The sun finally came back out to play this month in the Bay. Of course, this meant lots of lovely reading picnics or afternoons with the Kindle on our sunny rooftop. Spring has sprung – and so, apparently, has my reading pace.

52 Book Club: A series of beneficial binges

I managed to read 13 books for this challenge in March, due in large part to some silly but useful book binging sessions. I went on a cozy binge at the very start of the month, followed by a foray into tea and fantasy. That combined with several recent and upcoming releases made for a productive challenge month, including…

5. Plot includes a heist: A Tempest of Tea

(Covered in my fantasy tea post!)

6. Genre 1 – Set in Spring: Marigold Mind Laundry

Cozy and both what I expected and quite a surprise. Somewhat similar to Water Moon in its surrealism, and its more closed cast. But like earlier healing fiction, you get to follow the building of a community and the impacts that the magical changes have on various friends and family members. Not my favorite of this genre – the laundry theme doesn’t do it for me – but solid.

7. Genre 2 – Set in Summer: Kiss the Girl

You will see several entries this month of the Meant to Be series of Disney / fairy tale retellings, as I had a bit of a binge here. Kiss the Girl is the Ariel story, and I thought it was – fine. The parallels to The Little Mermaid were clever, and it was fun to follow along with a tour bus for an emerging band. Plus, there were some cute epistolary components with Ariel texting her sisters which brought a smile to my face. If you enjoyed the movie and are at all curious, worth the fast read.

8. Genre 3 – Set in Autumn: Murder at Gull’s Nest

This upcoming novel by Jess Kidd follows a nun as she traces the disappearance of one of her novices. The story is best when it explores and evolves this relationship. It’s a bit less strong when it leans on common “cozy” tropes (i.e. silver fox detective). More on this to come – April looks like a GREAT reading month.

16. Author has won an Edgar Award: Checkmate to Murder

I’ve recently fallen in love with E.C.R. Lorac. Checkmate to Murder had the dual attraction of a mystery and an art story. A fun Golden Age read that stood out mostly for its depiction of life during the Blitz.

18. A character who can fly: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

Western cozy fantasy done right! A very sweet book that, in hindsight, gave me kind of comfy Diana Wynne Jones vibes. If you want cute cottages, cuter romance, and a friendly witchy community, this will be right up your alley.

21. Character’s name in the title: Tea with the Black Dragon

Part of my tea binge. Unfortunately, had very little to do with tea, so I left it out of the tea fantasy post… And while this felt technically well-written and executed, its depiction of Silicon Valley felt off enough to me that I wasn’t able to buy in. Sad because I really wanted to love this.

23. Has a sprayed edge: The Ragpicker King

(Covered at length over here!)

24. Title is a spoiler: Death in the Downline

Fun fact: I’m not-so-secretly obsessed with MLMs. So a cozy mystery that takes place in the MLM world immediately caught my eye. As someone who has limited personal experience and a LOT of fascination with this industry, it was somehow both funny and fascinating. A fun send-up of multi-level marketing but a serious exploration of the tricks they use to attract and retain sellers / victims.

37. Genre chosen for you by someone else: This Beautiful, Ridiculous City

Not just the genre but the book was recommended to me by my friend @hodgepodgebricolage. (If you’re into medical or scientific art, check out her page! She does some really fun stuff.) This fast and beautiful visual memoir struck a chord as a first-generation Bengali immigrant. While obviously many aspects of Sohini’s experience differ from mine, the core parts of the culture – and her love of food – seriously resonated. The art is beautiful and somehow also reminded me of Amar Chitra Katha comics in the best way (maybe the font?). I devoured this.

38. An adventure story: The Queens of Crime

If you’ve ever wondered “What would happen if the Queens of Crime solved a mystery together?”, Marie Benedict’s latest has you covered. A fun imagining of how these absolute icons might solve a mystery… though their motivation for solving said mystery was – perhaps – not my favorite. The most charming part of this novel is in the interactions between the authors themselves. Sayers in particular, as the narrator, gets a nice biographical highlight which I enjoyed. But when the story focuses on their “unique perspective on crime-solving”, it strays into more tried-and-true promo-feminist territory. A fun read for sure, and one that primarily made me want to visit France and read mysteries on the beach again.

41. Cover font is in a primary color: If the Shoe Fits

Cinderella, retold in reality TV + fashion format. Also the start to my Meant to Be binge. Going behind the scenes of reality TV is a trope that I can enjoy endlessly. A fun, cozy, quick read, and probably my favorite of this binge session.

52. Published in 2025: You Are Fatally Invited

A recent mystery release, and one I wanted to love. Murder party, only authors invited, hosted on a private island, that turns all too real? What’s not to love… This one leans a little bit more Andreina Cordani – I’d call it more thriller than mystery. Which means that it’s not really my cup of tea, unfortunately… I do wish book marketers would play this a little more straight, as I am more than happy to select into this kind of thriller but hate being surprised by them.

…Whew. 25% of my book challenge completed in 1 month… but now is where the tricky stuff starts. Usually, at this point, I find myself distracted / unenthusiastic about the remaining prompts. Plus, April is a bumper month for exciting mystery releases, so I may be a bit distracted getting through all my lovely new books. Speaking of which…

Looking ahead – books I’m excited for in April

There are so many great mystery + fantasy books coming out in April. In fact, there are so many coming out tomorrow that I’m tempted to carve out some PTO to dig into this lovely pile of new reads. On the flip side, I am probably not going to be the most focused on my 52 Book Club Challenge…

April 1

• A Drop of Corruption is the second Ana and Din mystery by Robert Jackson Bennett, and it’s perhaps even better than the first one. More detailed thoughts on this to come, but I cannot recommend this enough if you’re into hard political fantasy.
• Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man is the return of Vera Wong, one of my favorite amateur sleuths last year! Plus, her stories take place in San Francisco – and it’s lovely to read local mysteries. I can’t wait to experience Vera’s latest shenanigans.
• The Railway Conspiracy combines one of my favorite mystery series from last year with trains, a family obsession. (One of my grandfathers was a railway engineer, and it turns out that sticks in the blood.) Cannot wait for another outing with Dee and Lao…
• Gifted and Talented by Olivie Blake has a ton of the elements I love – crumbling elite family + urban fantasy. That plus the popularity of The Atlas Six makes me quite excited to give this a try.
• This is Not a Game is another closed-circle mansion murder mystery set on Mackinac Island (no cars allowed!). Apparently it features a grandmother and granddaughter solving the crime, which is a nice cozy twist. We shall see how well this debut author does with the puzzle element, but I’m looking forward to a cozy read.
• The Gatsby Gambit is about Gatsby’s ward solving a murder in West Egg. Expect luxury and perhaps stupid amounts of opulence to go with the puzzle. An author debut, so we shall see how this one goes…

April 8

• The Maid’s Secret is the next in the Maid series, featuring autistic Molly the Maid. I love this character and her story and can’t wait to see what she gets up to next!

April 29

• How to Seal Your Own Fate is the follow up to How to Solve Your Own Murder, which I quite enjoyed last year. Looking forward to seeing how this story moves forward!

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Whew. Quite a month of reading, and I can’t wait to dive into April. Which books are you most looking forward to taking off your TBR next month?

Until next time, stay cozy, and stay curious!