Easter Mysteries

Barbara Allan, Antiques Bizarre (2010)

Vivian Borne persuades elderly Nastasya Petrova to contribute her Fabergé egg to a charity auction for Serenity MI flood victims. When Madam Petrova dies in a mass poisoning at the auction and someone pushes the winning bidder for the Fabergé egg, a Chicago art dealer, down a spiral staircase to his death, Vivian and daughter Brandy swing into dizzy detecting mode. A Trash ‘n' Treasures Mystery.

Linda Berry, Death and the Easter Bunny (1998)

When the son-in-law of the richest man in town dies in a fire at his home, Officer Trudy Roundtree realizes that it is murder, and while she searches for clues in a town where everybody knows everyone else's business, she finds that some people can keep secrets very well, even in a small rural town.

David Bottoms, Easter Weekend (1990)

Two brothers, small time hoods who dream of the big score, kidnap a rich local college student over Easter weekend and discover that the mob is muscling in on their easy-money scheme.

Rhys Bowen, In a Gilded Cage (2009)

Molly Murphy takes up the suffragette cause and lands two new cases after marching for women's rights in the Easter Parade in early 20th-century New York. Fine historical series.

Grace Brophy, The Last Enemy (2007)

Set in Assisi during Holy Week, this intriguing procedural chronicles the investigation into the murder of a wealthy American woman. It should be a cakewalk for experienced Commissario Alessandro Cenni, but he runs into opposition at every turn. His boss wants a scapegoat, and fast; the aristocratic Casati household will tolerate little intrusion into their daily routine for something as sordid as a murder investigation; and even the Catholic church is putting heavy pressure to bear on the case.

W.J. Burley, Wycliffe and the Last Rites (1993)

When a young woman is found dead on the altar of a Cornish church Easter morning as the organ plays one eery chord, Wycliff investigates whether the murder had been the result of a satanic ritual.

Mary Jane Clark, Do You Promise Not to Tell? (1999)

The power of television news broadcasting collides headlong with the secretive, high-stakes intrigue of the art world when TV producer Farrell Slater, desperate to preserve her job, sets out to expose the mystery behind the auction of the legendary Fabergé Moon Egg.

Mary Daheim, Holy Terrors (1992)

When a scissors-wielding Easter bunny kills one of Judith McGonigle's neighbors during the annual Easter egg hunt she is catering, Judith teams up with ex-beau Joe Flynn, a cop, and her cousin Renie to investigate the crime.

Liz Evans, Cue the Easter Bunny (2005)

Vetch's Investigations is buzzing with clients and even Jan, the receptionist from hell, is busy - all of which is making Grace Smith feel particularly depressed because she's the only one without a client in sight. The situation has become so desperate that Grace has taken a job with the town Tourist Board. Dressed as the Easter Bunny, she's supposed to be promoting the town's 'child friendly' image -- until a woman named Della comes calling, and informs Grace that her son is receiving threatening letters and she wants someone to trace the sender. Grace accepts with alacrity. And lives to regret it most bitterly.

Jane Haddam, Precious Blood (1991)

When a young woman in a Colchester, N.Y., parish is murdered and a priest seems to be the most likely to have wanted her dead, former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian uncovers strange and damning links to the past.

Joanne Harris, Chocolat (1999)

When an exotic stranger, Vianne Rocher, arrives in the French village of Lansquenet and opens a chocolate boutique directly opposite the church, Father Reynaud identifies her as a serious danger to his flock. War is declared as the priest denounces the newcomer's wares as instruments of murder.

Lee Harris, The Good Friday Murder (1992)

Christine Bennett has left the cloistered world of nuns for the profane world of New York State, where murder and madness are often linked. At a town meeting, Christine volunteers to investigate a forty-year-old murder case long since closed. Now she'll move heaven and earth to exonerate a pair of retarded savant twins, now senior citizens, of their mother's murder on Good Friday in 1950.

J. M. Hayes, Server Down (2009)

Half-Cheyenne shaman Mad Dog attends Yaqui tribal Easter ceremonies in Tucson, Arizona, where he is framed for the murder of a local policeman, while back in Kansas, Sheriff English investigates the bombing of Mad Dog's home.

July Hyzy, Eggsecutive Orders (2010)

With the White House's big Easter celebration approaching, the last thing White House chef Olivia Paras needs is to be accused of murder when an NSA big shot dies right after eating the dinner that she and her staff prepared.

Stuart M Kaminsky, Smart Moves (1986)

Toby Peters goes to Princeton, New Jersey, in 1942 to help Albert Einstein find who is accusing him of being a traitor, and the climax comes during an Easter Sunday afternoon concert as Albert Einstein plays accompaniment for singer Paul Robeson.

William X Kienzle, The Rosary Murders (1979)

The investigators on the Detroit homicide team headed by Lieutenant Walter Koznicki are unable to solve a string of senseless murders in the city's Catholic community during the Lenten season until Father Koesler breaks the madman murderer's code.

Sharan Newman, Devil's Door (1994)

In the Easter season of 1140, Catherine LaVendeur, an inquisitive young nun, undertakes a perilous clandestine mission for the abbess of the convent to find a noblewoman's murderer.

Louise Penny, The Cruelest Month (2008)

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec is called to investigate the death of a villager at an Easter séance that was held at the Old Hadley House.

Julia Spencer-Fleming, Out of the Deep I Cry (2004)

When a doctor from a local free clinic disappears, Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson and police chief Russ van Alstyne avoid their growing feelings for each other and pursue an investigation with links to the Jazz Age, Prohibition, and the Great Depression. The season of Lent serves as a most fitting backdrop, starting with Ash Wednesday and culminating in the Great Easter Vigil.

Mari Ulmer, Midnight at the Camposanto (2000)

Christina Garcia y Grant, an ex-lawyer who gave up her practice to run a bed and breakfast, investigates the murder of a member of the Brotherhood of Our Lord Jesus, who is struck down on Good Friday.

Debbie Viguié, The Lord is my Shepherd (2010)

As church secretary Cindy Preston prepares for the Easter service, she literally stumbles across a dead body in the sanctuary. A prominent church member has been stabbed to death in the locked church. As whispers and suspicions surround the members of the congregation, Rabbi Jeremiah Silverman, from the Jewish temple next door, helps Cindy search for the truth. As Easter Sunday -- and Passover -- draw near, the pressure mounts when the killer leaves clues that more deaths should be expected. Fighting against time and a serial killer, the rabbi and the church secretary work together, learning more about each other and their faiths as they seek to expose the truth. But what secret is the rabbi hiding?

 

Short Stories:

 

Cat Crimes for the Holidays, edited by Martin H. Greenberg, Ed Gorman, and Larry Segriff (1997)

From New Year's to Easter to Christmas, a cat lover's anthology of original mysteries with holiday themes ranges from the cozy to the hard-boiled and includes stories by Nancy Pickard, Barbara Paul, Bill Crider, and Tracy Knight.

Peter Lovesey, Do Not Exceed the Stated Dose (1999) (Large Print)

Includes the short story, " The Case of the Easter Bonnet."

Rex Stout, And Four to Go (1958) (eBook)

In "Easter Parade" Nero Wolfe orders Archie to steal a spray of a rare orchid from one of the promenaders. Murder, of course, ensues. Also includes "A Christmas Party," "Fourth of July Picnic," and "Murder is No Joke."

4/10

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