Searching for something to read? Check out some of the new titles releasing the week of November 1 – 7 with two debut series. I hope a few of these books take you on a reading adventure!
NOVEMBER 1
A Note for the Missing by Lila Blake (Amateur Sleuth Mystery)
Vivian Salvatore has begun to enjoy spring on Telegraph Hill: coffee at the corner café, familiar faces on her morning walks, and a little distance from the deaths that unsettled her neighborhood. Then a handwritten invitation arrives beneath her door. Format: Digital, Print
Death at the Crown Tavern by Kitty Kildare (Historical Mystery, 1920s)
Veronica Vale would rather investigate ten murders than attend one society function. Unfortunately, supporting her best friend means enduring an evening gown, polite conversation, and Ruby’s increasingly inventive account of her past. It’s preposterous! Ruby is thirty, unmarried, and already has a baby. But with Lady M as her sponsor, Ruby refuses to let inconvenient facts interfere with her magnificent coming-out ball. Format: Digital, Print
Tie The Knot by Gina LaManna (Police Procedural)
Kate Rosetti should be getting excited for the ho-ho-holidays and her ho-ho-honeymoon, but instead she finds herself up to her elbows in a gnarly ho-ho-homicide just days before Christmas. When a man dressed as Santa Claus is found dead beneath a Christmas tree at an annual tree-decorating ceremony, she’s sucked into the investigation despite the fact that she’s supposed to be getting her nails French tipped and her face…facial-ed. Format: Digital, Print
Murder at Wrenmere Hall by Patti Petrone Miller (Cozy Mystery)
Christmas at Wrenmere Hall should have been filled with roaring fires, evergreen garlands, candlelight, and snow falling beyond the windows. Instead, a storm seals the grand old country hotel off from the outside world. Then Agnes Bexley notices something no one else seems willing to explain. There are thirteen registered guests at Wrenmere Hall. But fourteen Christmas stockings hang above the fire. Format: Digital
Dressed for Success…Turned Out for Murder by Donna Mumma (Historical Cozy Mystery, 1950s)
It is Mother’s Day of 1957 in Levi City, Florida, and Mary Jo Johnson is supposed to be celebrating her return to fulltime homemaker after her time spent working at Wynton’s Department Store. But her entire world turns upside down when her husband, Kenny, is accused of murdering his boss at the local hardware store he was planning to purchase. Mary Jo—along with her friends (and fellow Wynton’s employees) Audrey, Vivien, and Gigi—must come together to find the truth about what really happened. . .before all hopes for the Johnsons’ future vanish forever. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
NOVEMBER 2
A Holiday Habit by Melissa Westemeier (Amateur Sleuth Mystery)
When donations to the parish holiday charity fall short, Sister Bernadette needs a Christmas miracle for Eugene’s neediest families. Then a fire damages an abandoned house with deep ties to Bernie’s childhood, and Bernie sees a way to turn the wreckage into hope—with a little help from her friends at The Abbey: Senior Living. Format: Digital, Print
The Ice Diamond by CB Wilson (Heist Crime)
Taylor Hunter has tracked stolen gems across the globe. She knows thieves, cons, and impossible heists. But she’s never faced a theft from a locked room carved entirely from ice. When the priceless Ice Diamond vanishes during a glittering gala at Québec City’s legendary Hôtel de Glace, Hunter expects a brilliant jewel thief. What she gets is murder, an Olympic “Ice Princess” with a dangerous secret, and clues that point disturbingly close to home. Format: Digital, Print
A Murder Is Rehearsed by Marty Wingate (Historical Mystery, 1950s)
Nothing says an English Christmas like a pantomime, and in December 1952, the MiddleFox Players celebrate fifty years of panto by staging Cinderella. Middle Foxton, a picturesque Kent market town, mostly keeps itself to itself, but not this year as the panto takes on a life and death of its own. At the final dress rehearsal, Fairy Godmother—played by Terrence Mitten, second-rate actor on his way down—fails to heed shouts of “Behind you!” from the audience and is killed when Cinderella’s coach falls on him. Format: Digital, Print
NOVEMBER 3
The Liars’ Book Club by Ellery Adams (Cozy Mystery)
As the townsfolk of Miracle Springs, North Carolina, know all too well, water can be healing—or devastating. With a big storm coming, residents are stocking up on essentials. Hoping to beat the storm, Nora is sitting in the Unitarian Church with her fellow wedding guests, all of whom belong to Sheldon’s Blind Date Book Club. As rain hammers the stained-glass windows, the bride, Jess, waits in the back of the church—but where is the groom? When a branch crashes through a stained-glass window, Jess finally tells the guests to go home. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
The Lost Souls of Saint Oda’s by Jess Armstrong (Historical Mystery, 1920s)
American heiress Ruby Vaughn hoped the new year would bring less murder and far less of the occult, allowing her to spend her days at the rare book shop she runs alongside her octogenarian employer, and exploring her fledgling romance with Ruan Kivell, the intriguing folk healing Pellar she met in Cornwall. But fate often has other plans. Ruby has long believed her entire family died when the Lusitania sank in 1915, however when her solicitor brings news that her mother inexplicably survived the catastrophe and he believes he’s found her in a Belgian hospital just across the channel, Ruby dares not hope it’s true. For if there’s one thing Ruby Vaughn knows, it is that hope is the surest way to a broken heart. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Feathers, Fringe & Foul Play by Michelle Bennington (Historical Mystery, 1920s)*first book in a new series*
