I'm loving all the quirky, cozy-ish murder mysteries that have been popping up lately. I've read a bunch of them recently, and they just make me laugh. A Cute Little Murder by Molly Harper is no exception. It's a fun, light-hearted, Scooby-Doo kind of romp. I loved it!

The story goes a little something like this: 17-year-old Lainey Piper doesn't believe that her father's suspicious accident was accidental at all. Her doubts about what really happened, combined with her natural talent for sleuthing and an innate desire to see justice done, lead her to a reluctant collaboration with classmate Harlow Drake. The host of a web series centered on local crime, Harlow is known for taking big risks and angering the locals with her bold accusations. Lainey isn't a limelight kind of person, but she can't seem to resist getting caught up in Harlow's schemes, even when it means scaring her mother, annoying local law enforcement, and becoming a pariah in her small town.

Fifteen years later, Lainey is a work-from-home forensic accountant who lives alone with her cat. Her business isn't exactly booming, so when she receives an offer from the True Crime 24/7 network to investigate a historical cold case with Harlow (whom she hasn't spoken to since high school), she can't afford to say no. When she steps foot onto an island in the middle of Lake Michigan, spies her creepy murder hotel accomodations, and notes that her old friend is, if anything, even more self-absorbed than she used to be, Lainey begins to doubt the wisdom of accepting the offer, no matter how lucrative. It doesn't take long, though, for her to get wholly caught up in the mystery of solving a Prohibition-era disappearance as well as a much more contemporary ones. Soon, the job isn't about finding a long-ago killer or even helping an unrepentant Harlow make a comeback; it's about staying alive on a remote island, surrounded by strangers she's not sure she can trust, with no way to call for help. Even armed with her "crime-fighting Mary Poppins bag," Lainey might not be able to sleuth her way out of this one...

A Cute Little Murder combines a lot of my favorite murder mystery tropes: an isolated setting; a probably haunted house (hotel, in this case) full of tantalizing secrets; a colorful cast of characters, all with axes to grind; an absorbing treasure hunt; and a banter-y background romance. Since this is more of a cozy than a Gothic thriller, the setting isn't all that creepy, but it is atmospheric. The ratty old Crossings hotel is a character unto itself, complete with the hidden depths that make all story people more life like. Although Harlow is not one of them, her production team is full of likable characters, even including the clueless tech bros who are more oblivious than purposely offensive. Although the historical mystery Harlow and Lainey are on-location to solve really isn't the focus of the novel, it adds another layer of interest to the story. The relationship between Harlow and Lainey is the real focus of A Cute Little Murder, and it's interesting to see how the latter has evolved while the former really hasn't. I would have liked a deeper dive into Harlow's character in order to understand her better, but this isn't really that kind of story. As for the present-day murders, I did identify the killer before Lainey, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of this entertaining book. It's a fun one that kept me turning pages and made me smile.

Readalikes:  A Cute Little Murder has a similar style/vibe to Murder at World's End by Ross Montgomery, The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter, the Ernest Cunningham series by Benjamin Stevenson, and the Vacation Mysteries series by Catherine Mack.

To the FTC, with love: I received an e-ARC of A Cute Little Murder from the generous folks at Penguin Random House via those at NetGalley. Thank you!

What's the April weather like in your neck of the woods? In my corner of the Sonoran Desert, it's HOT, like in the 90s and above. We've had some overcast skies in the last week, but no rain, sadly. None is predicted in the forseeable future either. Boo hoo. Maybe this week's Top Ten Tuesday topic—April Showers—will act as a rain dance to bring our parched desert some much needed moisture. A girl can dream! 

For my list today, I'm going to keep things simple and highlight ten books on my TBR list that feature rain in some way or another. I've had a long day, so I'm not going to include plot summaries, but I will link the book titles to Goodreads. How's that?

