Best books by genre: Mystery & Thrillers

“Along Came a Spider” gives rise to the well-known series devoted to a famous psychologist Alex Cross. Here he investigates kidnapping of little children, which confront him first with Gary Soneji, a mathematics teacher and a psychopathic serial kidnapper and murderer. Cross is to solve an uneasy problem – how to outsmart an ingenious psychopath, who managed to deceive the FBI, the Secret Service, and the police. Soneji doesn’t hold children to ransom and the detective understands he prefers a terrible unpredictable game to any money. This spectacular international bestseller became one of the fastest-selling thrillers in the world.

Stephanie Plum, girl bounty hunter, the terror of Trenton, the bane of her boyfriend Joe Morelli's existence, and the delight of her crazy grandma's heart, is in the wrong place at the wrong time--as usual. Just happening to be indulging her nachos jones at a local deli when it's robbed by the notorious Red Devils, Plum is the eye witness who could put the gang leader, known as the Junkman, behind bars... if he just lets her live long enough. Looking for a place to hide out from the killer until the cops catch up with him, Stephanie sneaks into her fellow bounty hunter Ranger's apartment without telling Morelli, who's not overly fond of him. All the usual suspects in this long-running series are along for a wilder than ever ride, including Lula the gun-toting ex-hooker, Grandma Mazur, Stephanie's pregnant sister Valerie and her fiancé, as well as a host of minor characters who bring Trenton's seedier environs to life.

This book is considered to be one of the best novels about Civil War ever written. It tells the story of Lillie Ravenel who with her father are deported from Louisiana at the beginning of the Civil War. Lillie is a passionate Confederate, but her father's loyalist sympathies make them to escape to New England. In the fictional city called New Boston they meet two men who fall in love with Lillie. These men fight for Lillie at the same time as fighting for the Union. It is through these relationships and through her experiences on returning to occupied Louisiana that Lillie's consecutive conversion occurs. "Miss Ravenels Conversion From Secession to Loyalty" is half romance story and half war story. The battle scenes (which, by the way, are quite few in number) are well described, furthermore they are based on De Forest's experiences during the war. Everyone who is interested in the Civil War will find reading this book extremely delightful and enjoyable.

Stephanie Plum is so smart, so honest, and so funny that her narrative charm could drive a documentary on termites. But this tough gal from New Jersey, an unemployed discount lingerie buyer, has a much more interesting story to tell: She has to say that her Miata has been repossessed and that she's so poor at the moment that she just drank her last bottle of beer for breakfast. She has to say that her only chance out of her present rut is her repugnant cousin Vinnie and his bail-bond business. She has to say that she blackmailed Vinnie into giving her a bail-bond recovery job worth $10,000 (for a murder suspect), even though she doesn't own a gun and has never apprehended a person in her life. And she has to say that the guy she has to get, Joe Morelli, is the same creep who charmed away her teenage virginity behind the pastry case in the Trenton bakery where she worked after school.
If that hard-luck story doesn't sound compelling enough, Stephanie's several unsuccessful attempts at pulling in Joe make a downright hilarious and suspenseful tale of murder and deceit. Along the way, several more outlandish (but unrelentingly real) characters join the story, including Benito Ramirez, a champion boxer who seems to be following Stephanie Plum wherever she goes.

Dean Koontz once again takes you away into the lands of thrills and horrors, adventures and discoveries… Are you ready?..
You will meet with strangers, people very different from each other, but the lines of their fate merge and unite around the mystery happening in the Colorado mountains. Balance in which our world rests starts shaking… what will it lead to?
Grady Adams, get acquainted. You will surely fall in love with his wonderful dog - Irish wolfhound Marlin. Man and his animal meet with magic in the wilder parts of mountains and it changes their lives. That night from the darkness of the nearby boshes two pairs of eyes will watch Grady’s house, waiting for the right moment to come in…
Camilla Rivers is another character of this mysterious story. She is a local veterinarian and starts solving the puzzle. What will it bring to her?..
Nearby farm. Twins start their way to the dark end.
Seattle. Golf course. Two men talk about committing a murder.
Las Vegas. Chaos theory specialist strives to move the boundaries of unknown.
Highway along the sea. Vagabond meets his destiny.
Who else?.. What else?..
Dean Koontz takes us to the journey and I’m sure you will take it Breathless.

Stephanie Plum is a the bombshell bounty hunter from New Jersey. She always has some problems. Her relationship with Joe Morelli is breaking. But adding to all this, she agrees to help her neighbor, whose daughters were suddenly disappeared. Where the girls have gone? What really has happened? Stephanie is ought to find the real truth…

This book is a remarkable example of Victorian detective, written by an American author, Anna Katharine Green (1846-1935). The inspirer of Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle, Mary Roberts Rinehart and other luminaries, this American author was the first female writer of detective fiction and a mystery novelist. She is marked out by the intricate accurate plots, which keep the reader intrigued till the very end. Initials Only is one of the books you can’t tear yourself away, especially if you are a British mystery lover.

Stephanie calls Ranger for help and the heat is turned up on the relationship between Ranger and Stephanie.
Joe and Stephanie and speaking of the idea on marriage. Of course Stephanie's family is all for the idea!
Mooner, who was introduced in the last book plays a bigger role.
Stephanie and Lula are riding a Harley this book.

A collection of detective stories from Baroness Emma Orczy de Orczi, a Hungarian-British novelist, playwright and artist, best remembered as the author of “The Scarlet Pimpernel” (1905). “The Old Man in the Corner”, published in 1909, relies mostly upon sensationalistic “penny dreadful” newspaper accounts. The protagonist, main serial hero of the author, is an amateur detective Bill Owen, nicknamed “the Old Man in the Corner”, who solves the most complicated riddles without leaving his armchair, just like Nero Wolfe is to do later.

Stenley Chipotle comes to Trenton to take a part in barbecue cook-off and loses his head – literally. Lula is a witness to the crime and the one person she will talk to is Joe Morelli. Chipotle’s sponsor offers a million-dollar reward to anyone who can provide the information about killers. Lula recruits Stephanie Plum to help her find killers and collect moolah. Stephanie is tracking felons and snooping for security expert Ranger. Can Stephanie hunt 1 killers and what will happened next is on the pages of this book…