Book List: Cold Case Files

Lost Light by Michael Connelly
F Conn
After 28 years of working for the LAPD, Harry Bosch quits his job. He soon realizes that retirement is not for him and decides to get his PI license so he can go back to work. Bosch's first case is the unsolved murder of 24 year-old Angella Benton, a case he was pulled from four years ago. He believes Angella's death is linked to the theft of $2 million from a film company. The FBI will stop at nothing to remove Harry from the case. Finally, his investigation leads him to the elite terrorist hunters of the New Department of Homeland Security.

The Quiet Game by Greg Iles
F Iles
Penn Cage has enjoyed a very successful life not only as a lawyer at a reputable Houston law firm, but also as a well-known author. When his wife dies prematurely, he decides to move himself and his daughter back to his hometown of Natchez, Mississippi. Shortly after arriving in Natchez, Cage learns that his father, a well-respected doctor, is being blackmailed. When Penn sets out to help his father, he stumbles upon a trail of lies surrounding the unsolved murder of a black man thirty years earlier. He decides to re-open the case and gradually uncovers an intricate conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of the FBI.

Summer of Storms by Judith Kelman
F Kelm
On a stormy summer night, five year-old Julie Jameson was killed in her Manhattan bedroom while her family slept. The memories of that night were too painful for the family, so they left New York and moved to South Carolina. Thirty years have passed and Julie's murder has never been solved. Her younger sister, Anna, now 33 and an aspiring photographer returns to New York to accept a job as a photojournalist. Shortly after Anna starts her new job, a phone call is received by Arcanum, an elite group of forensic experts who investigate unsolved crimes, warning that Julie Jameson's killer may strike again.

Cold Case by Stephen White
F Whit
More than a decade has passed since the mutilated bodies of two teenage girls were discovered in the Colorado Rockies. The case was never solved and now a family member of one of the girls has contacted Locard, an agency which specializes in "cold cases" to re-open the investigation. Locard invites psychologist Dr. Alan Gregory and his wife, Assistant D.A. Lauren Crowder, to participate in the investigation. As Dr. Gregory's investigation progresses, he finds evidence that points a finger of guilt toward Colorado Congressman and former psychologist, Raymond Welle, who had a connection to both of the murdered girls.

Manner of Death by Stephen White
F Whit
Dr. Alan Gregory has a secret from his past that could lead to his death. Six of his friends and colleagues have died already because of the secret. Will he reveal the secret before someone else is killed?

The Burying Field by Kenneth Abel
MF Abel
Attorney Danny Chaisson is hired by Michael Tournier, a New Orleans real estate developer, to investigate problems concerning a prime piece of real estate. The property, though not indicated on area maps, is rumored to be the site of a long-forgotten historical slave burial ground. When an elderly black man is severely beaten trying to protect the property, racial tension escalates between those pushing for the residential/retail complex and those wanting to protect the burial ground. An archaeologist is called in to evaluate the site and in the process uncovers the remains of a young woman missing since the 1970's, which causes the "burying field" to be labeled a crime scene.

Cruel as the Grave by John Armistead
MF Armi
Naresse Clouse, mother of four, was the victim of a horrendous murder. She was shot, stabbed, and left hanging in a rural barn. Now, three years later, a middle-aged furniture salesman is gunned down in the parking lot of his apartment shortly after asking questions about Naresse. Thinking the two crimes may be related, Sheriff Grover Bramlett starts digging again into the unsolved case of Naresse Clouse in hopes of solving both murders.

Cold Case Squad by Edna Buchanan
MF Buch
A widow reports to Miami's Cold Case Squad that she keeps seeing her husband even though he's been dead for twelve years. As the investigation begins, the squad reveals information regarding other "accidents." Soon, they have more questions than answers.

The Ice Maiden by Edna Buchanan
MF Buch
Sunny Hartley had been abducted, raped, shot, and left for dead fourteen years ago. Her teenaged boyfriend was murdered. She became a reclusive ice sculptor and had no desire to re-open the past. However, clusters of burn scars on a dead man's body from a jewelry store burglary cause the Cold Case Squad to link that corpse to Sunny's fourteen year-old case. Miami crime reporter, Britt Montero, is asked to step in, unofficially. She, along with Sunny, must face the past to bring Sunny's boyfriend's killers to justice.

The Remorseful Day by Colin Dexter
MF Dext
Yvonne Harrison was found in her home murdered, handcuffed, and naked. Now, a year later, with all the leads depleted, the case seems unlikely to be solved. That is until two anonymous phone calls to Chief Superintendent Strange lead the case in a new direction. Strange wants his best detective, Inspector Morse, on the job, but Morse shows a surprising reluctance to become involved in the case. His reluctance, along with some unusual investigative methods, leads his longtime partner, Sergeant Lewis, to suspect Morse may have had a personal connection to the victim, which could possibly implicate him in the murder.

Steps to the Altar by Earlene Fowler
MF Fowl
Benni Harper is dealing with more than a wedding and the unwanted attention from a deputy sheriff. She is also investigating Garvey Sullivan's murder. Garvey's widow left town before the body was found, leaving the town the impression she's guilty. Benni isn't so sure once she begins to inventory the four trunks of evidence. During Benni's investigation, her husband's old partner, Del Hernandez, returns. Del makes it clear she wants Benni's husband as her life-long partner. Will Benni solve the murder and save her marriage?

