Jeff Abbott

Called home from his job as a book editor in Boston to share the duty of caring for his senile mother with his sister, Jordan Poteet works as the librarian at the Mirabeau Library. You wouldn't think a little place like Mirabeau would be a likely place for murder, but every town has its secrets. While helping Police Chief Junebug Moncrief catch the criminals, Jordy manages to find true love with his pretty assistant, Candace Tully.

Do Unto Others. Ballantine, 1994.
The Only Good Yankee. Ballantine, 1995.
Promises of Home. Ballantine, 1996.
Distant Blood. Ballantine, 1996.

By the same author...

A Kiss Gone Bad. Onyx, 2001.
Nelwy minted Judge Whit Mosley and police detective Claudia Salazar join forces to investigate the "suicide" of porn star Pete Hubble, who had returned home to Port Leo, Texas, in the hopes of uncovering the secrets of his brother's disappearance years earlier.

Susan Wittig Albert

China Bayles has abandoned the rat race as a Houston criminal attorney to buy an herb shop in Pecan Springs, which, for a small town, certainly has its share of murder. China is aided in her crime-solving by New Age shop owner Ruby Wilcox and ex-cop Mike McQuaid. Each book in the series has a herb connected to it and information on growing and using it.

Thyme of Death. Scribner, 1992.
Witches Bane. Scribner, 1993.
Hangman's Root. Scribner, 1994.
Rosemary Remembered. Berkley Prime Crime, 1995.
Rueful Death. Berkley Prime Crime, 1996.
Love Lies Bleeding. Berkley Prime Crime, 1997.
Chile Death. Berkley Prime Crime, 1998.
Lavender Lies. Berkley Prime Crime, 1999.
Mistletow Man. BPC, 2000.
Bloodroot. BPC, 2001.
Indigo Dying. BPC, 2003.
A Dilly of a Death. BPC, 2004.
Dead Man's Bones. BPC, 2005.
Bleeding Hearts. BPC, 2006.
Spanish Dagger. BPC, 2007.
Nightshade. BPC, 2008.
Wormwood. BPC, 2009.
Holly Blues. BPC, 2010.
Mourning Gloria. BPC, 2011.

Carolyn Banks

Robin Vaughan, is a Texas equestrienne (her specialty is dressage) who not only does battle with her weight-her husband, Jeet, is a food editor at the newspaper, which doesn't help matters-but with a variety of cold-blooded killers.

Death By Dressage. Fawcett Gold Medal, 1993.
Groomed for Death. Fawcett, 1995.
Murder Well-Bred. Fawcett, 1995.
Death on the Diagonal. Facwett, 1996.
A Horse to Die For. Fawcett, 1996.

Neal Barrett

Dead Dog Blues. St. Martin's, 1994.
After several citizens of Pharaoh, Texas, die in bizarre ways, town constable Jack Track, a man with a dubious past, finds himself in over his head in his pursuit of a maniac.

Nancy Bell

Mrs. Fiona Wooten Weatherford (aka Biggie) is famous for landing 5-lb. catfish, mowing down mailboxes when she drives and recognizing fools a mile away. This Lone Star version of Miss Jane Marple also happens to be the richest woman in Job's County, Texas, and grandmother to 12-year old J.R., who narrates these folksy mysteries.

Biggie and the Poisoned Politician. St. Martin's, 1996.
Biggie and the Mangled Mortician. St. Martin's, 1997.
Biggie and the Fricasseed Fat Man. St. Martin's, 1998.
Biggie and the Meddlesome Mailman. Minotuar, 1999.
Biggie and the Quincy Ghost. T. Dunne, 2001.
Biggie and the Devil Diet. Minotaur, 2002.

Also by Nancy Bell...

Restored to Death. T. Dunne, 2003.
As judge in the tiny town of Post Oak, Jackson's Crain's biggest headaches are a toss-up beteen raising his precocious teenage daughter and dodging the matchmaking of the local busybodies...at least until his shrewish sister-in-law is bludgeoned and strangled to death while sunbathing on her patio.

Jay Brandon

Local Rules. Pocket. 1995.
When San Antonio lawyer Jordan Marshall is stopped for speeding in Green Hills, TX, he is asked by the judge to represent a young man charged with attempted murder. Certain that his client is being railroaded, Marshall uncovers a shocking secret that will scandalize the town.

Susan Rogers Cooper

The town of Black Cat Ridge is home to E.J. Pugh, the writer of bodice-ripping romance novels, her laid-back husband, Willis, their three kids and three cats.

One, Two, What Did Daddy Do? St. Martin's, 1992.
Hickory Dickory Stalk. Avon, 1996.
Home Again, Home Again. Avon, 1997.
There Was A Little Girl. Avon, 1998.
A Crooked Little House. Avon, 1999.
Not In My Backyard. Avon, 1999.
Don't Drink the Water. Avon, 2000.

Bill Crider

Adultery in the public park. Cows loose in the church parking lot. Moon pies stolen from the grocery. This is the sort of crime Blacklin County sheriff Dan Rhodes-a widower with a feisty 23-year old daughter--usually has to deal with. But no town is immune to big-city crime and when it intrudes upon his domain the quiet, thoughtful and likeable lawman who is bereft of the gadgets of modern criminology to aid him, uses his intelligence, wit and not a little bit of luck to solve cases.

