Strange events from 1938 lead to the present-day cold-blooded killing of a ranch hand in remote canyon country near Moab, Utah. The only clues besides a 9-mm bullet in the victim’s head: an ancient-Indian potsherd stuck into his chest. Deputy Sheriff Manny Rivera is assigned the case and judges it’s related to a drug deal gone bad. He’s actually up against an intelligent, cunning adversary driven by greed who’s discovered a long-forgotten cave containing rare museum-quality Indian artifacts. 🏜️
Rich Curtin writes police procedural with attention to the specific landscape and culture of Utah canyon country. Local politicians and merchants are exerting pressure for a quick resolution—the killing threatens to disrupt the upcoming tourist season, Moab’s sole economic lifeline. After all, who wants to explore the backcountry with a killer loose out there? Rivera must work quickly while staying thorough. 🔍
In the end, Rivera faces an ethical dilemma: enforce the letter of the law or serve the cause of justice? And a woman learns the answer to a question that’s been haunting her for seventy years. Curtin ties the past and present together beautifully. 💀
Why this grips from page one: A ranch hand killed in Utah canyon country with an ancient potsherd in his chest connects to strange 1938 events—police procedural with Moab setting, rare Indian artifacts, political pressure, an ethical dilemma, and a seventy-year mystery finally answered.
There’s a handsome new guy at Runaway Farm and Keats isn’t happy about the competition. The bossy border collie wants to be Ivy’s one-and-only partner in crime-solving. Cats are unwelcome here. When a curmudgeonly cat-sitter targets Ivy with slanderous claims, however, a curious cat may be exactly what’s needed to help sort truth from lies. And when a Clover Grove resident gets their final cut in the family’s new salon, Ivy needs all hands—and paws—on deck. 🐱
Ellen Riggs writes cozy mystery with genuine wit and animal dynamics that feel specific rather than generic. The ginger feline won’t take no for answer—not from Ivy, not from Keats. He’s determined to join the murder investigation, and it turns out there are people to see and places to go that elude even the most ambitious canine. 🐕
Can the furry rivals make peace in time to save Ivy from another stinking murderer in farm country? Riggs balances the cozy mystery mechanics with the cat-versus-dog dynamics beautifully, and the question of whether mysteries can only be solved by clever cats gives the book its comedic engine. 😸
What makes this special: A bossy border collie and a determined ginger cat must team up to solve a murder at Runaway Farm—cozy animal mystery with cat-versus-dog rivalry, a slandered heroine, a murder in the family salon, and the question of whether some mysteries only clever cats can solve.
Ruby Holmes is just a girl with a food truck, a dream of seeing the country, and a mild-to-moderate addiction to chocolate. She’s not looking for love, trouble, or roots. So naturally, she ends up with all three. When she rolls into Carmel Springs, Maine, Ruby’s barely unpacked her spatula before she’s asked on a date by the local hunk—fisherman, flirty smile, the whole sea-salted package. Instead of a romantic dinner, she stumbles across his corpse. 🍫
Rosie A. Point writes cozy mystery with sass and a heroine whose voice is genuinely fun. Murder? Bad. Being accused of it? Worse. By a detective with all the warmth of week-old chowder? Let’s just say Ruby’s not impressed. Now stuck in town, food truck sidelined, and freedom on hold, Ruby’s got no choice but to whip up a murder investigation of her own. 🔍
Armed with sass, snacks, and a nose for nonsense, she’s on the killer’s trail with help from her baking best friend Bee. Point balances the cozy mystery mechanics with Ruby’s voice beautifully—she’s trapped in a town she didn’t plan to stay in, investigating a murder she absolutely didn’t sign up for. 😱
What makes this irresistible: A food truck owner with a chocolate addiction stumbles over her date’s corpse and gets accused of murder—cozy mystery with Maine setting, a detective with week-old-chowder warmth, sass and snacks, freedom on hold, and an investigation Ruby whips up with her baking bestie.
Good Girl, Bad Girl (Cyrus Haven Series)
A girl is discovered hiding in a secret room after a terrible crime—half-starved, filthy, refusing to tell anyone her name, age, or where she came from. She doesn’t appear in missing persons files. Her DNA matches no identity. Six years later, still unidentified and living in a secure children’s home as Evie Cormac, she initiates a court case demanding release as an adult. Forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven must determine if she’s ready. 😰
Michael Robotham writes psychological thriller with genuine unease and a heroine unlike anyone you’ve met—fascinating and dangerous in equal measure. Evie knows when someone is lying, and no one around her is telling the truth. Meanwhile, Cyrus investigates the shocking murder of high school figure-skating champion Jodie Sheehan. Pretty and popular, Jodie is portrayed as the ultimate girl-next-door, but as Cyrus peels back layers, a secret life emerges—one that Evie knows something about. 🔍
Robotham weaves the two cases together beautifully: one girl who needs saving, another who needs justice. Cyrus, haunted by his own tragic history, is caught between both. The question of what price he’ll pay for the truth gives the book its devastating center. 💔
What makes this a must-read: A girl found in a secret room six years ago knows when people lie—and a murdered skating champion had secrets. Psychological thriller with a forensic psychologist caught between one girl who needs saving and another who needs justice, from Michael Robotham at his absolute best.
Christopher Kimball and the James Beard Award-winning team at Milk Street show you how to make the most of your Instant Pot or multicooker with 150 flexible recipes designed for your schedule. Cook it fast with the pressure cooker setting for quick weeknight meals, or cook it slow for make-ahead flexibility. Same pot, same dish, two ways—you choose the timing that works. 🍲
The genius here is versatility: each recipe shows how to prepare the dish both ways. Vegetables take center stage in hearty mains like Potato and Green Pea Curry. Grains that normally require standing and stirring—risotto, steel-cut oats, polenta—now join the weeknight lineup. Beans cooked from scratch skip the overnight soak and load up on flavor in dishes like Black Beans with Bacon and Tequila. 🌶️
Kimball writes cookbooks with global inspiration and practical American sensibility, and this collection transforms the multicooker from pressure-cooking novelty to genuine kitchen workhorse. Whether you’re racing against a deadline or planning ahead, the same pot delivers. 🥘
What makes this essential: 150 Instant Pot recipes from James Beard Award-winning Milk Street, each showing how to cook the same dish fast or slow—hearty vegetarian mains, risotto without stirring, beans from scratch without soaking, and global flavors adapted for weeknight American cooking.
Before she was a rising star in the DA’s office, Alex Hayes was a rookie prosecutor with everything to prove—and a ruthless defense attorney standing in her way. When a high-stakes fraud case lands on her desk, Alex is confident it’s open and shut. The evidence is airtight, the paper trail unbreakable, and the victims desperate for justice. Then Michael Donovan steps in. ⚖️
L.T. Ryan and Laura Chase write legal thriller with genuine courtroom tension and a heroine facing the trial that will forge her. Donovan is a brilliant, manipulative defense lawyer with a reputation for turning slam-dunks into acquittals, and he makes everything about this supposedly simple case considerably more complicated. The evidence starts looking less airtight. The paper trail develops holes. 😰
As pressure mounts from all sides and the trial spirals into a psychological chess match, Alex must outwit a master manipulator without losing herself in the process. Ryan and Chase understand that the best courtroom dramas are as much about character as tactics, and watching Alex learn to hold her own makes for compelling reading. ⚡
Why this grips from page one: A rookie prosecutor with an airtight fraud case faces a brilliant defense attorney who turns slam-dunks into acquittals—legal thriller showing the trial that forged Alex Hayes, with courtroom chess matches, mounting pressure, and the question of how to win without losing yourself.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 3Page 3