An irresistible debut–set against the backdrop of post-WWII Oxford University–that seamlessly layers mystery, romance, and a dash of academia to introduce the Crown’s newest undercover operatives.

He’s brooding. She’s brilliant. Together they’re Oxford’s secret weapon.

Oxford, England, 1951: The Honorable Ginevra Bishop likes red lipstick, clever retorts, and earning top marks in her tutorials. She’s following her mother’s footsteps by studying at Oxford, eager to prove she’s more than a debutante.

Sidney Braithwaite likes brooding, Latin, and ignoring his nightmares. He’s determined to forge a new life for himself at Oxford, far from his childhood mining village and free from memories of the war.

Though Gin and Sidney have little in common, the British Security Service is keen to unite her charm with his espionage experience: there’s a Soviet spy at the university, and the agent tracking them down was poisoned. MI5 wants Gin and Sidney to pick up the trail and identify the informant before more sensitive information is compromised. As a team, the pair of undergraduates clash in personality, upbringing, and taste––but have a connection neither can deny. Gin and Sidney must unite their respective talents to follow the clues before they’re caught in the traitor’s crosshairs…if the sparks flying between them don’t blow up the operation first.

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In this gothic historical tale full of mystery and romance, two girls must uncover the secrets of their haunted home before it’s too late.

THE HARROW HOME FOR WAYWARD GIRLS has housed hundreds of young women hidden away for the duration of their pregnancies. Their homesick cries provided a haunting score to Grace Harrow’s childhood.

Now, in the summer of 1947, the Home has been sold to a wealthy hotelier and Grace expects his daughters will be spoiled brats. Eldest daughter Rose—unaware of Mr. Harrow’s abusive tendencies—is jealous of Grace’s easy confidence. Yet grudgingly, Grace and Rose become co-conspirators, and soon, friends. Fortunately so, because not all of the wayward girls made it out. One is still lingering, living in the shadows, and she’s looking for vengeance.

To uncover the secrets buried in the Harrow Home, Grace and Rose will need to learn to trust one another. Because Grace’s father will go to great lengths to keep things buried. And when they’re unearthed, it could ruin both their families.

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Romeo and Juliet (yes, that Romeo and Juliet) invite you to join them in celebrating the union of their spinster daughter, Rosie (she’s 20!) to Escalus the younger, prince of Verona, where murder is the unexpected guest at the wedding.

Joining us will be the royal and decorous kin of the groom, the Leonardis, as well as the famously rival families, the upstart Montagues and the snooty Capulets. All will be armed with swords and knives; at least one is skilled with poison. At this joyous event, who could foresee what direful occurrences might befall?

If I, the aforesaid Rosie, blushing bride, noted cynic and sleuth, were asked to identify when the pre-wedding events spiraled out of control, I’d point to that moment when elderly Princess Ursula observed the display of gleaming swords and bared teeth and announced that she would hold a public séance to determine the future of the marriage . . .

With the aid of Yorick’s skull and her own considerable dramatic nature, Princess Ursula prophesied three things: the marriage would be joyous and fertile (the guests yawn,) a long-lost treasure would be found . . . and foul and most unnatural murder would disrupt the fragile peace of Verona.

Before the day was done, two prophesies had been fulfilled. Hint: not the fun fertility one. As one death follows another and it’s clear a skilled poisoner lurks among us, coming ever closer to striking down those I love, I use all my wit and skill to discern the reason for the vendetta and uncover the killer’s identity . . . for I would have the holy church bells that now ring a sad lament peel instead for the wedding ceremony and the joyous and fertile future foretold. . .

Story Locale: Verona, fourteenth century Renaissance

Read book 1: A Daughter of Fair Verona

Read book 2: Thus With a Kiss I Die

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They threw it away, and now they’ll kill to get it back.

Garbage collector Cassie Willis is used to hauling away other people’s messes. She’s not used to finding coded documents in a dumpster, being chased by a sinister biker, or stumbling into a murder investigation with a killer who refuses to play fair.

When Cassie brings home a packet of strange papers from her route, she hopes someone at a local gamer café can help identify a mysterious symbol. Instead, her search for answers pulls her into a mystery where online challenges, hidden clues, and dangerous assignments point to something far more sinister.

Soon Cassie is working with police to uncover a deadly scheme, but when the investigation reaches someone close to her boyfriend, the case becomes painfully personal. The closer Cassie gets to the truth, the more danger shows up on her doorstep.

With an evasive killer making threats and the stakes rising fast, Cassie must scavenge the clues before this game reaches its final, deadly level.

The post Dumpsters and Dragons first appeared on Shelves Bookstore.

For fans of Firekeeper’s Daughter, this is an edge-of-your-seat Indigenous YA murder mystery set in Costa Rica from Pura Belpré and Walter Dean Myers Award-winning author of Saints of the Household.

