Searching for something to read? Check out some of the new titles releasing the week of May 25 – 31, 2025 with three debut series. I hope a few of these books take you on a reading adventure!

MAY 25
Bullets and Beignets by Kat Bellemore (Cozy Mystery)
Jo Darby never believes the local gossip, especially when that gossip claims that her favorite movie star, Eli Hunt, will be filming in their small town. That kind of thing is always too good to be true. And yet, the film crew rolls into town and Jo can’t contain her excitement—even joining the movie as a background extra while her older sister, Dottie, stays home. But when a film crew member is murdered on Jo’s first day on set, her excitement turns to dread. Now, not only is all filming cancelled for the immediate future, but the sheriff’s prime suspect is Jo’s beloved actor, Eli Hunt. Format: Print, Digital

MAY 27
Night of the Living Bread by Mary Lee Ashford (Cozy Mystery)
Sugar Calloway and Dixie Spicer are up to their aprons in community cookbook projects, but Sugar can’t resist when the Jameson County Historical Society asks for their assistance with a cookbook featuring bread recipes. But they’ve barely begun when suddenly troubles are on the rise. Marla, the board’s president is stabbed with a bread knife, her best friend, Mame, is a suspect and some dough (of the money kind) is missing. Format: Print, Digital

Deadly Drafts by Courtny Bradley (Cozy Mystery)
Adelaide “Addie” Doyle thought she’d left small-town life behind for good. But when heartbreak and family duty pull her back to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, she finds herself stitching together a new chapter—one filled with second chances, small-town charm, and, unfortunately, murder. Format: Digital, Print

A Cyclist’s Guide To Villains & Vines by Ann Claire (Cozy Mystery)
Sadie Greene and her Oui Cycle crew vow to wow her most discerning private group yet with a trip they will never forget. It won’t be easy. The Silver Spinners, six globetrotting seniors, arrive with thrilling tales of two-wheeling adventures. Sadie worries she’ll fail to impress such worldly travelers, even with the backdrop of Alsace, a dreamy region of rolling vineyards, delicious cuisine, and fairytale architecture. Sadie is dead wrong. Her group is stunned, but not for the right reasons . . .Format: Print, Digital, Audio

The Diva Poaches Bad Egg by Krista Davis (Cozy Mystery)
Stylish brunches are all the rage this autumn in Old Town Alexandria, and everyone’s posting their parties on social media. But while Domestic Diva Sophie Winston juggles her event-filled calendar, she’s approached by local designer Mitzi Lawson—who is afraid someone is following her. The very next day Mitzi loses her best friend and business partner, Denise. The two were renovating a generations-old house where Denise died unexpectedly, and Mitzi fears that it wasn’t a medical condition to blame, but murder. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Terminal Impasse by Sara Driscoll (Police Procedural)
NYPD detectives Gemma Capello and Sean Logan are cutting through Grand Central Terminal on their way to a nearby pub when all hell breaks loose. Masked men gun down police officers and round up a group of commuters—including Gemma and Logan—taking their cell phones and binding them hand and foot in zip ties. They are members of the paramilitary group known as Sinister 13, seeking the release of their imprisoned soldiers. Their leader wears a vest covered with C-4 plastic explosives, threatening to detonate it if their demands are not met. Format: Print, Digital

A Dead Draw by Robert Dugoni (Police Procedural)
Detective Tracy Crosswhite isn’t one to lose her cool. Until her interrogation of the taunting and malicious Erik Schmidt, a suspect in two cold case killings. Schmidt also has unnerving ties to the monster who murdered Tracy’s sister, stirring memories of the crime that shaped Tracy’s life. After a critical mistake during a shooting exercise, Tracy breaks. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Not They Who Soar by Amanda Flower (Historical Mystery 1900s)
Katharine and her best friend from Oberlin College, Margaret Goodwin Meacham, are thrilled to attend the St. Louis Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, for the centennial celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Not only is it a grand, international event, it’s also the first time the young women have seen each other in quite a while, and they are giddy with excitement—despite warnings from Katharine’s old family friend, poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, to be careful of the fair’s less seemly side. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Millionaire’s Shortbread and Murder by Agatha Frost (Cozy Mystery)
When a young Fern Moore couple win the lottery, their lives are turned upside down with the glitz and glamour of diamonds and mansions. But they can’t leave their old life behind, and they’re making enemies in their new lavish lifestyle. And it doesn’t take long for Julia, Jessie, and Barker to find themselves wrapped up in the middle of a brand new head-scratching whodunnit. Format: Digital

