Mass Murder Returns

Mysteries & Crime Novels Set in Massachusetts (2000-2003)

Barnes, Linda. The Big Dig (2002)
Boston PI Carlotta Carlyle is simultaneously investigating a fraud on Boston's Big Dig project and moonlighting on a missing person case. The mysterious death of a construction worker puts Carlotta in over her head.

Barnes, Linda. Flashpoint (2001)
Carlotta Carlyle is hired to provide security advice to an elderly woman struggling to keep her rent-controlled apartment. The dies suddenly, casting suspicion on the neighbor who hired Carlyle, as well as the building's landlord. When a music-industry mogul hires Carlyle to investigate the woman's genealogy, things get complicated.

Craig, Phillip. A Vineyard Killing: a Martha's Vineyard Mystery (2003)
Former Olympic fencing champion turned real estate developer Donald Fox has targeted the island for his newest moneymaking scheme, planning to force owners to sell cheap. When Fox's brother is shot, it's unclear whether he was really the intended victim. Fisherman, part-time investigator, and Vineyard homeowner J.W. Jackson investigates.

Dobson, Joanne. The Maltese Manuscript (2003)
Feminist author Sunnye Hardcastle comes to Enfield College in Massachusetts to speak on the hard-boiled women's detective novel. Soon, expensive texts and manuscripts start to disappear from the college. Professor Karen Pellitier hides Sunnye from the police, and a murder further muddies the semester.

Dobson, Joanne. Cold and Pure and Very Dead (2000)
When literature professor Karen Pelletier proclaims a book written in the 1950s as the greatest book of the 20th century during an interview with a reporter, it quickly becomes a bestseller. Everyone wants to know what became of its long-vanished author, Mildred Deakin. The reporter tracks Deakin down, and winds up dead. When Deakin is arrested for murder, Karen investigates.

Lehane, Dennis. Shutter Island (2003)
The year is 1954. Federal marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule are sent to a penal colony for the criminally insane to find female prisoner who has apparently disappeared. Teddy also has an ulterior motive: the man who killed his wife is also incarcerated there. Things are rarely what they seem as Chuck and Teddy dig deeper into the secrets that the island holds.

Lehane, Dennis. Mystic River (2001)
When Jimmy Marcus's daughter is found dead, his childhood friend Sean Devine is assigned the case. Sean's personal life unravels as his investigation throws him back into a world of violence and pain he'd left behind.

Parker, Robert B. Back Story (2003)
Spenser tries to solve a 30-year-old murder as a favor to an old friend. A lack of clues and a missing FBI intelligence report force Spenser to reach out in every direction, testing his resourcefulness and his courage.

Parker, Robert B. Shrink Rap (2002)
Boston P.I. Sunny Randall hits the road to protect a bestselling author, uncovering a world of dark secrets and some disturbing truths about herself.

Peale, Cynthia. The White Crow: a Beacon Hill Mystery (2002)
A pillar of Victorian Boston society is found dead following a séance at the home of a famous spiritualist. Caroline Ames, a would-be believer, and her brother Addington, a confirmed skeptic, investigate.

Peale, Cynthia. Murder at Bertram's Bower (2001)
In 1892, two residents of a Boston home for wayward women are murdered, amateur sleuths Caroline Ames and her brother Addison work to clear the name of Agatha Montgomery, the home's matron.

Riggs, Cynthia. The Cranefly Orchid Murders (2002)
92-year-old Victoria Trumbull, amateur sleuth, and her young assistant look for a rare plant that might provide clues to the murder of a local attorney.

Tapply, William. Shadow of Death (2003)
Boston attorney Brady Coyne hires a P.I. to determine if a political candidate's husband is having an affair, and the P.I. winds up dead. Brady discovers a decades-old tragedy as he investigates the murder.

This is only a small sampling of available titles. To find more Massachusetts mysteries, go to our NoveList database. Click on "describe a plot," then do a search for "Massachusetts and mysteries."

Compiled by B. Hinton
November, 2003