January 2023 Book Selection

Join the North Providence Mystery Book Club on Tuesday January 3, 2023. We will be discussing The Killings at Badger’s Drift by Caroline Graham. This is the first book featuring Chief Inspector Barnaby and Sergeant Troy. This book and others by Caroline Graham are the inspiration for the popular television series Midsomer Murders. 

The book synopsis is “The village of Badger's Drift is the essence of tranquility. But when resident and well-loved spinster Miss Simpson takes a stroll in the nearby woods, she stumbles across something she was never meant to see, and there's only one way to keep her quiet. Miss Simpson's death is not suspicious, say the villagers. But Miss Lucy Bellringer refuses to rest: her friend has been murdered. She is sure of it. She calls on Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby to investigate, and it isn't long until the previously unseen seamy side of Badger's Drift is brought to light. But as old rivalries, past loves and new scandals surface, the next murder is not far away.”

We will meet in the Second Floor Meeting Room at 6:30 pm and through Zoom. For more information, please see Sara at the Reference Desk.

 

December 2022 Book Selection

Join the North Providence Mystery Book Club on Tuesday December 6, 2022. We will be discussing, the Case of the Dotty Dowager by Cathy Ace. This is the first book in the WISE Enquiries Agency series. The WISE Enquiries Agency is a group of four women from Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England who combine their skills to investigate cases.

The book’s summary from the publisher’s website is “Henry Twyst, eighteenth Duke of Chellingworth, is convinced his mother is losing her marbles. She claims to have seen a corpse on the dining-room floor, but all she has to prove it is a bloodied bobble hat.

Worried enough to retain the women of the WISE Enquiries Agency – one is Welsh, one Irish, one Scottish and one English – Henry wants the strange matter explained away. But the truth of what happened at the Chellingworth Estate, set in the rolling Welsh countryside near the quaint village of Anwen by Wye, is more complex, dangerous, and deadly, than anyone could have foreseen . . .”

We will be meeting in the Second Floor Meeting Room at 6:30 pm and by Zoom. For more information and the Zoom link, see Sara at the Reference Desk.

November 2022 Book Selection

Join the North Providence Mystery Book Club on Tuesday November 1, 2022. We will be discussing Suspect by Michael Robotham. This is the first book featuring psychologist Joseph O’Loughlin. 

The book synopsis from the author’s website is” Joseph O’Loughlin appears to have the perfect life-- a beautiful wife, a loving daughter and a successful career as a clinical psychologist. But even the most flawless existence is only a loose thread away from unravelling. All it takes is a murdered girl, a troubled young patient and the biggest lie of his life. When an unknown young woman is found dead with multiple stab wounds – all of them self-inflicted – the police ask Joe to help them understand the crime. Are they dealing with a murder or a suicide? Reluctantly, he agrees to help and the brutalized body he views at the mortuary turns out to be someone he knows: Catherine Mary McBride, a nurse and former colleague. At the same time, Joe is grappling with a troubled young patient, Bobby Moran, whose violent dreams are becoming more real. As Bobby's behavior grows increasingly erratic, Joe begins to ponder what he's done in the past and what he might do next. Is there a link between his terrible dreams and Catherine McBride? Caught in a complex web of deceit and obsessed by images of the slain girl, Joe embarks upon a search that takes him into the darkest recesses of the human mind. Ultimately, he will risk everything to unmask the killer and save his family...”

We will be meeting in the Second Floor Meeting room at 6:30 pm and through Zoom. For more information, and the Zoom link, call Sara at the Reference Desk, 353-5600 ext. 809.

October 2022 Book Selection

Join the North Providence Mystery Book Club on Tuesday October 4, 2022. We will be discussing Gallows Court by Martin Edwards. This book, set in 1930s London is the first book featuring Rachel Savernake and journalist Jacob Flint.

 The description of the book from the publisher’s website is, “London, 1930-- Sooty, sulfurous, and malign: no woman should be out on a night like this. A spate of violent deaths—the details too foul to print—has horrified the capital and the smog-bound streets are deserted. But Rachel Savernake—the enigmatic daughter of a notorious hanging judge—is no ordinary woman. To Scotland Yard’s embarrassment, she solved the Chorus Girl Murder, and now she’s on the trail of another killer. Jacob Flint, a young newspaperman temporarily manning The Clarion‘s crime desk, is looking for the scoop that will make his name. He’s certain there is more to the Miss Savernake’s amateur sleuthing than meets the eye. He’s not the only one. Flint’s pursuit of Rachel Savernake will draw him ever-deeper into a labyrinth of deception and corruption. Murder-by-murder, he’ll be swept ever-closer to its dark heart—an ancient place of execution. Twisted family relationships add to a trust-no-one narrative positively reeking with atmosphere.”

