Vinnie visits a local market in her new town of Wills Harbor, Md., and, after a rough interaction with a customer, the teenage cashier passes Vinnie a note that says, “Please help me. I think he killed Avery.” Thus begins the itch that, as a former cop, Vinnie can’t shake.
A sesquicentennial birthday for Jane Austen
Just as America gears up to mark its own 250th birthday in 2026, Austen’s enduring literary legacy resonates deeply.
Teens in a war zone
This book is not a solution, as much as a reflection on how humans can band together even as the world explodes around them. The author’s father was a fireman during and before the Blitz
Venetian heartache
This book is a delight for anyone who’s ever tried to sit in a nice cafe and have dinner by themselves while feeling self-conscious. It’s about how a person can still be lonely, even in a crowded city with people bustling all around.
More than a haunted house
Oozing blood and with many bumps in the night, Harrison artfully blends dread, passion and humor to give her readers a mixture of the Upside Down from “Stranger Things” and a Barbie Dreamhouse of fright.
Ready to solve a mystery?
You, the detective, are given evidence as the story progresses to try to solve the murder alongside the suspects themselves
A Marriage at Sea: Surviving a shipwreck — and each other
The suspense during “Marriage at Sea” is painful yet riveting. It’s a horror movie. The end can’t come fast enough, yet there is also no looking away.
Cultural and romantic dilemmas
The food in “Gold Coast Dilemma” takes center stage as a celebration of Ghanaian culture, and as dish after delicious dish is served and described it will make readers’ stomachs rumble. Yet it is the deep and difficult-to-assemble dish of love across cultural divides that makes this book Malone’s best yet.
More com than rom
Holmes makes wry observations about the undercurrent of sexism in the media. At one point in Cecily’s office five men get together to talk about “supporting women in all the aspects of their lives.” The lack of situational awareness from the men might feel laugh-out-loud familiar.
Just hot enough to handle
In the last few years there has been so much perimenopause talk, it’s like women are having one extended, collective hot flash. And protagonist and TV executive Lisa Darling is one of those people.