The Mummy's Ransom by Fred Hunter A controversial exhibit of Chinchorro mummies is about to open in Chicago at Dolores Tower, the latest building by the equally controversial local developer Louie Dolores. The mummies - dating from 2000 to 7000 BC - are incredibly fragile, making their transportation and display very risky. Even worse, the pending exhibition is being protested by a group who regard the exploitation of the mummies to be desecration of their ancient dead, leading to both tension and excitement over the coming opening. Lucky for Chicago Police Detective Jeremy Ransom none of this has anything to do with him. He figures as long as he can keep his friend, the elderly Miss Emily Charters, away from the opening, then there won't be a murder and he won't have to get involved. But first there are reports that a mummy is moving around the exhibit at night, then there are death threats against the developer, and when one night, alone in the exhibit, Louie Dolores is attacked by one of the mummies, Ransom is assigned to find out what's going on. With the sharp wits and intelligence of Emily at his beck and call, Ransom has to sort out the truth in what could be his strangest assignment ever before the a volatile situation turns fatal.

With a relaxing few days in mind, Miss Emily Charters signs up for a four-day seniors' cruise of the Great Lakes organized by her church. In the company of her friend and housekeeper, Lynn Francis, Charters and the other seniors set sail from Chicago, but while the waters on the lake are calm and predictable, her fellow passengers are not. However, a little tension is the least of the problems when one of her fellow passengers is found horribly murdered in her cabin. While the police investigate, the ship remains at port, leaving Emily stranded until her friend, Chicago Police Detective Jeremy Ransom, comes to her rescue. Together they set out to solve a most perplexing puzzle of a murder committed without seeming opportunity or plausible reason, not mention right under Emily's nose, in Fred Hunter's Ransom at Sea.

The importance of Chicago in American culture has made the city's place in the American imagination a crucial topic for literary scholars and cultural historians. While databases of bibliographical information on Chicago-centered fiction are available, they are of little use to scholars researching works written before the 1980s. In The Chicago of Fiction: A Resource Guide, James A. Kaser provides detailed synopses for more than 1,200 works of fiction significantly set in Chicago and published between 1852 and 1980. The synopses include plot summaries, names of major characters, and an indication of physical settings. An appendix provides bibliographical information for works dating from 1981 well into the 21st century, while a biographical section provides basic information about the authors, some of whom are obscure and would be difficult to find in other sources. Written to assist researchers in locating works of fiction for analysis, the plot summaries highlight ways in which the works touch on major aspects of social history and cultural studies (i.e., class, ethnicity, gender, immigrant experience, and race). The book is also a useful reader advisory tool for librarians and readers who want to identify materials for leisure reading, particularly since genre, juvenile, and young adult fiction, as well as literary fiction, are included.

Like other fictional characters, female sleuths may live in the past or the future. They may represent current times with some level of reality or shape their settings to suit an agenda. There are audiences for both realism and escapism in the mystery novel. It is interesting, however, to compare the fictional world of the mystery sleuth with the world in which readers live. Of course, mystery readers do not share one simplistic world. They live in urban, suburban, and rural areas, as do the female heroines in the books they read. They may choose a book because it has a familiar background or because it takes them to places they long to visit. Readers may be rich or poor; young or old; conservative or liberal. So are the heroines. What incredible choices there are today in mystery series! This three-volume encyclopedia of women characters in the mystery novel is like a gigantic menu. Like a menu, the descriptions of the items that are provided are subjective. Volume 3 of Mystery Women as currently updated adds an additional 42 sleuths to the 500 plus who were covered in the initial Volume 3. These are more recently discovered sleuths who were introduced during the period from January 1, 1990 to December 31, 1999. This more than doubles the number of sleuths introduced in the 1980s (298 of whom were covered in Volume 2) and easily exceeded the 347 series (and some outstanding individuals) described in Volume 1, which covered a 130-year period from 1860-1979. It also includes updates on those individuals covered in the first edition; changes in status, short reviews of books published since the first edition through December 31, 2008.

When Alex Reynolds, his lover Peter Livesay, and his mother Jean-occasional freelance operatives for the CIA-are asked to stash an Iraqi military defector in their home, all three are less than thrilled. It turns out the defector is an 18-year-old soldier who has ties to a terrorist organization and, to further complicate matters, is gay. But the real trouble begins when the young man mysteriously disappears, and suddenly Alex, Peter and Jean find themselves in the middle of a very dangerous game.