The October Year in Reading challenge is.... mysteries! Be they cozy, noir, hilarious, and everything in between, these mysteries are ready to turn your October into something unknown.
Be sure to check out our virtual reading challenge on Beanstack to earn virtual badges!
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Space case : the graphic novel
Author(s):
Description:
When a lunarnaut dies on Moon Base Alpha, twelve-year-old Dashiell Gibson sets out to solve the lunar murder mystery before the killer strikes again.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J FIC Gib
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Description:
"Near the top most deck of an interstellar generation ship, Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in a body that isn't hers--just as someone else is found murdered. As one of the ship's detectives, Dorothy usually delights in unraveling the schemes on board the Fair weather, but when she finds that someone is not only killing bodies, but purposefully deleting minds from the Library, she realizes something even more sinister is afoot. Dorothy suspects the misfortune is partly the fault of her feckless nephew Ruthie who, despite his brilliance as a programmer, leaves chaos in his cheerful wake. Or perhaps the sultry yarn store proprieter--and ex-girlfriend of the body Dorothy is currently inhabiting--knows more than she's letting on. Whatever it is, Dorothy intends to solve this case. Because someone has done the impossible and found a way to make murder on the Fairweather a very permanent state indeed. A mastermind may be at work--and if so, they've had three hundred years to perfect their schemes" --Publisher description.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Wai
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Whack job : a history of axe murder
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Description:
"A brilliant and bloody examination of the axe's foundational role in human history, from prehistoric violence, to war and executions, to newspaper headlines and popular culture. For as long as the axe has been in our hands, we have used it to kill. Much like the wheel, the boat, and the telephone, the axe is a transformative piece of technology-- one that has been with us since prehistory. And just as early humans used the axe to chop down trees, hunt for food, and whittle tools, they also used it to murder. Over time, this particular use has endured: as the axe evolved over centuries to fit the needs of new agricultural, architectural, and social development, so have our lethal uses for it. Whack Job is the story of the axe, first as a convenient danger and then an anachronism, as told through the murders it has been employed in throughout history: from the first axe murder nearly half a million years ago, to the brutal harnessing of the axe in warfare, to its use in King Henry VIII's favorite method of execution, to Lizzie Borden and the birth of modern pop culture. Whack Job sheds brilliant light on this familiar implement, this most human of weapons. This is a critical examination of violence, an exploration of how technology shapes human conflict, the cruel and sacred rituals of execution and battle, and the ways humanity fits even the most savage impulses into narratives of the past and present"-- Provided by publisher.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
621.9309 Jam
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Murder, interrupted : true-crime thrillers
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Description:
MURDER, INTERRUPTED. Rich, cheating financier Frank Howard wants his wife dead, and he's willing to pay Billie Earl Johnson whatever it takes, to the tune of $750,000. When his bullet misses the mark, Billie Earl and Frank will turn on each other in a fight for their lives...MOTHER OF ALL MURDERS. Dee Dee Blancharde is a local celebrity. Television reports praise her as a single mother who tirelessly cares for her wheelchair-bound, chronically ill daughter. But when the teenaged Gypsy Rose realizes she isn't actually sick and Dee Dee has lied all these years, Gypsy Rose exacts her revenge...
Format:
Book
Call Number:
364.1523 Pat
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Description:
"In the middle of the family New Year's gathering at his home, Grandfather Fuchigami is murdered. But not for the last time. For his grandson, Hisataro, has fallen into a mysterious time-loop, in which he must relive the same day again and again. Every morning after his grandfather's death, Hisataro wakes up with a chance to find the culprit and prevent the murder. But day after day he fails, despite stumbling across clues aplenty in the shape of secret plots, illicit love affairs and jealous rivalries. With an extremely large inheritance up for grabs, everyone is a suspect -- and Hisataro is beginning to wish he could leave this day behind" --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Nis
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Description:
"A mysterious group known as the Pretty Boy Detective Club is rumored to solve (and perhaps cause) most of the trouble at Yubiwa Academy--in a strictly unofficial, undercover, uncommercial capacity, of course. In order to find a star she glimpsed ten years ago, second-year Mayumi Dojima enlists the Pretty Boy's aid, and gets much more than she bargained for! When they run up against a shadowy organization called the Twenties, stargazing is suddenly the least of their worries. Mayumi's entire future is in jeopardy, and the Pretty Boy Detective Club must race to solve the Mystery of the Dark Star before time runs out!'' --Back cover.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Nis
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Description:
Portland, Oregon. Sage Caplin has high hopes for her coffee cart, Ground Rules. Her business partner, Harley, is a genius at roasting beans and devising new blends. Then Sage finds a customer's body in front of her cart, a fatal slash across his neck. She knows the locals have intensely strong opinions, but who would be mad enough to commit murder? Sage is already fending off trouble in the form of her estranged, con-artist mother, but when her very own box cutter is discovered to be the murder weapon, she needs to focus on finding the killer-- fast! -- adapted from back cover
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Dun
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Description:
In Daretana's most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead--killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it's a death at once terrifying and impossible. Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior's eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana's quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home. Din is most perplexed by Ana's ravenous appetite for information and her mind's frenzied leaps--not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire's greatest detective. As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he's barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra--and wonders how long he'll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Ben
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Author(s):
Description:
Eleven-year-old Meadow Witch apprentice Anwen Sedge, along with her grandmother and rival Cerys, find themselves in the Sky Kingdom with giants after a dead king falls onto their rural village, prompting them to solve the mystery of the king's death before they can return home.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J FIC Bel
