New mystery novels whisk readers around the globe

IN

this great new crop of whodunits, mystery fans can revel in being armchair detectives and armchair travelers to locations around the globe — London, Tuscany, Sicily, and the English countryside.

A GRAVE ROBBERY by Deanna Raybourn

In aristocratic Victorian society, women are expected to quietly remain in the background. Veronica Speedwell, though, is irreverent and outspoken; she’s a scientist (specifically a lepidopterist, or butterfly expert) who lives with her upper-class lover, Stoker, a natural historian who specializes in taxidermy. Veronica and Stoker also are amateur sleuths who have solved a number of crimes together. Their latest case begins when their patron, an inveterate collector named Lord Rosemorran, brings them his latest find: a glass-covered casket containing what looks like a waxen female form. Discovering to their horror that it’s actually the weirdly well-preserved body of a woman who died years ago, Veronica and Stoker set out to find who she is and how she was killed. Ably assisted by some friends — a maverick Scotland Yard detective and a female journalist determined to make a name for herself — Veronica and Stoker take death-defying risks in their quest to ensure that the dead woman’s murderer is brought to justice. Longtime fans of the series will rejoice in this newest adventure, but Raybourn ensures that A Grave Robbery also stands on its own. (Berkley)

THE ROAD TO MURDER by Camilla Trinchieri

When wealthy Italian widow Nora Salviati Lamberti is murdered at her Tuscany villa, and the sole person on the scene speaks only English, the local police call in Nico Doyle, a retired NYPD homicide detective now living in the nearby town of Gravigna. Doyle, who moved to Italy to be close to the family of his late wife, Rita, is charmed by the possible suspect — an

Englishwoman named Laetitia Barron — and believes she’s innocent. The head of the local police isn’t so sure, but there are plenty of other suspects, including the victim’s two alienated daughters. Italian American author Camilla Trinchieri presents the engaging fourth volume in her Tuscan Mystery series, blending a mystery steeped in the culinary and cultural pleasures of Tuscany with the tale of Doyle’s efforts to build a new life there. Readers who relish talk of food and wine mixed with their mystery will be charmed. (Soho Crime)

A DEADLY WALK IN DEVON by Nicholas George

Rick “Chase” Chasen, a retired San Diego police detective whose partner died of cancer a year ago, joins a friend on an organized walking tour in southwestern England in hopes of moving past his grief. Instead, Chase finds himself in the midst of a murder inquiry when another walker, Ronald Gretz, is pushed off a cliff, dying instantly. The local police suspect Gretz’s much-younger wife, who inherits his wealth, but Chase’s detective instincts tell him she’s not the killer. Debut author George relates how Chase uncovers potential motives of other members of the walking group; in the process, Chase becomes a target for the murderer. George, whose own love of long-distance walking inspired the book, offers a satisfying mystery with a well-drawn, interesting protagonist. (Kensington Cozies)

THE MURDER OF MR. MA by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan

In post-world War I London, racism against “outsiders” is strong, so the police aren’t especially interested in solving the murder of a Chinese immigrant named Ma Ze Ren. Enter Chinese Judge Dee Ren Jie, who met Ma in the war and has come to London to track down his killer. Soon Dee finds himself with more murders to investigate as two other men who were part of the wartime Chinese Labor Corps with Ma also are found dead. The swashbuckling Dee teams up with a rather unlikely partner — a scholar named Lao She — and together they crisscross London looking for clues and employing their considerable martial arts skills when their lives are threatened. Co-authors Nee and Rozan (author of the Lydia Chin and Bill Smith P.I. novels) offer an appealingly unusual, action-packed Sherlock Holmes pastiche with deep roots in both Chinese crime fiction and the history of early-20th-century England. (Soho Crime)

THE SICILIAN INHERITANCE by Jo Piazza

A year ago, Sara Marsala was on the cover of Philadelphia magazine for running the city’s best steakhouse. Now the restaurant is bankrupt, her marriage is ending, and her beloved great-aunt Rosie has just died. Then Sara discovers that Rosie has left her a parting gift: a trip to Rosie’s native village of Caltabellessa in Sicily to determine whether the family still has ownership rights to a parcel of land there. Sara’s research in Caltabellessa quickly stirs up old enmities, and she finds herself the target of longtime villagers who try to scare her off. Piazza (author of Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win) pairs Sara’s present-day story with the early-20th-century saga of Serafina Forte, Rosie’s mother, who apparently was brutally murdered before she could join her husband and children in their new American home. Now, the long-forgotten story of her life and death holds the key to whether Sara can claim the family’s land. Moving back and forth in time, Piazza smoothly blends a mystery deep into the heart of a page-turning family chronicle. (Dutton)

Karen Macpherson, the former children’s and teen coordinator at the Takoma Park Maryland Library, is a lifelong mystery aficionado.