Looking for something to read? Check out some of the new titles releasing during the week of April 21 – 27, 2024. I hope a few of these books take you to an exciting place. Have fun reading!

APRIL 22
Hijacked Legacy by James M. Jackson (Traditional Mystery)
The Happy Reaper, notorious for his chilling efficiency and “Results Guaranteed” calling card, escapes prison. Instead of killing Seamus McCree on sight, he offers a diabolical bargain with a heart-stopping proviso. To live, Seamus must help the Happy Reaper find and eliminate the upstart impostor who’s trashing the assassin’s reputation. Format: Print, Digital

APRIL 23
Next of Kin by Samantha Jayne Allen (Private Investigator Mystery)
At a gathering for her cousin’s wedding party, newly-licensed PI Annie McIntyre gets asked an age-old question: what really makes us who we are, nature or nurture? Clint Marshall, an up-and-coming musician and an adoptee at a personal crossroads, wants to hire Annie to find his biological parents, and that question is on his mind. Annie accepts his case, not knowing then that she, too, must decide if she really believes what she tells him that night—in essence, that people are in charge of their destinies. That people can change. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

A Murder Most French by Colleen Cambridge (Historical Mystery)
The graceful domes of Sacré Coeur, the imposing cathedral of Notre Dame, the breathtaking Tour Eiffel . . . Paris is overflowing with stunning architecture. Yet for Tabitha Knight, the humble building that houses the Cordon Bleu cooking school, where her friend Julia studies, is just as notable. Tabitha is always happy to sample Julia’s latest creation and try to recreate dishes for her Grand-père and Oncle Rafe. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Sugar Sands by Deb Davies (Traditional Mystery)
When Arnie refuses surgery for his bum knee, Laurel takes the family on a relaxing trip to the beautiful sunset coast on Lake Michigan to recuperate. Accompanying them are Arnie’s sixteen-year-old son, Sawyer, and things are made even better when their close friends Claire and Charles join them for a visit. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

A Twinkle of Trouble by Daryl Wood Gerber (Cozy Mystery)
Courtney is delighted when her tiny friend Fiona returns from the fairy realm, appearing at the base of a Cypress tree. When her Ragdoll cat, Pixie, emerges from her own portal—aka the cat door—the three set off for a busy day. Busier than usual, since Courtney has rented a small plot of land at the Flower Farm, where she hopes to grow her own supplies for her fairy-garden business. Plus, the annual Summer Blooms Festival is coming up, and Courtney has booked a booth . . . Format: Print, Digital, Audio

The Last Word by Elly Griffiths (Private Investigator Mystery)
Natalka and Edwin are perfect if improbable partners in a detective agency. At eighty-four, Edwin regularly claims that he’s the oldest detective in England. He is a master at surveillance, deploying his age as a cloak of invisibility. Natalka, Ukrainian-born and more than fifty years his junior, is a math whizz, who takes any cases concerning fraud or deception. Despite a steady stream of minor cases, Natalka is frustrated. She loves a murder, as she’s fond of saying, and none have come the agency’s way. That is until local writer Melody Chambers dies. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Graven Images by Lori Roberts Herbst (Cozy Mystery)
Callie’s mother Maggie, a notorious hobby jumper, has embarked on a new pursuit—grave rubbing. When she recruits her daughter to photograph her first endeavor at the local cemetery, Callie brings golden retriever Woody and tabby cat Carl along for the outing. It’s a breathtaking autumn morning in Rock Creek Village, Colorado. Golden aspen leaves rustle in the cool breeze, and the air is filled with the scent of pine. What could go wrong on a day like this? Format: Print, Digital

Lost Birds by Anne Hillerman (Private Investigator Mystery)
Joe Leaphorn may be long retired from the Navajo Tribal Police, but his detective skills are still sharp, honed by his work as a private detective. His experience will be essential to solve a compelling new case: finding the birth parents of a woman who was raised by a bilagáana family but believes she is Diné based on one solid clue, an old photograph with a classic Navajo child’s blanket. Leaphorn discovers that his client’s adoption was questionable, and her adoptive family not what they seem. His quest for answers takes him to an old trading post and leads him to a deadly cache of long-buried family secrets. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

At the Edge of the Woods by Victoria Houston (Traditional Mystery)
When a local pickleball player is shot in the head while practicing at an abandoned tennis court with his partner-slash-lover, Sheriff Lew Ferris suspects that the bullet was a stray shot from hunters in the area. It’s not until a second player–the first victim’s mistress and pickleball partner–is killed that Sheriff Ferris realizes this is no hunting accident. Someone is hunting people, and it’s up to her to find out who. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Four-Alarm Homicide by Diane Kelly (Cozy Mystery)
Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are hot for a historical property that has just come on the market—a fire station in Nashville’s Germantown neighborhood that was built nearly a century ago. The cousins have just begun the interior demolition work at the fire station when Joanna Hartzell, who lives in a townhouse around the corner, comes by with a plea for help. Joanna owns the right half of her building, which she proudly maintains in perfect condition, while the left side falls into disrepair: the seven adult children who inherited it years ago refuse to lift a finger on repairs. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Museum of Murder by Leslie Langtry (Cozy Mystery)
Who knew that the town of Who’s There was the murder capital of Iowa? And its new Museum of Murder is a hit, though Ex-CIA spy turned Girl Scout leader, Merry Wrath is less than happy that she’s featured in the exhibits. Besides its quirky and somewhat disturbing charm (and a gift shop with questionable practices), everyone wants to know who’s behind Who’s There’s hottest attraction? Some speculate it’s hometown boy Sheldon McBride—a reclusive, ultra-wealthy inventor of ethanol-fueled cars, drones (and, rumor has it, a flock of robot turkeys). Format: Print, Digital