Silent film is at its dazzling peak, the era of the “talkies” is looming, and Clara Bow reigns supreme as the ultimate “It Girl.” Off-screen, the glamour fades fast when a high-profile movie set turns into a crime scene. When a rising starlet is found murdered mid-production, suspicion falls on Clara’s friend. The anxious studio wants to sweep the scandal under the rug, and the police are ready to close the book. Format: Digital
Merry Crisis by Benjamin Bradley (Cozy Mystery)
Gretchen Franklin was hoping for a quiet Christmas and maybe one last chance to stump her endlessly curious grandfather, Carl, with the perfect riddle. Instead, they find Carl’s neighbor dead beneath a display reindeer. Format: Digital
Who Killed Lady Pippa by Shelly Dickson Carr (Historical Mystery, 1890s) *first book in a new series*
Beneath the wavering glow of gaslight, whispers coil through ancient colleges and fog-choked lanes. Whispers of a murder no one can explain. Lady Pippa Hastings stands accused of killing a young man in a locked room — the evidence as damning as it is impossible. The gallows await. But years in the future, a single discovery will cast doubt on everything. Format: Digital
A Scrooge Mystery by Andreina Cordani (Historical Mystery)
Last Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge was visited by three festive spirits, and the bleak vision of his future has haunted him ever since. He wants to be a good man, and he never wants to see another ghost as long as he lives. But changing your ways for a day is easy. Changing your ways for forever is a little trickier. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
The Santa Project by Kathi Daley (Cozy Mystery)
It’s three weeks until Christmas, and Tess has more than enough on her plate. Between playing mom to an adorable rescue kitten, helping organize White Eagle’s annual Christmas Festival, helping out at Tommi’s preschool, and volunteering at the newly opened Santa Central, a place where families down on their luck can find food, clothing, and toys for their children, there’s barely a moment to spare. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Living Twice by Maxie Dara (Humorous Mystery)
Possession isn’t really supposed to be possible, but Jack McCoy never let a little thing like reality stop him. Now he’s committing the ultimate identity theft, living a new life in Margaret’s body while his own lies six feet under. Keeping up appearances as a geriatric grim reaper for S.C.Y.T.H.E. is a full-time job, but when Jack is sent to collect the soul of an old friend, his criminal past catches up with him and suddenly he’s planning the heist of his (after)life with a gang of misfits he never thought he’d see again. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Murders by Stuart Douglas (Historical Mystery)
In the week before Christmas, Dr Watson convinces Sherlock Holmes to accompany him gift shopping for Mrs Hudson. Unwilling to trail around lots of smaller establishments with the heaving seasonal crowds, Holmes insists they leave early and go to a single shop: Whiteley’s, the capital’s first ‘department’ store, in which everything and anything can be found! Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Murder With a Sip of Hot Cocoa by Laura M. Drake (Cozy Mystery)
Planning a Christmas party at the Hollow Hearth Inn is María’s chance to prove that her event-planning business can handle more than weddings. But when a blizzard traps the guests inside and the host turns up dead, the twinkling celebration becomes a crime scene. Feliz Navidad to her. Format: Digital, Print
Midnight in the House of Commons by Charles Finch (Historical Mystery, 1880s)
Lenox is caught up in the whirl of London life when his brother arrives to tell him that there’s been a murder in the House of Commons. Robert Baddeley, a charismatic, womanizing Member, has been found poisoned in the hallowed chamber itself. Suspicion immediately falls on the women in his life, including his wife and mistress, but as Lenox digs deeper, he realizes that there were more than a few people who might have wanted Baddeley dead. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Wolves of Summer by Donna Freitas (Traditional Mystery)
The people of Bonnet Shores are shaken to their core when local twelve-year-old Christina Grove doesn’t come home one night. Christina’s older sister, Maddie, takes the disappearance especially hard and blames herself for sending her little sister alone through the woods on her bike. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Clear Water by Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes (Thriller)
Alma Figueroa is the first person to see a girl in white. Later, more people will claim to have seen the girls: in the snow, in the woods, in the middle of roads. The girls don’t speak, and they don’t match any of the files for the young women who have been disappearing from Brewer, Wisconsin, for years. Rumors quickly spread that these girls aren’t entirely real, that they are dangerous. But Alma knows what she saw, and she begins investigating. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Death by Christmas Cake by Nicole Glover (Cozy Mystery)
After months of working alongside the legendary chef Shirleen Foster, Keisha Scott is ready for a night of festivities celebrating her boss’s famous 12 Christmas Cakes. It’s all of Keisha’s dreams come true, until the night takes a turn for the worse. Her boss’s former collaborator (now rival), Ruby Walton, accuses Shirleen of stealing her recipes. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
A Glimmer of Death by Laurell K. Hamilton (Paranormal Private Investigator Mystery)
