Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman

 aired the week of April 27, 2026

Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman is a stand alone novel featuring a minor character in several of Lippman's Tess Monaghan series. Muriel Blossom is in her seventies.  Her dear husband Harold has passed away and her daughter and grandchildren are moving to Tokyo.  Muriel plans a trip to Paris before she returns to her home city of Baltimore.  But on the trip she meets many interesting people and becomes embroiled in a mystery.  It is a good thing Muriel Blossom doesn't scare easily and that she has experience working for a private eye.  A fun mystery with a memorable main character.  Recommended for fans of Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club series and Catherine Mack's Vacation Mysteries.

The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens

 aired the week of April 20, 2026

The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens is the 2026 All Iowa Reads selection.  Hana Babic works at a library.  She has been very successful at keeping a low profile until her best friend Amina Junuzovic is brutally killed.  Hana knows that the killer has ties to their life before, their life in Yugoslavia during the Bosnian War in the 1990s.  Hana has worked to hard to stay hidden to let a stranger ruin her life.  It is up to her to track down Amina's killer and eliminate the threat.  Recommended for those who enjoyed Geraldine' Brooks' People of the Book.

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

 aired the week of April 13, 2026

News of the World by Paulette Jiles is a novella written in 2016 set in Texas after the end of the Civil War.  Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels around to towns in Texas to read the news.  In one town he is entrusted with a young girl who was a captive of the Kiowa Indians for four years.  It is his job to return her to her relatives south near San Antonio.  Only Johanna doesn't want to be returned to white people she doesn't know she wants to go back to her real family in Oklahoma.  Join Johanna and the Captain as they make the long and dangerous journey south.