June Book Club: Murder at Merivale Manor by Ella Strike
If you’ve ever watched a dinner party go sideways, you understand the energy of this book. Except Kitty Goring’s party goes considerably more sideways than most.
Book Club
May Book Club: The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill
The premise sold me before I even turned the first page: four strangers happen to be sitting at the same table in the Boston Public Library when they hear a scream, and then find out a woman has been killed. What follows is everything that brought those four people to that table, everything they’re hiding, and a tangle of crimes that keeps expanding the longer you pull on the thread.
April Book Club: Ice Cold Murder by Michele Pariza Wacek
Charlie Kingsley agrees to be the plus-one for her friend Claire for what sounds like a cozy weekend house party. That alone already feels like a commitment, but it turns out it is not actually a party at all. It is a gathering to read Claire’s grandmother’s will, which is the kind of situation that practically guarantees tension.
March Book Club: First Night by Ember Scott
Even though I write and read a lot of cozy mysteries where the villains are more “small-town scandal” than world-domination evil, my personal TV and reading tastes sometimes wander into darker territory.
February Book Club: Dying to Go by Marcy Blesey
If you live in Illinois in the winter and someone offers you a trip to sunny Arizona, you say yes. Immediately. No questions asked.
That’s exactly what recently divorced Rosi Laruee thought she was doing — heading to Tucson Valley to “help” her parents after her dad’s knee surgery. Fresh air. Sunshine. A little reset on life.
December Book Club: Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Friends, I feel like the last mystery reader on Earth who hasn’t picked up The Thursday Murder Club until now. With the movie out (yes, it is a Netflix production) and every publisher using it as the comparison title for anything remotely cozy, quirky, or British, I figured it was finally time to see what all the fuss was about.
November Book Club: The Faculty Lounge by Jennifer Mathieu
When I picked The Faculty Lounge for an October read-along, I hadn’t cracked the spine yet. I figured we’d all try a literary experiment together and see what happened. The verdict? Somewhere between “This is alarmingly accurate” and “Surely no real school is this dramatic… right?”
September Book Club: Fixin’ to Die by Tonya Kappes
If you’ve ever lived in a small town or visited one long enough to have someone’s great-aunt judge your life choices, Fixin’ to Die will feel right at home.
August Book Club: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Every August, I like to slide something nostalgic into the mix. Something that feels like summer: muddy riverbanks, barefoot mischief, and that magical kind of childhood freedom that seems both charming and a little dangerous in hindsight.
July Book Club: The Case at Barton Manor by Emily Quee
The Case at Barton Manor has all the ingredients for a classic cozy mystery: a grand manor house, a murder at a fancy party, and a reluctant sleuth who’s way too good at investigating to stay in mourning forever.