WICE’s Murder, They Read group offers members the chance to explore the mystery form—from classic sleuths and gritty detectives to unconventional investigators and amateur gumshoes.

A compelling mystery will be selected for each month's reading and discussion, with an eye toward strong writing, memorable characters, and inventive plotting. From contemporary noir to historical mysteries, the group’s selections will span subgenres, eras, locales and cultures, offering something for longtime mystery lovers and curious newcomers alike.

Discussions—to be held in English—will delve into themes, character development, setting, and of course, the crime itself. The goal is not just to guess the culprit, but, through the eyes of the sleuth, to benefit from a literary immersion into another time, place, and/or culture;  to appreciate how the author constructs the mystery and what the story reveals about the world it portrays.   And of course  to enjoy time spent with others who love the mystery genre.

Selections are chosen with these criteria in mind:

  • Available in English (paper or ebook)

  • Standalone/can be read on it’s own, or first in a series

  • Rich in atmosphere, character, or setting

  • Offers an unexpected perspective




Representative titles include:

  1. A Clubbable Woman – Reginald Hill

  2. The Blessing Way – Tony Hillerman

  3. The Silver Pigs – Lindsey Davis

  4. Death at La Fenice – Donna Leon

  5. Maisie Dobbs – Jacqueline Winspear

  6. The Chalk Circle Man – Fred Vargas

Whether you’re drawn to the streets of Venice, the mesas of New Mexico, or a shadowy corner of 1920s London, Murder, They Read invites you to join the investigation.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

  • LJ091 Murder, They Read: "The Silver Pigs," by Lindsey Davis

    • 09 Jan 2026
    • 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
    • Impact Café, lower level (salle 3), 67 rue Beaubourg, 75003
    • 7
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    The Silver Pigs, the first novel in Lindsey Davis’s long-running Marcus Didius Falco series, introduces readers to a wonderfully sardonic “private informer” operating in the bustling, dangerous world of ancient Rome. When Falco encounters a frightened young woman, Sosia Camillina, he stumbles into a conspiracy involving stolen silver ingots—“silver pigs”—and high-level political intrigue. The investigation leads him from Rome’s teeming streets to Roman Britain, where a mining plot hints at treason and where Falco’s undercover work shows him the brutal realities of slavery and imperial power.

    Along the way, Falco clashes—and eventually connects—with Helena Justina, a sharp-witted senator’s daughter whose social status makes her an unlikely match. Their relationship begins in mutual irritation and class resentment, but gradually develops into one of the series’ most engaging threads. Davis mixes mystery, humor, and historical detail, giving readers a vivid sense of daily life under Vespasian while poking fun at Roman politics, bureaucracy, and snobbery.

    This first book sets the tone for the whole series: part detective story, part adventure, part social comedy. A great discussion angle is how Davis uses wit and irreverence to humanize history and expose the hypocrisies of empire—while giving us a reluctant, endearingly flawed hero to root for.

    Two spaces are reserved for new WICE members. If no new WICE members have registered before 02 January, those two spaces will become available to the general WICE membership.  

    Registration opens on Thursday, 18 December.


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  • LF061 Murder, They Read: "Norwegian by Night," by Derek Miller

    • 06 Feb 2026
    • 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
    • Impact Café, lower level (salle 3), 67 rue Beaubourg, 75003
    • 10
    Register

    Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller, was awarded the 2013 Crime Writers' Association John Creasey Dagger award, and was picked by the Guardian newspaper as one of the best crime and thriller novels of 2013. The story follows 82-year-old Sheldon Horowitz, a recently widowed American ex-Marine, who moves to Oslo, Norway, to live with his granddaughter Rhea and her Norwegian husband, Lars. He’s grappling with the cultural dislocation posed by the move, along with the memories and regrets of a long life. When a violent crime is committed in his apartment building, Sheldon rescues a young boy threatened by the events and goes on the run through Norway with him, evading the Oslo police as well as the murderer and his cohort.

    The novel follows the separate trajectories of the 3 groups as they pursue their separate goals. We get to know police Chief Inspector Sigrid Ødegård, a wise and discerning woman, as she directs her team in search of the murderer and of Sheldon and the child he’s saved. And we learn a bit about the perpetrator of the crime and his associates, and gain some perspective on the forces that have shaped them.

    The story is humorous and deeply moving, often at the same time, mixing suspense with clever dialog, dark humor, and observations on Norwegian culture, aging, guilt and memory.

    Two spaces are reserved for new WICE members. If no new WICE members have registered seven days before the event, those two spaces will become available to the general WICE membership.

    Registration opens on Saturday, 10 January.




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  • LM061 Murder, They Read: "The Book of Wizzy," by Ann Chamberlin

    • 06 Mar 2026
    • 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
    • Impact Café, lower level (salle 3), 67 rue Beaubourg, 75003
    • 11

    The Book of Wizzy is set in the world within a world of the Latter Day Saints (Mormon) community in the ski resort of Park City, Utah. The author provides us an insider view on that world and its accompanying perspective.

    Eighteen-year-old Brittany Bingham is working as a housekeeper for posh condominiums in Park City when she discovers a body in a hot tub. Since Brittany’s parents are serving an LDS mission in Southern California, she calls on her aunt Helen for aid, but Helen’s feeling stretched thin. She’s still mourning the death of her child, Elizabeth,15 years ago. Wizzy, as Helen called her, died at the age of 3, and Helen feels that she and Wizzy are in daily communication through song. Additionally, she’s been asked by her bishop to take on a major responsibility. Everyone else is ready to dismiss the skier’s death as an accident, but Helen feels a responsibility to Brittany. What to do? Helen’s response to this dilemma, as she proceeds to solve the mystery and to increasingly develop and exercise her own power and autonomy w/in the structure of her church and beliefs, forms the backbone of the story.

    NOTE: the author will join us for this discussion.

    Two spaces are reserved for new WICE members. If no new WICE members have registered seven days before the event, those two spaces will become available to the general WICE membership.

    Registration opens on Saturday, 07 February.


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