Looking for something to read? Check out some of the new titles releasing during the week of March 30 – April 6, 2024 with five debut series. I hope a few of these books take you to an exciting place. Have fun reading!
APRIL 1
A Fitting End by Sheri Richey (Cozy Mystery)
With a freshly painted storefront, a challenging wedding dress to alter, and a new business to open, Peggy heightens her business security just as the rest of the town falls prey to a thief! Format: Print, Digital
APRIL 2
Home Fires by Claire Booth (Police Procedural)
Branson Sheriff Hank Worth is one of the first on the scene of a mass casualty incident – a local fireworks warehouse has exploded, killing everyone inside. As over a dozen victims are pulled from the smoldering ruins, the painstaking identification process begins. Format: Print, Digital
Murder in a Tourist Town by Lynn Cahoon (Cozy Mystery)
Jill’s family law career is in a rut. Watching a client go back to her abusive husband, yet again—and then learning she’s been passed up for a partnership, yet again—finally prompts her to take a break. She’ll have to dip into her emergency fund. But after all those long days in her windowless office, subsisting on leftover cake from the breakroom, it’s time to smell some flowers. Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Dark Storm Rising by Linda Castillo (Thriller)
Newlyweds Chief of Police Kate Burkholder and John Tomasetti are happily spending their honeymoon at a beautiful Lake Erie cabin that was once part of an historic Amish settlement. But when a violent storm suddenly erupts, Lovina Nisley, the Amish owner of the cabin, goes missing. Format: Print, Digital, Audio
The Night in Question by Susan Fletcher (Traditional Mystery / Women’s Fiction)
Florrie Butterfield—eighty-seven, one-legged, and of cheerful disposition—believes there can’t be any more adventures or surprises in life to experience. Yet one midsummer’s evening, there’s an accident at Babbington Hall—the adult residence where she lives—so shocking and strange that Florrie is suspicious; is this really an accident? Format: Print, Digital
Murder Most Owl by Sarah Fox (Cozy Mystery / Magical Realism) *first book in a new series*
It’s been years since screenwriter Georgie Johansen last visited her Aunt Olivia’s farm in the coastal town of Twilight Cove and things have certainly changed. First of all it’s now an animal sanctuary, and then there’s the new farmhand who’s as mysterious as he is handsome. Her first day on the farm, Georgie encounters the eccentric Dorothy Shale, an older woman who lives in a cabin in the woods. There are rumours that Dorothy’s a witch, but Georgie doesn’t believe that. Although, Dorothy does have an unusual magical presence around her . . . Format: Print, Digital
Never Come Back by Joe Hart (Thriller)
Family advocate Nora McTavish is settling into her new practice when she receives a call from Tess Grayson, a childhood friend she hasn’t spoken to in years. Tess is entangled in a custody battle with her ex-husband, Neil, a popular professor at a local university. It’s getting vicious—and dangerous. Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Max’s War by Libby Fischer Hellmann (Historical Mystery 1940s)
As the Nazis sweep across Europe, Jewish teen Max and his parents flee persecution in Germany for Holland, where Max finds true friends and a life-altering romance. But when Hitler invades in 1940, Max must escape to Chicago, leaving his parents and friends behind. When he learns of his parents’ deportation and murder, Max immediately enlists in the US Army. After basic training he is sent to Camp Ritchie, Maryland, where he is trained in interrogation and counterintelligence. Format: Print, Digital
Molten Death by Leslie Karst (Cozy Mystery) *first book in a new series*
Retired caterer Valerie Corbin and her wife Kristen have come to the Big Island of Hawai’i to treat themselves to a well-earned tropical vacation. After the recent loss of her brother, Valerie is in sore need of a distraction from her troubles and is looking forward to enjoying the delicious food and vibrant culture the state has to offer. Format: Print, Digital
On The Horns of Death by Eleanor Kuhns (Historical Mystery 1450 BC)
Young bull leaper Martis finds Duzi, the newest member of the bull leaping team, dead in the bull pen early one morning. Made to look like he met his end on the horns of the bull, it’s clear to Martis that this was no accident . . .Format: Print, Digital
Murder, She Wrote: Murder Backstage by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran (Cozy Mystery)
Jessica Fletcher’s British cousin, Emma MacGill, will be traveling to Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, to perform with internationally famous star of stage, screen, and television Derek Braverman in an old-fashioned musical review. Emma would love for Jessica to join her there and suggests she bring along some friends. Having just finished her latest book, Jessica is ready for a vacation and is delighted to agree. Dr. Seth Hazlitt and Sheriff Mort Metzger are huge fans of Braverman, so they are eager to tag along, and their fanboy behavior gives Jessica and Mort’s wife, Maureen, more than occasional cause to roll their eyes. Format: Print, Digital, Audio
An Inconvenient Wife by Karen E. Olson (Traditional Mystery)
