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.

I'm late to the party once again, so it's a good thing this week's prompt is an easy one: Top Ten Buzzwords or Phrases That Make Me Want to Read (or Avoid) a Book. I think I'm going to do five of each, just for funsies. As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

I'll give at least a second glance to any title or plot summary that includes these five words/phrases:

1. Gothic—I love me a moody, atmospheric read!

2. Cozy/Quaint—More and more, this is the vibe I'm craving.

3. Haunted/Ghost—These are pretty much the same thing, so I'm combining them. I'm too wimpy to read much actual horror these days, but I still like a shivery tale as long as it's not TOO creepy.

4. Books/Bookish—I mean, obviously, right?

5. Twisty/Clever/"Knives Out"—What mystery/thriller reader doesn't want to be entertained by a smart, surprising plot? Calling a book "clever" or "twisty" or comparing it to "Knives Out" is an excellent way to turn my head.

Any of these words on a book cover or in a plot summary will have me running for the hills:

1. Spicy/Sexy/Erotic—I'm a prude; what can I say?

2. Spare—Too many details and I get bored, but I'd always rather have too many words in a book than too few. I also prefer clarity over creativity, so I generally find that "spare" books are too minimalistic for my tastes.

3. Zany/Screwball/Oddball—I'm boring. I prefer books that are straightforward and traditional. Unique premises are great, but I get irritated by anything too offbeat or different. (Quirky, I can handle, as long as it's not, you know, too quirky.)

4. Grisly—Mysteries and thrillers are my jam, but if they get too gory, I'm out.

5. Terrifying/Horrifying—Nope! I value my sleep and my sanity.

There you go, five buzzwords on a book that will always tempt me and five that never will. Do we share any? Which buzzwords/phrases attract you? Which do the opposite? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Just like the title indicates, the European Reading Challenge (hosted by Rose City Reader) is about reading books set in different European countries or books written by European authors. The idea is to "visit" as many of the 50 countries as possible before the year ends. There are different levels of participation, and there's even a prize for the person who hits the most countries and reviews the books they read from there. Sounds fun! I'm going to go for the FIVE STAR (DELUXE ENTOURAGE) level, which involves reading at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries. If I get really ambitious, I'll even review them and go for the JET SETTER prize. We'll so how we go.

As with all my challenges, I'll track my progress on my Reading Challenges Page and on the left sidebar of my blog. 

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Note: I make a point of commenting on every legitimate TTT post that is linked up on the main page. If you don't see a comment from me on your post by tomorrow, it's because I keep getting this error message: 

I don't know what the weather's doing in your neck of the woods, but here in my corner of the desert, we've skipped winter and spring altogether and headed right into summer! In the Phoenix area, we've already had record-breaking heat this year, including a week's worth of triple-digit temperature days. Ugh! I am not ready for this. All I can say is, thank goodness for air conditioning and swimming pools. They're lifesavers for those of us who live in the scorching-hot desert. Regardless of what crazy Arizona is doing, in the Top Ten Tuesday world, we're celebrating the season with an appropriate prompt: Top Ten Books On My Spring 2026 To-Read List. I love making these seasonal TBR lists because it's always fun to think about what I might read even if I never actually do it. Of course, I also enjoy perusing your lists to get a peek at what titles are on your reading agenda. 

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

1. First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston—I'm in the middle of this psychological thriller at the moment. It's about a thief who is hired by a mysterious company to do undercover work instead of going to jail. Her current assignment is to steal the secrets of a handsome financial planner. She's succeeding in her mission to woo her mark (maybe a little too well) when the job takes a dangerous turn that makes her question everything, including how far her boss will go to shut her down if she fails to do what is asked of her. It's a gripping read so far.

2. A Victim at Valentine's by Ellie Alexander—This cozy is the fifth installment in Alexander's Secret Bookcase Mystery series. I've enjoyed listening to all of these light, entertaining mysteries on audio while I drive, cross-stitch (I'm determined to finish my TWO-year-old granddaughter's birth sampler this month!), and do housework. 