We will meet in the Second Floor Meeting Room at 6:30 pm and on Zoom. For more information, and the Zoom link, contact Sara at the Reference Desk.

September 2022 Book Selection

 

Join the North Providence Mystery Book Club on Tuesday September 6, 2022. We will be discussing The Widow by Fiona Barton. This is the first novel featuring investigative reporter Kate Waters. In this book, Kate manages to get an interview with the widow of a man who was implicated in the disappearance of a small child a few years earlier.

The book summary is “When the police started asking questions, Jean Taylor turned into a different woman. One who enabled her and her husband to carry on, when more bad things began to happen... But that woman's husband died last week. And Jean doesn't have to be her anymore. There's a lot Jean hasn't said over the years about the crime her husband was suspected of committing. She was too busy being the perfect wife, standing by her man while living with the accusing glares and the anonymous harassment. Now there's no reason to stay quiet. There are people who want to hear her story. They want to know what it was like living with that man. She can tell them that there were secrets. There always are in a marriage. The truth - that's all anyone wants. But the one lesson Jean has learned in the last few years is that she can make people believe anything…”

 We will be meeting in the Second Floor Meeting Room at 6:30 pm and through Zoom. For more information, and the Zoom link, contact Sara at the Reference Desk.

August 2022 Book Selection

Join the North Providence Mystery Book Club on Tuesday August 9, 2022. We will be reading A Cold Case by Peter Turnbull. This book features retired constable Maurice Mundy, who has started a job with a cold case squad.

The book summary from the publisher’s website is “Maurice Mundy, recently retired detective constable at the Metropolitan Police, has returned to join Scotland Yard’s Cold Case Review Team. Ten years ago a twelve-year-old boy was murdered, his body left floating in a nearby pond. A second look at the case soon reveals that a sex worker was also murdered nearby on the same night. While nothing linked the two murders at the time, it is one of a number of attacks on sex workers over a twenty-year period that Essex Police are still investigating as part of Operation Moonlight. Known as a loose cannon who doesn’t always play by the rules, Mundy is in danger of ruffling more than a few feathers as he probes deeper into the events of that fateful night. Will his maverick approach lead him to the truth, or will it prove to be a dangerous step too far?”

We will be meeting at 6:30 pm in the Second Floor Meeting Room and on Zoom. For more information, and the Zoom link, contact Sara at the Reference Desk.

July 2022 Book Selection

 

Join the North Providence Mystery Book Club on Tuesday July 5, 2022. We will be discussing, Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler. This is the first book featuring Arthur Bryant and John May of the Peculiar Crimes Division of the London Metropolitan Police.

The book description from the author’s website is, “In this, the very first case, when Arthur Bryant is blown up in his office and all that’s left of him is his false teeth, his partner John May looks for clues to his death. The hunt takes him back through the years to the unit’s foundation, the worst day of the blitz, and a murder investigation in the Palace Theatre, where an outrageous production of Orpheus in the Underworld is being staged, and where the principle dancer has been found without her feet. Everyone in the theatre is a suspect. Soon there are more bizarre deaths, and as our argumentative young detectives track their elusive quarry through the blackout, the fog and the bombs, they unwittingly follow the pattern of the play, chasing Orpheus to Hades.”

We will meet in the Second Floor Meeting Room at 6:30 pm and by Zoom. For more information and the Zoom link, please see Sara at the Reference Desk.

June 2022 Book Selection

Join the North Providence Mystery Book Club on Tuesday June 7, 2022, as we welcome local author D.G. Gillespie. D.G. Gillespie is a writing professor at a local college, and has written a series of mystery novels featuring Matthew Diggerson, a professor at a small New England college.

The first book in the series is Rules to Die By. In this book, Diggerson looks into the murder of a colleague. The book synopsis is, "When murder occurs on a New England small-college campus, Professor Matthew Diggerson turns from composition instructor to sleuth, uncovering clues and offering essay-writing "rules" along the way. As the killer watches and plans, Digger finds help from colleagues and students, from a height-deprived detective and even his mother, and especially from his loyal canine companion, Simba."

