Here is the list of new releases for June 30 to July 13!

K.J. Emrick and Ellie Emcee: Deadly Checkout (3rd in the English Librarian Cozy Mysteries)

Martha Grimes: The Red Queen (26th in the Richard Jury Mysteries)

David Rosenfelt: Dogged Pursuit (31st in the Andy Carpenter Mysteries)

Wendy Corsi Staub: Toil and Trouble (7th in the Lily Dale Mysteries)

Here is the list of new releases for June 9 to June 29!

Ellie Alexander (aka Kate Dyer-Seeley): A Body at the Book Fair (6th in the Secret Bookcase Mysteries)

Christy Barritt: If You’re Reading This (10th in the True Crime Junkies Mysteries)

Catherine Bruns: Death of the Hula Girl (25th in the Aloha Lagoon Mysteries)

Anna Lee Huber: A Tarnished Canvas (13th in the Lady Darby Mysteries)

LynDee Walker: The Pastor’s Wife (Stand Alone Novel)

Here is the list of new releases for May 19 to June 8!

Christy Barritt: Artifice (4th in the Pros and Cons Mysteries)

Lorraine Bartlett (aka L. L. Bartlett & Lorna Barrett): After the Tempest (6th in the Lotus Bay Mysteries)

Krista Davis: The Diva Poaches a Bad Egg (18th in the Domestic Diva Mysteries)

Agatha Frost: Millionaire’s Shortbread and Murder (34th in the Peridale Cafe Cozy Mysteries)

Carolyn Haines: Doggone Bones (29th in the Sarah Booth Delaney Mysteries)

Well, it’s the end of the month, and that means it’s time for me to discuss another recommended mystery series. This month, I’ll be discussing the first of the Sophie Kimball Mystery Series by J.C. Eaton, Booked 4 Murder.

Sophie starts the novel with a stable job and no interests in uprooting and changing careers – she is an accountant, working for the police in Mankato, Minnesota. Sophie’s only real problem at the moment appears to be her mother’s overactive imagination – she’s convinced that the members of her book club have been ‘cursed’, as a number of them have died recently. Of course, this isn’t necessarily the biggest coincidence, as her mother is a retiree and the book club is at her retirement home – most of the recently deceased are in their 70s or 80s and in generally poor health. However, there were a few unusual coincidences – most notably, each had received a cryptic email with a disturbing message recently. However, as the death counter climbs, Sophie decides to relent and visit her mother, if for no other reason than to set her mind at ease.

Despite being a relatively new-style Cozy, and only published less than a decade ago, this isn’t a really strongly themed book – the protagonist doesn’t run a bakery or a knitting shop and doesn’t spend most of her time working her day job while investigating on the side. While literature elements are present because of the book club, they’re far more mystery-relevant than specialized themes often are in modern Cozies. Regular readers will know how much I appreciate when a book gets right to the mystery, and Booked 4 Murder definitely doesn’t disappoint on that front – the first deaths are discussed on the very first page, having occurred offscreen before the book even begins.

Because of both of these factors, this is definitely one of the more ‘mystery-forward’ Cozies I’ve seen published in the last decade or so. If you’re looking for a modern Cozy with relatively light ‘theme-ing’, I can definitely recommend Booked 4 Murder.

As always, if you want to read more of these brief discussions of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page.