Kate Parker knows what she’s getting into when she marries billionaire businessman Hank Tudor—she’s his sixth wife, after all, and was by his side (as his assistant) when his fifth marriage to actress Caitlyn Howard fell apart. Format: Print, Digital, Audio
The Nowhere Girls by Dana Perry (Thriller) *first book in a new series*
On the anniversary of her sister’s death, FBI agent Nikki Cassidy takes a call that has her heart pounding in her chest, the image of her beautiful sister Caitlin etched in her mind. Another girl has been taken. Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Last One to Die by Dana Perry (Thriller)
FBI agent Nikki Cassidy’s heart pounds as she takes in the short, dark hair and delicate features of fourteen-year-old schoolgirl Jessica Stanley. It’s another unsolved murder in Groveton, Ohio, just like her sister, Caitlin, fifteen years before. Her family beg her to keep her distance, but Nikki knows she can’t walk away. Format: Print, Digital, Audio
The Lost Ones by Dana Perry (Thriller)
When FBI agent Nikki Cassidy receives a call from Groveton’s Chief of Police, her heart pounds. A young girl just knocked on the door of Nikki’s old family home, claiming to be Nikki’s kid sister, Caitlin. But Caitlin was murdered fifteen years ago. Who is the girl and what does she want? Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Ash Dark as Night by Gary Phillips (Thriller)
Anger and pent-up frustrations boil over in the Watts neighborhood after a traffic stop of two Black motorists. As the Watts riots explode, crime photographer Harry Ingram snaps photos at the scene, including images of the police as they unleash batons, dogs, and water hoses on civilians. When he captures the image of an unarmed activist being shot down by the cops, he winds up in the hospital, beaten, his camera missing. Proof of the unjust killing seems lost—until Ingram’s girlfriend, Anita Claire, retrieves the hidden film in a daring rescue. The photo makes front-page news. Format: Print, Digital, Audio
The Murder of Mr. Ma by SJ Rozan and John Shen Yen Nee (Historical Mystery 1920s)
When shy academic Lao She meets larger-than-life Judge Dee Ren Jie, his quiet life abruptly turns from books and lectures to daring chases and narrow escapes. Dee has come to London to investigate the murder of a man he’d known during World War I when serving with the Chinese Labour Corps. No sooner has Dee interviewed the grieving widow than another dead body turns up. Then another. All stabbed to death with a butterfly sword. Will Dee and Lao be able to connect the threads of the murders—or are they next in line as victims? Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Nosy Neighbors by Freya Sampson (Cozy Mystery)
Seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy Darling has lived in Shelley House longer than any of the other residents, and if you take their word for it, she’s as cantankerous as they come. But Dorothy has her reasons for spying. And none of them require justifying herself to Kat Bennett. Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Perilous Waters by Terry Shames (Thriller) *first book in a new series*
Jessie Madison escaped to the Bahamas when she made a terrifying discovery at home and a bad decision got her dismissed from the FBI training program. Three months later, Jessie is ready to return to Virginia to pick up the pieces of her shattered life – until she and a friend are attacked during a boat ride and thrown overboard, with devastating consequences. Format: Print, Digital
A Scarlet Death by Elaine Viets (Thriller)
Nobody in Choutaeu Forest expected one of their most prominent citizens, socialite Selwyn Skipton, to be found dead in such salacious circumstances: strangled on satin bedsheets, a red letter A brutally stapled to his chest, in his private apartment above the Chouteau Forest Chocolate Shoppe. Format: Print, Digital
Labradored to Death by C.B. Wilson (Cozy Mystery)
Baseball season in Barkview, the dog-friendliest city in America, wouldn’t be complete without a controversy. Bat boys replaced by bat dogs! Cat Hawl, KDOG’s editor-in-chief, has a bone to pick with professional baseball. When a million-dollar baseball card is stolen and a celebrity bat dog’s collar is discovered at the crime scene, she learns exactly how high the stakes are. Format: Print, Digital
APRIL 3
It Takes a Town by Aoife Clifford (Traditional Mystery)
Everyone dies famous in a country town, but glamorous Vanessa Walton was a shining star. A celebrity since she was a child, Vanessa is back on the front page for all the wrong reasons; after a terrible storm she has been found dead at the bottom of her stairs. Format: Print, Digital
APRIL 4
The Potting Shed Murder by Paula Sutton (Cozy Mystery) *first book in a new series*
Daphne Brewster has left London behind and is settling into her family’s new life in rural Norfolk, planting broad beans in raised beds and vintage hunting for their farmhouse. But when the local headmaster is found dead in his potting shed, amongst his allotment cabbages, the village is ablaze: Who would kill beloved Mr Papplewick, pillar of the community? Daphne soon comes to realise perhaps the countryside isn’t so idyllic after all… Format: Print, Digital
Note: in some cases, print releases for digital titles will be forthcoming.