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Mystery
February 2026

Recent Releases
Definitely Maybe Not a Detective
by Sarah Fox

With her bestie's help, jobless Emersyn Gray creates a fake detective agency to scare her ex into giving back the money he stole from her, money that she needs to care for her orphaned seven-year-old niece. Then her Bronx building superintendent is killed and the other residents find her fake business card, leading her to team up with a hunky guy to solve the case. For fans of: Bellamy Rose's Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder; Elle Cosimano's Finlay Donovan series.
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.
Listen
by Sacha Bronwasser; translated by David Colmer

After her manipulative professor betrays her, Dutch art student Marie becomes an au pair in 1989 Paris, working for a complicated family. Years later, during the 2015 terror attacks in Paris, Marie sees her old professor in the area she once worked. This suspenseful, slow-burn crime novel by a Dutch art critic provides a thought-provoking look at trauma and will work for general fiction readers, too.
Murder at Donwell Abbey
by Vanessa Kelly

When Emma Knightley, née Woodhouse, learns her father is to remarry, she's alarmed about having excitable Miss Bates as a stepmother and having to plan a betrothal party in six days. When Emma's maid is discovered dead at the festivities, most think it was an accident, but suspicious Emma uses her quick, observant mind to investigate her 2nd case. For fans of: mysteries featuring Jane Austen or her characters, such as Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries.
The Case of the Missing Maid by Rob Osler
The Case of the Missing Maid
by Rob Osler

In 1898 Chicago, bicycle-riding 21-year-old Harriet Morrow wants different opportunities than women traditionally have and is determined to make it as the prestigious Prescott Agency's first woman detective. But to do so, she must find a missing a maid within a week. Fans of Stephen Spotswood's Pentecost and Parker novels or Nekesa Afia's Harlem Renaissance mysteries will like this fun, atmospheric series starter.
The Mysterious Death of Junetta Plum by Valerie Wilson Wesley
The Mysterious Death of Junetta Plum
by Valerie Wilson Wesley

At the darkly glamorous height of the Roaring 20s, an independent Black intellectual and her bi-racial foster child are immersed in the vibrant world of the Harlem Renaissance - and a shocking murder on Striver's Row - in this thrilling Jazz Age mystery for reader of Nekesia Afia, Jacqueline Winspear, Avery Cunningham's The Mayor of Maxwell Street. 
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.
In Deadly Company by L. S. Stratton
In Deadly Company
by L. S. Stratton

A twisty, propulsive murder mystery featuring a young executive assistant who realizes the peril of paying your dues and being diligently attentive to her boss's whims-and a thrilling and satirical takedown of corporate culture values.
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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