Hallmark Pivots ‘Aurora Teagarden’ Franchise to Prequel After Candace Cameron Bure’s Exit

A fun and thoughtful murder mystery with an older sleuth. I remain a big fan of Sutanto’s work, and always immediately reach for any new releases she has. I very much recommend taking a dive in her already well-sized backlist.

Vera Wong has opinions for days and is also quite funny — she named her tea shop Vera Wang. Boundaries are also not her strongest suit, so when she finds a dead body in her shop, she steals a bit of evidence and also uses a marker to outline the body — as one does when helping out the police. Naturally, the police are not happy about this or Vera trying to involve herself in the investigation after it’s determined the death was caused by an allergic reaction. And by involvement I mean she decides to get to know who she believes knew the victim most to rule them out, which includes the widow, twin brother, and a journalist. Sutanto does a great job of balancing humor and murder mystery while exploring the ties that bind us.

The audiobook is narrated by Eunice Wong, who you may already know and love from The New Girl and The Verifiers.

(TW neighbor with Alzheimer’s)

A fun book for fans of this genre mashup: romance + con artists crime novels. Cat is sure she will no longer have to pickpocket to make ends meet now that she’s getting a promotion at work… except that promotion is a demotion. Naturally she turns to planning a heist — with a recently met bartender — to steal a frenemy’s engagement ring at her destination wedding. The catch? Cat and her new partner will have to pretend to be in love. What could go wrong? Or right?

(TW brief recount past parent death from illness, not graphic)