Book Discussion Kits

Mystery Kits

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Kits by Genre or Age: Contemporary Fiction | Historical Fiction | Memoir/Autobiography | Mystery | Nonfiction | Grades 4-5 | Grades 6-9

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Barr, Nevada. Winter Study.
Anna Pigeon returns to Isle Royale, this time in winter, to participate in a wolf study. Strange happenings and enormous pawprints fuel the anxiety of she and her cabin-mates. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

Barry, Brunonia. The Lace Reader.

A self-confessed unreliable narrator relates this mystery set in modern day Salem, Mass. The novel is filled with eccentric characters, historic details, and women's issues. Book Discussion Questions from ReadingGroupChoices.

Burke, James Lee. The Tin Roof Blowdown.
The devastation caused by hurricane Katrina is the backdrop for this novel of the investigation into the shooting of two looters in a wealthy neighborhood and the search for the third. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

Crombie, Deborah. A Share in Death.
Scotland Yard’s Duncan Kincaid’s Yorkshire vacation is ruined when he stumbles upon a murder. A country house whodunit. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

Grafton, Sue. T Is for Trespass.
Private investigator Kinsey Milhone confronts identity theft and elder abuse in this 20th novel in the series. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

Hammett, Dashiell. The Maltese Falcon.
The classic hard-boiled detective novel in which Sam Spade searches for a rare statue and Hammett introduces a new style of mystery novel. Book Discussion Questions from ReadingGroupGuides.

Lawton, John. Black Out.
Set in WWII London, Scotland Yard detective Troy initially thinks a severed arm is part of a war casualty. Soon enough he’s involved in a labyrinthine coverup of something darker. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

McCall Smith, Alexander. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.
This is the first in a series of gentle mysteries. Precious Ramotswe operates in Botswana, running an agency where the solving of the ‘mystery’ is often secondary to the exploration of family, customs and alternate methods of justice. Book Discussion Guide from Random House.

McCall Smith, Alexander. The Tears of the Giraffe.
The further adventures of Precious Ramotswe, the cunning, insightful head of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency in Botswana. Book Discussion Questions from ReadingGroupGuides.

Penny, Louise. Still Life.
This traditional mystery begins with the finding of the body of Jane Neal, a retired school teacher and talented amateur artist in the woods near a small Quebec village, the apparent victim of a tragic hunting accident. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

Pickard, Nancy. The Virgin of Small Plains.
The discovery of the naked frozen body of a beautiful teenage girl during a 1987 Kansas blizzard and the subsequent disappearance of the son of a judge begin this novel with surprising twists and a convincing portrait of small town life. Book Discussion Questions from Random House.

Vargas, Fred. Have Mercy on Us All.
In this detective novel/biothriller French medievalist and archaeologist author Fred Vargas combines historical cryptology, the history of the plague and street life in modern day Paris. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.