Police Procedurals are a subgenre of the Mystery or Science Fiction genre, where the main characters are members of some type of law enforcement agency - Police, US Marshall, FBI, etc - who work together as a team using police procedures to gather evidence and solve crimes.
The late show
Michael Connelly
MYSTERY Connelly Michael
Mystery
Renée Ballard works the night shift in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing none as each morning she turns her cases over to day shift detectives. A once up-and-coming detective, she's been given this beat as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor. But one night she catches two cases she doesn't want to part with: the brutal beating of a prostitute left for dead in a parking lot and the killing of a young woman in a nightclub shooting. Ballard is determined not to give up at dawn. Against orders and her own partner's wishes, she works both cases by day while maintaining her shift by night. As the cases entwine they pull her closer to her own demons and the reason she won't give up her job no matter what the department throws at her.
NYPD red
James Patterson
MYSTERY Patterson, James
On the opening night of New York’s biggest Hollywood event, special task force NYPD Red is on high alert — and they can’t afford to make a single mistake. NYPD Red is a special task force charged with protecting the interests of Manhattan’s wealthiest and most powerful citizens. When a world-famous movie producer is poisoned on the first day of a Manhattan film festival called Hollywood on the Hudson, they are the first ones called. Then an actor is killed on the set of a film. And a Molotov cocktail explodes at a movie premiere. Detective First Grade Zach Jordan and his new partner-and ex-girlfriend-Detective Kylie MacDonald are assigned to the case. The killer has every murder, every escape, planned down to the last detail-and he’s scripted an explosive finale that will bring New York and Hollywood to its knees.
The first book in the NYPD Red series.
- Beth
All the devils are here
Louise Penny
MYSTERY Penny Louise
Mystery
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Quebec investigating a sinister plot in the City of Light On their first night in Paris, the Gamaches gather as a family for a bistro dinner with Armand's godfather, the billionaire Stephen Horowitz. Walking home together after the meal, they watch in horror as Stephen is knocked down and critically injured in what Gamache knows is no accident, but a deliberate attempt on the elderly man's life. When a strange key is found in Stephen's possession it sends Armand, his wife Reine-Marie, and his former second-in-command at the Sûreté, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, from the top of the Tour d'Eiffel, to the bowels of the Paris Archives, from luxury hotels to odd, coded, works of art. It sends them deep into the secrets Armand's godfather has kept for decades. A gruesome discovery in Stephen's Paris apartment makes it clear the secrets are more rancid, the danger far greater and more imminent, than they realized. Soon the whole family is caught up in a web of lies and deceit. In order to find the truth, Gamache will have to decide whether he can trust his friends, his colleagues, his instincts, his own past. His own family.
The 16th book in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series.
- Beth
Red bones
Ann Cleeves
MYSTERY Cleeves, Ann
Mystery
An island shrouded in mist and a community with secrets buried in the past . . . When a young archaeologist studying on a site at Whalsay discovers a set of human remains, the island settlers are intrigued. Is it an ancient find - or a more contemporary mystery? Then an elderly woman is shot in a tragic accident in the middle of the night. Shetland detective Jimmy Perez is called in by her grandson - his own colleague, Sandy Wilson. The sparse landscape and the emptiness of the sea have bred a fierce and secretive people. Mima Wilson was a recluse. She had her land, her pride and her family. As Jimmy looks to the islanders for answers, he finds instead two feuding families whose envy, greed and bitterness have lasted generations. Surrounded by people he doesn't know and in unfamiliar territory, Jimmy finds himself out of his depth. Then there's another death and, as the spring weather shrouds the island in claustrophobic mists, Jimmy must dig up old secrets to stop a new killer from striking again.
Book 3 in the Shetland series.
- Beth
The darkest evening
Ann Cleeves
MYSTERY Cleeves Ann
Mystery
On the first snowy night of winter, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope sets off for her home in the hills. Though the road is familiar, she misses a turning and soon becomes lost and disorientated. A car has skidded off the narrow road in front of her, its door left open, and she stops to help. There is no driver to be seen, so Vera assumes that the owner has gone to find help. But a cry calls her back: a toddler is strapped in the back seat. Vera takes the child and, driving on, she arrives at a place she knows well. Brockburn is a large, grand house in the wilds of Northumberland, now a little shabby and run down. It’s also where her father, Hector, grew up. Inside, there’s a party in full swing: music, Christmas lights and laughter. Outside, unbeknownst to the revelers, a woman lies dead in the snow. As the blizzard traps the group deep in the freezing Northumberland countryside, Brockburn begins to give up its secrets, and as Vera digs deeper into her investigation, she also begins to uncover her family’s complicated past.