In this mystery, our heroine discovers a dead body in the Agatha Christie-themed bookshop where she works. While she helps a local detective, her mentor, investigate the crime, she continues to look into the mystery of an old friend's murder.

3. Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn—After reading Carol's rave review of this book over at Reading Ladies Book Club, I requested it from my library and have been on the waitlist ever since. It's been a couple of months, but I was finally able to pick it up today. Yay! The story is about the author's discovery of an astounding secret her father had been keeping from her. Unbeknownst to him at the time, his family was forced out of Berlin after angering Joseph Goebbels and sent to Hawaii to spy for the Nazis. It was only later that Kuehn's father found out how successful the family was in their shameful mission. According to Carol and others who have read Family of Spies, this is a riveting piece of narrative non-fiction that shines new light on the fateful events of December 7, 1941.

4. This Weekend Doesn't End Well for Anyone by Catherine Mack (available April 28, 2026)—I've really enjoyed this sassy cozy series about a bestselling mystery author who keeps bumbling into real-life mysteries that need solving. In this third installment, Eleanor Dash is on vacation once again. This time, she's looking forward to a relaxing stay at an all-inclusive resort in the Bahamas. She barely has a chance to breathe in a gulp of the tropical air before she finds a dead body. Surrounded by a familiar group of suspects, she throws herself into solving yet another murder.

5. The Mysterious Magic of Lighthouse Lane by Erin Stewart—This middle-grade novel is about a girl who has the dubious "gift" of extra empathy, which makes her feel other people's emotions in a way that is stifling and scary. When Lucy's parents suggest she spend the summer visiting her grandfather at his remote cabin on Prince Edward Island, she jumps at the chance to get away. Behind the lens of her beloved camera, Lucy is starting to get to know the people in her new summer home. When she discovers her late grandmother's abandoned darkroom and starts developing her own photographs there, she finds that some kind of magic is helping her see everything about her photo's subjects. How is this possible? She determines to find out.

6. Missing in Flight by Audrey J. Cole—Have you ever taken a long flight by yourself with your baby? If he was sleeping soundly and you really had to use the lavatory, would you leave him in the seat with only a stranger to watch over him? This is Makayla Rossi's dilemma. She rushes to the bathroom, is gone only a few minutes, and returns to find her baby gone. A search of the plane reveals him to be nowhere. Mikayla is frantic, but the other passengers are growing concerned: none of them saw her with a baby. With everyone questioning her mental state, the terrified mother doesn't know what to do. She did bring a baby on board, didn't she? She isn't crazy. Is she?

7. The Murder at World's End by Ross Montgomery—I've been on the library's waiting list for this locked-room mystery for almost two months, and I'm still pretty far down the list. Still, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to read it soon. Ish. 

It's 1910 and the Viscount of Tithe Hall is certain that the passing of Halley's Comet will bring the apocalypse in its wake. In an effort to keep himself safe, he completely seals up his home on a remote tidal island. Ironically, he is dead by morning, felled by his own ancestral bow. Who killed the paranoid viscount? His new under-butler and an elderly matriarch team up to find out.

8. What I Mean When I Say I'm Autistic by Annie Kotowicz—My book club will be reading this non-fiction title, which is described as an "intimate and insightful mix of memoir and manifesto," in April, which is Autism Awareness Month. I'd never heard of the author, but apparently, she writes a blog called Neurobeautiful. Her book is for autistics and non-autistics alike to better understand autism and those who have it. It sounds interesting.

9. Heiress of Nowhere by Stacey Lee—I'm a big Lee fan, so I always get excited when she publishes a new book. Her latest is a YA historical mystery set against a moody, broody Pacific Northwest backdrop. The story revolves around 18-year-old Lucy Nowhere, who has spent her life working on the sprawling estate that belongs to the eccentric man who rescued her when she washed up on the shore of his island when she was a baby. Longing for a life in the outside world, she's just about to leave for college when she discovers that her guardian has been murdered. The locals insist he was killed by mythical sea wolves, but Lucy knows there's no such thing. A human murdered him and if Lucy doesn't figure out who did it and soon, she may be the next victim.

