Recommendations based on "Showstopper"

In New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz’s ingenious fifth literary whodunnit in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series, Detective Hawthorne is once again called upon to solve an unsolvable case—a gruesome murder in an idyllic gated community in which suspects abound.Riverside Close is a picture-perfect community. The six exclusive and attractive houses are tucked far away from the noise and grime of city life, allowing the residents to enjoy beautiful gardens, pleasant birdsong, and tranquility from behind the security of a locked gate.It is the perfect idyll, until the Kentworthy family arrives, with their four giant, gas-guzzling cars, gaggle of shrieking children, and plans for a garish swimming pool in the backyard. Obvious outsiders, the Kentworthys do not belong in Riverside Close, and quickly offend every last one of the neighbors.When Giles Kentworthy is found dead on his own doorstep, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest, Detective Hawthorne is the only investigator they can call to solve the case.Because how do you solve a murder when everyone is a suspect?

New York Times bestselling author Deborah Crombie makes her mark with this absorbing, finely hued tale of suspense - a deeply atmospheric and twisting mystery full of deadly secrets, salacious lies, and unexpected betrayals involving the mysterious drowning of a Met detective - an accomplished rower - on the Thames.When a K9 search and rescue team finds a body tangled up with debris in the Thames, Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid finds himself heading an investigation that could end his career. The victim, Rebecca Meredith, was an Olympic rowing hopeful determined to make a comeback. She was also a detective with the Met - a situation that raises a host of political and ethical issues that complicate the case.Aided by his wife, Inspector Gemma James, Duncan and his team discover that both Meredith's rowing colleagues and her ex-husband had reason to want her dead. But when someone tries to kill the search-and-rescue team member who found Rebecca's body, the case becomes even more complex and dangerous, involving powerful interests with tentacles that reach deep into the heart of the Met itself.Surrounded by enemies in friendly faces, pressured to find answers quickly and protect the Yard from rabid media desperate for dirt, his career and reputation on the line, Kincaid must race to catch the killer before more innocent lives are lost - including his own.

Val McDermid, creator of TV's Wire in the Blood, mixes fact with fiction, dealing with one of the most important and symbolic moments in recent history. Twenty-five years ago, the daughter of the richest man in Scotland and her baby son were kidnapped and held to ransom. But Catriona Grant ended up dead and little Adam's fate has remained a mystery ever since. When a new clue is discovered in a deserted Tuscan villa - along with grisly evidence of a recent murder - cold case expert DI Karen Pirie is assigned to follow the trail. She's already working a case from the same year. During the Miners' Strike of 1984, pit worker Mick Prentice vanished. He was presumed to have broken ranks and fled south with other 'scabs'... but Karen finds that the reported events of that night don't add up. Where did he really go? And is there a link to the Grant mystery? The truth is stranger - and far darker - than fiction.

Who's got time to think about murder when there's a wedding to plan? It's been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favourite criminal. But when Elizabeth meets a wedding guest who fears for their life, the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. A villain wants access to an uncrackable code and will stop at nothing to get it. Plunged back into their most explosive investigation yet, can the gang solve the puzzle and a murder in time?

Investigating the brutal murder of a Midsomer Worthy Writers' Circle club member, Chief Inspector Barnaby and his colorful sidekick, Sergeant Troy, delve into the secret passions of the eccentric club to find a killer. Reprint.

"Crombie’s characters are rich, emotionally textured, fully human. They are the remarkable creations of a remarkable writer."—Louise Penny “Nobody writes the modern English mystery the way Deborah Crombie does—and A Bitter Feast is the latest in a series that is gripping, enthralling, and just plain the best.”   — Charles Todd, New York Times bestselling author of The Black Ascot and A Cruel Deception New York Times bestselling author Deborah Crombie returns with a mesmerizing entry in her “excellent” (Miami Herald) series, in which Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James are pulled into a dangerous web of secrets, lies, and murder that simmers beneath the surface of a tranquil Cotswolds village. Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his wife, Detective Inspector Gemma James, have been invited for a relaxing weekend in the Cotswolds, one of Britain’s most enchanting regions, famous for its rolling hills, golden cottages, and picturesque villages. Duncan, Gemma, and their children are guests at Beck House, the family estate of Melody Talbot, Gemma’s detective sergeant. The Talbot family is wealthy, prominent, and powerful—Melody’s father is the publisher of one of London’s largest and most influential newspapers. The centerpiece of this glorious fall getaway is a posh charity harvest luncheon catered by up-and-coming chef Viv Holland. After fifteen years in London’s cut-throat food scene, Viv has returned to the Gloucestershire valleys of her childhood and quickly made a name for herself with her innovative meals based on traditional cuisine but using fresh local ingredients. Attended by the local well-to-do as well as national press food bloggers and restaurant critics, the event could make Viv a star. But a tragic car accident and a series of mysterious deaths rock the estate and pull Duncan and Gemma into the investigation. It soon becomes clear that the killer has a connection with Viv’s pub—or, perhaps, with Beck House itself. Does the truth lie in the past? Or is it closer to home, tied up in the tangled relationships and bitter resentments between the staff at Beck House and Viv’s new pub? Or is it more personal, entwined with secrets hidden by Viv and those closest to her?

In the late summer of 1472, medieval physician and apothecary Kathryn Swinbrooke is summoned to investigate yet another puzzling situation in Canterbury. She is appointed by the Archbishop as Advocatus Diaboli-the Devil's Advocate-to argue against the beatification of Roger Atworth, a friar in the Order of the Sack and the confessor of Dame Cecily of York, King Edward's mother. Atworth has died under mysterious circumstances, and there are rumors afloat of miraculous happenings surrounding his body. At the same time, an infestation of rats has begun to afflict Canterbury. Never in the history of the city has such an invasion occurred, and the topic is one everyone's lips.Meanwhile, when Kathryn begins asking questions at the friary about Atworth's death, she discovers that the logical explanation is murder, not a miracle. His involvement with Cecily may have brought about his demise, and Kathryn suspects a link between his death and that of an English spy outside the friary. With the murderer still on the loose, what began as a search for the town's ills becomes instead Kathryn's pursuit of a killer.

[Read by Frederick Davidson]Little progress had been made by the Thames Valley Police since the discovery of a corpse in a North Oxford flat. The police had no weapon, no suspect, and no motive. But within days of taking over the investigation, Chief Inspector Morse and Detective Sergeant Lewis uncover startling new information about the life and death of the victim, Dr. Felix McClure, late of Wolsey College, Oxford.The trail leads to a staircase in Wolsey College and a former ''scout'' there, one Edward Brooks, who disappears following the theft of a knife from the Pitt Rivers Museum. When another body is discovered, Morse suddenly finds himself with too many suspects, including Brooks' wife, a prostitute, and an enigmatic schoolmistress. Attracted to one of the possible killers, the chief inspector may be too involved for success.It will take much thought, many pints, and not a little anguish before Morse sees the connection between McClure's death and the daughters of Cain.

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...

A man lay dead: Inspector Alleyn has 7 suspects when a real dead body appears during a Murder Game at an extravagant house party -- Enter a murderer: Two unwilling girlfriends and several relieved blackmail victims are among Alleyn's suspects after a prop gun fires a very real bullet during a stage play -- The nursing home murder: The surgical operation on the Home Secretary is a complete success until he dies hours later and Alleyn finds both the surgeon and nurse have good reasons to want him dead -- Moonshine: Little Janey meets the real Father Christmas.