Too Late to Die. Walker, 1986.
Shotgun Saturday Night. 1987.
Cursed to Death. Walker, 1988.
Death on the Move. Walker, 1989.
Evil at the Root. St. Martin's, 1990.
Booked For a Hanging. St. Martin's, 1992.
Murder Most Fowl. St. Martin's, 1994.
Winning Can be Murder. St. Martin's, 1996.
Death By Accident. St. Martin's, 1998.
A Ghost of a Chance. St. Martin's, 2000.
A Romantic Way to Die. Minotaur, 2001.
Red, White & Blue Murder. T. Dunne, 2003.
A Mammoth Murder. Minotaur, 2006.
Murder Among OWLS. Minotaur, 2007.
Of All Sad Words. Minotaur, 2008.
Murder in Four Parts. Minotaur, 2009.
Murder in the Air. Minotaur, 2010.
The Wild Hog Murders. Minotaur, 2011.

Bill Crider

Laconic Truman Smith is a disillusioned Galveston P.I. who would rather sit and read Faulkner or O'Hara in the company of his cat, Nemesis, than anything else. But trouble has a way of finding itself to his door.

Dead on the Island. Walker, 1991.
Gator Kill. Walker, 1992.
When Old Men Die. Walker, 1994.
The Prairie Chicken Kill. Walker, 1996.
Murder Takes a Break. Walker, 1997.

Bill Crider

Low-key, likeable Carl Burns heads the English Department at a small, conservative Baptist college in Pecan City, TX. His biggest problems should be grading papers, motivating his uninspired students and working on his lists (he has an obsession for making list for every imaginable subject)-not investigating murders.

One Dead Dean. Walker, 1988.
Dying Voices. St. Martin's, 1989.
A Dangerous Thing. Walker, 1994.
Dead Soldiers. Five Star, 2004.

Gaylord Dold

Bay of Sorrows. St. Martin's, 1995.

In Port Arthur, TX, when an old Vietnamese fisherman is found dead, the Sheriff is quick to write it off as a suicide, but his burnt-out, overeducated deputy, Tom Poole, well aware of the tensions between the locals and the immigrant population, is convinced it was murdered and refuses to allow the old man's death to be ignored.

Kinky Friedman

Armadillos and Old Lace. Simon & Schuster, 1994.
When hip, witty cosmically cryptic poet Kinky Friedman, decides it's time to take a break from New York City mayhem and murder, he transports himself and his cat to Texas to get back to his roots, to commune with his dad and play with his pet armadillo. But something diabolical is afoot and Kinky undertakes some sleuthing, much to the annoyance of the toughest lady sheriff in the state.

Jan Grape

Austin City Blue. Five Star, 2001.
Austin police officer Zoe Barrow fatally shoots Jesse Garcia during a standoff and afterwards faces a grilling by Internal Affairs since the dead man was the guy who put a bullet in Zoe's husband and left him a vegetable.

Carolyn G. Hart

Death on the River Walk. Avon, 1999.
A frantic phone call from an old friend sends Pultizer-Prize winning ex-crime reporter Henrie O rushing to San Antonio to check out the baffling disappearance of her friend's granddaughter, who suddenly left her job at a pretigious Art Gallery and has not been seen since.

Nancy Herndon

Elena Jarvis, an officer in the Crimes Against Persons department of the Los Santos police force has a sharp mind and a strong sense of justice. She's also got a condescending boss, a chauvinist partner, and an overprotective narc ex-husband. But then, she always knew police work would mean dealing with troublemakers.

Widow's Watch. Berkley Prime Crime, 1995.
Acid Bath. Berkley Prime Crime, 1995.
Lethal Statues. Berkley Prime Crime, 1996.
Hunting Game. Berkley Prime Crime, 1997.
Time Bombs. Berkley Prime Crime, 1997.
C.O.P. Out. Berkley Prime Crime, 1998.
Casanova Crimes. Berkley Prime Crime, 1999.

Sharon Kahn

Fax Me a Bagel. Scribner, 1998.
Poisoned bagels? Life in sleepy Eternal, Texas, isn't supposed to be this dangerous. Ruby, whose beloved husband Rabbi Stu Rothman died in a hit-and-run accident a year ago, investigates a rash of unexplained deaths in her cozy little town. Followed by: Never Nosh a Matzo Ball (2000), Don't Cry for Me, Hot Pastrami (2001), and Hold the Cream Cheese, Kill the Lox (2002).

Joe Land

Strong Enough to Die. Forge, 2009.
Caitlin Strong is a 5th-generation Texas Ranger fraught with guilt over a deadly shootout that ended her career. Five years later she learns the shocking truth behind the fatal events and investigates the incident with the help of a dangerous outlaw. Followed by: Strong Justice (2010) & Strong at the Break (2011).

The Bottoms. Mysterious, 2000.
Part mystery/part coming of age of events that take place after Harry Crane discovers a dead body in a river. Harry's father, the local constable, starts an investigation that proceeds to change Harry's viewpoint of life.

Created and maintained by: Lynne M. Kennedy.

© Copyright 2012, 1999. Sachem Public Library. All rights reserved.

Sachem Public Library
150 Holbrook Road
Holbrook, New York 11741
631 588-5024

sachemlibrary.org