The 9th book in the Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope series.
- Beth
A test of wills
Charles Todd
MYSTERY Todd, Charles
Mystery
In 1919, Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge remains haunted by World War I, where he was forced to have a soldier executed for refusing to fight. When Rutledge is assigned to investigate a murder involving the military, his emotional war wounds flare. It is a case that strikes dangerously close to home--one that will test Rutledge's precarious grip on his own sanity.
The first book in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series.
- Beth
The paper moon
Andrea Camilleri
MYSTERY Camilleri, Andrea
Mystery
Inspector Montalbano further beset by the existential questions that have been plaguing him of late. But he doesn't have much time to wax philosophical before the gruesome murder of a man-shot at point-blank range in the face with his pants down-commands his attention. Add two evasive, beautiful women as prime suspects, some dirty cocaine, mysterious computer codes, and a series of threatening letters, and things soon get very complicated at the police headquarters in Vigàta.
The 9th book in the Commissario Montalbano series.
- Beth
Roseanna
Maj Sjöwall
MYSTERY Sjowall, Maj
Mystery
The masterful first novel in the Martin Beck series of mysteries by the internationally renowned crime writing duo Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, finds Beck hunting for the murderer of a lonely traveler. On a July afternoon, a young woman's body is dredged from Sweden's beautiful Lake Vattern. With no clues Beck begins an investigation not only to uncover a murderer but also to discover who the victim was. Three months later, all Beck knows is that her name was Roseanna and that she could have been strangled by any one of eighty-five people on a cruise. As the melancholic Beck narrows the list of suspects, he is drawn increasingly to the enigma of the victim, a free-spirited traveler with a penchant for casual sex, and to the psychopathology of a murderer with a distinctive--indeed, terrifying--sense of propriety..
Martin Beck Police Mystery book 1
- Beth
Faceless killers
Henning Mankell
MYSTERY Mankell, Henning
Mystery
It was a senselessly violent crime: on a cold night in a remote Swedish farmhouse an elderly farmer is bludgeoned to death, and his wife is left to die with a noose around her neck. And as if this didn’t present enough problems for the Ystad police Inspector Kurt Wallander, the dying woman’s last word is foreign, leaving the police the one tangible clue they have–and in the process, the match that could inflame Sweden’s already smoldering anti-immigrant sentiments. Unlike the situation with his ex-wife, his estranged daughter, or the beautiful but married young prosecuter who has piqued his interest, in this case, Wallander finds a problem he can handle. He quickly becomes obsessed with solving the crime before the already tense situation explodes, but soon comes to realize that it will require all his reserves of energy and dedication to solve.
Kurt Wallander series, book 1
- Beth
Close to home
Cara Hunter
FICTION Hunter Cara
Mystery
"She was certain it was Daisy in the flower costume. When eight-year-old Daisy Mason vanishes from her family's Oxford home during a costume party, Detective Inspector Adam Fawley knows that nine times out of ten, the offender is someone close to home. And Daisy's family is certainly strange--her mother is obsessed with keeping up appearances, while her father is cold and defensive under questioning. And then there's Daisy's little brother, so withdrawn and uncommunicative.... DI Fawley works against the clock to find any trace of the little girl, but it's as if she disappeared into thin air--no one saw anything; no one knows anything. But everyone has an opinion, and everyone, it seems, has a secret to conceal"--
Detective Inspector Adam Fawley series book #1.
- Beth
The Late Monsieur Gallet
Georges Simenon, translation by Anthea Bell
MYSTERY Simenon Georges
Mystery
A devastating tale of misfortune, betrayal, and the weakness of family ties, newly translated for the Inspector Maigret series In the third Maigret mystery, the circumstances of Monsieur Gallet's death all seem fake: the name he was traveling under, his presumed profession, and, more worryingly, his family's grief. Their haughtiness seems to hide ambiguous feelings about the hapless man. Soon Maigret discovers the appalling truth and the real crime hidden beneath the surface of their lies.
Book #3 in the Inspector Maigret series.
