School-Set Murder Mystery, Timely Nonfiction, Backlist Mystery Series To Know + News!

You can say I am bewitched by this reading witch ornament—I’ll see myself out now. ($19)

For fans of school-set murder mysteries!

Jess Choudhary is one of the only kids on a scholarship at an elite boarding school and she’s committed to keeping her head down and getting through. Something that becomes impossible when she looks guilty of murdering a fellow student when his death resembles a short story Jess wrote. Whoopsie! Looks like she’ll have to figure out who the murderer really is to clear her name!

For fans of timely nonfiction!

This is my current audiobook read, and it is eye-opening, to say the least. I picked it up because my state’s primary election ballot in August had so many sheriffs running for both parties that I had to do research like I was preparing for the SATs just to even come close to making a dent in the pile of I-know-nothing-about-this. I suspect that most people don’t know the history and current state of the position of sheriff—including the rise of the constitutional sheriff movement—and it is something everyone should know about, especially this close to an election that will have many sheriff positions on the ballot.

For fans of fun, high-stakes, child crime fighting teams!

At twelve years old, Olive Cobin Zang thinks her parents being busy all the time means they don’t really care about her that much. She’s also dealing with a lot of changes in her life: her grandmother has passed away and she’s starting a new boarding school. Except it turns out that Olive isn’t in just any new school when she’s tapped to join a crime-fighting organization that is testing using kids after adults and teens didn’t work out! Now, Olive will learn what it means to be part of a group trained to “prevent chaos, catch lawbreakers.”

The sequel, A Copycat Conundrum, releases on January 13, 2025.

For fans of small town procedurals and missing person cases investigations!

Ben Packard moves to a small town in Minnesota as a new start for him, even though the town doesn’t hold good memories for him. Now, as a sheriff deputy, he takes on the case of two missing teenagers: they broke into a man’s home to steal prescription drugs but he wasn’t asleep…

The third book in the series, A Long Time Gone, will be released on February 4, 2025.