Out Cold: A Little Bruce Book by Ryan T. Higgins

For the kids, try Out Cold: A Little Bruce Book by Ryan T. Higgins. According to Penguin Random House, “It’s wintertime in Soggy Hollow and the mice are doing all their favorite outdoor things, like ski jumping, building a snow family, and ice skating. But not Bruce. He’s inside with a cold. So the mice decide to bring the winter fun indoors! Lucky Bruce!”

“[It was a] big hit with my five-year-old,” says one Howe staff member.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Do you love true crime and cold cases, you will probably like The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. This book tells the story of four unlikely friends who meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room of a retirement village to discuss unsolved crimes.

“When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case,” Penguin Random House says.

The library staff says this is considered a cozy mystery. “It's funny and witty and not very graphic. If you liked the humor in An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten, you might enjoy this.”

This is the first in a series, the library staff recommends reading them in order because the stories build upon one another.

It All Comes Down to This by Therese Anne Fowler

It All Comes Down to This by Therese Anne Fowler tells the story of three sisters who are coming to terms with the choices they’ve made in life and how they changed their lives. The reflecting begins when they realize that their mother is dying.

“Beck, the eldest, is a freelance journalist whose marriage has long been devoid of passion, and she's recently begun to suspect that her husband, Paul, is hiding something from her. Though middle sister Claire is an accomplished pediatric cardiologist, her own heart is a mess, and her unrequited love for the wrong man is slowly destroying her. And while Sophie, the youngest, appears to have an Instagram-ready life of glamorous work and travel, her true existence is a cash-strapped house of cards that may fall at any moment,” MacMillan Publishers says.

Their mother Marti’s will surprises the sisters by stating that the family’s summer cottage will be sold and the proceeds will be split. The buyer is an ex-con with a complicated past and a history with one of the sisters.

“Choices and consequences, mistakes and misapprehensions, obligations and desires: before long, everyone in this cast of indelible characters will have to come to terms with the ways their lives have turned out differently than they expected, as well as the secrets they’ve been keeping from each other––and themselves,” MacMillan Publishers says.

For more library staff favorites, click here.