- Beth
Chosen prey
John Sandford
MYSTERY Sandford, John
Mystery
Deputy Chief Lucas Davenport watched impassively as yet another body was unearthed. It was clear to him that a routine murder investigation had become the search for a monster. Associate Professor James Qatar takes in the gruesome scenes on his television in growing agitation, as he realises that his thin veneer of safety and respectability is being scratched away. Obviously, it would be prudent to cease his activities for a time, but the necks are too pretty, the desire too strong. So he kills again. But they are watching now, and his fear makes him careless. As Lucas Davenport's case comes together, James Qatar's world begins to fall apart, and a deadly game is joined, one that neither player can afford to lose. Lucas Davenport: brilliant, implacable, and determined to stop the killings. And James Qatar: vain, damaged, and capable of anything when he has cornered his chosen prey.
Lucas Davenport series, book 12.
- Beth
Dark of the moon
John Sandford
MYSTERY Sandford, John
Mystery
Virgil Flowers — tall, lean, late thirties, three times divorced, hair way too long for a cop's — had kicked around a while before joining the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. First it was the army and the military police, then the police in St. Paul, and finally Lucas Davenport had brought him into the BCA, promising him, "We'll only give you the hard stuff." He'd been doing the hard stuff for three years now — but never anything like this. In the small town of Bluestem, where everybody knows everybody, a house way up on a ridge explodes into flames, its owner, a man named Judd, trapped inside. There is a lot of reason to hate him, Flowers discovers. Years ago, Judd had perpetrated a scam that'd driven a lot of local farmers out of business, even to suicide. There are also rumors swirling around: of some very dicey activities with other men's wives, of involvement with some nutcase religious guy, and of an out-of-wedlock daughter. In fact, Flowers concludes, you'd probably have to dig around to find a person who didn't despise him
The first book in the Virgil Flowers series.
- Beth
Scales of justice.
Ngaio Marsh
MYSTERY Marsh, Ngaio
Mystery
A brutal murder with a golf club and an ingenious plot bursting with snobbery, suspicion , adultery and secrets -- to say nothing of the dreadful crime of catricide...The lives of the inhabitants of Swevenings are disrupted only by a fierce competition to catch the Old Un, a monster trout known to dwell in a beautiful stream which winds past their homes. Then one of their small community is found brutally murdered; beside him is the freshly killed trout. Both died by violence -- but Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn's murder investigation seems to be much more interested in the fish...
17th book in the Roderick Alleyn mystery series.
- Beth
A rule against murder
Louise Penny
MYSTERY Penny, Louise
Mystery
It is the height of summer, and Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache are celebrating their wedding anniversary at Manoir Bellechasse, an isolated, luxurious inn not far from the village of Three Pines. But they're not alone. The Finney family—rich, cultured, and respectable—has also arrived for a celebration of their own. The beautiful Manoir Bellechasse might be surrounded by nature, but there is something unnatural looming. As the heat rises and the humidity closes in, some surprising guests turn up at the family reunion, and a terrible summer storm leaves behind a dead body. It is up to Chief Inspector Gamache to unearth secrets long buried and hatreds hidden behind polite smiles. The chase takes him to Three Pines, into the dark corners of his own life, and finally to a harrowing climax.
Book 4 in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series.
- Beth
In the woods
Tana French
MYSTERY French, Tana
Mystery
s dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children. He is gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours. Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret.
The first book in the Dublin Murder Squad series.
- Beth
The lost man
Jane (Jane Elizabeth) Harper
MYSTERY Harper Jane
Mystery
Two brothers meet at the remote fence line separating their cattle ranches in the lonely outback. In an isolated belt of Western Australia, they are each other's nearest neighbor, their homes four hours' drive apart. The third brother lies dead at their feet. Something caused Cam, the middle child who had been in charge of the family homestead, to die alone in the middle of nowhere. So the eldest brother returns with his younger sibling to the family property and those left behind. But the fragile balance of the ranch is threatened. Amidst the grief, suspicion starts to take hold, and the eldest brother begins to wonder if more than one among them is at risk of crumbling as the weight of isolation bears down on them all. Dark, suspenseful, and deeply atmospheric, The Lost Man is the highly anticipated book from the bestselling and award-winning Jane Harper, author of The Dry and Force of Nature .
