder Ignited"

A wildly charming and fast-paced mystery written with all the panache of the hardboiled classics, Fortune Favors the Dead introduces Pentecost and Parker, an audacious new detective duo for the ages.“Razor-sharp style, tons of flair, a snappy sense of humor, and all the most satisfying elements of a really good noir novel, plus plenty of original twists of its own.”—Tana French, bestselling author of The SearcherIt's 1942 and Willowjean "Will" Parker is a scrappy circus runaway whose knife-throwing skills have just saved the life of New York's best, and most unorthodox, private investigator, Lillian Pentecost. When the dapper detective summons Will a few days later, she doesn't expect to be offered a life-changing proposition: Lillian's multiple sclerosis means she can't keep up with her old case load alone, so she wants to hire Will to be her right-hand woman. In return, Will is to receive a salary, room and board, and training in Lillian's very particular art of investigation.Three years later, Will and Lillian are on the Collins case: Abigail Collins was found bludgeoned to death with a crystal ball following a big, boozy Halloween party at her home—her body slumped in the same chair where her steel magnate husband shot himself the year before. With rumors flying that Abigail was bumped off by the vengeful spirit of her husband (who else could have gotten inside the locked room?), the family has tasked the detectives with finding answers where the police have failed.But that's easier said than done in a case that involves messages from the dead, a seductive spiritualist, and Becca Collins—the beautiful daughter of the deceased, who Will quickly starts falling for. When Will and Becca's relationship dances beyond the professional, Will finds herself in dangerous territory, and discovers she may have become the murderer's next target.

When Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong set up their very own secret detective agency at Deepdean School for Girls, they struggle to find any truly exciting mysteries to investigate. (Unless you count the case of Lavinia's missing tie. Which they don't.) Then Hazel discovers the Science Mistress, Miss Bell, lying dead in the Gym. She assumes it was a terrible accident - but when she and Daisy return five minutes later, the body has disappeared. Now Hazel and Daisy not only have a murder to solve: they have to prove one happened in the first place. Determined to get to the bottom of the crime before the killer strikes again (and before the police can get there first, naturally), Hazel and Daisy must hunt for evidence, spy on their suspects and use all the cunning and intuition they can muster. But will they succeed? And can their friendship stand the test? 'Ripping good fun' The Times 'A skilful blend of golden era crime novel and boarding school romp . . . The novel works both as an affectionate satire and an effective murder mystery, and Stevens can go places Enid Blyton never dreamt of . . . Top class' Financial Times 'Plotting is what sets this book apart; this is about who was where at the time of the murder, and it's about finding the chink in the alibi' Telegraph

In this mystery in the New York Times bestselling series, librarian Charlie Harris and his cat Diesel have to battle a killer when a set of Civil War diaries inspires murder...   Lucinda Beckwith Long, the mayor of Athena, Mississippi, has donated a set of Civil War-era diaries to the archives of Athena College. She would like librarian Charlie Harris to preserve and substantiate them as a part of the Long family legacy—something that could benefit her son, Beck, as he prepares to campaign for the state senate.   Beck’s biggest rival would like to get a look at the diaries in an attempt to expose the Long family’s past sins. Meanwhile, a history professor is also determined to get her hands on the books in a last-ditch bid for tenure. But their interest suddenly turns deadly, leaving Charlie with a catalog of questions to answer. Together with his Maine Coon cat Diesel, Charlie must discover why the diaries were worth killing for before he too reaches his final chapter. INCLUDES A BONUS SHORT STORY

CRIME & MYSTERY FICTION. GRAPHIC NOVEL. Miss Marple's first case is adapted into the first Miss Marple comic book in this long-awaited adaptation of one of Agatha Christie's most famous novels. Nothing ever happens in the peaceful village of St Mary Mead. So it seems almost incredible when Colonel Protheroe is discovered shot through the head in the vicarage study. Unfortunately for the murderer, there is someone in the village who knows everything, sees everything and hears everything - and she intends to work out who killed the Colonel. Her name is Miss Marple!

THE REMORSEFUL DAY'"Where does this leave us, sir?""Things are moving fast.""We're getting near the end, you mean?""We were always near the end."'The murder of Yvonne Harrison had left the Thames Valley CID baffled. A year after the dreadful crime they are still no nearer to making an arrest. But one man has yet to tackle the case - and it is just the sort of puzzle at which Chief Inspector Morse excels.So why is he adamant that he will not lead the re-investigation, despite the entreaties of Chief Superintendent Strange and dark hints of some new evidence? And why, if he refuses to take on the case officially, does he seem to be carrying out his own private enquiries?For Sergeant Lewis this is yet another example of the unsettling behaviour his chief has been displaying of late...THE WENCH IS DEAD'That night he dreamed in Technicolor. He saw the ochre-skinned, scantily clad siren in her black, arrowed stockings. And in Morse's muddled computer of a mind, that siren took the name of Joanna Franks...'The body of Joanna Franks was found at Duke's Cut on the Oxford Canal at about 5.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 22 June 1859.At around 10.15 a.m. on a Saturday morning in 1989 the body of Chief Inspector Morse - though very much alive - was removed to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital. Treatment for a perforated ulcer was later pronounced successful.As Morse begins his recovery he comes across an account of the investigation an trial the followed Joanna Franks death... and becomes convinced that the two men hanged for her murder were innocent...