10. The Midnight Carousel by Fiza Saeed McLynn—When Maisie Marlowe comes to America in 1920, she's looking for a new start. Her discovery of an enchanting antique carousel inspires her to create a magical amusement park to enchant the citizens of her new home. Soon, the news of carousel riders mysteriously vanishing in Chicago reaches Laurent Bisset, a detective in Paris, who knows that the same thing happened a decade ago in his city. Determined to solve the mystery of the strange carousel, Bisset travels to the U.S. to figure out what is going on. He and Maisie both have pieces to the puzzle—what will they discover when they put them together?

There you go, ten titles on my Spring TBR list. Have you read any of them? What did you think? What's on your list today? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Besides wearing green to avoid getting pinched, I've never done much to celebrate this holiday. Although I have a very Irish maiden name, my father's ancestors are decidedly Scottish; my 13ish% Emerald Isle DNA comes from a fourth great-grandfather on my mother's side. The fact that he was born in Ireland is about all we know about him, unfortunately. Since we're all a little Irish today, our Top Ten Tuesday prompt du jour gives a nod to St. Patty: Top Ten Green Book Covers. I'm going to go in a little bit different direction and talk about books I want to read that are set in Ireland and written by Irish authors. (As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.)

Before I get to that, though, I want to tell you about the movie I saw last night since it's based on a popular novel. I'm not much for sci-fi, but I read Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir for book club a couple years ago and really liked it. My husband is also a fan, so we've both been looking forward to the movie adaptation. The film officially comes out on March 20, but we were able to go see an early screening in an IMAX theater. Both of us were a little worried about whether or not goofy Ryan Gosling could pull off the part of Rylan Grace, but you know what? We were both surprised at how perfect he was in the role. My favorite part about the Project Hail Mary book is the sweet friendship that blooms between Grace and his alien friend, Rocky. That relationship is the focus of the film, and it's very well done. Action-wise, the movie is a little slow, but it still kept me engaged. Overall, it's a sweet, funny, moving watch that my husband and I both really enjoyed. My husband collects pins, so he was especially excited about these freebies we got for seeing the movie at IMAX:

I don't generally like Hollywood adaptations, but I have to agree with Rocky on this one: Amaze, Amaze, Amaze!

1. Dead in Dublin by Catie Murphy—Although Murphy was born and raised in Alaska, she has strong Irish roots, and now resides in Ireland, so I'm counting her! 

This book is the first installment in a cozy mystery series starring Dublin limo driver Megan Malone. New to the city, she's enjoying settling into her new home and career when a client dies suddenly after dining in a local restaurant. When the eatery's owner is blamed for poisoning the beloved international star with spoiled seafood, she begs Megan to find out what really killed the woman before she ends up in prison, or worse, loses her restaurant. 

2. Everything She Didn't Say by Jane Casey—I'm a big fan of Casey's mystery novels, especially her Maeve Kerrigan series. This book, her newest, is a standalone about two friends staying together in a clifftop house in County Mayo. When one of the women is discovered in blood-stained clothing and the other goes missing, the authorities begin asking questions. Locals insist they only ever saw one woman at the house. Is the other woman lying? Or has something horrible happened to her friend? 

Everything She Didn't Say comes out on July 16 in the U.K. I'm not sure when it will be available in the U.S.

3. Foster by Claire Keegan—This "beautiful, sad, and eerie" novel is about a young girl who gets sent to live with a foster family in rural Ireland. There, she finds the love and stability she's been missing. When a secret is revealed, however, it threatens to upend the idyllic life she's been enjoying.

4. The Trial by Jo Spain—Ten years ago, 20-year-old Theo got out of the bed he was sharing with his girlfriend, Dani, and vanished, leaving behind his family, the elite college where he was studying medicine, and a distraught partner. A decade later, Dani returns to the school as a history professor. Theo's unsolved disappearance still haunts her. It soon becomes clear that St. Edmunds is hiding as many secrets within its walls as Dani is keeping inside hers.

