Writer	Who	Where	When	How Much	Why
Lagercrantz, David	Leonard Corell	Wilmslow, Manchester, and other cities in England, UK	1954		Leonard is policeman who arrives to investigate after Alan Turing's cleaning lady finds him dead—an apparent suicide—and calls the police. Leonard—a math major before he dropped out of school—finds things about the death that don't add up to suicide. As Leonard investigates, he becomes more and more absorbed by Turing's theories of computational numbers and Turing's efforts to create a thinking machine. Part of the story is told by Alan's boss as Bletchley Park. The plot also covers the massive freakout during the 1950s of homosexuals being a security risk.
Lake, Deryn	John Rawlings	London, England	1761		John is an apothecary and friend of John Fielding, the magistrate and founder of the Bow Street Runners
Lang, Essie	Shelby Cox	Alexandria Bay, NY	Present		Shelby and her aunt own two bookstores in Alexandria Bay, NY. Very light.
Langton, Jane	Mary and Homer Kelly	Boston and Concord, MA	1980s
Lanier, Virginia	Jo Beth Siddons	Balsa City, GA	Present		Jo Beth breeds and trains bloodhounds for tracking
Lansdale, Joe R.	Brett Sawyer, Hap Collins, and Leonard	near Longview and Tyler, TX	present		Brett operates detective agency and employes her husband, Hap, and Leonard.
LaPierre, Janet	Patience and Verity Mackellar	Port Silva, CA	Present
LaPierre, Janet	Vincent Gutierrez and Meg Halloran	Port Silva, CA	Present
Larsen, Gaylord	Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie	England	1930s
Lavene, Joyce and Jim	Jessie Morton	Myrtle Beach, SC	Present		Jessie is PhD candidate who works at Renaissance faire during summers
Lavene, Joyce and Jim	Peggy Lee	Charlotte, NC	Present		Peggy is forensic botanist and operates Potting Shed garden store
Lawson, Mike	Joe DeMarco	Uganda, Peru, Thailand	Present		The president of Mulray Pharmaceuticals was in such a hurry to get Mulray's new and possibly block-buster medication onto the market that the company conducted their clinical trials in Uganda and Peru. Mulray gave big donations to a humanitarian organization and were secretely running the clinical trials on the people the humanitarian organization were helping. Mulray also paid a hit man to kill a few of the people who were participating in the clinical trials and take their bodies to Thailand, where a Mulray-paid pathologist examined for side effects. Story had excessive violence.
Lawton, John	Fred Troy	London, England	1941
LeBlanc, Maurice	Arsène Lupin	France	early 1900s		Yes, Arsène Lupin is a thief, but he's so kind, so generous to the downtrodden, and so funny that I root for him in every case.
Ledbetter, Suzann	Joby Sawyer	Denver, CO	1863
Lee, Gypsy Rose	Gypsy Rose Lee, Biff Brannigan, Evangie, Sheriff Hank	Ysleta, TX	1941		Gypsy Rose, her husband, Biff Brannagan, Gypsy's mother, Evangie, and 5 show biz friends are en route from Los Angeles to New York City via car and trailer home. While they are stopped in Ysleta, TX, Evangie finds a dead body under a bed in the trailer.
LeMarchand, Elizabeth	Pollard and Toye	England	1980s
Leon, Donna	Guido Brunetti	Venice, Italy	Present
Lepionka, Kristen	Roxanne Weary	Columbus, OH	Present		Roxanne is still drinking heavily in grief for her police father's death in the line of duty, but she has to climb out of the bottle when a woman whose brother is on death row asks for Roxanne's help to prove the brother's innocence. Roxanne discovers other similar murders committed after the brother's incarceration and attracts the attention of someone who doesn't want the murders solved. Author won the 2018 Shamus Award, and was the Best First Novel Nominee for the Anthony and Macavity Awards.
