This year, in honor of our March 2013 Women’s History Month speaker Dr. Sara Paretsky, we will focus on women mystery writers. We have included in our list some classic titles and some less well-known. We are focusing on novels with female detectives.

Julie Kramer will be joining this month's discussion of her book!

Shunning Sarah

A young boy's freak accident leads TV reporter Riley Spartz to investigate a homicide in the closed religious society of the Amish. No women near the small Minnesota tourist town have been reported missing and because the victim's face is damaged, she can't be identified without the help of a forensic artist. When she finally is recognized as Sarah Yoder, a young Amish woman, the police have difficulty investigating the case because the Amish believe in forgiveness rather than prosecution, and no one in the community is talking. Because of the biblical ban on graven images, Sarah's family objects to her picture being used by the media even though the police believe the publicity might lead to tips. But when Riley finds a clue the cops miss, she uncovers a dark web of fraud and deception in the community—driven by motives as old as the Bible: sex and money.