5. Light a Penny Candle by Maeve Binchy—I'm still mourning the 2012 death of this beloved Irish author. I've read and loved all of her books, but it's been a long time, so I'm going to begin a reread campaign, starting with Light a Penny Candle (1980), her first novel. It concerns Aisling and Elizabeth, two lifelong friends who have supported each other through thick and thin. They can survive anything as long as they have each other, or can they?

6. The Keeper by Tana French (available March 31, 2026)—French is another Irish crime writer whose books I adore. (I guess she's technically American-Irish since she was born in Vermont, but her father is Irish and she holds both American and Irish citizenship.) At any rate, I've read all of French's novels except this one, her latest. The Keeper is the last installment in a trilogy starring Cal Hooper, an American detective who decides to retire in a small, peaceful Irish village. Although he intends to stay under the radar, he soon becomes entangled in the dramas, grievances, romances, and even crimes that play out in his new town. In this final volume, Cal can't help but get involved when a sweet local girl is found dead in a river. He soon discovers that her death is not as straightforward as it seems. As things get ever more complicated, Cal and his loved become ever more at risk.

7. Death at Whitewater Church by Andrea Carter—This is the first installment in a mystery series starring solicitor Benedicta "Ben" O'Keeffe who helps Sergeant Tom Molloy solve intriguing cases. As the title of this one indicates, Ben is hired by the owners of a deconsecrated church when human remains are discovered on its grounds. The finding creates new interest in the case of a man who went missing on his wedding day six years ago, and the solicitor can't help her own intrigue with the mystery. What really happened to the vanished groom?

8. The Paper Bracelet by Rachael English—As an adoptive mother, I can't get enough of novels like this one. It's about a woman who worked at a west Ireland mother and baby home in the 1960s. While there, she took copious notes about the residents, notes she has held onto for decades. After her husband dies, she decides to use the information in her notebook to try to reunite the mothers with their children. As she proceeds, getting mixed results, she is forced to face her own secrets from the past.

9. The Hungry Road by Marita Conlon-McKenna—When a potato blight ravishes crops in Ireland in 1845, it changes irrevocably the lives of millions of people. This novel looks at the event through the eyes of two of them.

10. Watermelon by Marian Keyes—This list features some heavy books, so I'll end off with a lighter read. Watermelon is the first book in a family drama series about the triumphs and travails of the various female members of a big, chaotic Dublin family.

There you are, ten books I want to read that are set in Ireland and written by Irish authors. Have you read any of them? Which books set in the Emerald Isle are your favorite? Which Irish writers do you like most? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

I've been a little MIA lately due to illness and travel, so I'm playing catch up. I spent a fun extended weekend in Utah, though, attending the largest family history conference in the world: RootsTech by FamilySearch. Since it's not a bookish event, I wasn't going to mention it, but then I realized that a couple of the featured speakers had authored books in addition to doing whatever other cool things they do. The host, Kirby Heyborne, isn't a writer, but he is an actor, musician, comedian, motivational speaker, and an award-winning audiobook narrator. Steve Young, a retired pro football player who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005, was interviewed by Kirby. He's the author of a few non-fiction books, including, most recently, The Law of Love and The Law of Love In Action. I haven't read anything by Young, but I've heard good things about both of these titles. We also heard from the incredible Tara Roberts, a National Geographic Explorer in Residence, who has spent the last seven years diving with and chronicling the experiences of a Black scuba team that searches for slave shipwrecks. She's a bookworm, an editor, a content creator, and the author of a memoir I really want to read called Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home and Belonging. My favorite guests at RootsTech are not authors, but they're talented Irish dancers, the Gardiner Brothers. They were super fun to watch! 

A friend of ours owns Peach & Bee Honey. She mentioned that some of her products were for sale in the gift store at the Salt Palace, where the conference is always held, so my husband and I hied off to do pick up a little souvenier from the Beehive State. In addition to yummy honey products, the shop also had a Little Free Library! I snatched up a crisp, new-looking hardcover of The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny. It's the 19th installment in the Armand Gamache mystery series, which I love. I'm behind on the series, but I'll get to this one eventually. 

