May Reading List

I found a new cozy mystery author in May with a long series. Joy! I read fourteen books and discarded another half dozen.

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry 2025

This book is a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and I can see why. It’s a romance, but it’s more than that. It’s also a mystery, and the story of an elderly woman whose family was once in the limelight and the pitfalls of being a public figure. The romantic couple are journalists who meet when they vie for the right to write the woman’s biography. I loved this book. 5 stars.

Between a Flock and a Hard Place by Donna Andrews 2024

Donna Andrews is my newly discovered author. This book is number thirty-something in Ms. Andrews’ coy mystery series. I haven’t read any of the others, but had no trouble following along. Andrews has won many mystery awards and I can see why.

Two hundred feral turkeys are released in a neighborhood. Murder follows the turkey fiasco and the series main character, Meg Langslow, blacksmith and assistant to the mayor, is in the middle of everything. Entertaining, not too deep, but if you are a reader who tends to get invested in a series’ characters, then you will love this series. I’m going to backtrack to book one and work my way forward. I gave this 5 stars because the writing is excellent.

When Stars Collide by Susan Elizabeth Phillips 2021

An opera singer having voice problems does a marketing tour with a Chicago Stars QB for high-end watches. After a rough start they become friends. She’s being threatened and he looks after her. She’s afraid she can’t have both love and a career and sends him away. Obviously they find their way back to each other because, hey, it's a romance and needs a happily ever after. 5 stars

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn 2015

I absolutely love this series. So much so that even though I read the entire series last year, I am starting at the beginning and rereading it. This is a historical mystery centered around a clever, adventurous Englishwoman who is a professional lepidopterous. (She collects rare and unusual butterflies to sell.) Her life is threatened and then turned upside down when she is rescued by a stranger who leaves her in the hands of another stranger. I’d give this 10 stars if I could. I have to settle for 5.

A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn 2017

Book two in the Veronica Speedwell historical mystery series finds Veronica and her male companion, Stoker, working to prove the innocence of a man condemned to hang for the murder of his pregnant mistress.

As always, Ms. Raybourn has populated the story with interesting characters, conflicts, London atmosphere, and the social mores of the late 1800s. The mystery is well plotted and the relationship between Stoker and Veronica continues to grow as we learn more about them. 5 stars.

Terns of Endearment by Donna Andrews 2019

I intended to go back to the first book in this series, but alas, it wasn’t available so I’m reading them willy nilly. I thought it would drive me crazy because I always start with book one in any new to me series, but so far that’s working out just fine.

Terns of Endearment finds the main character, Meg Langslow, taking a cruise with her family on a cut-rate cruise ship. Everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. A woman overboard, murder, a missing crew, and a ship stalled a day from their destination with no way to contact the outside world ratchets up the mystery and suspense. 5 stars.