Mostly Murders

February was a month of great ARCs, from Belle Époque Paris glamour and bohemian vibes in Secrets of the Maison Fournier to contemporary best friend sleuths in Dying to Live Here and Golden Age murder mystery in A Pretender’s Murder.

For the A-Z Cozy Mystery Challenge on Instagram I revisited the lovely sleuth duo Edwina and Beryl in Murder in an English Glade and I enjoyed a Victorian-era murder mystery in A Lady’s Guide to Gossip and Murder.

February was also a month of great free finds on Bookfunnel, with the contemporary cozy mystery prequel A Nose for Trouble, the DI Ryan Hale series prequel novella Always Watching, and the historical mystery novella A Killer in Karston. I also found some great non-mystery reads this month with the rom-com novellas Out of Practice and The Galentine Ex-Change, and the short story collection Man with a Pan.

I read Mrs. McGinty’s Dead for the ReadChristie2026 challenge on Instagram, enjoyed a review copy of the contemporary mystery romance Lost Heart in King Manor, and read about the power of literacy and writing in the historical novels Testament of Ashes and Frozen River.

I was entertained by hashtags, mastiffs and baked goods in Murder is a Piece of Cake, I was thoroughly tempted by the descriptions of food in A Mumbai Murder Mystery and I was swept away to a world of myths and magic in A Master of Djinn.