Looking for something to read? Check out some of the new titles releasing during the week of July 30 – August 5, 2023. I hope a few of these books take you to an exciting place. Have fun reading!


Birder, She Wrote by Donna Andrews (Cozy)
Meg is relaxing in the hammock, taste-testing Michael’s latest batch of Arnold Palmers and watching the hummingbirds at their feeders when her hopes for a relaxing early summer morning are dashed. First her father recruits her to help him install a new batch of bees in the hive in her backyard. Then Mayor Shiffley recruits her to placate the NIMBYs (Not in my backyard), as she calls them – a group of newcomers to Caerphilly who have built McMansions next door to working farms and then do their best to make life miserable for the farmers. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Dead Among Stars by Kat Bellemore (Cozy)
Psychologist Maddie Swallows had always thought of space tourism as science fiction. That was before the phone call that turned her world upside down and she was hired to work with celebrity passengers as they prepared for their once-in-a-lifetime flight. Format: Print, Digital

Death by Cutting Table by Susie Black (Cozy)
Mermaid Swimwear CEO Butch Oldham was an equal opportunity scoundrel who screwed anyone and everyone in his wake. So, the question wasn’t who wanted the bastard dead. The question was, who didn’t? Format: Print, Digital

A Troubling Tale by Laurie Cass (Cozy)
The charming town of Chilson, Michigan, is beautiful in the spring, and the bookmobile is delivering great reads far and wide on one of the first warm days of the year. But a chill sweeps through when they discover that one of their favorite patrons, the owner of Henika’s Candy Emporium, has been found murdered. Although Minnie can’t understand who could have had a motive to murder such a kind man, she decides that the sticky problem isn’t hers to solve. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Cozy Up to Terror by Colin Conway (Cozy)
Doyle Flanders has finally found peace working as a custodian at Lone Star Family Fun Time, free from the limelight and out of trouble. But when he’s unexpectedly thrust into the role of Yango the Yeti, the theme park’s beloved mascot, everything changes. Format: Digital

The Japanese Box and Other Stories by Jennifer Anne Gordon (Short Stories)
The Japanese Box is a story that blends memoir, creative nonfiction, and the horror of a coming-of-age story, and a coming of middle-aged story. Imagine growing up with a reflection that is often absent, and a Japanese box that is filled with things that should never have been there. Memories. Violence. Format: Print, Digital

What Never Happen by Rachel Howzell Hall (Thriller)
Colette “Coco” Weber has relocated to her Catalina Island home, where twenty years before, she was the sole survivor of a deadly home invasion. All Coco wants is to see her aunt Gwen, get as far away from her ex as possible, and get back to her craft―writing obituaries. Thankfully, her college best friend, Maddy, owns the local paper and has a job sure to keep Coco busy, considering the number of elderly folks who are dying on the island. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Evergreen by Naomi Hirahara (Historical 1940s)
It’s been two years since Aki Ito and her family were released from Manzanar detention center and resettled in Chicago with other Japanese Americans. Now the Itos have finally been allowed to return home to California—but nothing is as they left it. The entire Japanese American community is starting from scratch, with thousands of people living in dismal refugee camps while they struggle to find new houses and jobs in over-crowded Los Angeles. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

A Sense for Murder by Leslie Karst (Cozy)
It’s the height of the tourist season in Santa Cruz, California, and Sally Solari has her hands full, both juggling crowds of hungry diners at her French-Polynesian restaurant Gauguin, as well as appeasing her father, who’s distressed at the number of homeless people camped out in front of Solari’s, the family’s Italian seafood restaurant out on the historic fisherman’s wharf. Format: Print, Digital

A Deadly Dedication by Margaret Loudon (Cozy)
Penelope Parish thought she’d turned the page on her amateur sleuthing days but when the owner of Upper Chumley-on-Stokes’ proposed first high-end gourmet shop is poisoned, the American novelist starts to wonder if she and her quaint British town are in for another rewrite. It turns out that not everyone was a fan of Simeon Foster’s farm-sourced charcuterie and imported pastries—many of the locals were outraged by the potential new competition. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Death in Print by G.M. Malliet (Detective)
University of Oxford tutor and bestselling author Jason Verdoodt has it all: acclaim, women, money . . . and an enemy or two. When he’s found dead at the bottom of the stairs during a celebratory reception at St Rumwold’s College, many wonder if seething jealousy of his literary success has turned someone’s mind to murder. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

The Virgin Homicides by Neil S. Plakcy (Traditional)
The two female victims, a young art college student and a seasoned HR executive, seem to have nothing in common. Yet as Kimo and his partner Ray Donne delve deeper into the investigation, they sense a connection between the two. Format: Print, Digital

The Courtesan’s Secret by Nina Wachsman (Historical 1600s)
When an envoy from the New World comes to Venice, the elite courtesan Belladonna fears the secret of her origins may be revealed. The Spanish are after him, for he carries the map to a great treasure. When the envoy disappears, his enemies shift their pursuit to Belladonna, their only key to his whereabouts. Format: Print, Digital

At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities by Heather Webber (Magical Realism)
When Ava Harrison receives a letter containing an unusual job listing one month after the sudden death of her ex-boyfriend, she thinks she’s being haunted. The listing—a job as a live-in caretaker for a peculiar old man and his cranky cat in Driftwood, Alabama—is the perfect chance to start a new life. A normal life. Ava has always been too fearful to even travel, so no one’s more surprised than she is when she throws caution to the wind and drives to the distant beachside town. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Dead End Donation by Kirsten Weiss (Cozy)
Maddie has finally found her groove as curator of the San Benedetto Paranormal Museum. The museum’s fun. It’s quirky. And it’s all hers. But a murder and a surprise donation—an entire paranormal collection—could change the course of her small-town museum forever. Format: Print, Digital