Safe and Sound by Laura McHugh (Psychological Thriller)
As kids, Amelia and Kylee were found unharmed in their upstairs bedroom the night their teenage cousin Grace, who was babysitting them, vanished from the farmhouse in Beaumont, Missouri, leaving blood all over the kitchen. Scrappy and driven, Grace, the first in their family to go to college instead of getting married and working at the meatpacking plant, had been on the verge of escaping their dead-end town. Her disappearance is a warning to any local girl who dared hope for better. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Patchwork Quilt Murder by Leslie Meier (Cozy Mystery)
When a community center opens in town, many embrace it as a space where locals of all ages can gather and create. Others view it as a waste of taxpayer dollars. The director, Darleen Busby-Platt, is no less controversial. Intense and showy, Darleen has huge plans for her new role. But Lucy believes the woman isn’t exactly as warm hearted—or qualified—as she seems. That hunch deepens when Darleen and a young employee vanish . . . and dismembered remains appear! Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Marinated Conditions by Tyora Moody (Cozy Mystery)
Eugeena Patterson-Jones is excited about planning her daughter Leesa Patterson’s wedding. With three months to go, there’s lots to do. They meet for lunch at the award-winning Smokin’ Ward barbecue food truck owned by Leesa’s wedding caterer. Lately the Smokin’ Ward owners has been at odds with a local barbecue competitor. When the competitor’s body is found inside his food truck, Leesa’s friends become suspects. Format: Print, Digital

Circle in the Water by Marcia Muller (Private Investigator Mystery)
San Francisco is home to more than 200 privately owned streets. Most are alleyways, but a select few look torn straight from the pages of a magazine. Lined with mansions and elaborate gardens, the properties are luxurious and perfectly maintained; security guards patrol the grounds to keep the curious at bay. Few know of these exclusive enclaves, but those who do prowl for availability, ready to make a grab for the precious real estate if opportunity strikes. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Extinction by Douglas Preston (Thriller)
Erebus Resort, occupying a magnificent, hundred-thousand acre valley deep in the Colorado Rockies, offers guests the experience of viewing woolly mammoths, Irish Elk, and giant ground sloths in their native habitat, brought back from extinction through the magic of genetic manipulation. When a billionaire’s son and his new wife are kidnapped and murdered in the Erebus back country by what is assumed to be a gang of eco-terrorists, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frances Cash partners with county sheriff James Colcord to track down the perpetrators. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Torn Asunder by Barbara Ross (Cozy Mystery)
Julia’s best friend and business partner, Zoey, is about to marry her policeman boyfriend. Of course, a gorgeous white wedding dress shouldn’t be within fifty yards of a plate of buttery lobster—so that treat is reserved for the rehearsal dinner. Julia is a little worried about the timing, though, as she works around a predicted storm. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Under the Paper Moon by Shaina Steinberg (Historical Mystery 1940s)
It’s 1942, and as far as her father knows, Evelyn Bishop, heiress to an aeronautics fortune, is working as a translator in London. In truth, Evelyn—daring, beautiful, and as adept with a rifle as she is in five languages—has joined the Office of Strategic Services as a spy. Her goal is personal: to find her brother, who is being held as a POW in a Nazi labor camp. Through one high-risk mission after another she is paired with the reckless and rebellious Nick Gallagher, growing ever close to him until the war’s end brings with it an act of deep betrayal. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Murder in Rose Hill by Victoria Thompson (Historical Mystery)
Sarah Malloy has just helped with the delivery of a bouncing baby girl at her women’s clinic, when she receives a visit from an engaging and determined young woman writing an article for New Century Magazine. Louisa Rodgers explains that she is researching the dangers of patent remedies. Sarah is only too happy to tell Louisa exactly what she thinks of the so-called medicines whose ingredients include heavy doses of alcohol and other addictive drugs, and hurt much more than they help. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Death on the Back Nine by Caleb Wygal (Cozy Mystery)
Clark Thomas, a bookstore owner haunted by his wife’s unsolved murder, returns and is joined by his brother for a round of golf. A leisurely game takes a dark turn when a player ahead of them is murdered on the 11th hole, thrusting Clark and Detective Moody into a baffling investigation filled with secrets and grudges. Format: Print, Digital

APRIL 30
Cornbread, Ribs, and Murder by Joyce Proell and Brenda Whiteside (Cozy Mystery)
Nicole Earp and Emma Banefield are celebrating another birthday at the Dulce Inn with the added fun of a rib cookoff in the park. Not only are chocolate martinis in their plans, Nic has her heart set on winning the cornbread contest. But as the excitement bakes, someone is stirring up trouble for the inn and its employees. Format: Print, Digital

Note: in some cases, print releases for digital titles will be forthcoming.