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

1. Shouting at the Rain by Lynda Mullaly Hunt 

2. Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon

3. The Colors of the Rain by R.L. Toalson

4. Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie

5. Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson

6. In the Days of Rain: A Daughter, a Father, a Cult by Rebecca Stott

7. Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff

8. In Times of Rain and War by Camron Wright

9. The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan

10. Rainy Day Sisters by Kate Hewitt

There you go, ten books on my TBR list that feature rain in some way or another. Have you read any of them? What are your favorite "rain" books? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

I'm bummed I missed last week's Top Ten Tuesday topic and, honestly, if I hadn't come up with this week's prompt myself, I would probably be doing that one instead! When I thought up this one—Top Ten Book Titles That Describe Me/My Life—I just thought it would be something different that could help us all get to know each other a little better. I didn't realize how tough it would be. Sorry. Hopefully, I'm not the only one doing the topic this week. Ha ha.

As always, TTT is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

I was born and raised in a lovely little burgh in Washington State, making me a:

I went off to college in Utah, where:

Actually, I met the man who would become my husband when I walked into his apartment during our freshman year of college. It all started because his roommate, who was team teaching a church class with me, brought a plate of homemade cookies over to my apartment. He claimed he had made the delicious treats, even though it was clearly a regifting situation! Upon hearing what had happened, my soon-to-be husband—the person who had actually made the cookies—was affronted. To prove that guys could cook, he invited all of the girls in my apartment over for dinner. A few of us went. We were all impressed by the boys' efforts and we ended up becoming good friends with the guys in their apartment. Of course, two of us became a *little* bit more than friends...

My boyfriend and I were both members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Young men and women in our church often serve full-time missions for the Church. At 19 (the minimum age for male missionaries at that time), he went to Chile, dedicating the next two years of his life to serving the Lord while I continued my studies. It was the early 1990s and since phone calls weren't allowed and email wasn't really a thing yet, we wrote letters back and forth. Lots of letters. 

Two years later, we stopped being

and became

Soon after that, life was all about:

We had four kids and they kept us very busy, especially in the early days when I had to:

to feed and cuddle my babies. I got pretty good at holding a bottle in one hand and a book in the other!

Now, those babies have grown up, and with them going off to college, serving in the Army, working adult jobs, and so forth, it feels like:

 

I totally slacked on writing a March post for the Bookish Books Reading Challenge—oops!—so this one will be a March/April combo. How are you doing on the challenge so far? I've read eight bookish books in 2026, three of which are from the same bookish cozy mystery series. I'm trying to finish up a cross-stitch birth sampler for my granddaughter, who's 2 1/2 (!), and binge-listening to the series has been keeping me entertained while my hands are busy.

Set in a Victorian mansion that has been remodeled into a charming Agatha Christie-themed bookstore, the Secret Bookcase Mystery series by Ellie Alexander is warm, fun, and bookish. It stars Annie Murray, a bookseller and budding private investigator who solves mysteries in her quaint town of Redwood Grove, California. I started listening to it last year. This year, I've listened to these three (installments 3-5):

Right now, I'm listening to The Body at the Book Fair, which is the final book in the series. Luckily, Alexander is in the process of penning a spin-off series about Annie's adventures as the co-owner of a private investigation agency. I'll definitely keep listening/reading because the books are light, clean, and entertaining, the exact vibe I'm digging right now.

I won't talk about the five other bookish books I've read in the past couple months, but I do want to mention the one I'm reading now. Carol Goodman is one of my go-to mystery/thriller authors, and her forthcoming novel is very bookish. Our Marriage is Murder (available July 21, 2026) stars a husband and wife who have been co-writing a popular, bestselling mystery series for the entire two decades of their marriage. As they travel to Italy for a book conference, they're contemplating ending both their working relationship and their personal one, which has become a sham anyway. These issues are hanging in the air between them when the first murder at the conference occurs. As more follow, they begin to wonder if they are the actual targets. 

Our Marriage is Murder is moving a little slower than some of Goodman's other books, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless. I'm about halfway through, and I have no idea whodunit. We'll see if I can figure out what's happening before the writer couple does!

I'm not sure exactly what I'll be reading in April after I finish The Body at the Book Fair and Our Marriage is Murder, but hopefully, it will include some bookish books.