Welcome to the Mystery Books SIG!

Are you hooked on Mystery Books?  Then consider joining the Mystery Books Special Interest Group devoted to mystery books and open to all LLI/NOVA  members.  The SIG will read and discuss authors and books members may not be familiar with, or look at favorite authors and books in a different light.  The Mystery Books SIG generally will meet on the 1^st Monday of the month. Up to date information will be posted on the website.  Join now and help us create a vibrant and fun group.

For information on how to become a part of this group, please contact Mary Lu Bednarsky. (click on the name for contact information)

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Announcements

The Mystery Book Club meets on the first Monday of the month at 1:30 p.m. at the Kings Park Library.  All are welcome, especially those sleuths who enjoy a good mystery and discussions about it!  Mary Lu et al are looking forward to seeing you.

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May 6 – Monday 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

• Book Selection: The Inner Circle by Brad Meltzer
  • Beecher White, a young archivist, spends his days working with the most important documents of the U.S. government. He has always been the keeper of other people’s stories, never a part of the story himself…Until now.
  • When Clementine Kaye, Beecher’s first childhood crush, shows up at the National Archives asking for his help tracking down her long-lost father, Beecher tries to impress her by showing her the secret vault where the President of the United States privately reviews classified documents. After they accidentally happen upon a priceless artifact – a 200-hundred-year-old dictionary that once belonged to George Washington, hidden underneath a desk chair, Beecher and Clementine find themselves suddenly entangled in a web of deception, conspiracy, and murder.
  • Soon a man is dead, and Beecher is on the run as he races to learn the truth behind this mysterious national treasure. His search will lead him to discover a coded and ingenious puzzle that conceals a disturbing secret from the founding of our nation. It is a secret, Beecher soon discovers, that some believe is worth killing for.
  • Gripping, fast-paced, and filled with the fascinating historical detail for which he is famous, The Inner Circle is a thrilling novel that once again proves Brad Meltzer as a brilliant author writing at the height of his craft.

• Presenter:  Mary Lu Bednarsky

• Location: Kings Park Library (click link for directions).

• Time:  1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

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June 3 – Monday 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

• Book Selection: The Independence Square by Martin Cruz Smith
  • Detective Arkaday Renko—“one of the most compelling figures in modern fiction” (USA TODAY)—risks his life when he heads to Ukraine shortly before the Russian invasion to find an anti-Putin activist who has mysteriously disappeared.
  • Martin Cruz Smith has written nine previous novels featuring Arkady Renko, one of modern detective fiction’s most popular characters. These novels, beginning with 1981’s international sensation Gorky Park, have collectively traced Russia’s evolution over the last half-century. Now, with Independence Square, Smith focuses on the fraught and frenzied days leading up to Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
  • It’s June 2021, and Arkady knows that Russia is preparing to invade and subsequently annex Ukraine as it did Crimea in 2014. He is, however, preoccupied with other grievances. His longtime lover, Tatiana Petrovna, has deserted him for her work as an investigative reporter. His corrupt boss has relegated him to a desk job. And he is having trouble with his dexterity and balance. A visit to his doctor reveals that these are symptoms for Parkinson’s Disease.
  • An acquaintance has asked him to find his daughter, Karina, an anti-Putin activist who has disappeared. In the course of the investigation, Arkady falls for Karina’s roommate, Elena, a Tatar from Ukraine. The search leads them to Kyiv, where rumblings of an armed conflict grow louder. Later, in Crimea, Tatiana reemerges to complicate Arkady’s new romance. And as he gets closer to locating Karina, Arkady discovers something that threatens his life as well as the lives of both Elena and Tatiana.

• Presenter:  Mary Lu Bednarsky

• Location: Kings Park Library (click link for directions).

• Time:  1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

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July and August – no meeting

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September 9 – Monday 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

• Book Selection: Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
  • Marine biologist Chaz Perrone can’t tell a sea horse from a sawhorse. And when he throws his beautiful wife, Joey, off a cruise liner, he really should know better. An expert swimmer, Joey makes her way to a floating bale of Jamaican pot-and then to an island inhabited by an ex-cop named Mick Stranahan, whose ex-wives include five waitresses and a TV producer. Now Joey wants to get revenge on Chaz and Mick’s happy to help her.But in swampy South Florida, separating lies from truths and stupidity from brilliance isn’t easy. Especially when you’re after a guy like Chaz-who’s bad at murder, great at fraud, and just terrible at getting caught…

• Presenter:  Mary Lu Bednarsky

• Location: Kings Park Library (click link for directions).

• Time:  1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

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Future Book Ideas / Authors:

“The Silent Patient” by Alex Michaelides is currently on Amazon for $2.99

“The House of Silk” by Anthony Horowitz on eBay for $1.49 and up

Authors we discussed:

Ruth Ware – A British Author

Deborah Crumbie her latest is “A Bitter Feast”

Harlan Coban – an American Writer

Laura Lippman – most books are centered around Maryland

Alexander McCall Smith – A British Author

Peter Robinson – best known for crime novels set in Yorkshire featuring Insp. Alan Banks

Lisa Gray – the author of PI Jessica Shaw Thriller series

Ngaio Marsh – a New Zealand Author

Ridley Pearson  Children’s fiction and Mystery Thriller

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