Think public libraries are staid and quiet? Then welcome to the “Best Little Library in Texas” where restroom fires/accidents, a surprise birth upstairs, angry female demonstrators at the front door, even a study group pledged to kill people because of their DNA (and a subsequent murder) are almost routine. How do six committed librarians and one lonely Texas cowboy survive these dangers? Credit their high quotient of humor, affection for one another, teamwork and community service. The “Best Little Library” proves it’s not the quality of the book collections, it’s the individuals of the staff who make the library exceptional.

Jenny Weston moves home to Bear Falls, Michigan, to nurse her bruised ego back to health after a bitter divorce. But the idyllic vision of her charming hometown crumbles when her mother's Little Library is destroyed. The next-door neighbor, Zoe Zola, a little person and Lewis Carroll enthusiast, suspects local curmudgeon Adam Cane, but when he's found dead in Zoe's fairy garden, all roads lead back to her. Jenny, however, believes Zoe is innocent, so the two women team up to find the true culprit, investigating the richest family in Bear Falls, interrogating a few odd townspeople, and delving into long, hidden transgressions--until Adam Cane isn't the only body in town, and they have an even bigger mystery to solve. Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli's quaint and compelling series debut A Most Curious Murder will delight cozy mystery readers.

Abbie Brown calls her old high school flame, Bruno, to help her brief a rich client on Abbie’s extensive design and decoration project for the client’s already elegant home. The client is Lois, Abbie’s close friend and former college roommate. Before Abbie and Bruno arrive in Canyon Lake to conduct their briefing, Lois’ husband, Hugh, goes missing. Lois insists Abbie and Bruno stay at her home and find her husband. Abbie’s design and decoration project is on hold until Hugh is found. Meanwhile, a red bikini and bra-clad female is found dead on a nearby beach. Local newspaper dubs the dead girl ‘The Lady in Red.’ Police Chief Rogers of Canyon Lake can’t identify the girl, so focuses his investigation on her, rather than the missing Hugh Grimes. Wealthy Hugh Grimes is best known for his speeding around town in his bright red sports car. A fire on the north shore of the lake, a burned male corpse found in that fire and a third murder--a well-known female who recently dyed her hair fiery red--is linked to the previous two ‘red’ deaths. Chief Rogers is unable to solve either case. Can Abbie and Bruno--increasingly interested rekindling their old relationship--restore peace and quiet to this rural Texas Hill Country community, despite the three murders?

Small-town Texas sheriff Dan Rhodes is in for another puzzling mystery in this next in the entertaining, award-winning series Before classes start one morning, the body of English instructor Earl Wellington is found outside the building of the community college. Wellington was clearly involved in a struggle with someone and has died as a result. Sheriff Dan Rhodes pursues and arrests Ike Terrell, a student who was fleeing the campus. Ike's father is Able Terrell, a survivalist who has withdrawn from society and lives in a gated compound. He's not happy that his son has chosen to attend the college, and he's even less happy with the arrest. Rhodes discovers that Wellington and Ike had had a confrontation over a paper that Wellington insisted Ike plagiarized. Wellington also had had a confrontation with the dean and was generally disliked by the students. As the number of suspects increases, it's up to Rhodes to solve the murder while also dealing with an amusing but frustrating staff, a professor who wants to be a cop, and all the other normal occurrences that can wreak havoc in a small town. Bill Crider's Compound Murder is an enjoyable police procedural filled with surprises, chuckles, and a quirky cast that will captivate mystery readers.

After being accused and acquitted in the death of his girlfriend, seventeen-year-old David is sent to live with his aunt, uncle, and young cousin to avoid the media frenzy. But all is not well at his relatives? house. His aunt and uncle are not speaking, and twelve-year-old Lily seems intent on making David?s life a torment. And then there?s the issue of his older cousin Kathy?s mysterious death some years back. As things grow more and more tense, David starts to wonder?is there something else that his family is trying to hide from?

“KIA: Killed In the Alamo” highlights the struggle of three Alamo Colonels (Travis, Bowie and Crockett) to organize, sustain and lead the stubborn defenders of the Alamo who gave their lives fighting for an independent Texas. On March 6, 1836, Mexican General, (and President) Santa Ana directed his powerful army to not only assault the old Alamo and its Texas defenders, he ordered the immediate execution of any survivors. The defenders of the Alamo, mostly volunteers, came from eastern and southern United States, Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, and Denmark as well as well as Texas. Sadly, the birthplaces of 48 of the 212 slain defenders are unknown. To honor their heroism and bravery, a roster of their names is at Chapter 14. Perhaps the highest accolade for these heroic defenders is that inscribed on the Cenotaph in San Antonio, Texas, next to the Alamo: “IN MEMORY OF THE HEROES WHO SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES AT THE ALAMO MARCH 6, 1836, IN THE DEFENSE OF TEXAS. THEY CHOSE NEVER TO SURRENDER NOR RETREAT; THESE BRAVE HEARTS, WITH FLAG STILL WAVING, PERISHED IN THE FLAMES OF NOBILITY THAT THEIR HIGH SACRIFICE MIGHT LEAD TO THE FOUNDING OF TEXAS.”

This first book in an irresistible new series introduces librarian and reluctant sleuth Raymond Ambler, a doggedly curious fellow who uncovers murderous secrets hidden behind the majestic marble façade of New York City’s landmark 42nd Street Library. Murder at the 42nd Street Library follows Ambler and his partners in crime-solving as they track down a killer, shining a light on the dark deeds and secret relationships that are hidden deep inside the famous flagship building at the corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. In their search for the reasons behind the murder, Ambler and his crew uncover sinister, and profoundly disturbing, relationships among the scholars studying in the iconic library. Included among the players are a celebrated mystery writer who has donated his papers to the library’s crime fiction collection; that writer’s long-missing daughter, a prominent New York society woman with a hidden past, and more than one of Ambler’s colleagues at the library. Shocking revelations lead inexorably to the traumatic events that follow—the reading room will never be the same.