Here it is, the first of January, and I”m already rushing the year along by talking about February book releases. It’s an occupational hazard. Librarians are always looking ahead for future releases. So, let’s talk about the new books coming soon.

In the sequel to Finlay Donovan is Killing It, Finlay Donovan is still struggling to finish her novel while struggling as the single mother of two. But, someone wants her ex-husband, Steven, permanently out of the picture. In Ellie Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan Knocks “em Dead, Finlay sometimes wants to kill her ex, but she doesn’t actually want him dead. Saving him will send her down a rabbit hole of soccer moms disguised as hit-women, and a little bit more involvement with the Russian mob than she’d like. (Release date is Feb. 1.)

An icy cold murder and a library patron collide in Holly Danver’s second Lakeside Library mystery, Long Overdue at the Lakeside Library. A glowing wood stove, a cozy log cabin, and shelves full of books are all Rain Wilmot needs to ride out the Wisconsin winter, now that she’s made her family’s Lofty Pines library her year-round home. But the warm-hearted librarian’s blood runs cold when a local man, a library patron, is found dead during the annual Ice Fishing Jamboree. And, the prime suspect is one of Rain’s friends. (Release date is Feb. 8.)

It seems the 1920s in the Chicago area is the new rage in mysteries. Jeanne M. Dams’ Murder in the Park is set in a suburb, Oak Park, but it’s set in 1925 when a well-off young widow uncovers prejudice and murder in her hometown. After her husband’s death in World War I, Elizabeth Fairchild cut herself off from her friends. But, she counts the owner of a small antiques store, Mr. Anthony, as a friend. When he’s murdered, the police and the community want to quickly cover it up as a crime among Italians. Elizabeth isn’t ready to give into a powerful club, the women’s version of the local Ku Klux Klan, and accept that verdict. (Release date is Feb. 1.)

In Delilah S. Dawson’s The Violence, three generations of women from one family wake up to a world changed: a mysterious illness dubbed the Violence has overtaken America, causing the infected to fly into a temporary, mindless rage and attack anyone in their path. This epidemic throws the nation into chaos, with daily life devolving into a dystopia. But these sudden bouts of aggression don’t feel new to three abused women. However, the Violence might just provide them with an opportunity. (Release date is Feb. 1.)

I’m going to be so disappointed if Kim Fay’s Love & Saffron doesn’t measure up to “In the spirit of the classic 84, Charing Cross Road“. The blurb says, “This witty and tender novel follows two women in 1960s America as they discover that food really does connect us all, and that friendship and laughter are the best medicine.” Joan, a young woman just discovering herself as a food writer in Los Angeles, sends a fan letter to Imogen, an experienced columnist who lives outside Seattle. Joan also encloses a packet of saffron and a recipe, and their journey of culinary exploration and soul-deep friendship begins. (Release date is Feb. 8.)

Hester Fox introduces two women in her novel of witchcraft and a deep-rooted female power that spans centuries, A Lullaby for Witches. Margaret Harlowe never quite fit with the drawing rooms and parlors of her well-to-do New England family. Instead, she was called to the tangled woods and wild cliffs surrounding the estate, cultivating her uncanny powers until whispers of “witch” dogged her footsteps. One hundred and fifty years later, Augusta Podos takes a dream job at Harlowe House, a family home turned into a small museum. When she stumbles across an oblique reference to a daughter of the Harlowes who has nearly been erased from the historical record, the mystery is too intriguing to ignore. (Release date is Feb. 1.)

Brenda Janowitz’ novel, The Liz Taylor Ring, is the story of a dramatic marriage with its ups and down, including a nine-month hiatus that end with a stunning eleven-carat ring – one that looks just like the diamond Richard Burton gave Liz Taylor after their own separation. The ring would be there as a symbol of their love – until it wasn’t. Decades later, when the lost ring unexpectedly resurfaces, the Schneiders’ three children gather, eager to get their hands on this beloved reminder of their departed parents. But, the secret revealed by the ring challenges everything the siblings thought they knew about their parents’ epic love story. (Release date is Feb. 1.)

A Dash of Death is the first in Michelle Hillen Klump’s new Cocktails and Catering mystery series. After Samantha Warren loses her job as a reporter, she makes other plans. At a meeting of the local historical-homes council, Sam serves up the homemade bitters she intends to use as in “in” to become a party mixologist. But, one of the council members keels over dead, poisoned. And, the mixologist who prepared the drink is the number one suspect. (Release date is Feb. 8.)

Jaye Jordan a radio station owner and DJ, takes on death in Nikki Knight’s Live, Local, and Dead. Jaye thought life would be quieter when she left New York City and bought a tiny Vermont radio station. But, she becomes a murder suspect when, in a fit of anger, she blows a snowman’s head off with a Revolutionary War-style musket. But, a corpse tumbles out, that of a ranting, raving radio talk show host Jaye recently fired. Now, his fans who protested his dismissal are sure Jaye killed him. (Release date is Feb. 8.)

Beach Wedding is a standalone by Michael Ledwidge, who wrote many of the Michael Bennett books with James Patterson. Terry Rourke knows something is up when his brother brings the entire family to the Hamptons for his high society wedding. Rourke’s brother wants to shove his money in the face of everyone there who once turned their backs on the family. But, Terry, a cop, has other plans. He wants to reopen the case that destroyed their father’s life and career, the failed prosecution of a powerful woman suspected of killing her husband. (Release date is Feb. 15.)