The New Iberia blues
James Lee Burke
MYSTERY Burke James
Mystery
Detective Dave Robicheaux's world isn't filled with too many happy stories, but Desmond Cormier's rags-to-riches tale is certainly one of them. Robicheaux first met Cormier on the streets of New Orleans, when the young, undersized boy had foolish dreams of becoming a Hollywood director. Twenty-five years later, when Robicheaux knocks on Cormier's door, it isn't to congratulate him on his Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. Robicheaux has discovered the body of a young woman who's been crucified, wearing only a small chain on her ankle. She disappeared near Cormier's Cyrpemort Point estate, and Robicheaux, along with young deputy, Sean McClain, are looking for answers. Neither Cormier nor his enigmatic actor friend Antoine Butterworth are saying much, but Robicheaux knows better.
Book 22 in the Dave Robicheaux series.
- Beth
A time to scatter stones : a Matthew Scudder novella
Lawrence Block
MYSTERY Block Lawrence
Mystery
Well past retirement age and feeling his years--but still staying sober one day at a time--Matthew Scudder learns that alcoholics aren't the only ones who count the days since their last slip. Matt's longtime partner, Elaine, tells him of a group of former sex workers who do something similar, helping each other stay out of the life. But when one young woman describes an abusive client who's refusing to let her quit, Elaine encourages her to get help of a different sort. The sort only Scudder can deliver.
Book 19 in the Matthew Scudder series.
- Beth
Backfire
Catherine Coulter
FICTION Coulter, Catherine
Mystery
San Francisco Judge Ramsey Hunt, longtime friend to FBI agents Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich, is presiding over the trial of Clive and Cindy Cahill – accused in a string of murders – when the proceedings take a radical turn. Federal prosecutor Mickey O'Rourke, known for his relentless style, becomes suddenly tentative in his opening statement, leading Hunt to suspect he’s been threatened – suspicions that are all but confirmed when Hunt is shot in the back. Savich and Sherlock receive news of the attack as an ominous note is delivered to Savich at the Hoover Building: YOU DESERVE THIS FOR WHAT YOU DID.
Book 16 in the FBI Thriller series.
- Beth
Crooked river
Douglas J Preston
FICTION Preston Douglas
Mystery
"Appearing out of nowhere to horrify the quiet resort town of Sanibel Island, Florida, dozens of identical, ordinary-looking shoes float in on the tide and are washed up on the tropical beach--each one with a crudely severed human foot inside. Called away from vacation elsewhere in the state, Agent Pendergast reluctantly agrees to visit the crime scene--and, despite himself, is quickly drawn in by the incomprehensible puzzle. An early pathology report only adds to the mystery. With an ocean of possibilities confronting the investigation, no one is sure what happened, why, or from where the feet originated. And they desperately need to know: are the victims still alive? In short order, Pendergast finds himself facing the most complex and inexplicable challenge of his career: a tangled thread of evidence that spans seas and traverses continents, connected to one of the most baffling mysteries in modern medical science. Through shocking twists and turns, all trails lead back to a powerful adversary with a sadistic agenda and who--in a cruel irony--ultimately sees in Pendergast the ideal subject for their malevolent research." -- Amazon.
Book 19 in the Agent Pendergast series.
- Beth
Midnight riot
Ben Aaronovitch
SCIENCE FICTION Aaronovitch, Ben
Science Fiction
Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.
Book #1 in the Rivers of London series
- Beth
A conspiracy of bones
Kathy Reichs
MYSTERY Reichs Kathy
Mystery
It's sweltering in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Temperance Brennan, still recovering from neurosurgery following an aneurysm, is battling nightmares, migraines, and what she thinks might be hallucinations when she receives a series of mysterious text messages, each containing a new picture of a corpse that is missing its face and hands. Immediately, she's anxious to know who the dead man is, and why the images were sent to her. An identified corpse soon turns up, only partly answering her questions. To win answers to the others, including the man's identity, she must go rogue, working mostly outside the system. That's because Tempe's new boss holds a fierce grudge against her and is determined to keep her out of the case. Tempe bulls forward anyway, even as she begins questioning her instincts. But the clues she discovers are disturbing and confusing. Was the faceless man a spy? A trafficker? A target for assassination by the government? And why was he carrying the name of a child missing for almost a decade? With help from a number of law enforcement associates including her Montreal beau Andrew Ryan and the always-ready-with-a-smart-quip, ex-homicide investigator Skinny Slidell, and utilizing new cutting-edge forensic methods, Tempe draws closer to the astonishing truth. But the more she uncovers, the darker and more twisted the picture becomes...
Temperance Brennan series, book 19
- Beth
The first book in the Renée Ballard series.
- Beth