Sometimes a workplace isn\u2019t just a workplace but a place of safety, understanding, and acceptance. And sometimes murder threatens the sanctity of that beloved refuge\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n In the leafy suburbs of Austin, Texas, a small branch library welcomes the public every day of the week. But the patrons who love the helpful, unobtrusive staff and leave rave reviews on Yelp don\u2019t always realize that their librarians are human, too.<\/em><\/p>\n Hazel flees halfway across the world for what she hopes will be a new beginning. Jonathan, a six-foot-four former college football player, has never fit in anywhere else. Astrid tries to forget her heartbreak by immersing herself in work, but the man who ghosted her six months ago is back, promising trouble. And Sophie, who has the most to lose, maintains a careful and respectful distance from her coworkers, but soon that won\u2019t be enough anymore.<\/em><\/p>\n When two patrons turn up dead after the library\u2019s inaugural murder mystery\u2013themed game night, the librarians\u2019 quiet routines come crashing down. Something sinister has stirred, something that threatens every single one of them. And the only way the librarians can save the library\u2014and themselves\u2014is to let go of their secrets, trust one another, and band together\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n All in a day\u2019s work.<\/em> – Berkley<\/p>\n Book conservator Tory Van Dyne and a woman claiming to be Agatha Christie on holiday from the Great Beyond join forces to catch a killer in this spirited mystery from Amanda Chapman.<\/em><\/p>\n Tory Van Dyne is the most down-to-earth member of a decidedly eccentric old-money New York family. For one thing, as book conservator at Manhattan\u2019s Mystery Guild Library, she actually has a job. Plus, she\u2019s left up-town society behind for a quiet life downtown. So she\u2019s not thrilled when she discovers a woman in the library\u2019s Christie Room who calmly introduces herself as Agatha Christie, politely requests a cocktail, and announces she\u2019s there to help solve a murder\u2014 that has not yet happened.<\/em><\/p>\n But as soon as Tory determines that this is just a fairly nutty Christie fangirl, her socialite\/actress cousin Nicola gets caught up in the suspicious death of her less-than-lovable talent agent. Nic, as always, looks to Tory for help. Tory, in turn, looks to Mrs. Christie. The woman, whoever or whatever she is, clearly knows her stuff when it comes to crime.<\/em><\/p>\n Aided by an unlikely band of fellow sleuths \u2014including a snarky librarian, an eleven-year-old computer whiz, and an NYPD detective with terrible taste in suits\u2014Tory and the woman claiming to be her very much deceased literary idol begin to unravel the twists and turns of a murderer\u2019s devious mind. Because, in the immortal words of Miss Jane Marple, \u201cmurder is never simple.\u201d<\/em> – Berkley<\/p>\n This title is also available in large print.<\/p>\n Two dead students. A coded reference to Shakespeare. And the promise of darker things to come.<\/em><\/p>\n Near a small college campus, a student is found strangled in an abandoned barn on the outskirts of town. She’s been posed to look like a painting of Ophelia from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the scene taunting the police with a message they don’t understand. Detective Ian Carter is known as a straitlaced cop, but seeing the girl’s body leaves him shaken and uncertain of where to turn\u2014until a chance meeting with a charmingly awkward literature professor ends with her accidentally seeing, and solving, a clue left by the killer.<\/em><\/p>\n Professor Emma Reilly knows that the books she loves might hold the key to unraveling the killer’s crimes now that a second murder has been discovered, with the victim posed as the Lady of Shalott this time. However, when the murderer strikes too close to home and kills a third student, one from Emma\u2019s classes, she realizes that the safety of her insular life might be nothing more than an illusion. She must find the strength to confront a killer who is turning the stories she loves into lurid scenes of death.<\/em> – MIRA<\/p>\n In the quaint English town of Hoslewit, the biggest names in crime writing have congregated to celebrate all things bookish and murderous. Author Jane Hepburn is determined to make her time at the Killer Lines festival worthwhile. This is her chance to change her fortunes and make her fictional Private Detective Baker a household name. And if she has to resort to sneaking into the book tent after hours to rearrange some books so hers are front and center, so be it.<\/em><\/p>\n But when Jane encounters the dead body of renowned (and reviled) literary agent Carrie Marks, the festival takes on a decidedly different tone. Joined by Carrie\u2019s newest client, debut novelist Natasha Martez, and the agency\u2019s hapless intern, Daniel Thurston, Jane decides to put her fictional sleuthing skills to use in the real world\u2014she\u2019s going to solve the murder. But the list of suspects is long: seemingly everyone at the festival has a motive to kill Carrie, and the more Jane and her new friends investigate, the closer they come to a dangerous truth\u2014one that\u2019s stranger than fiction.<\/em> – Knopf<\/p>\n Romance<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n In this charming debut rom-com, a young freelancer returns to her suburban hometown to uncover why her childhood next door neighbor\u2019s bestselling book appears to be an epic love story about the two of them.<\/em><\/p>\n When MC Calloway\u2019s best friend Joe, an editor at the notorious gossip website Jawbreaker, calls her in for an emergency meeting, MC is unprepared for how frantic he is. But when he shows her a copy of Girl Next Door, the steamy, bestselling rom-com taking the literary world by storm, written under a pen name, points to one of the women on the front cover, and says, \u201cthat’s you,\u201d its MC who begins to panic.<\/em><\/p>\n Joe is convinced that the author is Nora Pike, MC’s prickly, childhood next-door neighbor, and their former high school classmate \u2013 and MC knows he\u2019s right, since the book describes actual events that happened their senior year, down to the tiniest details. But in the book, the characters based on MC and Nora are desperately in love, rather than the awkward acquaintances MC remembers being in real life.