Mystery
February 2026

Recent Releases
All My Bones: An Old Juniper Bookshop Mystery by P. J. Nelson
All My Bones: An Old Juniper Bookshop Mystery
by P. J. Nelson

Madeline Brimley, new owner of a bookstore in a small Georgia town, finds herself playing sleuth when a friend is charged with the murder of a much-disliked woman.Madeline Brimley recently inherited a bookstore in Enigma, Georgia, is embarking on her second career, after her first one (acting) founders upon the metaphorical rocks. Settling in, Madeline recruits her friend Gloria Coleman, the local Episcopal priest, to help her plant azaleas in the front yard of the old Victorian that houses the bookstore. Turning the soil, however, uncovers the body of one Beatrice Glassie, a troublesome woman who has been missing for the past six months. When her friend Gloria is arrested for the murder, Madeline is determined to prove her innocence and, as she quickly finds out, there aren't many people in town who hadn't wanted to kill Bea Glassie at one point or another. And the very expensive and rare first edition of a particular volume of Grimm's Fairy Tales--ordered by the victim and her sister is somehow tied to the grim death. With the help of her not-quite-boyfriend, a local lawman, and her deceased aunt's best friend, Madeline plans to set a trap to catch the real murderer--before she becomes the next victim.
Fire Must Burn
by Allison Montclair

This witty, well-plotted 8th Sparks & Bainbridge novel finds Iris Sparks recovering from events in the previous book with help from Gwen Bainbridge, her partner in a matchmaking business in 1947 London. But when MI6 suspects a friend from Iris's Cambridge days of working for the Soviets, Iris and Gwen are compelled to help. To see relationships develop, start with the 1st book, The Right Sort of Man. For fans of: Ashley Weaver's Electra McDonnell novels; Susan Elia MacNeal's Maggie Hope mysteries.
The Café with No Name by Robert Seethaler
The Café with No Name
by Robert Seethaler

A NUMBER ONE INTERNATIONAL BEST-SELLERA NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICEA vibrant tale of love, companionship, and renewal set against the transformations of 1960s Vienna.How I loved this book! Filled with truth after truth, poignantly rendered and given to us with tender open-handedness.--Elizabeth Strout, author of Olive KitteridgeSummer 1966. Robert Simon is in his early thirties and has a dream. Raised in a home for war orphans, Robert has nonetheless grown into a warm-hearted, hard-working, and determined man. When the former owners of the corner café in the Carmelite market square shutter the business, Robert sees that the chance to realize his dream has arrived.The place, dark and dilapidated, is in a poor neighborhood of the Austrian capital, but for some time now a new wind has been blowing, and the air is filled with an inexplicable energy and a desire for renewal. In the newspapers with which fishmongers wrap the char and trout from the Danube, one can read about great things to come, a bright future beginning to rise from the quagmire of the past. Enlivened by these promises, Robert refurbishes the café and, rewarding him for his efforts and search of a congenial place to gather, talk, read, or just sit and be, customers arrive, bringing their stories of passions, friendships, abandonments, and bereavements. Some are in search of company, others long for love, or just a place where they can feel understood. As the city is transformed, Robert's café becomes at once a place of refuge and one from which to observe, mourn, and rejoice.Combining the enchantment of warm prose with tender humor, Robert Seethaler has written a charming parable of human existence animated by unforgettable characters and a kaleidoscope of human stories. A gem of a novel, whimsical and bittersweet but never sentimental, with indelible characters and a powerful sense of place.--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Murder in Westminster by Vanessa Riley
Murder in Westminster
by Vanessa Riley

Introducing: Lady Abigail Worthing, a multiracial 22-year-old in 1806 London whose older husband is always away exploring; and her fastidious Naval hero neighbor, Stapleton Henderson, whose wife has many lovers.

Alibis for all: One evening, while Abbie and Stapleton are arguing in her garden, they find the body of Stapleton's wife. Since each has concerns about the police blaming them, they cover for each other and team up to find the truth...but Abbie's not so sure she can trust Stapleton.

For fans of: Netflix's Bridgerton; Regency-era mysteries such as Katharine Schellman's Lily Adler mysteries. 
Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess
Welcome to Murder Week
by Karen Dukess

After her estranged mother's sudden death, Cath Little is surprised to find pre-paid tickets to an English village murder mystery week meant for the two of them. Curious, Cath flies over alone, where she teams up with two other Americans to solve the fake killing, meets a handsome local, and tries to figure out what her mysterious mom was up to. For fans of: romantic mystery novels; murder-less mysteries.
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra
Nightwatching
by Tracy Sierra

Unputdownable - Psychological Suspense - Horror - Tense - Gripping A FALLON BOOK CLUB PICK Pulse-pounding locked-room suspense. --Elle Nightwatching is like nothing I've read before. I wolfed it down in two sittings; it's amazing.--Lisa Jewell A footstep on the stairs. A second to react. What happens next will determine everything. Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. She hears a noise--old houses are always making some kind of noise. But this sound is disturbingly familiar: it's the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs. She sees the figure of a man appear down the hallway, shrouded in the shadows. Terrified, she quietly wakes her children and hustles them into the oldest part of the house, a tiny, secret room concealed behind a wall. There they hide as the man searches for them, trying to tempt the children out with promises and scare the mother into surrender. In the suffocating darkness, the mother struggles to remain calm, to plan. Should she search for a weapon or attempt escape? But then she catches another glimpse of him. That face. That voice. And at once she knows her situation is even more dire than she'd feared, because she knows exactly who he is--and what he wants.
The Italian Secret
by Tara Moss

PI Billie Walker inherited her dad's office in Sydney, Australia, so when she finds old love letters, she books a trip to Italy to find the letter writer to investigate if her dad had an affair. Meanwhile, a client is killed, and Billie suspects the woman's abusive husband either did it or hired gangster Vincenzo Moretti. Then, Moretti appears during Billie's Italian trip in this atmospheric 3rd in an engaging series. For fans of: Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher mysteries.
The Living and the Dead
by Christoffer Carlsson

In a small Swedish town in 1999, the teenage son of a local landowner is murdered after a party. Police officer Siri Bengtsson arrives to question folks, but the death of a main suspect and a catastrophic landslide leave the case unsolved. Twenty years later, when a related murder occurs, a retired Siri agrees to help the detective in charge in this 3rd Halland novel. Try this next: Hans Rosenfeldt's Cry Wolf.
The Quiet Mother
by Arnaldur Indridason

Retired Reykjavik police detective Konrad declines to investigate when a terminally ill woman asks him to find the son she gave up for adoption decades earlier. But when the woman is killed and her apartment ransacked, guilt forces Konrad to look into the murder, and what he finds may connect to his own life in his 3rd outing. Read-alikes: Stig Abell's Death Under a Little Sky; Ragnar Jonasson's Dark Iceland series.
Wreck Your Heart
by Lori Rader-Day

Chicago's Doll Devine hopes to make it as a country singer, but for now she's singing at a tavern owned by Alex McPhee, who's helped her since she was a kid. When her estranged mom briefly shows up after 20 years, followed by a woman claiming to be Doll's half-sister, Doll doesn't know what to think, and then her ex is found dead outside the bar. For fans of: standalone mysteries with a strong sense of place and a wisecracking main character.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
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