Knives Out meets Downton Abbey! Secrets, murder, and mayhem collide as this unlikely sleuthing duo--an under-butler and a foul-mouthed octogenarian--hunt a killer in a manor sealed against the end of the world, in this locked-room mystery by #1 New York Times bestselling author Ross Montgomery. Cornwall, 1910. On a remote tidal island, the Viscount of Tithe Hall is absorbed in feverish preparations for the apocalypse that he believes will accompany the passing of Halley's Comet. The Hall must be sealed from top to bottom--every window, chimney, and keyhole closed off before night falls. But what the pompous, dishonest Viscount has failed to take into account is the danger that lies within... By morning, he will be dead in his sealed study, murdered by his own ancestral crossbow. All eyes turn to Steven Pike, Tithe Hall's newest under-butler. Fresh out of Borstal for a crime he didn't commit, he is the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time. His unlikely ally? Miss Decima Stockingham, the foul-mouthed, sharp as a tack, eighty-year-old family matriarch. Fearless and unconventional, she relishes chaos and puzzles alike, and a murder is just the thrill she's been waiting for. Together, this mismatched duo must navigate secret passages, buried grudges, and rising terror to unmask the killer before it's too late...

It is the winter of 1379 and a sea of trouble is besetting England as French privateers continue to attack the southern coast on a path to threaten London itself. In response an English flotilla of warships, with God's Bright Light in its number, has dropped anchor in the Thames. When the sun rises on the flotilla's first morning, the first mate and two of the crew of God's Bright Light have disappeared without a trace. Sir John Cranston?the wine-loving Coroner of the City?and his clerk Brother Athelstan are summoned to resolve the mysteries on board the ill-omened warship. In particular, they must search out the truth behind the death of Sir Henry Ospring, who after visiting the ship's captain was later viciously stabbed to death in a tavern chamber. As Cranston and Brother Athelstan investigate, they find themselves in the thick of a bloody battle as scandal, treason, and murder rule the day.

Mystery shopper Josie Marcus is thrilled to be getting married. But when a deranged bride meets a grim end, Josie will have to catch a murderer before she tosses the bouquet... As a bride-to-be, Josie's latest assignment is absolutely fitting--investigating wedding flowers and wedding cakes. Josie can't wait to pick out the details to make her own wedding perfect, even as her fiancé Ted's outrageous mother has plans to turn the celebration into an over-the-top extravaganza. Still, the pistol-packing Lenore does come in handy when she draws her gun on Molly--a homicidal bridezilla who threatens to kill Ted unless he agrees to marry her--and saves the day. Josie thinks the worst pre-wedding disaster is behind her--until Molly is shot and Lenore becomes the prime suspect. With her mother-in-law behind bars and her wedding on hold, Josie's about to become fully engaged in finding the bridezilla killer and getting her own wedding back on track...

London, March 1941. The Blitz continues to cast a shadow over the city's brightest spots such as the Café de Paris. Having narrowly escaped a devastating bomb attack on the nightclub, Detective Chief Inspector Coburg and Sergeant Lampson are called to the disused Lord's Underground station where the body of a man has been discovered. The dead man was beaten to death by what may have been a cricket bat. Is he linked to the British Empire XI, made up of players from Great Britain and far-flung corners of the globe, who are playing at the world-famous Lord's Cricket Ground? Coburg and Lampson are certainly put in a spin by this complex case.

"Harrison's seventh Reverend Mother whodunit stands out as her trickiest yet . Fans of historical puzzle mysteries will be delighted" - Publishers Weekly Starred Review Money is the root of all evil, according to the Reverend Mother - but is it the motive for her cousin's murder? Wealthy widow Charlotte Hendrick had always promised that her riches would be divided equally between her seven closest relatives when she died. Now she has changed her mind and summoned her nearest and dearest, including her cousin, the Reverend Mother, to her substantial home on Bachelor's Quay to inform them of her decision. As Mrs Hendrick's relatives desperately make their case to retain a share of her wealth, riots break out on the quays outside as the flood waters rise ... The following morning, a body is discovered in the master bedroom, its throat cut. Could there be a connection to the riots of the night before - or does the killer lie closer to home? In her efforts to uncover the truth, the Reverend Mother unearths a tale of greed, cruelty, forbidden passion ... and cold-blooded malice.