States of Mystery: North Dakota to Rhode Island

Mysteries can take many forms including books that focus on a complicated puzzle, a locked room, a cozy, a hard-boiled murder, or a police procedural. The reader might encounter an amateur sleuth such as Miss Marple, a local sheriff, a turn-of-the-century reporter, an FBI agent turned detective, a farmer's wife, almost anyone who either walks into a murder scene or maybe even stumbles upon a body. In this study group, there is something for everyone whether you are a long-time mystery devotee or new to the genre. As we read and discuss the mysteries, we will discover small-town America and big city grittiness as well as roam over the wide-open plains, adding local color and characters along the way. The books we will read are: Badlands (Minotaur Books, 2021) by C.J. Box; Pepper Pike: A Milan Jacovich Mystery (St. Martins Press, 1988) by Les Roberts; Suspects: A Northwest Murder Mystery (The Robleda Company, 2017) by Ted Haynes; The Old Buzzard Had It Coming (Poisoned Pen Press, reprint 2017) by Donis Casey; Not a Creature Was Stirring (Mysterioius Press, 2013) by Jane Haddam; and Murder at the Breakers (Kensington, 2014) by Alyssa Maxwell.