MYSTERIES

Girls may well just want to have fun, but they also solve crimes. The appearance of female sleuths is nothing new -- remember Miss Marple? -- but they're proliferating in a number of mystery series.

. . .

Two's an inconvenience, but three's chaos.

That's people with the same name. And that's the situation facing dog writer Holly Winter of Cambridge, Mass., and her three Alaskan malamutes in All Shots (256 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $22.95), the 18th entry in Susan Conant's dog-lover's series.

The three Hollys -- our heroine, a dog-despising statistician and a murdered woman -- form the center of this puzzle, which features a missing Siberian husky, a rare blue malamute, a mentally slow pet sitter and a plot that zigs, zags and wags its way to a breathtaking climax and a logical conclusion.

Conant instills "All Shots" with plenty of dog lore, and her fans will give this one four paws up.

. . .

In a similar vein, but switching species, Gabriella Herkert kicks off her projected series with Catnapped (336 pages, Obsidian, $6.99) and a missing multimillionaire: a gray and white cat named Flash.

Hired to look into the missing feline, the beneficiary of a big trust fund, legal investigator Sara Townley of Seattle soon finds herself caught up in a case involving a shady tycoon, his two ne'er-do-well sons and his sleazy former business partner. This is no cute cat caper.

Then there's Sara's husband, Navy SEAL Connor McNamara, who has reappeared in her life after a four-month tour of duty that started just after their Las Vegas wedding. He's just in time to help Sara with her inquiries and protect her from herself.

Herkert writes with smart-aleck wit, and readers will want to see more of Sara and Connor.

. . .

Ripped from the headlines. It's an appropriate theme for Karen E. Olson's series featuring reporter Annie Seymour of the fictional New Haven Herald, and the third installment, Dead of the Day (320 pages, Obsidian, $6.99), finds Annie in the middle of a big story.

First, a floater -- a body in the water -- is found near the port in the Connecticut city. Next, the new police chief is gunned down. And Annie soon finds herself caught up in an intricate plot involving port security, illegal immigration and good old-fashioned infidelity.

Then there's Annie's lawyer mother, who tries to help Annie with the story -- within the limits of lawyer-client confidentiality -- and Annie's back-and-forth romances with Tom Behr, the police department's chief of detectives, and Vinny DeLucia, a hunky private detective.

Olson, a graduate of Roanoke College and a reporter and editor for Connecticut newspapers for 20 years, brings a journalist's eye for detail and immediacy to this series. You'll want to give yourself an early deadline to read her latest story.

. . .

Death at the Tower of London is a long-standing tradition, and Carola Dunn gives it a spin in The Bloody Tower (272 pages, St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95), the 16th entry in her Daisy Dalrymple series.

It's 1925, and Daisy and her husband, Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, are the parents of 2-month-old twins. Daisy is itching to resume her career as a journalist and takes on an assignment to write about the Tower.

After spending the night at the Tower to observe a special ceremony, she discovers the body of the chief yeoman warder, an ax in his back, the next morning. Alec is assigned the case, and he and Daisy soon find themselves investigating a plethora of suspects and discovering intrigue within the tower's walls that even Henry VIII might have found shocking.

Reminiscent of the British mysteries of the first half of the 20th century, "The Bloody Tower" constitutes a red-letter day for the amiable Daisy.
Contact Jay Strafford at (804) 659-6698 or jstrafford@timesdispatch.com.