I am Meredith Gentry. Princess of the realm of faerie, private investigator in the mortal land of Los Angeles, mother of triplets, and lover to my men—the royal guards sworn to protect me. With a family and a court to support back home, I can’t say no to a job investigating a string of magical attacks against up-and-coming Hollywood actresses. Not when the case raises old nightmares from my own past. This time when I find out who is responsible for all this pain, I can make him pay. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Off Course by A.V. Howland (Cozy Mystery)
The team at Bay Ridge Farms is all set for the big horse show north of Montreal. Except for one thing. New girl Hannah Baker has attitude with a capital A. She’s flirty, she’s dirty, and she’s got everyone’s teeth on edge. Fanta Delaney doesn’t have time to worry about Hannah, what with her job hanging by a thread, her upcoming debut in the show jumpers, and her parents deciding to visit. Plus, could she be any more single? Format: Digital, Print
Have Courage by Craig Johnson (Traditional Mystery)
Walt Longmire, sheriff of Absaroka County, investigates a series of eccentric small-town crises in fifteen holiday-inspired stories. An old dog mysteriously escapes the animal shelter night after night. A deputy deploys an unexpected diversion during a hostage standoff. The baby Jesus vanishes from a nativity scene. And Walt faces one of his most challenging assignments yet: caring for a 150-year-old sourdough starter, while apprehending a seven-year-old suspect with the diction of a 1930s gumshoe. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Simmering Secrets by Ang Pompano (Cozy Mystery)
When celebrity chef Connie Langston announces she’s moving her prestigious culinary academy from Connecticut to New York, she ignites a firestorm of controversy. Before the evening is over, she’s dead. Everyone assumes it was a tragic heart attack. But food columnist Quincy Lazzaro suspects it was murder. Format: Digital, Print
The Heights by Ian Rankin (Thriller)
Facing Hyde Park, The Heights is London’s most coveted luxury high-rise apartment―designed to satisfy every need, with a gym, infinity pool, cinema, and more, where self-made owner-developer Allan Franklyn himself has claimed the penthouse duplex. His neighbors include some of “Money London’s” biggest personalities: a wealthy art dealer, a young heartthrob pop star, a foreign heiress, a gangster’s wife. The residents are used to service, deference, and privacy, all on their terms. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
The Sedalia Code by Patricia Raybon (Historical Mystery, 1940s)
While war rages overseas, Laurette Lowe faces a more personal battle when she lands a job teaching math at La Porte Academy, a prestigious Black finishing school. Determined to rise above her sharecropping roots, deep family hurt, and the suffocating limits of Jim Crow, Laurette quickly learns that survival and success demand constant vigilance, carefully measuring every step and word to earn her place among the social elite. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
MacGregor and the Highland Cipher by Greta Sinclair (Traditional Mystery)
Retired American private investigator Maggie MacGregor’s British adventure isn’t over yet. With MI6 officer Ian Blackwell by her side, Scotland should be the perfect next chapter: ancient castles, mist-covered Highlands, and a chance for Maggie to explore the country tied to the MacGregor name she’s carried for decades. Format: Digital, Print
Burn After Cheating by Kayleigh Suggett (Humorous Mystery)
Harry Kim died in a locked apartment. No signs of forced entry, windows too small to fit a well-fed Chihuahua. Clean scene. The cops call it an accident. But Verona’s best friend Runi isn’t buying it—and once Verona starts snooping around, neither is she. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Happily Ever After The Murders by Rae Wilde (Traditional Mystery)
Ida and Jean got away with murder. Settling into their golden years in late ’90s Rockaway, New York, Ida and Jean’s biggest problems are HOA squabbles, grown kids who don’t visit enough, and staying in the closet as a lesbian couple for fear of being ostracized. But when the electrical lines in their backyard need replacing, the women know that digging up the ground will unearth their long-held secret: the bodies of their late husbands buried under the rosebushes. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
NOVEMBER 4
A Body at the Bakery by Lucy Connelly (Cozy Mystery)
One of Mercy McCarthy’s daily haunts is the patisserie at the heart of Shamrock Cove’s main street, run by her good friend Paisley. The enticing aroma of rich chocolate and perfectly baked sweets is a treat she can rarely resist. She never expected that her pastry run would turn deadly Format: Digital, Print, Audio
NOVEMBER 5
Murder on the Mistletoe Express by Katy Watson (Cozy Mystery)
Rosalind, Caro and Posy are planning to take a much-needed break from investigating murder cases this Christmas for a winter getaway with their partners in the Swiss Alps. They’ve been invited to spend three days on a glamorous new luxury sleeper train, the Mistletoe Express, which Posy’s boyfriend Kit is planning to invest in. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
NOVEMBER 6
Murder in Bologna by T.A. Williams (Cozy Mystery)
A grieving father asks Dan to uncover the truth behind the death of his gifted son, a student at Bologna’s prestigious Art Institute. Accompanied by his loyal Labrador, Oscar, Dan heads north from Florence to investigate. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Note: in some cases, print and audio releases for digital titles will be forthcoming.
Publication date subject to change