Lescroat, John	Wyatt Hunt	San Francisco, CA	Present		Wyatt is former Child Protective Services investigator
Lescroat, John	Jules Giraud	France	1940s		August Lupa (Sherlock Holmes' son) is character
Lethem, Jonathan	Lionel Essrog	New York NY (Brooklyn and Manhattan boroughs)	Present		Lionel, who has Tourette's syndrome, grew up in St. Vincent's Home for Boys in Brooklyn. Frank Minna, a small-time hood, rescues Lionel and four of Lionel's friends from the orphanage to work for him. The boys become "Minna's boys" but when someone takes out Frank, Lionel is the one who doesn't stop until he discovers why someone wanted to do away with Frank.
Levine, Laura	Jaine Austin	Los Angeles, CA	Present		Jaine is free-lance writer; funny but very light
Levinson, Robert	Elvis Presley, James Dean	Los Angeles, CA	1950s, 1960s
Lilliefors, James	Luke Bowers and Amy Hunter	Tidewater County, VA	Present		Luke is minister at Tidewater Methodist Church, and Amy is head of county Homicide Task Force
Lind, Hailey	Annie Kincaid	San Francisco, CA	Present		Annie is granddaughter of art forger and operates True Faux Finishes
Linden, D. W.	Johnny Hart	LaJunta, CA	Present		plot involves Sand Creek Massacre
Lippman, Laura	Tess Monaghan	Baltimore, MD	Present
Liss, David	Miguel Lienzo	Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS	1659		Miguel is member of Jewish community who settled in Amsterdam due to the Inquisition in Portugal; good description of time and place but not a mystery
Little, Bentley			Present		more horror than mystery
Lloyd, Catherine	Lucy Harrington and Major Robert Kurland	Kurland St. Mary, UK (Essex)	Regency Era (~1795 to 1837)		Lucy grew up in vicarage next door to Robert Kurland's home, Kurland Hall. Very good but not quite Sue Grafton or Deborah Crombie.
Lochte, Dick	Serendipity Dahlquist and Leo G. Bloodworth	Los Angeles and northern Californa	Present
Locke, Louisa	Annie Fuller	San Francisco	1870s
Lockridge, Francis and Richard	Pam and Jerry North	New York, NY	1950s		very light
Lovesey, Peter	Sgt. Cribb	England	1800s		GG
Lovett, Charlie	Peter Byerly	England and North Carolina, USA	1592,1983, 1995		Peter is rare book restorer; plot involves the Pandosto manuscript--Shakespeare's primary source for A Winter's Tale
Lovett, Charlie	Arthur Prescott, English Professor at Barchester College and Bethany Davis, American Librarian with IT speciality	Barchester, UK	2016 with interludes from the past		Arthur's beloved grandfather was bishop of Barchester Cathedral and told Arthur stories about King Arthur with many hints that the Holy Grail might be hidden in Barchester. Arthur searches the ancient manuscripts in the cathedral's library looking for clues about the Grail. Plot goes back into Barchester's history including Saxon St. Ewolda, who founded a nearby priory, Glastonbury Abbey sending "treasure" to less-wealthy Barchester to hide from Henry VIII's troops, and Cromwell's troops destroying much of Barchester Cathedral.
Lovegrove, James	Sherlock Holmes and John Watson	London and Dorset, UK	1895		Sherlock and Watson travel to Dorset to find a client's daughter who has joined a sect infatuated with ancient Greek myths and rituals.
Lumsden, Kate	Margaret Lennox	Rural England near Bath	probably 1800s although date not specified		Recently widowed Margaret Lennox, who was a governess before her marriage, accepts a position at Hartwood Hall. Her student is 10-year-old Louis Eversham who lives with his widowed mother and servants. Many strange events occur at Hartwood Hall--the story is almost too Gothic at times, but it has a happy resolution.
Lupoff, Richard	Hobart Lindsey and Melva Plum	San Francisco and East Bay, CA	Present