We will be meeting in the Community Room at 6:30 pm and on Zoom. All are welcome to attend. For more information please see Sara at the Reference Desk.

For more information about the author, visit the website https://dggillespie.wixsite.com/dggillespie 

May 2022 Book Selection

 

Join the North Providence Mystery Book Club on Tuesday, May 3, 2022. We will be discussing The Skull Mantra by Eliot Pattison. This book, set in a Chinese prison camp in Tibet, is the first one featuring Detective Shan Tao Yun.

The description from the author’s website is--“When a headless corpse is found on a remote Tibetan mountainside, veteran inspector Shan Tao Yun is the perfect candidate to solve the crime–except he’s been stripped of rank and imprisoned in the gulag for offending the Party in Beijing. Desperate to close the case before the arrival of high-profile American tourists, the district commander grants Shan a temporary release. The embittered but brilliant Shan soon discovers the victim was notorious for persecuting Tibetan priests. When Party officials try to thwart Shan’s investigation by arresting an innocent monk, Shan is thrown into a maelstrom of political and religious intrigue. His search for justice takes him from an American mining project in Tibet to a secret, illegal monastery. Gradually, Shan exposes a massive crime machine that can only be stopped with the help of an unlikely alliance of Americans, aged monks, and even a sorcerer. “

We will be meeting in the Second Floor Meeting Room at 6:30 pm, and on Zoom. For more information, and the link, see Sara at the Reference Desk.

April 2022 Book Selection

Join the North Providence Mystery Book Club on Tuesday April 5, 2022. We will be discussing, Angel at Troublesome Creek by Mignon F. Ballard. This is the first book featuring Augusta Goodnight, a guardian angel who comes to earth to help people.

The book description from the publisher’s website is “When Mary George Murphy finds that her Aunt Caroline fell down a flight of stairs to her death, she's heartbroken. To make matters worse, Mary is sure that Caroline's death was no accident. Enter Augusta Goodnight, Mary's guardian angel. Normally assigned to Heaven's strawberry fields, Augusta died during WWII -- which explains her old-fashioned glamour and love of swing. She appears in Troublesome Creek just in the nick of time-helping Mary unearth an old mystery and the truth about Caroline's death.”

We will meet at 6:30 pm in the Second Floor Meeting Room and on Zoom. For more information, and the Zoom Link, ask for Sara at the Reference Desk.

March 2022 Book Selection

 

Join the North Providence Mystery Book Club on Tuesday March 1, 2022. We will be reading Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O’Connor. This is the first book in the Irish Village mystery series featuring Siobhán O’Sullivan.

The book description from the publisher’s website is “In the small village of Kilbane, County Cork, Ireland, Naomi’s Bistro has always been a warm and welcoming spot to visit with neighbors and share a cup o’ tea. But murder has a way of killing business . . . 

Nowadays Siobhán O’Sullivan, along with her five siblings, runs the family bistro named for their mother. It’s been a rough year for the O’Sullivans, but it’s about to get rougher. One morning, as they’re opening the bistro, they discover a man seated at a table with a pair of hot pink barber scissors protruding from his chest. With the local garda suspecting the O’Sullivans, and their business in danger of being shunned, it’s up to feisty redheaded Siobhán to solve the crime and save her beloved brood.”

We will be meeting in the Second Floor Meeting room at 6:30 and also on Zoom. For more information and meeting link, contact Sara at the Reference Desk.

February 2022 Book Selection

 

Join the North Providence Mystery Book Club on Tuesday February 1, 2022. We will be reading Irene by Pierre LeMaitre. This is the first book featuring Camille Verhoeven, a commandant with a Parisian crime squad.

The book description from the publisher’s website is, THE NOVELIST KILLS BY THE BOOK

For Commandant Camille Verhœven life is beautiful. He is happily married and soon to become a father.

HE’S ALWAYS ONE CHAPTER AHEAD

But his blissful existence is punctured by a murder of unprecedented savagery. When his team discovers that the killer has form – and each murder is a homage to a classic crime novel – the Parisian press are quick to coin a nickname . . . The Novelist.

HE HATES HAPPY ENDINGS

With the public eye fixed on both hunter and hunted, the case develops into a personal duel, each hell-bent on outsmarting the other. There can only be one winner. The one who has the least to lose.”

We will meet at 6:30 pm in the Second Floor Meeting Room and by Zoom. For more information, and the Zoom link, contact Sara at the Reference Desk.