<\/em><\/p>\n Joe begs MC to go home undercover and get the scoop on Nora. That\u2019s the last thing MC wants to do, especially for an assignment that seems morally dubious at best, but she reluctantly agrees, knowing Joe is desperate to break a big story. Crashing in her childhood home with her older brother Conrad (now married to MC’s secret high school crush, Gabby), MC begins untangling truth from fiction, trying to get close to Nora, who is just as hot and prickly as ever \u2013 and now suspicious of MC to boot. But the more involved she gets with Nora, the more it becomes clear they\u2019re both hiding secrets . . . and MC realizes she might be in over her head.<\/em> – Harper Perennial<\/p>\n A trip they’ll never forget…<\/em><\/p>\n Poe Myat Sabei has the publishing career that any writer would kill for: her first novel sold at auction, became an international number one bestseller, and is being turned into a Netflix film. But now on deadline for her second book, Poe is facing a catastrophic case of writer\u2019s block. The solution? Book a two-week getaway to an exclusive island resort for her and her best friend Zwe where she\u2019ll undoubtedly be inspired to write her next bestseller.<\/em><\/p>\n But the vacation of their dreams disintegrates in a flash when the resort is taken over by a group of masked women who are very armed and very angry. As they try to leave the island before the group can track them down, Poe and Zwe suddenly find themselves facing the kinds of conflicts that only come up when, well, you\u2019re trapped in a life or death situation on a remote island with your (hot) best friend.<\/em> – St. Martin’s Griffin<\/p>\n Celebrated authoress Lady Georgiana Cleeve has achieved fame and fortune. Unfortunately, she\u2019s also acquired an enemy: the enigmatic Lady Darling, whose spine-tingling plots appear to be pulled straight from Georgiana\u2019s own manuscripts. What\u2019s a stubborn, steely writer to do? Unmask her rival, of course.<\/em><\/p>\n But unmasking doesn\u2019t go according to plan\u2014because Lady Darling is actually Cat Lacey, the butler\u2019s daughter and object of Georgiana\u2019s very secret, very embarrassing teenage infatuation.<\/em><\/p>\n Cat Lacey has spent a decade clawing her family out of poverty. The last thing she needs is to be distracted by the stunning(ly pretentious) Lady Georgiana Cleeve. But Cat can\u2019t seem to escape her infuriatingly beautiful rival\u2014including at the eerie manor where they both plan to set their next books. The plot unexpectedly thickens, however, when the novelists find themselves trapped in the manor together. In between ghostly moans and spectral staff, Cat and Georgiana come face-to-face with real danger: the scorching passion that\u2019s been haunting their rivalry all along.<\/em> – St. Martin’s Griffin<\/p>\n Blurring the line between fiction and reality…<\/em><\/p>\n Mia Brady never imagined her romance novels would become bestsellers, much less inspire a hit TV show. However, after signing a deal to write the final book of the series, she\u2019s struck by a serious case of writer\u2019s block. Her fans are clamoring for a passionate payoff, but Mia\u2019s own experience with heartbreak\u2014and current lack of real-life romance\u2014is getting in the way. Do friends who become lovers ever truly have a happy ending?<\/em><\/p>\n Gavin Lane would like to think so. As Mia\u2019s ride-or-die BFF, he\u2019s been by her side through it all and convinced himself his crush on her is a thing of the past. He\u2019s not about to let his feelings ruin their friendship, and never will. But things get complicated when Mia pitches a bold idea to help save her career: testing out tried-and-true love story tropes…together.<\/em><\/p>\n From workplace romance to fish-out-of-water, Mia and Gavin embark on a series of \u201cexperiments\u201d to spark a little creativity\u2014but they are not prepared for the flame that ignites between them. Does their friendship even stand a chance when pure fantasy suddenly becomes a little too real?<\/em> – Canary Street Press<\/p>\n In this lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers rom-com, two exes are faced with one deadline. Will they make it to the end?<\/em><\/p>\n Temi and Wale meet in London. They flirt, date, meet each other\u2019s friends.<\/em><\/p>\n Then they break up. And Wale goes on a reality dating show.<\/em><\/p>\n Instead of giving in to heartbreak, Temi throws herself into her dream: writing. She\u2019s within touching distance of a book deal that would solve all her problems. But publishers keep passing on her novel and bills still have to be paid. So, when the opportunity to ghost-write a celebrity memoir arises, Temi accepts.<\/em><\/p>\n And, of course, the celebrity turns out to be Wale\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n Will Temi and Wale repeat the patterns of their past? Or can they write a whole new story?<\/em> – Penguin Books<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/the-librarians1.jpg?resize=200%2C303&ssl=1\")
<\/a>The Librarians<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>by Sherry Thomas<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Amanda Chapman<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Murder by the Book<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by Amie Schaumberg<\/p>\n
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<\/a>A Novel Murder<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by E.C. Nevin<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Girl Next Door<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Rachel Meredith<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Here for a Good Time<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Pyae Moe Thet War<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Ladies in Hating<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Alexandra Vasti<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Love is an Open Book<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Chandra Blumberg<\/p>\n
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<\/a>The Re-Write<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn<\/p>\n