The Cloisters by Katy Hays

October 31, 2022

Tomorrow may be release day, but Halloween is actually the perfect day to introduce Katy Hays’ debut novel, The Cloisters. The setting, The Met’s museum, The Cloisters, celebrates medieval architecture, gardens of the Middle Ages, and the art of the...

The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk

January 25, 2022

While Eva Jurczyk’s debut novel is called The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, it could have just as easily been called The Department of Missing Books and Special Librarians. First there’s one missing book. Then a missing librarian. Then...

Hello, Transcriber by Hannah Morrissey

November 22, 2021

Readers who appreciate Jess Lourey’s troubled protagonists should latch onto Hannah Morrisey’s Hello, Transcriber. This debut features a police transcriber. Hazel Greenlee views Black Harbor, Wisconsin as a purgatory where she’s stuck. Her husband,...

All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris

November 06, 2021

Full disclosure. I read Wanda M. Morris’ debut novel, All Her Little Secrets, way back in April. Morris was on a panel I moderated for Library Journal Day of Dialog in May. I also interviewed her for a profile in Library Journal. Her book was the Lead Read for...

Mango, Mambo, and Murder by Raquel V. Reyes

October 11, 2021

I love a cozy mystery debut that’s a little different with characters that are not the stereotypical white middle-class owners of a craft shop or bookstore. Raquel V. Reyes introduces Cuban-American Miriam Quinones-Smith, a food anthropologist, a wife and...