Because I was busy getting ready for my trip last week, I missed Top Ten Tuesday. The topic was a Genre Freebie. I was sorry to miss it, so that's what I'm going to do today, even though the prompt du jour is: Top Ten Book Titles Featuring Ordinal Numbers. As always, TTT is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. 

1. Meet the Newmans by Jennifer Niven (published January 6)—It's 1964 and the Newman family has been the darling of American television for two decades. Although they play perfect versions of themselves on screen, each of the Newmans is struggling with maintaining their flawless image. With ratings falling, Dinah Newman—the matriarch—decides its time to bring the show to an end. Will she have the courage to go out with truth and integrity or will the family be forced to continue living a lie?

2. Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson (available February 10)—Centered on themes of race and identity, this novel tells the stories of several main characters: 

7. The Moonlight Runner by Karen Robards (available March 24)—Set in Ireland in 1918, this novel features a young nurse who treats wounded soldiers and the boy she loves, who has taken up gunrunning to support the rebellion. When Rynn hears rumors of a British offense being planned against the gunrunners, she hurries out at midnight to warn her boyfriend, only to find herself caught up in a shocking turn of events that propels her down a terrifying path that leaves her fighting for survival in a world torn apart by war.

8. The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett (available May 5)—Ever since loving The Help, I've been waiting for another book to come out by this author. I'm in the middle of reading an e-ARC of The Calamity Club, and I'm enjoying it. The story moves veeerrrrryyyy slowly. Stockett's writing is colorful and engaging, so the book isn't boring, but it definitely takes its time getting anywhere. I thought my Kindle was lying to me when it said it would take me 14 hours to read this door stopper. Nope! The print version is 656 pages long.

The story is about a group of women from different walks of life who band together in 1933 Mississippi to face a host of challenges, including economical, emotional, marital, and everything in between.

9. The Young Will Remember by Eve J. Chung (available May 5)—It's 1950 and Chinese American journalist Ellie Chang is on a military flight headed into the mountains of North Korea to cover a battle when her plane is shot down. Surrounded by the enemy, she fears the worst. When a woman saves her by claiming Ellie is her long-lost daughter, she's relieved. Determined to get herself and her rescuers to safety, the journalist leads them on a journey south, one that will also hopefully lead the family to their real missing daughter.

10. Up From the Ashes by Sharon Cameron (available October 26)—This YA novel is based on the true story of a Jewish couple who meet and fall in love during World War II while imprisoned in Holland's Sobibor death camp. When the prisoners come up with a daring plan to escape Sobibor, the duo must decide what they're willing to risk for freedom—and for each other.

There you go, ten 2026 historical novels that I'm looking forward to reading. Have you read any of them? Which new historicals are you excited about? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy Tuesday everyone! Since Valentine's Day will soon be upon us, today's TTT prompt is no surprise: a love/Valentine's freebie. I'm not a romance reader and freebies always throw me for a loop, so I'm going to go with a lazy twist on the topic and talk about library LOVE. Even though I have hundreds of unread books on my shelves, you can still find me at my local library quite often. I will never not enjoy browsing their shelves to find new treasures to read at home. I'm also addicted to Libby, where I can borrow the library's audiobooks and e-books. In addition to all the goodies inside, the library closest to my home is surrounded by a nature preserve where you can stroll along the paths, watch ducks glide in the lake, and enjoy the quiet peace of being out in nature (although you're actually in the middle of a busy suburb). There's so much to LOVE about libraries generally and my local one specifically. What do you LOVE about yours? 

Like everyone else, I've been playing with Chat GPT's caricature-making feature. I thought this one, which the website titled "Relaxed Reader in the Library," was especially funny. If only my library had comfy recliners and fuzzy blankets to curl up with, I would probably never leave! Ha ha. I also love that it shows me listening to an audiobook and reading a paper book at the same time. I'm good, but I'm not that good. And what's with my crazy eyes? I guess I'm just really excited about visiting the library! If nothing else, AI is always good for a laugh...

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

1. Coach by Jason Reynolds—I thought Reynolds' excellent Track series was over seven years ago when the last book was published, but then Coach came out in 2025. Yay! Like its predecessors, it's an encouraging read full of humor and heart. Narrated by the author's best friend, singer/actor Guy Lockard, the audiobooks are especially well done. 