Frances Liardet’s Think of Me is a sweeping historical novel that follows one couple’s journey from Egypt to England, from war to peace, from loss to redemption. In Alexandria, Egypt in 1942, Yvette and James hold hands for the first time as bombs explode above them. They find their way back to each other time and again during World War II. After the war, their happiness grows in England, until a tragic event drives them apart, but they have to be brave enough to return to each other. In 1974, ten years after Yvette’s death, James looks for change by moving to another English village. As he makes a new home for himself, he unlocks revelations that might restore his lost faith. (Release date is Feb. 22.)

Homicide and Halo-Halo might be even better than Mia P. Manansala’s debut mystery, Arsenic and Adobo. It’s actually a little darker for a cozy mystery, as Lila Macapagal struggles after her earlier experiences with a murder. She’s piling on the work as she prepares to open her cafe, but she’s struggling emotionally. Sure, judging the local beauty event, the highlight of the town’s year, won’t be more of a burden. But, the discovery that a predatory judge is dead leaves a number of women as suspects, including Lila’s cousin. (Release date is Feb. 8.)

In Emilya Naymark’s Behind the Lie, NYPD detective turned small-town PI Laney Bird is in a fight to save lives – including her own – after a neighborhood block party turns deadly. A transplant to a small town in Upstate New York, all Laney wants is a peaceful life for herself and her son. But, when her neighborhood summer block party explodes in shocking violence and ends with the disappearance of her friend and another woman, she’ll need all her skills as a PI to solve a mystery that reaches far beyond her small town. (Release date is Feb. 8.)

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki is described as an epic novel about the remarkable life of Marjorie Merriweather Post, American Heiress to the General Foods empire. She demanded more than the role prescribed for a woman. Despite her power in the company, her personal life was filled with turmoil with four dramatic marriages. Pataki takes it all on in this novel. (Release date is Feb. 15.)

In the ninth Bruno Johnson thriller, The Sinister by David Putnam, the ex-cop and ex-con is hiding with his wife Marie in an upscale L.A. hotel as Bruno heals from a run-in with a brutal outlaw motorcycle gang, and the loss of the son he didn’t know he had until it was too late. The couple must return to Costa Rica soon to rejoin their large family of rescued children. But, when Bruno’s friend, FBI Deputy Director, Dan Chulack, pleads with Bruno to help rescue his kidnapped granddaughter, all plans are put on hold. After exhausting all legitimate investigative avenues, Chulack seeks Bruno’s brand of justice. (Release date is Feb. 22.)

Deanna Raybourn’s seventh Veronica Speedwell mystery, An Impossible Imposter, is difficult to summarize without spoilers, so I’ll just use the blurb. While investigating a man claiming to be the long-lost heir to a noble family, Veronica Speedwell gets the surprise of her life. London, 1889. Veronica Speedwell and her natural historian beau Stoker are summoned by Sir Hugo Montgomerie, head of Special Branch. He has a personal request on behalf of his goddaughter, Euphemia Hathaway. After years of traveling the world, her eldest brother, Jonathan, heir to Hathaway Hall, was believed to have been killed in the catastrophic eruption of Krakatoa a few years before.When a man shows up, claiming to be Jonathan, Euphemia is doubtful. Sir Hugo wants Veronica to check it out since she was there when Krakatoa erupted. (Release date is Feb. 15.)

I picked Frederick Weisel’s The Silenced Women as debut of the month when it came out in 2021. I hope the second Violent Crimes Investigations Team mystery, The Day He Left, is as good as the first. Here’s the blurb. “Annie has fallen out of the habit of listening to her husband. She and Paul have been married for a long time; it’s easy to nod as he drones on, responding to his voice while completely ignoring every word he says. That becomes a problem, of course, when Paul disappears and the police have questions. Was Paul having issues at work? Is there any reason to think he might harm himself? Annie doesn’t know. But someone does.” (Release date is Feb. 8.)

Other Treasures – These books also have February release dates.

Agee, Joel – The Stone World (2/22)
Black, Daniel – Don’t Cry for Me (2/1)
Fluke, Joanne – Caramel Pecan Roll Murder (2/22)
Hamilton, Hugo – The Pages (2/1)
Henkel, Calla – Other People’s Clothes (2/1)
Klosterman, Chuck – The Nineties (2/8)
Lockhart, Chris and Daniel Mulilo Chama –Walking the Bowl: A True Story of Murder and Survival among the Street Children of Lusaka (2/15)
Morrow, Bethany C. – Cherish Farrah (2/8)
Osler, Rob – Devil’s Chew Toy (2/8)
Reekles, Beth – Lockdown on London Lane (2/1)
Reid, Eliza – Secrets of the Sprakkar (2/8)
Sparks, Leanne Kale – The Wrong Woman (2/8)
Tokarczuk, Olga – The Books of Jacob (2/1)
Tran, Paul – All the Flowers Kneeling (2/8)
Trow, M.J. – Four Thousand Days (2/1)
Turnbull, Bryn – The Last Grand Duchess (2/8)
Vasquez-Lavado, Silvia – In the Shadow of the Mountain (2/1)
Webb, Heather – The Next Ship Home (2/8)
Wilkerson, Charmaine – Black Cake (2/1)
Willberg, T.A. – Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose (2/1)
Wrobel, Stephanie – This Might Hurt (2/22)