The main character in a mystery can be in just about any walk of life. Many mystery books revolve around professional detectives which we usually consider a police detective or criminal investigator who is a sworn law enforcement professional. Plus there are Private Investigators whom we consider licensed professionals who can be hired to investigate. Sometimes PIs are retired police officers. Sherlock Holmes called himself a consulting detective. Journalists are often the main character in a mystery since they can get themselves into situations which requires sleuthing. Jessica Fletcher and Father Brown have solved many mysteries proving that anyone can do it. The following new sleuths range from a Child Protective Officer to a medical examiner.

Reading right now:

Phillip Depoy’s latest is the fourth book (“Sidewalk Saint”) in the Foggy Moskowitz series. Foggy is a Child Protective Officer who finds himself searching for a missing eleven-year-old girl named Etta whose father has broken out of jail in order to help save her life. While Foggy searches for her so does Canadian mobsters, New York Irishmen, the FBI, and the Seminole elite. Most of these people want Etta to keep quiet about something she knows that could harm them. It’s up to Foggy to find her, help her reveal the truth, and keep her alive.

On hold right now:

Chad Dundas’ “The Blaze” centers around army veteran Matthew Rose who returns to Montana after his father’s death to settle his affairs. Matthew lost much of his memory from a brain injury he received in Iraq, but when he sees a house burn down it triggers a memory of another fire. This memory leads him down a road that may not only solve a murder from long ago, but help him to resolve his own past.

Lee Goldberg’s new novel is the first in a new series with Los Angeles County Sheriff Deputy Eve Ronin (called “Lost Hills”). As the youngest female homicide detective in the department’s history, Eve faces resentment and hostility. When her arrest of a movie star is captured on video and goes viral, she becomes the new face of the LA County Sheriff’s department. When she and her burned out partner catch what looks like the murder of a mother and her two kids, she must work to prove herself and find out what happened to the family.

Andrew Grant’s second book in his Paul McGrath series is called “Too Close to Home.” This unusual series centers around Paul McGrath, ex-military intelligence, who goes undercover on his own as a courthouse janitor to find justice first for his father and also for those who have been wronged by a corrupt system. 

Other Mysterious Things:

Dr. Judy Melinek teams up with her husband T.J. Mitchell to write what may well become the next hot medical examiner series. “First Cut” takes place in San Francisco and centers around medical examiner Dr. Jessie Teska. Judy Melinek is a forensics expert in real life so has the background to make the book realistic and gritty. It’s exciting to think that this may be the start of a series that could become as famous as Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli & Isles, Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta, or Kathy Reichs’ Temperance Brennan.