The staffers of Fiction, Movies and Music and Adult Reference read a lot of books in 2012, and we thought we would share our favorites. Here are our picks for mysteries, suspense and thrillers:

“The Absent One’’ by Jussi Adler-Olsen
Detective Carl Mørck investigates the twenty-year-old murders of a brother and sister whose confessed killer may actually be innocent, a case with ties to a homeless woman and powerful adversaries.
Recommended by Jo and Haley

“Anatomist’s Apprentice’’ by Tessa Harris
When Lady Lydia Farrell’s husband comes under suspicion of a murder in Oxfordshire, she seeks expert help from a young American anatomist whose unconventional methods only add to his outsider status.
Recommended by Thomas

“Available Dark: a Thriller” by Elizabeth Hand
Fleeing for her life after she is shown photographs of ritual killings during a mysterious job in Helsinki, Cass Neary encounters a former lover in Iceland only to be inundated by a series of unsolved murders.
Recommended by Susie

“The Beautiful Mystery” by Louise Penny
When a monastery is shattered by the murder of their renowned choir director, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec are challenged to find the killer in a cloistered community that has taken a vow of silence.
Recommended by Jo, Haley, Jane and Connie

“Before the Poison: a Novel’’ by Peter Robinson
A music composer becomes distracted when he finds out that his new house was the scene of a murder in the 1950s, and that the convicted murderer was one of the last women hanged in England.
Recommended by Jane

“Believing the Lie’’ by Elizabeth George
Inspector Thomas Lynley is mystified when he's sent undercover to investigate the death of Ian Cresswell at the request of the man's uncle, the wealthy and influential Bernard Fairclough.
Recommended by Jane

“Blessed Are the Dead: a Novel’’ by Malla Nunn
Emmanuel Cooper returns in this powerful novel about two communities forced to confront each other after a murder that exposes their secret ties and forbidden desires in apartheid South Africa.
Recommended by Susie

“The Boy in the Snow’’ by M.J. McGrath
Edie Kiglatuk finds herself in Alaska helping ex-husband Sammy in his bid to win the Iditarod dog sled race, which takes a grim turn when Edie stumbles upon a body left out in the forest.
Recommended by Susie

“Broken Harbor’’ by Tana French
In the aftermath of a brutal attack that left a husband and two children dead, brash cop Scorcher Kennedy struggles with perplexing clues and haunting memories of a shattering incident from his childhood.
Recommended by Haley and Connie

“The Cutting Season: a Novel’’ by Attica Locke
When the dead body of a young woman is found on the grounds of Belle Vie, the estate's manager, Caren Gray, launches her own investigation into Belle Vie's history.
Recommended by Connie and Susie

“Death Comes to Pemberley: a Novel’’ by P.D. James
Six years after Elizabeth and Darcy embarked on their life together at Pemberley, Elizabeth's disgraced sister arrives and hysterically shrieks that her husband, Wickham, has been murdered.
Recommended by Sonia, Andrea

“Defending Jacob: a Novel’’ by William Landay
Andy Barber’s long-time respectability as a Massachusetts assistant district attorney is shattered when his 14-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student.
Recommended by Mary Ann, Ellen and Andrea

“Elegy for Eddie’’ by Jacqueline Winspear
Maisie Dobbs takes on a twisting investigation into the brutal killing of a street peddler that will take her from the working-class neighborhoods of her childhood into London's highest circles of power.
Recommended by Sonia and Connie

“Don’t Ever Get Old’’ by Daniel Friedman
Death-camp survivor Buck is 87, abrasive, and has trouble remembering. But his cop's watchfulness is intact, and he keeps his .375 Magnum close by. When he learns that the sadistic guard who brutalized him is likely still alive, he goes on a quest.
Recommended by Jo

“The Expats: a Novel’’ by Chris Pavone
An international spy thriller about a former CIA agent who moves with her family to Luxembourg where everything is suspicious and nothing is as it seems.
Recommended by Andrea

“Extraordinary People’ by Peter May
A 10-year-old mystery inspires biologist and teacher Enzo MacLeod to go on a quest through French landmarks and Paris catacombs for answers, applying new science to a cold case.
Recommended by Mary Ann

“Gods of Gotham” by Lyndsay Faye
Timothy Wilde, a 27-year-old Irish immigrant, joins the newly formed New York Police Department in 1845 and investigates an infanticide and the body of a 12-year-old Irish boy whose spleen has been removed.
Recommended by Connie

“Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn
On the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick's wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. So what really happened to Amy?
Recommended by Ellen, Jane, Susie, and Jo

“The Invisible Ones: a Novel’’ by Stef Penney
Hovering between paralysis and delirium in a hospital bed, private investigator Ray Lovell evaluates a case involving the missing wife of a traveling Gypsy whose hostile family is hiding a tragic secret.
Recommended by Connie

“Jack 1939: a Novel” by Francine Mathews
Tapped by President Franklin Roosevelt to travel to Europe and learn what the Nazis are planning, a young John F. Kennedy joins the president’s efforts to stop the flow of German money that is influencing the 1940 U.S. election.
Recommended by Connie

“A Killing in the Hills: a Novel’’ by Julia Keller
Three elderly men are gunned down at a local diner, and half the town witnesses the act. It happened so fast that no one seems to have gotten a good look at the shooter. Was it random? Was it connected to the spate of drug violence plaguing the country?
Recommended by Connie, Jane and Andrea

“No Mark Upon Her’’ by Deborah Crombie
Kincaid and James are embroiled in the case of the puzzling drowning of a rower, a Met detective, on the Thames. It is a twisting tale of psychological suspense, a story rich in deadly secrets, salacious lies and unexpected betrayals.
Recommended by Jane

“Revenger: a Novel of Tudor Intrigue’’ by Rory Clements
Chief Intelligencer John Shakespeare, the bard's younger brother, is summoned out of retirement when a plot against the aging Queen Elizabeth I causes her to be targeted by two of England's most powerful men. Recommended by Thomas

“Uninvited Guests: a Novel’’ by Sadie Jones
The frightening yet delicious drama of dark surprises, where social codes are uprooted and desire daringly trumps propriety, and all is alight with Edwardian wit and opulence.
Recommended by Susie

“A Wanted Man: A Jack Reacher Novel’’ by Lee Child
All Reacher wanted was a ride to Virginia. But he soon discovers he has hitched more than a ride. He has tied himself to a massive conspiracy that makes him a threat to both sides at once.
Recommended by Connie

“White Heat’’ by M.J. McGrath
Investigating the murder of an adventurist under her watch, Arctic guide Edie Kiglatuk teams up with a police sergeant when she realizes that the victim's tour group was searching for something specific.
Recommended by Susie

“The Year of the Gadfly” by Jennifer Miller
A budding teen journalist and her enigmatic science teacher separately work to locate and infiltrate a secret society that threatens their elite prep school with a shady tragedy from the past.
Recommended by Jo

--Jo Hansen, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.