Blog Posts by Subject: Mysteries, Crime, Thrillers

Maybe you've got the Nordic noir bug from reading Stieg Larsson's Millennium series (we've all seen those ubiquitous neon paperbacks on the subway) or were enthralled earlier by Peter Høeg's Smilla's Sense of Snow or the Detective Wallander series of books. However you encounter them, Scandicrime writers such as Henning Mankell, Larsson, or Jo Nesbø are like a good bag of chips, it's hard not to have another. This is a selective guide to some notable authors and detective series from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and even some Nordic noir from Iceland, and what's better, a guide to pronouncing their names correctly over cocktails.

Shelter by Harlan Coben, 2011

Welcome back to the Reader's Den for the final post in our discussion of The Eyre Affair by Japer Fforde. Did you enjoy this literary silliness? As mentioned in the earlier posts, this is the first novel in the Thursday Next series.

"The murders are tragic, obviously," I replied, "but Jane Eyre is the thing here... Jane Eyre is bigger than me and bigger than you."

“Governments and fashions come and go but Jane Eyre is for all time.”

“Take no heed of her.... She reads a lot of books.” 

Welcome back to the Reader's Den. We've just finished reading The Maltese Falcon. This is the final post and finally — spoiler alert — the identities of the murderers will be revealed!

Welcome back to the New York Public Library's Reader's Den, a monthly online book discussion. For August, we are reading Dashiell Hammett's novel, The Maltese Falcon, as part of Mystery Summer.

Welcome to the New York Public Library's Reader's Den, a monthly online book discussion. For August, we will be reading Dashiell Hammett’s novel The Maltese Falcon as part of Mystery Summer.

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, does it still make a sound? If somebody insults Will Halpin and he isn’t reading that person’s lips, does it still count as an insult?

Welcome to the New York Public Library's Reader's Den, a monthly online book discussion. For July, we will be reading G.K. Chesterton's 1908 novel The Man Who Was Thursday, A Nightmare as part of Mystery Summer.

Get a free copy of the book from any of the following sources.

Thank you for participating in our online discussion of The Servants. You put forward some excellent insights and raised challenging points. I hope you enjoyed the book as much I did. I first read it years ago, re-read it last year, and — for the purposes of this discussion — read it again last month. On each reading, I found myself unwrapping another revelation or wondering about another mystery.

When a favorite author dies, we feel as if we have lost a good friend. When the author is the creator of a series whose characters we have lived with for many years, we feel as if we've lost a roomful of friends.

Updated February 2012! Do the names Lord Grantham, Mr. Carson, and Lady Violet mean anything to you? Can you discuss at length the love story of Mary and Matthew? Does the word week-end, bring to mind Maggie Smith’s impeccably-timed line delivery? If so, then you are a Downton-ite... or is it Downton-head? Whatever the case may be, it means that you are a fan of the ITV/Masterpiece Theater drama Downton Abbey. First airing on PBS in January 2011, this British series depicts life (upstairs and downstairs) in an English manor house belonging to Lord Grantham and his family, from 1912 to 1920. It was a surprise hit in the U.K. and in 

I'm sure you've created a wish list in your mind that contains some impossibly unattainable items. For example, one of my wish list items includes a home on a private island. While my improbable wish list grows, I have started another list — an eNYPL wish list — where at least my reading dreams will come true.

My fellow eNYPL users: my number one eNYPL tip is to utilize the wish list feature, if you haven't already done so.

Thank you to all the readers and followers of the Reader's Den!

I hope everyone enjoyed The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz and his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. I sure did! I hope all the avid readers will come back for next months Reader's Den and hopefully Anthony Horowitz will continue the Sherlock Holmes series.

[Today's guest blogger is brought to you courtesy of E. C. Comics Tales From the Crypt.]

Hello, kiddies!

Welcome to The New York Public Li-bury!

Heh-heh-heh!

Surprised to find me as your guest flogger? I suppose, if you looked hard enough, you'd find all sorts of things buried in the Library's hacks. "But can he write?" you ask. Well, I am good at de-composing!

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.

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 ago is all that remains of St. John's Burying Ground. Edgar Allan Poe used to wander this space — he found it inspiring, I suppose. His birthday is January 19.

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 I imagined the day when I could once again comfortably read a book on my 1 1/2 hour (sometimes standing) train commute. Finally the day came when I was united with a new eReader —