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The art thief : a true story of love, crime, and a dangerous obsession
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Description:
"For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly ten years-in museums and cathedrals all over Europe-Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion. In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser's strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them to his heart's content. Possessed of a remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to assess practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a breathtakingly number of audacious thefts. Yet these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict's need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriend's pleas to stop-until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down"--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
364.14 Fin
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Curious cases: true crime for kids : hijinks, heists, mysteries, and more
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Description:
"Curious Cases: True Crime for Kids presents a slew of fascinating stories that are all age-appropriate, including: the cold case of D.B. Cooper, the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum theft, the disappearance of Masterpiece the poodle, two brothers' cunning escape from Alcatraz, Sherlock Holmes and the fairy photographs, the real-life ghost busters, and much more! After reading these cases, kids will be able to dive into some fun forensic science activities they can do at home to help them uncover evidence and solve their own mysteries"--back cover.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J 364.1 Val
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Author(s):
Description:
Descendants of the Fates are always born in threes: one to weave, one to draw, and one to cut the threads that connect people to the things they love and to life itself. The Ora sisters are no exception. Io, the youngest, uses her Fate-born abilities as a private investigator in the half-sunken city of Alante. But her latest job leads her to a horrific discovery: somebody is abducting women, maiming their life-threads, and setting the resulting wraiths loose in the city to kill. To find the culprit, she must work alongside Edei Rhuna, the right hand of the infamous Mob Queen--and the boy with whom she shares a rare fate-thread linking them as soul mates before they’ve even met. The investigation turns personal when Io's estranged oldest sister shows up on the arm of her best suspect. Amid unveiled secrets from her past and her growing feelings for Edei, Io must follow clues through the city’s darkest corners and unearth a conspiracy that involves some of the city’s most powerful players before destruction comes to her own doorstep.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Hat
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Description:
Students from an elite prep school travel to a remote ski cabin for their senior excursion, but as the temperature drops and a blizzard traps them inside, tensions rise, secrets and betrayals are revealed, and when classmates begin to die, the group must uncover the killer among them to survive.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Don
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Bad blood : secrets and lies in a Silicon Valley startup
Author(s):
Description:
The inside story of the rise and shocking collapse of a multibillion-dollar startup. In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes had created a startup "unicorn" that promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood tests significantly faster and easier. Backed by investors, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at $9 billion, putting Holmes's worth at an estimated $4.7 billion. The problem: The technology didn't work. For years, Holmes had been misleading investors, FDA officials, and her own employees. Here is the story of the biggest corporate fraud since Enron, a cautionary tale set amid the bold promises and gold-rush frenzy of Silicon Valley.--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
338.7681 Car
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Murder book : a graphic memoir of a true crime obsession
Author(s):
Description:
Why is it so much fun to read about death and dismemberment? Lifelong true-crime obsessive and cartoonist Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell tries to puzzle out the answer. A graphic exploration of a lifetime of Ann Rule super-fandom, amateur armchair sleuthing, and a deep dive into the high-profile murders that have fascinated the author for decades, this is a blend of memoir, cultural criticism, and true crime with a focus on the often-overlooked victims of notorious killers.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
364.1 Cam
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My friend Anna : the true story of a fake heiress
Author(s):
Description:
"From a photo editor at Vanity Fair comes the true account of her friendship with "Anna Delvey"--a woman posing as a German heiress who conned her out of $62,000--and her quest to obtain justice"--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
364.163 Wil
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Description:
"The fire wasn't Marlowe Wexler's fault. Dates should be hot, but not hot enough to warrant literal firefighters. Akilah, the girl Marlowe has been in love with for years, will never go out with her again. No one dates an accidental arsonist. With her house-sitting career up in flames, it seems the universe owes Marlowe a new summer job, and that's how she ends up at Morning House, a mansion built on an island in the 1920s and abandoned shortly thereafter. It's easy enough, giving tours. Low risk of fire. High chance of getting bored talking about stained glass and nut cutlets and Prohibition. Oh, and the deaths. Did anyone mention the deaths? Maybe this job isn't such a gift after all. Morning House has a horrific secret that's been buried for decades, and now the person who brought her here is missing. All it takes is one clue to set off a catastrophic chain of events. One small detail, just like a spark, could burn it all down--if someone doesn't bury Marlowe first" --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Joh
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How to write a mystery : a handbook from Mystery Writers of America
Author(s):
Description:
From some of the most successful mystery writers in the business, an invaluable guide to crafting mysteries, from character development and plot to procedurals and thrillers.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
808.3872 How
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Author(s):
Description:
A successful entrepreneur in the mushroom industry, Jaakko Kaunismaa is a man in his prime. At just 37 years of age, he is shocked when his doctor tells him that he's dying. What is more, the cause is discovered to be prolonged exposure to toxins; in other words, someone has slowly but surely been poisoning him. Determined to find out who wants him dead, Jaakko embarks on a suspenseful rollercoaster journey full of unusual characters, bizarre situations and unexpected twists. --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Tuo