You can see my review of Coach here. Blogger flagged the review as containing "sensitive content." It's really just a content warning for my content warning, which is silly, but whatever.

2. The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey—I've heard nothing but good things about this historical mystery. I started it yesterday and I'm already thoroughly engrossed. It's set in Yorkshire, England, in 1979 when the area was the target of a serial killer dubbed the Yorkshire Strangler. Using the real murders as a backdrop, the novel features a curious 12-year-old girl who is determined to find the identity of the killer. As she uses her keen observation skills to observe "suspicious" doings in her neighborhood, she discovers surprising truths about the people around her, including her family and herself.

3. Of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith—This is the first installment in a historical mystery series about a London barrister who becomes a reluctant amateur sleuth when he discovers the dead body of a powerful, well-known judge on his doorstep. 

4. The Chow Maniac by Vivien Chien—As you will soon see, I'm trying to make progress in series I'm in the middle of, so I grabbed this mystery, the 11th installment in a fun cozy mystery series set in a family-owned Chinese restaurant in Ohio. In this adventure, Lana Lee is called on to help P.I. Lydia Shepard solve a series of thefts and murders in the Asian community.

5. Murder in the East End by Jennifer Ashley—I enjoy the Below Stairs Mystery series, which is set in Victorian London. In this 4th installment, cook Kat Holloway, who moonlights as an amateur sleuth, can't look away when she learns that children are mysteriously disappearing from a local orphanage. Can she figure out what is going on before more kids vanish?

6. The Island by Adrian McKinty—I'm always in for a vacation-gone-horribly-wrong adventure, so I grabbed this thriller about a family who makes a rash decision while on holiday that leaves them stranded on a remote Australian island with a group of sinister hosts. Despite the promising premise, I ended up DNFing this baby because the characters are depthless caricatures, the plot gets ridiculous, and the dialogue is just laughably bad. No thanks.

7. Severe and Unusual Weather by Jessie Ann Foley—Foley's Sorry For Your Loss was one of my favorite reads of 2019. I've been meaning to read more by her and her newest, a middle-grade magical realism novel about an unlikely friendship, sounds like a good one.

8. Stabbed in the Baklava by Tina Kashian—The Kebab Kitchen mystery books make up another fun cozy series, also set in a family-owned restaurant. This time it's a Mediterranean eatery on the New Jersey shore. In this second installment, Lucy Berberian is in charge of catering a high-profile wedding that goes terribly wrong when the groom is murdered. Worse, Lucy's ex-boyfriend is accused of the crime. He may be infuriating, but she knows he's no killer. Once again, she finds herself playing Nancy Drew in order to solve a crime.

9. The Girl in the Painting by Tea Cooper—I've read a couple of books by this Australian author and enjoyed them, so I grabbed her 2020 novel on audio when I saw that it was available on Libby. The story revolves around a young orphan who is taking in by a brother and sister intent on nurturing her impressive match skills. As the child ages, she realizes there's more to her guardians than meets the eye. When one of her guardians has a strange reaction upon seeing a certain painting in a gallery, her charge vows to find out just what her hosts are hiding.

So, since I started writing this post this morning, I have been listening to The Girl in the Painting. The narrator does a nice job, except that she takes a big breath after every paragraph, it seems. Now that I've noticed it, I can't unnotice it, and it's driving me crazy. So, I'm going to return the audiobook and pick up a paper copy of the novel because I'm enjoying the story so far.

10. Local Gone Missing by Fiona Barton—My focus really should be on finishing series I've already started instead of beginning new ones, but...This is the first book in a crime series by an author whose books I've enjoyed in the past. It's about an English detective out on medical leave who is drawn into investigating the disappearance of a man who vanished at a local music festival. With tensions between the town's permanent residents and its weekender population reaching a boiling point, she fears the conflict may have gotten deadly.

There you have it, the last(ish) ten books I checked out of the library. Have you read any of them? What did you think? What topic did you choose for today's freebie prompt? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.