Akron Public Library

In his many years as a commissario, Guido Brunetti has seen all manner of crime and known intuitively how to navigate the various pathways in his native city, Venice, to discover the person responsible. Now, in Transient Desires, the thirtieth novel in Donna Leon's masterful series, he faces a heinous crime committed outside his jurisdiction. He is drawn in innocently enough: two young American women have been badly injured in a boating accident,...

"Nicolas Creel is a man on a mission. He heads up the world's largest defense contractor, The Ares Corporation. Dick Pender is the man Creel retains to "perception manage" his company to even more riches by manipulating international conflicts. But Creel may have an even grander plan in mind." "Shaw, a man with no first name and a truly unique past, has a different agenda. Reluctantly doing the bidding of a secret multinational intelligence agency,...

Will Robie, a freelance hitman working for the government, rescues a teenage girl whose parents' disappearance may be linked to a vast, high-level cover-up.

Lord Peter is on vacation when he hears that a dead body has been found at the Wimsey family retreat, and that Lord Peter's brother, the Duke of Denver, is being held for the crime. The dead man? Their sister's fiancé. Lord Peter must clear his brother's name to avoid the death penalty. There is overwhelming circumstantial evidence against the Duke, but Lord Peter firmly believes that his brother is innocent and begins his own investigation into...

A series of brutal murders darkens the Wrightsburg, Virginia countryside. The killer, replicating notorious murders of the past, seeks to improve them, while taunting the police by leaving watches on the victims set to the hour corresponding with their position on his hit list. When Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are called to join the case, they are already investigating a crime involving an aristocratic and dysfunctional Southern family. But, as...

"Nat, a 47 year-old veteran of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, believes his years as an agent runner are over. He is back in London with his wife, the long-suffering Prue. But with the growing threat from Moscow Centre, the office has one more job for him. Nat is to take over The Haven, a defunct substation of London General with a rag-tag band of spies. The only bright light on the team is young Florence, who has her eye on Russia Department...

"North Devon is enjoying a rare hot summer with tourists flocking to its coastline. Detective Matthew Venn is called out to a rural crime scene at the home of a group of artists. What he finds is an elaborately staged murder--Dr Nigel Yeo has been fatally stabbed with a shard of one of his glassblower daughter's broken vases. Dr Yeo seems an unlikely murder victim. He's a good man, a public servant, beloved by his daughter. Matthew is unnerved, though,...

Amelia is caught up in an intrigue surrounding the dignified British Museum. Murder, a lady from the past of dubious reputation, supernatural curses, and a homicidal lunatic are part of the mystery.

Tony Hillerman's bestselling Navajo mysteries have thrilled millions of readers with their taut, intricate plotting, sensitive, subtle characterizations and lyrical evocations of landscapes and cultures. Now he departs his trademark terrain and applies his talents to a story he has wanted to tell for decades about an ordinary man thrust into total chaos.Until the telephone call came for him on April 12, 1975, the world of Moon Mathias had settled...

The Secret Agent is widely considered one of Conrad's greatest literary achievements. Set in gloomy 1886 London, the novel follows the life of Alfred Verdoc, a Soho shop owner and secret agent who is a member of a largely ineffectual anarchist cell. During a meeting at an unnamed foreign embassy where he is a covert employee, Verdoc is tasked with bombing the Greenwich Observatory-ostensibly to create public outrage and goad a lax British government...