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Author: Zoe Sharp

The Art of Detection, by Laurie R. King. Another San Franciscan, cop Kate Martinelli has seen her share of peculiar things, but this is unique: an ornate Victorian sitting room straight out of a Sherlock Holmes story—complete with violin and a tobacco-filled Persian slipper. Oh, and the dead body of Philip Gilbert, a Holmes fanatic with a collection of priceless memorabilia worth killing for. Found there is a century-old manuscript supposedly written by Holmes himself, telling a story that eerily echoes details of Gilbert’s own murder.

Bootlegger's Daughter, by Margaret Maron. Deborah Knott is the bootlegger's daughter of the title, but she's not a lawbreaker herself—in this, the first in the series, she's an attorney trying to infiltrate North Carolina's good ol' boy network by running for district judge. She's also helping a young woman look into her mother's decades-old unsolved murder. Deborah finds new evidence about the small-town death, and stirs up some new killings, too. This title received all four mystery awards (the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony and Macavity) in 1992, the year it was published.

Hard time : a V.I. Warshawski novel, by Sara Paretsky. Hardboiled Chicago investigator V.I. (don’t call her Victoria) Warshawski runs afoul of the privately run prison industry when she stops to help a woman lying mortally injured in the street, who turns out to be a badly beaten prison escapee. After the body disappears and she starts to investigate, V.I. knows she’s ruffled feathers when three kilos of cocaine are planted in her office. Imprisoned and at the mercy of sadistic guards, it takes all her ingenuity and the help of her friends to break the case. Look for the new V.I. novel, Bleeding Kansas, in January 2008.

First Drop, by Zoe Sharp. When ex-British army sharpshooter Charlie Fox is hired by a former lover to be bodyguard for 15-year-old brat Trey Meyer in Fort Lauderdale, it looks like an easy job—her first trip to the States, a delightful south Florida venue, and an opportunity to rekindle an unfinished romance. At least until people start shooting at her and trying to snatch—or is it kill?—her charge. When the kid’s father and Charlie’s boss both disappear, it’s up to her to keep Trey alive and find out what’s going on—if she can stay alive long enough.

High Country, by Nevada Barr. Like Muller, Nevada Barr’s mystery series has a great sense of place and features a strong, personable, yet often vulnerable, heroine. Anna Pigeon, a U.S. Park Service ranger, travels widely for her job, and in High Country, the 12th in the series, she's working undercover as a waitress in Yellowstone National Park's historic Ahwahnee Hotel, trying to discover what happened to four young park employees who mysteriously vanished without a trace.

No Good Deeds, by Laura Lippman. In P.I. Tess Monaghan's Baltimore, a good deed leads to murder. When Tess' live-in boyfriend Crow brings Lloyd, a homeless teen, in for the night, Tess discovers their reluctant guest has information about a high-profile murder. When Tess turns the information over to the papers, it isn't long before an aggressive assistant U.S. district attorney and two burly federal cops are knocking on her door. Crow flees with Lloyd while Tess suffers growing pressure, including the threat of federal jail time, as she tries to solve the case.

The Red Dahlia, by Lynda LaPlante. Detective Inspector Anna Travis hasn't worked with DCI James Langton since they teamed up to find a serial killer more than a year earlier -- and indulged in a brief fling. When they're thrown together again on a murder case, Anna finds herself reattracted to Langton but vows to keep her feelings hidden-- not hard to do given the nonstop demands of the case, in which the body of a beautiful young woman is found cut in half and drained of blood. Comparisons are quickly made to the never-solved Black Dahlia murder in Los Angeles 50 years earlier. Gritty, gruesome, and graphic, and a must-read for hard-boiled aficionados not afraid to follow the blood splatters wherever they may lead.

Heart of the World, by Linda Barnes. Paolina, a spunky teen whom Boston PI Carlotta Carlyle loves like a daughter, has disappeared, and her embittered mother is no help. Obsessed with Paolina's safety, Carlotta pulls out the stops to find her--dead or alive. Her search takes her to the dangerous jungles of Colombia, where Paolina's birth father, a famous drug lord supposedly killed in a plane crash, holds the only possible key to the mystery.