Burned Bridges by John Gilstrap (Thriller) *first book in a new series*
She thought she and her loved ones would be safe here. The lovely farm nestled in the heart of West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle looks like the perfect refuge from the backstabbing maelstrom of DC politics. But this seemingly peaceful new home is anything but safe for former FBI director Rivers and her children. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Doggone Bones by Carolyn Haines (Cozy Mystery)
After a dog belonging to local pet activist Tilly Lawson is snatched right out of her backyard in Sunflower County, MS, Sarah Booth and the Delaney Detective Agency are up to their ears in concerned pet owners. Could Tilly’s work liberating abused animals have come back to bite her, or was this a random act of dognapping? Format: Print, Digital, Audio

My Father Always Find Corpses by Lee Hollis (Cozy Mystery)
You never forget your first corpse. For former child star Jarrod Jarvis, that discovery was twenty-plus years ago, and a lot has happened since he solved a string of real-life Hollywood murders. Now Jarrod lives in Palm Springs where he writes and directs local theatre, while quietly grieving the loss of his partner, police detective Charlie. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Return to Sender by Craig Johnson (Traditional Mystery)
When Blair McGowan, the mail person with the longest postal route in the country of over three hundred mile a day, goes missing the question becomes—where do you look for her? The Postal Inspector for the State of Wyoming elicits Sheriff Longmire to mount an investigation into her disappearance and Walt does everything but mail it in; posing as a letter-carrier himself, the good sheriff follows her trail and finds himself enveloped in the intrigue of an otherworldly cult. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Never Flinch by Stephen King (Thriller)
When the Buckeye City Police Department receives a disturbing letter from a person threatening to “kill thirteen innocents and one guilty” in “an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man,” Detective Izzy Jaynes has no idea what to think. Are fourteen citizens about to be slaughtered in an unhinged act of retribution? As the investigation unfolds, Izzy realizes that the letter writer is deadly serious, and she turns to her friend Holly Gibney for help. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Bodies and Battlements by Elizabeth Penney (Cozy Mystery) *first book in a new series*
Herbalist Nora Asquith is delighted to welcome Ravensea Castle’s first guests to the picturesque village of Monkwell, Yorkshire. After a thousand years of ownership, her family has decided to convert the castle into a bed and breakfast. But when Hilda Dibble, a self-appointed local luminary, is found dead in the knot garden the next morning, Nora’s business is not only at risk―she’s a prime suspect. Format: Print, Digital

The Spirit Moves by Carol J. Perry (Cozy Mystery)
When the body of “how-to” book writer Terry Holiday is found by Aster Paterson in her flower garden, the townspeople of Haven are shocked. But they’re even more surprised when the beloved bookshop owner insists that the spirit of her late husband Peter Paterson led her to the grim discovery. Only Aster seems unsurprised—she’s been baking his favorite shortbread cookies every day, hoping to lure his ghost back home . . . Format: Print, Digital, Audio

The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson (Cozy Mystery)
Having recently moved from London to a small Cornish seaside village, Nova Davies started a book club at the local community center, but so far it’s a disaster. The five members disagree on everything, and to make matters worse, a significant sum of money is stolen during one of the meetings, putting the much-loved community center at risk. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

The Potting Shed Murder by Paula Sutton (Cozy Mystery) *first book in a new series*
Daphne Brewster has gladly swapped south London for Pudding Corner, a Norfolk hamlet full of quintessentially English charm. With a mix of stone cottages, Georgian architecture, and Victorian Gothic houses all nestled together and surrounded by fields of gold and green, Pudding Corner and its neighboring village of Pepperbridge seem as far from the bustle of city living as one can get. Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Famous Last Words by Jasmine Webb (Cozy Mystery)
When a popular television personality turns up dead, Mack is finally ready to let the local police take care of the investigation. After all, it doesn’t have anything to do with her, or any of her friends. Or so she thought. When it turns out the TV personality has more to do with St. Albinus then Mack initially thought, she realizes she needs to get to the bottom of this case, and fast. Format: Print, Digital

MAY 28
The Only Way is Forgery by Lou Collins (Cozy Mystery)
Chloe Essex’s not-so-tranquil village life in Speckled Hill takes another unexpected turn as she finds herself entangled in a new mystery, fresh off the stiletto heels of her business launch. Still reeling from the disastrous celebration, Chloe dives headfirst into the next perplexing case when yet another guest turns up dead. Format: Digital, Print

MAY 29
After The Tempest by Lorraine Bartlett (Cozy Mystery)
After a violent rainstorm passes over Lotus Bay, Tori Cannon notices that her friend Anissa’s boat is missing from her marina. The women go in search of the craft only to find it floating loose—with a dead man inside who was apparently electrocuted, casting suspicion on Anissa. While Tori tries to figure out what happened, her BFF and roommate, Kathy Grant, has money problems, forcing her to take a job as a server at The Bay Bar. Tori’s navigating her own financial challenges, so she must take a break from sleuthing to return to substitute teaching. But when a gridiron bully takes a swing at her, she’s left battered and bruised—and unable to work. Format: Digital, Print

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