Blog Posts by Subject: Mysteries, Crime, Thrillers

I hope everyone has read (or is reading) the newest Sherlock Holmes novel, The House of Silk, and has met (or are meeting) the wonderfully complex characters — including an encore performance from Sherlock's brother, Mycroft Holmes.

Many questions came to mind, especially relating to the House of Silk's subject matter. In the spirit of not giving away the secrets of the novel, for those who intend to read (or are reading) it, here are some questions that will 

A cemetery used to take up residence in the block bordered by Leroy, Clarkson, and Hudson streets. Jam-packed with stones, approximately 10,000 people took up their final resting place on this block. James J Walker Park now fills this space, and a single stone honoring firefighters who died in the line of duty over 150 years 

After the unfortunate death of my Sony Reader, I went through the five stages of grief, as the loss of my device was a very dramatic event. I denied that it was broken, I threw a temper tantrum, I told a Best Buy employee that I would do anything to have it back, and I cried on the train, but I finally came to accept that I had sat on my Sony Reader and I alone was to blame. As I browsed sadly through the eNYPL catalog, images of the distinctly curved cracked screen flashed through my head, and 

Welcome to the January edition of the Readers Den!

Sherlock Holmes is back and better than ever with the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate's authorization of the novel The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz. This month we will discuss the House of Silk and its similarities/differences to the original series and the spirit of our favorite sophisticated sleuth.

Once again, THE GAME'S 

The Bailey Weggins mystery series by author Kate White is a cross between Nancy Drew, Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City, and occasionally, the cutthroat office politics from Lauren Weisburger’s The Devil Wears Prada. Like NBC’s Castle 

Anya Balanchine lives in a world where chocolate is illegal, water is scarce and New York City is a ghost of what it once was. Central Park is no longer a park. The Metropolitan Museum is a night club.

Anya’s life has been touched by tragedy, if not hardship, as the daughter of an infamous (and dead) crime boss. With her parents gone, it falls to Anya to take care of her siblings and protect them from the family business.

But when the family business is illegal chocolate, it’s hard to stay on the sidelines–especially when the new boy at 

If you have an affinity for things that go bump in the night, then the TeenLIVE event with Darren Shan on November 12, 2010 was right up your blood-curdling alley. Have no fear (pun definitely intended) if you missed out on Shan’s edge-of-your-seat reading of Lord Loss and Birth of A Killer, because you can

Thank you for joining us this month in the Reader’s Den. I hope you enjoyed the first book in the Maisie Dobbs series. Birds of a Feather and Pardonable Lies are the next two books in the series. 

Here are a few suggestions if you want to read other novels set in World War I or the post-war period, or if 

Welcome to week three of the book discussion of Maisie Dobbs. I hope you are enjoying getting to know Maisie and her family, friends and colleagues. Perhaps you are nearly finished reading the novel. I promise not to spoil the ending. 

Last week I posted a couple of discussion questions about how moving between the working class and the upper class affected Maisie’s personality and about how 

Welcome to week two of the Maisie Dobbs book discussion. Have you introduced yourself to Maisie yet? She is a singular character — somewhat aloof — but I think that is because she is shy. The process of moving from in-between maid to Cambridge student meant she was constantly going between two worlds without fitting into either one. Gender and class issues were involved. A woman aspiring to a university education was still unusual at that time.

This debut novel for

Elodie comes to the town of Two Castles with one goal: to become a mansioner. Her greatest hope, her only actual plan upon arriving in town, is to apprentice herself to a mansioner that she might become an accomplished performer in her own right.

When Elodie’s hope is dashed she is forced to look for another plan or starve in Two Castles with none of her family at home even knowing about her plight.

Help comes in the unusual form of a dragon named Meenore.

Mysteries (and cats) abound in Two Castles, which makes the town an ideal place for a 

Welcome to the August edition of the Reader's Den. The month of August fairly screams "beach read!" There's nothing like a good mystery to banish the workday world from your vacationing brain while you are relaxing on the beach.

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear is a historical mystery set in London between the World Wars and features a young female sleuth. Maisie Dobbs is a private investigator and psychologist, not a common career for a woman in 

With the English-language version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo film due to come out in December of this year, fans of Stieg Larsson who have already seen the Swedish films and read the trilogy may be searching for more. Here is a loosely inspired reading list. For a more comprehensive list of Swedish crime writers, see this blog post on Nordic Whodunits.

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In his essay “King Weirdo,” anthologized in the collection Now Dig This, the American humorist Terry Southern writes about his first encounter with Edgar Allan Poe’s only novel, The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym.

As a seventh grader in a Dallas junior high school, Southern is sent to the library for a two part assignment, “a bit of horror-show wretchedness called 'Getting to Know Your Public Library'" that also 

Thank you for joining this month’s Reader’s Den featuring Incarceron by Catherine Fisher. Although the month is over, feel free to return to this post to continue to discuss and comment on the novel.

If you enjoyed Incarceron you might also enjoy the titles below:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne 

I hope all of you enjoyed Incarceron by Catherine Fisher this month as much as I did.

Feel free to share your favorite moments, characters, or whatever below.

Here are some discussion questions to sink your teeth into:

What did you think of the ending? Did you anticipate the prison's location or was it a total surprise? Finn, Keiro, Claudia and even Attia are not always morally upright. How did you feel about reading about a 

Incarceron was originally published in Great Britain in 2007 before coming to US readers three years later in 2010. The Times also selected Incarceron as its book of the year. In 2007 Incarceron was also selected as a finalist in the YA Science Fiction and Fantasy category of the Cybils—a book award given each year by book bloggers.

If you haven't seen it already, be sure to 

Greetings and welcome to the May installment of The Reader's Den.

This month we'll be reading Incarceron (2010) by Catherine Fisher.

Incarceron is a prison like no other.

It is a closed system; nothing enters the prison. And nothing ever leaves. Incarceron was built to be self-sufficient. Nothing goes to waste. Food is recycled, materials made over and over. 

He is instantly recognizable, even to people who have never read any of the novels and stories written about him.  He uses his powers of deductive reasoning better than almost anyone.  He never actually said, "Elementary, my dear Watson" except in the movies.  And even though he's one of the most famous detectives the world has ever known, he never really existed.

Sherlock Holmes was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote many short stories and novels about this character who soon became more famous and popular than his creator (and