This enthralling murder mystery follows Ulá Dominguez, a Bribri-American teenager, searching for the truth behind her land-activist father’s mysterious death on their Native territory in Costa Rica. Ulá and her brother face off against illegal loggers, kidnappers, settlers, and the Costa Rican government while hunting for clues. Their only ally is a local journalist, who may be in danger himself.

Inspired by real-world missing, dead, and attacked Indigenous activists, award-winning author and poet Ari Tison writes her first novel in prose and pushes the envelope yet again by pulling together a propulsive story full of grief, environmental justice, and the fight for retribution that will resonate with teen readers.

Told in multiple points of view, the narrative also invokes the collective voice of Bribri ancestors. “Together we see” is the literal translation of the Bribri phrase for “goodbye.” Tison challenges the reader to sit with Ulá’s grief, to acknowledge the cost of greed, and to ask themselves “How far would you go to protect your land?”

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From the Hugo award-winning author Naomi Kritzer comes a tense portrait of a future we desperately hope to escape.

O Lord, deliver us.

Doctor Liz has just been acquitted for performing the last abortion in North Dakota when she’s kidnapped.

They’re not just any kidnappers, but a fundamentalist cult, deep in the rural west, without respect for law or decency, and in desperate need of an OB/GYN.

Guarded, isolated, without access to the outside world, Liz nevertheless is treated with respect as the only doctor on the compound, but she is very aware of what happened to the last obstetrician they kidnapped.

She must escape, and bring help to the girls trapped at the compound, if it’s the last thing she does.

The post Obstetrix first appeared on Shelves Bookstore.

A laugh-out-loud, thought-provoking story about the challenges of sisterhood from international bestselling author Kathy Lette. Perfect for fans of Marian Keyes, Dawn French and Jane Fallon.

The Sisterhood Rules: Ah, so many, but the most important three?

1. Share all your secrets—trust is everything
2. Never do the dirty on her—in life, but especially in love
3. Be there for good and bad—nothing, especially a man, is worth losing her over

For twin sisters Isabel and Verity, the sisterhood rules were shattered when Verity had an affair with Isabel’s husband.

Unforgivable, right? Devastated by her sister’s betrayal, Isabel vowed never to speak to her again and for ten years has kept her promise.

But when their mother goes missing, Verity and Isabel are forced to come together again to find her.

The only question is—when the person you once loved the most is now your mortal enemy, can you ever find a way back? And if the sisterhood is to rule, then surely you have to obey all the rules?

The post The Sisterhood Rules first appeared on Shelves Bookstore.

In this new mystery from CL Montblanc, the author of Pride or Die, two internet enemies are forced to work together after a true crime meetup turns into a deadly case of its own.

Seventeen-year-old Sam Tombs hopes to get more eyes on the videos they make to raise awareness of crimes against LGBTQ+ teens. A true crime content creator event seems like the perfect opportunity to grow their channel—until the group becomes stranded at an eerie Victorian mansion, and one of them is killed in the night.

Sam’s alibi, and the only person they can trust, happens to be their mean, dorky internet nemesis Dylan. But the two must now put aside their rivalry and use their investigative skills to figure out who among the remaining teens is the killer, before their own deaths become tomorrow’s trending content.

The post They Want Us Dead first appeared on Shelves Bookstore.

From the author of the acclaimed The World Wasn’t Ready for You comes a thrilling first novel, set in a near future where artificial intelligence runs the world, involving a young medical student who must unravel family secrets to uncover the truth of his father’s mysterious death.

In a time not so far from our own, society is run by a global AI system controlled by an all powerful corporation. The Shepherd Organization oversees every medical school in the country save one in New Orleans, the renegade Hippocrates which still insists on human-led medicine. It is the last choice school for an ambitious young New Yorker named Pok.

But after his father—himself a physician—dies under mysterious circumstance that seems connected to “the shepherds” and their megalomaniacal young CEO, Pok finds himself on a quest for answers that leads right to Hippocrates. Once enrolled, he stumbles upon a further mystery: a strange illness is plaguing newcomers to New Orleans who grew up under shepherd rule.

What is causing this fatal anomaly? And how does it relate to the mystery of Pok’s father’s death and his own mysterious past?

The post The Hospital at the End of the World first appeared on Shelves Bookstore.

A struggling teen discovers solace in technology that lets him view the erased memories of others. As he delves into the past of another boy harboring a dark secret, he embarks on a thrilling journey that uncovers a love he was forced to forget.

Seventeen-year-old Eli was in a near-fatal car crash. As the anniversary looms, his therapist and his family struggle to help him deal with the fallout. The accident has left him emotionally numb, with no memory of the months following the crash.

Desperate to feel something again, Eli discovers a black market for people’s memories. Erased memories that others can watch via a virtual reality simulation.

When he enters the story of a boy called Jack, he discovers a dark truth…a mind-blowing secret that sets him on a dangerous journey that could lead his heart back to where it belongs, or shatter his life forever.

Story Locale: Near-future dystopian England

The post Erase Me first appeared on Shelves Bookstore.