Marjorie McCown’s Final Cut has everything I traditionally look for in a cozy. Great characters, solid sleuthing, and a mystery so twisty you practically have to pop a Dramamine to get through it—truly, it ticks all the usual boxes. So what’s going on that I feel as if I’ve just read one of the most unique, exciting cozies of the past several years? Certainly, the characters work. Joey Jessop has signed on as a costumer for the next big Hollywood superhero movie. She’s wickedly smart and good at her job, making her enthusiasm for going over designs, pulling fabrics, overseeing construction ..read more

Ask a book fanatic what their dream vacation looks like and they’re bound to bring up something literary-focused. It’s part of why Kiley Dunbar’s Borrow a Bookshop series has a certain amount of built-in charm. In Love Letters at the Borrow a Bookshop, the fourth standalone title, Austen Archer, on the heels of being fired by her famous writer boss, heads off on holiday at the titular shop. For a modest fee, she’ll take control of the store in the idyllic Clove Lore for two weeks—hawking books, stocking the café, and coordinating author visits with volunteers all while sleeping in the cute fl ..read more

Perhaps one of the most jarring moments for many young adults involves returning to a childhood home for the first time in a while. Parents look a little older. The house isn’t quite what it used to be. And by god, was everything always this small? That’s partially why the opening to Welcome to Hollyhock Farm, Georgina Troy’s newest novel, lands so effective. After her fashion career stalls out in London, Lettie visits her family back on the island of Jersey. In a double whammy only parents can deliver, it’s revealed her father has suffered a recent heart attack and the their farm is to be s ..read more

Some authors write books that have the ability to envelop you like a hug. Kim Nash, with authentic characters and touching plots, often manages this, and, without question, Making Memories at the Cornish Cove continues her streak. In her third standalone book in the Cornish Cove series, Nash returns to the nearly perfect Driftwood Bay community, this time focused on Lydia, a five-times married septuagenarian who hopes of strengthening the bond between her and her daughter, Meredith. Nash revels in Lydia’s voice, revealing a somewhat cheeky, though always considerate, woman who’s still beatin ..read more

Picture it: Missouri, 2024. I’m sitting at my computer, staring at the mound of work in front of me. Invoices. Upcoming tasks. Some kind of chart that I suppose means something to someone. I blink. They don’t go anywhere. When I start attempting to mind trick tasks, that can only mean one thing: it’s time for a vacation. But where would I go? I google various options, scrolling through reviews, when my bookshelf catches my eye. Suddenly I can’t stop thinking about all the cozy mysteries I’ve read over the years. Maybe it’s a little unorthodox, but after spending hundreds of pages with some o ..read more

For my money, an idyllic island community that practically shuts down at the end of tourist season every October until spring rolls around sounds like a fine, quiet place to live—assuming the murder rate isn’t too high. Unfortunately, that’s exactly the problem in A Pie to Die For. In Gretchen Rue’s first in a series, Lucky Pie Diner proprietor Este March is looking forward to serving up the last of the tourists before a sleepy winter takes hold of Split Pine Island in Northern Michigan. It’s been a busy season with folks coming from all over to sample her restaurant’s magical pies (their se ..read more

If ever there was a literary embodiment of a gentle soul, Jill Steeples’s Sunny Sundays at Primrose Hall would fit the bill. In this fifth book in the Primrose Woods series, a weekly craft fair provides a cute backdrop for Sophie Wright who, after a recent breakup, finds herself needing a fresh start. Thankfully, selling jewelry on the weekends at her friends Pia and Jackson’s stables provides the perfect distraction. And as much as she isn’t interested in a new romance, getting to talk with Tom, the utterly charming and new manager of the craft shows, is an added bonus. Steeples writes with ..read more

It’s National Library Week and, like many of you, I find myself celebrating year-round. Beyond myriad of programs, resources, and other services libraries provide, I will never get over simply being able to walk into a building, grab a stack of books, and leave without paying a dime. There’s a reason I’m at my local branch at least once a week. Sometimes more. Possibly daily. There are a lot of books in the world I want to read. And to be fair, I’m not alone. Fairly often, I’ll go to grab a book only to find it’s checked out by someone else. Thankfully, through the wonder of libraries, all ..read more

If you love libraries, you’ll love Mychal Threets. A self-proclaimed library kid, Mychal has amassed an enthusiastic online following after going viral with posts focused on what he calls “library joy”—the sense that everyone belongs at the library. It’s an uplifting message he was able to hone after ten years of working as a librarian in the same system he patronized as a kid. His heartfelt stories of patron interactions and enthusiasm for all things books have garnered him over a million followers on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and the American Library Association honored him with the I ..read more

I love a good mystery, but after years of devouring everything from cozies to crime novels, there aren’t too many new twists in the genre that surprise me. So how did The Night in Question leave me with both wet eyes and a smile on my face? Perhaps it’s because, at its core, Susan Fletcher’s newest novel is actually two mysteries working in tandem. The first: Florrie Butterfield, an octogenarian and resident of Babbington Hall, witnesses Renata, manager of said assisted living facility, jump from a third-story window, leaving her comatose. Or at least, everyone else around the grounds claims ..read more