Maya is back at Princeton for her ten-year reunion. She and her husband Nate, who also graduated from Princeton, have their five-year-old daughter Dani with them. Making the reunion even more special is that Maya’s younger sister Naomi is graduating from Princeton, ten years after her big sister. Reunions can be tricky when you scratch…

New York Times bestselling author Jean Hanff Korelitz is a writer whose works are acclaimed as much for their literary merits as their canny adherence to the conventions of the crime story—a welcome example of transcendence beyond the long-running (and tiresome) debate over what constitutes “mainstream” vs. “genre” fiction. Her meta-masterpiece, The Plot (2021), bridged…

Right off the heels of the success of Everyone on this Train is a Suspect, Benjamin Stevenson has done it again. This time, however, with some holiday flair. Stevenson’s newest installment of the Ernest Cunningham series is “a festive mystery” titled Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret. With a clue for every day in December,…

There’s a certain comfortable predictability in most cozy mysteries:  a small town (or reasonable facsimile), a life-changing decision, an amateur sleuth who reluctantly takes on the task of unmasking a killer, perhaps a pet companion, definitely secrets. And to make things interesting, a little something extra. The Gardener’s Plot is set in a small town…

Aleeza Kassam is not having a great first year at university. When she came to study in Toronto with her best friend Mia, she thought that they’d be leaving their small town together for adventures in the big city. Instead, Mia keeps ditching her for boys or cooler friends. When one straw too many leads…

Edie O’Sullivan is more than happy to settle into life as an octogenarian curmudgeon, jigsaw-puzzle enthusiast, and crossword setter of some renown. The only people she can tolerate on a regular basis are her adopted son Sean and her ninety-something neighbor Riga, whose eccentric glamor is capable of overwhelming even Edie’s own standoffish intractability. But…

This fourth installment of the Deep Dish Mystery series is my favorite yet–and likely my favorite culinary cozy of the year so far! Delilah O’Leary has come a long way since first opening her gourmet pizza restaurant in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin. Once an uptight control freak hanging onto a relationship with a great guy she…

Not every book is inspired by great works of literature, life-defining moments, or current events. Sometimes, books can be inspired by—or at least influenced by—popular culture. A New Lease on Death is one of those. I don’t think I was consciously aware of it when I was writing it, but after early readers started comparing…

It’s taken years, but Rebecca has built a wonderful life with her adoring husband Tom and their two beautiful children, Roscoe and Charlie. They live in a nice house in a suburb of Carson City, Nevada, just a short drive away from where Tom’s parents stay. Rebecca doesn’t like to talk about her own parents…

Imagine a world where, when you die, all your deepest, darkest secrets become manifest in the form of a person who mystically appears at the moment of your death. That’s the intriguing premise of The Hushed, a novel that takes its title from the name given to these supernatural creatures most of humanity treats as…