CHECK IT OUT

With two weeks remaining before the 2001 Anthony Awards are announced,

there’s still time to follow the trail of the best mystery novel

published in 2000. The case will be solved in Crystal City, Va. where

more than 1,500 mystery fans will vote for their favorite whodunits at

the 32nd World Mystery Convention, Nov. 1-4.

The nominees include “Listen to the Silence,” Marcia Muller’s latest

addition to the Sharon McCone saga. In this episode, the San Francisco

P.I. discovers documents describing her adoption, which launches a voyage

of self-discovery. The journey takes her from a Montana Indian

reservation to a Northern California ghost town, driving her deep into a

web of deceit and murder.

Set farther from home is Joe Lansdale’s “The Bottoms.” The dark tale

takes place in Depression-era Texas, where the murdered bodies of Negro

prostitutes begin turning up. The young narrator knows the murderer is

the legendary Goat Man, and the secret of who he is becomes the key to

unraveling this Edgar Award winner.

Rural Mississippi is the backdrop for “Deep South,” Nevada Barr’s

newest installment to the Anna Pigeon mystery series. As the first female

ranger-in-charge at Natchez Trace National Park, Anna finds herself

grappling with good ol’ boys who resent her authority in the hunt for the

killer of a teenage beauty found with a Ku-Klux-Klan-style sheet on her

bloodied head.

Shift to a small English village for “A Place of Execution,” Val

McDermid’s first stand-alone mystery. The thoughtfully plotted story

involves a young police officer on the trail of a 13-year-old girl who

disappears while walking her dog. While the body is never found, the

local squire is successfully prosecuted. When a journalist revisits the

case 35 years later, the action culminates in a shocking ending.

There’s shock value galore in “Run,” Douglas Winter’s debut novel

starring an illicit gunrunner masquerading as a legitimate arms dealer in

Washington D.C. In fast-paced action involving street thugs and corporate

thugs, no one is who they seem, and the ride through some of America’s

most dicey terrain sends a surprisingly moral message.

For fans of mystery series, Elizabeth Peters provides a satisfying

conclusion to her Amelia Peabody page-turners in “He Shall Thunder in the

Sky.” In this episode, the intrepid Edwardian Egyptologist and her family

are back in Cairo in 1915, carrying on excavations under the specter of

world war. With a Turkish invasion of Egypt imminent and the discovery of

an unexpected treasure at Giza, the clan seeps into intrigue that

eventually ties up a decade’s worth of loose strings.

Those who still haven’t caught the scent of the trail may be well

served by “Mystery, Murder, Mayhem & Crime,” a library bibliography of

mysteries and detective fiction. With hundreds of titles, character

descriptions and reference books, mystery fans should find ample clues

for solving the case of what to read next.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public

Library. This week’s column is by Melissa Adams, in collaboration with

Claudia Peterman. All titles may be reserved from home or office

computers by accessing the catalog at o7

https://www.newportbeachlibrary.org.

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