Mystery & Crime

... Read The Mystery of Mrs. Christie Summary

The year is 1327. William of Baskerville, a Franciscan friar, and Adso of Melk, a young novice travelling under his protection, arrive at a wealthy Benedictine abbey somewhere in Italy on an important secret mission. A group of Franciscans has come under fire from Pope John XXII, who suspects them of heresy. The Holy Roman Emperor, Louis IV, has aligned himself with the Franciscans, and the abbey has been chosen as a neutral location for... Read The Name of the Rose Summary

The New York Trilogy is a series of three interconnected and experimental detective stories by American author Paul Auster, published in 1987. The three parts were originally published separately as City of Glass (1985), Ghosts (1986), and The Locked Room (1986). The trilogy is a postmodern reinterpretation of the detective novel, linking mystery with metafiction as it explores the meaning of literature, language, and identity. City of Glass was adapted into a graphic novel in... Read The New York Trilogy Summary

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The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo was published in 2020. Like Choo's debut novel, The Ghost Bride (2013), The Night Tiger is a mixture of genres, including mythology and historical fiction, and it is a New York Times bestseller. The Night Tiger chronicles the period between May and July of 1931. The setting is colonial-era Malaysia, or “Malaya.”Plot SummaryChinese house servant Ren, is a 10-year-old orphan who’s mourning the death of his master, Dr. MacFarlane... Read The Night Tiger Summary

Lisa Jewell’s mystery novel Then She Was Gone follows Laurel Mack in her search for answers regarding her daughter Ellie’s disappearance. Through a series of flashbacks and differing points of view, Jewell gradually unfolds the details of the past and looks inside the mind of the psychopath who kidnapped Ellie, all while chronicling the steps Laurel must take to heal from the sorrow that has consumed her.This novel was originally published in 2017, but this... Read Then She Was Gone Summary

The Orchid Thief is a nonfiction book by Susan Orlean, originally published in 1998. It is a narrative nonfiction account of the crimes and trial of John Laroche, accused of stealing endangered orchid species from the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve in Florida. The basic story of Laroche and his crimes originally ran as an article in The New Yorker, entitled “Orchid Fever” and published in 1995. The book expands the story and also details Orlean’s... Read The Orchid Thief Summary

The Other Americans is a 2019 novel by Moroccan-American writer Laila Lalami. The book provides subjective perspectives of the aftermath of a hit and run attack in a small town in California. Themes of race, identity, guilt, and grief are explored and challenged by the overlapping and occasionally contradictory accounts. The book was a National Book Award finalist.Other works by this author include Conditional Citizens, The Moor's Account, and Hope And Other Dangerous Pursuits.Plot SummaryA... Read The Other Americans Summary

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The Pelican Brief is a 1992 novel by the American writer John Grisham. The legal thriller tells the story of Darby Shaw, a young law student who uncovers a vast conspiracy. The book was adapted into a film in 1993 starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington.Plot SummaryAn assassin named Khamel kills two Supreme Court Justices. Though the Justices were seemingly at different ends of the political spectrum, the same mysterious figure pays Khamel to kill... Read The Pelican Brief Summary

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux is a Gothic mystery novel first published serially in 1910. The novel follows a “ghost” who haunts the Paris Opera and the mysterious incidents attributed to this figure. The characters and the narrator himself try to uncover the secret of this ghost, who is really a masked man infatuated opera singer, Christine Daaé. The novel has been adapted into several formats, most notably a 1925 silent film... Read The Phantom of the Opera Summary

“The Pit and the Pendulum,” Edgar Allan Poe’s agonizing tale of terror and suspense, was first published in 1842. One of Poe’s many horror stories, “The Pit and the Pendulum” became famous for its depiction of pure dread. This guide refers to the 1992 Modern Library edition of Poe’s Collected Tales and Poems.The story begins with shocking suddenness: “I was sick—sick unto death with that long agony” (246). The narrator, we soon discover, is a... Read The Pit and the Pendulum Summary

Published in 2009, The Plague of Doves is a work of fiction written by author Louise Erdrich, an enrolled member of the Ojibwe people. The novel was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. The novel concerns the ramifications of the horrific murder of the Lochren family, during which five family members were slaughtered and only the infant girl survived. This massacre resulted in the unjust lynching of a group... Read The Plague Of Doves Summary

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The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York is a 2010 non-fiction book by science writer Deborah Blum. This guide follows the first edition of the book. In The Poisoner’s Handbook, Blum explores how Charles Norris and Alexander Gettler laid the foundations for the modern field of forensic science in New York in the 1920s. Through Norris and Gettler’s stories, Blum also narrates a number of important social... Read The Poisoner’s Handbook Summary

“The Possibility of Evil” is a domestic horror short story by Shirley Jackson. Originally published in The Saturday Evening Post in December 1968, it later appeared in the collection Just an Ordinary Day, posthumously published in 1996. Jackson's other well-know works include the short story "The Lottery" (1948) and The Haunting of Hill House (1959).The story is written in the third-person perspective of protagonist Miss Adela Strangeworth. Miss Adela Strangeworth is a wealthy old woman... Read The Possibility of Evil Summary

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain, published in 1934, tells the story of a drifter named Frank Chambers. In the first chapter, Frank arrives at a diner called the Twin Oaks Tavern near Glendale, California. There, he meets Nick “the Greek” Papadakis, the diner’s proprietor, and Nick’s wife, Cora. After Frank agrees to work in the diner, Cora tells Frank that she hates Nick. Frank soon makes a pass at Cora, and... Read The Postman Always Rings Twice Summary

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The Racketeer is John Grisham’s 30th book. It debuted at the top of the New York Times bestseller list in November 2012. John Grisham has twice won the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and also received the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction. He has written over 35 bestsellers. Eight of his novels have been adapted for film, and one, The Firm, spawned a 2012 television series that takes place 10 years... Read The Racketeer Summary