Take a bit of Buffy, throw in some of Murder, She Wrote, let a very officious cat, Lord Thomas Cromwell, channel an ancient demon—that bit is a trifle frightening—set it all in rural New York state under the auspices of local librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle, and you have a novel both fun-loving and poignant. Sherry realizes that something is a bit off in Winesnap, NY. Namely, people are regularly being killed, and she typically ends up helping the cops track down the murderer. But when a friend’s husband is found dead, Sherry ups her game, assembling a small group, the Demon Hunting Society, including the new town priest (good for exorcism!). No interest in the supernatural? Don’t be silly. This book has a big enough reach to appeal to any cozy reader, with Sherry delivering a riveting denouement in the manner of Dame Agatha.
Contemporary
Addison, author of the Enchanted Bay series, brings her lively voice to a series debut featuring a heroine to remember. Historian Sidney Taylor, a young Black woman, is on furlough from the Smithsonian when she gets a mysterious offer to go on a quest in her hometown, Robbinsville, VA, the heart of which is the Josiah Willoughby museum. Sidney’s parents are rich—her father is the Speaker of the House of Representatives—but they believe in the young woman making her own way, so when she receives a wax-sealed envelope with an invitation inside to find something historically significant in Robbinsville, and the prize is a million dollars, she’s in. There’s danger and intrigue in store though, with Sidney receiving threatening messages and increasing pressure on the museum to give in to virtual reality as the future, a government program that seems more sinister by the minute, headed as it is by a woman who will remind readers of scary real-life tech-exec Elizabeth Holmes. The small-town scene, loving family members, and history-tinged puzzles keep the pages turning fast; there are plenty of real historical details packed in, too, surrounding a long-running conspiracy about the U.S. presidents. A winning series starter.
Readers in search of a classic mystery need look no further, and if you have a fascination with San Francisco, as I do, then you’re doubly in luck. Capri Sanzio is the granddaughter of one of the City’s most famous serial killers: William “Overkill Bill” Sanzio, who’s now deceased. So named because “he bashed his three victims on the head, stabbed them to death, then sliced their throats after the fact.” A thorough kind of guy. Capri’s parents are shamed by their relationship to Bill, but Capri—who believes he was innocent—has a far more complicated response: she runs a highly successful business providing tours related to San Francisco’s serial killers (with herself, as Bill’s granddaughter, one of the prime attractions). But suddenly there’s a copycat of Bill murdering San Francisco women—one of whom is closely related to Capri—and the cops have made it clear that Capri or her daughter (herself a doctoral student in criminology) are their two prime suspects. With excursions from high society to the working class, and richly detailed portraits of San Francisco, this fascinating, fast-paced novel should find a broad readership. More, please?
At first, Finding Mr. Write reads like hearty rom-com fare: Daphne McFadden, a struggling writer who can’t get an agent, hires a dishy man to pose as the author of her book. She wants to hate “Zane Remington” but can’t, and complications ensue, not to mention increasingly lingering looks. While the enjoyable rom-com type misunderstandings and drama continue throughout the book, there’s also more here. Crime and mystery come into play when Daphne’s publisher and the book’s rabid fans get ever closer to finding out that Zane isn’t really the author of the wildly popular “dark zombie thriller with a teen girl protagonist,” and Daphne worries about her legal future. There’s also a lot to absorb about the economics, biases, and general messed-up-edness of the publishing industry, with an overworked publicist, one in a long string of underpaid young women, one of the tale’s quiet heroes. This well-plotted look at a maybe-romance and the bizarro world writers inhabit is a fun mix of mystery and romance, and well worth a read.