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!

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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.