We’ll run this group as hybrid, so anyone can join. Please click below to register for the program, and you'll receive the Zoom link. Returning IN PERSON readers do not need to register unless they need the Zoom link. THE ZOOM LINK WILL BE SENT AT LEAST TWO HOURS BEFORE THE MEETING.

"Ira Levin may be best known for his seminal horror novel Rosemary’s Baby, but his 1953 debut remains his most suspenseful offering and the greatest testament to his skill for eliciting thrills. The novel’s protagonist, Burton “Bud” Corliss, as calculating as he is ambitious, seeks to move up in the world by dating Dorothy, a young heiress with a father in the lucrative copper business. After Dorothy’s unplanned pregnancy puts a kink in Bud’s grandiose plans for the future, he resorts to sinister measures, murdering Dorothy and their unborn child before dating her other two sisters in a coldblooded and relentless pursuit of the life he wants. The book, now widely regarded as a modern crime classic, won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1954 and inspired not one, but two film adaptations, in 1956 and 1991. —Cady Lang for Time magazine

Older titles on the TIME magazine list may not be in the Library's catalog. Stop by the Reference Desk after the previous month’s meeting to pick up a copy of the title. If this title is not available, we've requested copies of their other works. There are also ebooks available via Libby.

Supplemental Reading:

Wikipedia overview of the novel and background HERE.

Mystery versus Thriller versus Suspense article HERE.

Book Club Background:

Join us in person or online to look at the history of Mystery as a book genre.

It has been almost 200 years since the publication of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” and since then, mystery as a genre has exploded in form, length, language, and more. From The Lady in White, Wilkie Collins’ novel that is considered the first of the genre, through the serialized adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the Golden Age of Agatha Christie, the advent of noir, the rise of thrillers, romantic suspense, and an international cast of characters ranging from retired police officers to meddling sleuths, some famous twins, and armchair detectives.

TIME MAGAZINE PICKS THE 100 BEST MYSTERY NOVELS OF ALL TIME

Each month we might read an article, a short story, a book, or a selection from the same author or the same country. We’ll look at award winners and debut novelists, the standard bearers and the rule breakers. We may talk about movies and TV, too.  We’ll work our way through the decades, looking at similar themes, exotic settings, and recent innovations in a genre that is both familiar and new.

Some of the authors we’ll cover: Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Mary Higgins Clark, Alexander McCall Smith, Jo Nesbo, and more!

Check out the recent Edgar Award winners HERE.

We’ll run this group as hybrid, so anyone can join. Please click below to register for the program, and you'll receive the Zoom link. Returning readers do not need to register unless they need the Zoom link. THE ZOOM LINK WILL BE SENT AT LEAST TWO HOURS BEFORE THE MEETING.

At the end of the day, the butler may have done it, but we’ll decide if he was justified!