Welcome to the Mystery Book Club - for people who enjoy detective stories, mysteries, and thrillers.

In May, we'll meet on the third Tuesday, May 15th. Starting in June, we'll meet on the second Tuesday of each month. Our meetings are at the temporary branch library in the North Pointe shopping center. Click here for the North Pointe Branch's exact address and directions.

If you'd like to see what we've read in the past, click here for a list.

As always, if you have any questions, please contact Bill Taylor, the coordinator of the club, at 301-739-3250, ext. 123.

Here are the books we've chosen for upcoming meetings:

For our May 15th meeting - 6:00 pm at the library's North Pointe branch
Theme: Murderers on the couch - psychotherapists as sleuths

A Death in Vienna
by Frank Tallis

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Review:
Misdirection is the name of the game in this intricate thriller, the work of a practicing London psychologist. Its sleuth is himself a psychotherapist: Max Liebermann, disciple and acquaintance of controversial new eminence Sigmund Freud (who shows up occasionally to dispense wisdom and bad Jewish jokes), and close friend of sturdy, if unimaginative police inspector Oskar Rheinhardt — who plays the workmanlike Watson to Liebermann's quick-witted Holmes. Two mysteries attract Max's attention: the fatal shooting of beautiful spiritualist Charlotte Löwenstein, whose body is discovered in a locked room (where no bullet is found), and the hysterical paralysis that possesses Amelia Lydgate, a handsome young woman who languishes under the regimen of electrotherapy demanded by Max's dictatorial superior, but improves markedly when Max seeks the emotional cause of her affliction. Tallis charts the course of the Löwenstein investigation with considerable ingenuity and in generous detail, providing a rich surfeit of information about the several prime suspects, all clients who had regularly attended the deceased's celebrated séances. These include handsome young stage magician (and cad) Otto Braun, the late Charlotte's lover and probably criminal accomplice; wealthy banker Heinrich Hölderlin and his breathless wife Juno; romantically hopeful, hopelessly ingenuous seamstress Natalie Heck; suspiciously neurotic locksmith Karl Uberhorst; no-account Hungarian playboy Count Zoltán Záborszky; politically ambitious businessman Hans Brückmuller—oh, and nearly every other denizen of early-20th-century Viennese café society. A second murder and a séance arranged for investigative purposes by the diligent Oskar follow, and a Hitchcockian climax high atop downtown Vienna makes excellent use of revivified Amelia's talents and confirms Max's Freud-inspired theories. A graceful final paragraph completes the elegant circle that this long, complex tale has so deftly described.Immensely entertaining, and very clever indeed.

AND

The Map of True Places
by Brunonia Barry

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Review:
Barry's follow-up to her wildly popular debut, The Lace Reader, offers readers a healthy sampling of celestial navigation, fairy tales, half-truths, witchcraft, and intrigue. Psychotherapist but troubled young woman Zee Finch strikes out on an emotional journey to acquire knowledge and insight about her family's past. On the threshold of marriage, she finds herself in deep despair over a patient's suicide and is compelled to reexamine the chaotic years preceding her own mother's suicide; however, this compulsion loosens Zee's grip on reality. Navigating between truth and fiction, Zee is finally able to move forward. Barry wisely places her novel in atmospheric Salem, MA, as literary history, sailing, and witchcraft form the backbone of this tale. VERDICT Zee's a vulnerable, likable character, and the dramatic narrative brings her experiences to life. Although readers will be perched on the edge of their seats while consuming this mesmerizing, suspenseful tale, there are a few convoluted and confusing aspects among the details. Fans will also appreciate the brief reappearances of characters from Barry's debut.

For our June 12th meeting - 6:00 pm at the library's North Pointe branch
Theme: Darkness in the land of midnight sun - Danish noir

The Boy in the Suitcase
by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis

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Review:
In this riveting first in a new Danish crime series, hard-working Copenhagen nurse Nina Borg can’t say no to nursing school friend Karin’s cryptic request to pick up a package at the train station. There, stuffed in a suitcase inside a locker, Nina finds a three-year-old boy, drugged but alive. A near altercation with a violent man, who arrives at the locker soon after and is furious to find the suitcase empty, quashes Nina’s instincts to call the police. Child in tow, she tries to track down Karin to understand her involvement and discover whether the boy, Mikas, who speaks only Lithuanian, is a victim of sex trafficking. Meanwhile, others are searching frantically for Mikas, from his mother in Vilnius to the men who’ll stop at nothing to recover their “cargo.” Without flashy plot devices, Kaaberbøl and Friis let Nina’s particular blend of stoicism and vulnerability guide the story.

AND

The Keeper of Lost Causes
by Jussi Adler-Olsen

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Review:
Adler-Olsen, Denmark's leading crime writer, makes his U.S. debut with the superlative first in his Department Q series. In 2007, Copenhagen homicide detective Carl Morck narrowly cheats death when he and two colleagues are ambushed while checking out a crime scene. Morck is shot in the head, but one of his brother officers is killed, and the other left paralyzed and suicidal. When Morck finally returns to work, friction with his colleagues leads his boss to transfer him to head a new unit, Department Q, tasked with resolving "cases deserving special scrutiny" from across the country. While the purpose of the assignment is to get the difficult detective out of the way, Morck, who's initially content just to kill time, finds himself revitalized by a once high-profile mystery—the 2002 disappearance of a prominent and attractive female politician, Merete Lynggaard. The pages fly by as the twisty puzzle unfolds. Stieg Larsson fans will be delighted.