"O" is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton
MF Graf
Fourteen years after leaving her husband because he was charged with murder, Kinsey Millhone receives a letter that can prove his innocence. After looking him up, Millhone discovers that her ex-husband, Mickey Magruder, has been shot and is in a coma. Her investigation of his shooting leads her back to the unsolved case that Mickey was originally accused of committing. What she uncovers may cost Kinsey her life.

The Murder Book by Jonathan Kellerman
MF Kell
L.A. psychologist-detective, Alex Delaware, receives a strange package in the mail. Inside is an album full of crime-scene photos titled "The Murder Book." Alex does not know why it was sent to him, so he decides to show it to his long time friend and homicide detective, Milo Sturgis. Milo discovers pictures of the unsolved murder of a young woman that occurred during his rookie days. Now Alex and Milo decide to uncover what really happened twenty years ago. Their every move is followed as they discover how deep the cover-up goes.

Shadow Men by Jonathon King
MF King
An eighty year-old triple murder is re-opened when a grandson of one of the victims discovers letters in an antique hope chest. The writer of the letters and his two sons were laborers working to build a road through the Florida Everglades eighty years earlier. The brutal conditions revealed in the letters caused private investigator Max Freeman to look into the happenings in the Everglades. Freeman uncovers information that leads him to think that the three earlier deaths may be linked to some present-day serial killings.

The Last Place by Laura Lippman
MF Lipp
Baltimore private eye Tess Monaghan's best friend, Whitney Talbot, asks Tess to investigate five murder cases that the police say are closed. During her investigation, she teams up with Carl DeWitt, a toll-facility cop, who found the head of one of the victims. With Carl's help, Tess realizes that the five deaths are not isolated incidents.

Last Lessons of Summer by Margaret Maron
MF Maro
Amy Steadman, a toy company executive from New York, returns to North Carolina to take care of her murdered grandmother's estate. While going through her home, Amy tries to learn more about her mother, Maxie, who committed suicide when Amy was three-years-old. After receiving anonymous telephone threats, Amy discovers that her mother's death was not a suicide and it is also connected to her grandmother's death. Will Amy be next?

The Distant Echo by Val McDermid
MF McDe
Coming home from a party, Alex Gilbey and his three friends find the body of a young woman. She'd been raped and murdered. Alex and his friends are the only suspects. Twenty-five years later the case is re-examined by the Cold Case Squad. After the file is re-opened, two of Alex's friends die suspiciously. Alex is afraid he's next. Can he solve the murder of twenty-five years ago or is death imminent?

Point Deception by Marcia Muller
MF Mull
A 13-year-old multiple murder torments Rhoda Swift, the female deputy sheriff of a small Northern California coastal town. The residents of the cozy town of Cascada Canyon are suspicious when two local women go missing and an unidentified body washes up nearby at Point Deception. Is there a connection? The appearance of a writer from New York, Guy Newberry, stirs up horrible memories from the thirteen year-old murder and causes anxiety among the townspeople. Rhoda hopes the solving of the crimes will provide a second chance to prove herself a dependable detective.

Back Story by Robert B. Parker
MF Park
Spenser investigates the murder of a woman who was shot thirty years ago during a robbery. The woman's daughter wants closure, so she asks Spenser to find out who pulled the trigger. Powerful people on both sides of the law want Spenser to leave it alone. Someone is even willing to kill to stop him.

Raveling by Peter Moore Smith
MF Smit
After seven year-old Fiona disappeared twenty years ago, the Airie family began to unravel. Pilot, one of Fiona's brothers, was diagnosed with schizophrenia after she vanished. He returns home twenty years later to care for his mother and to come to terms with his older brother, Eric. With the help of a psychologist, Katherine, Pilot attempts to remember that horrible night and begins to heal. Pilot insists that Eric brutally killed Fiona, but Pilot has been declared delusional. Is he?

The Singing of the Dead by Dana Stabenow
MF Stab
Kate Shugak becomes the bodyguard of a Native woman who is running for the Alaskan state senate. After Kate begins working the campaign, she is dealt a blow when their staff researcher is found murdered. Kate begins investigating the murder by retracing the researcher's steps. She soon learns that she may need to solve a ninety year-old murder before she can solve the murder of the present.

Cold Water Burning by John Straley
MF Stra
Cecil Younger, a private investigator from Sitka, Alaska, re-opens an unsolved murder case. Three years earlier, someone had murdered four people aboard the fishing scow Mygirl. At that time, there was a suspect but not enough evidence to convict the man so the case was never solved. Now, the man originally accused of the crime, Richard Ewers, has mysteriously disappeared. When Ewers wife, Patricia, seeks Younger's help in locating her husband, she meets with sudden death. As Cecil continues to investigate, others connected with the case die in unexpected and bizarre ways. Someone is trying to keep the truth hidden, and it is up to Younger to unravel the truth before someone else ends up dead.

Concrete Desert by Jon Talton
MF Talt
After history professor David Mapstone is refused university tenure, he decides to return to his boyhood home of Phoenix, Arizona. He accepts a temporary job going through unsolved cases in the sheriff's office. While Mapstone is working on a forty year-old case involving a serial killer who murdered prostitutes and dumped their bodies in the desert, he is contacted by a former girlfriend requesting his help in locating her missing sister. As Mapstone digs into the girl's disappearance he finds similarities between her disappearance and the unsolved case he is currently investigating. When the missing girl's body is found in the desert, Mapstone suspects the killer of forty years ago may have resurfaced.