“In the Beautiful Dark,” by Melissa Payne (Lake Union)

The night Birdie planned to admit her love to Allison, she came home to find Allison in the bathtub, dead. For the next four decades, while she raised Allison’s son, Birdie tried to prove that Allison was the first victim of the serial murderer known as the Vampire Killer.

Then the Vampire Killer strikes again. And although she lives in a retirement home and gets about with the aid of a walker, Birdie is determined to track him down. She enlists other retirees, who are excited to take on a project using their unique skills. When mutilated animals — the murderer’s signature — are found around the retirement home, Birdie suspects the killer might be one of them, and she worries that a young woman she’s taken under her wing could be the next victim.

Written by Evergreen author Melissa Payne, “In the Beautiful Dark” is not only a first-rate cozy mystery, it also takes a rare look into the vibrant lives of people in a retirement community. Birdie, a one-time stripper, is tough and determined but loving. It’s nice to see a sleuth who is old and decrepit but still has it all together. Birdie is such a compelling figure, in fact, that readers will likely hope Payne brings her back for an “Over-the-Hill Gang” sequel, or even a series.

“Captain Kidd,” by Samuel Marquis (Diversion Books)

Boulder author Samuel Marquis is the ninth great-grandson of the infamous Captain William Kidd. In this biography, Marquis wants to set the record straight on his maligned ancestor.

Captain Kidd built a fortune as a pirate. He married the love of his life and fathered two daughters. He was a member of New York society and contributed to the construction of Trinity Church. (His nameplate is still on one of the pews.) So where did he go wrong? He didn’t. Kidd was the victim of greedy partners who turned on him, and an English system of justice that found him guilty before he was tried.

Kidd was coerced into becoming a privateer, which is different from being a pirate. A privateer is licensed by his country to attack only alien ships. Kidd flew under the flag of England and agreed not to plunder ships that sailed under the flags of England and its allies. His crew signed such an agreement. Unfortunately for Kidd, he couldn’t find enough alien ships, and his men mutinied. After claiming Kidd’s share of legitimate plunder, his investors turned on him. He was arrested and charged with piracy, then sent in chains to England to stand trial.

Kidd was deprived of documents that would have proven his innocence, and he was not allowed to question his chief accuser, a real pirate. Kidd was found guilty and sentenced to hang. Following his death, he was the victim of ballads and books proclaiming him to be a blackguard. To this day, Kidd is the face of piracy. Other biographers have attempted to defend Kidd. Still, with its heavy details about Kidd’s career on the high seas and subsequent trial, Marquis’ book may be the most thorough.

“Shootouts, Killings and War Heroes,” by Michael Weinfeld and John Howe (Filter Press)

As any history buff will tell you, the best information is often hidden in cemeteries. So two Monument, Colo., authors searched their local graveyard for tantalizing history, as told through the dead. The result is an intriguing book about one of Colorado’s most charming towns.

The grave of Francis M. Brown reads simply, “Who Was Killed.” Brown, it seems, was shot to death in an argument in a grocery store. Katherine McShane, who is interred not far away, homesteaded with her husband in 1865, when there was violence between settlers and Indians. Legend says when an Indian tried to steal her horse, Mrs. McShane said, “Don’t take the horse.” The Indian replied, “No take horse — take scalp.” “Take the horse,” Mrs. McShane told him.

The authors go well beyond stories and legends about pioneers. They located gravestones sunk into the earth, made maps of the plots, which once sold for $1, and put together a timeline of cemetery news. They also uncovered unusual facts about it. For instance, many of the iron fences surrounding graves came from Steward Iron Works, which made New York’s Central Park benches and the Panama Canal gates.

“The Last Hamilton,” by Jenn Bregman (Crooked Lane)

After Elizabeth Hamilton leaps to her death in front of a moving train, her husband, Ralph, and best friend, Sarah, begin to unravel an unlikely heritage. Elizabeth is the last surviving descendent of Alexander Hamilton, and she leaves behind an 18th-century key and an odd assortment of papers and requests. After Alexander’s death, his heirs learned he’d founded a secret society of family members who were to step in when the nation was threatened with collapse. Until now, the society had never done so.

What threat was so perilous that Elizabeth had decided to tap the hidden vault of gold that Alexander left behind for the society? Someone is secretly buying up the world’s supply of gold and is about to cause the dollar to collapse. Two thugs were closing in on Sarah at a lonely railroad station, which is the reason she jumped.

While Sarah and Ralph search for clues in the clutter Elizabeth left behind, a feckless colleague is lured into purchasing gold, believing he is helping to shore up the country’s gold supply. Instead, he is a pawn for subversive interests who have lured him into their web. “The Last Hamilton” is a clever novel by Colorado author Jenn Bregman.

Sandra Dallas is a Denver author and book reviewer.