The Baroness’ Choices of New Books Publishing This Week
2025, Week 49’s New Books
My choices for this week include Cozy Culinary Paranormal Mystery, Cozy Paranormal Mystery, Cozy Mysteries, Police Procedural Mysteries, Young Adult Romantic Fantasies, Young Adult Thriller, and Sweet Cowboy Romance.
Can you believe that December is already upon us? That means it’s almost Christmas and then the New Year! I felt like once it hit May, this year had gone by fast.
I found some excellent books for the first week of December! I have read one of these books, and another is on my TBR.
Here are my choices for New Books Publishing Week 49 of 2025!
A Jingle of Justice by Daryl Wood Gerber
Fairy Garden Mysteries #5.5
Publication Date: December 1, 2025
Genre: Cozy Culinary Paranormal Mystery
Carmel-by-the-Sea garden shop owner Courtney Kelly is merrily preparing the shop for the holidays . . .
Courtney cherishes the festive season. She loves displaying jingle bells and creating seasonally-themed fairy gardens. She looks forward to the book club tea when she will serve delicious gingerbread cookies and discuss a darling mystery set at the holidays.
But when a stranger comes in talking about buried treasure in the courtyard and, soon after, the stranger is found dead in the shop while clutching one of the shop’s jingle bells, Courtney’s joy fizzles. Although she knows the police are savvy, she intends to discover the truth. Did the town grinch kill the stranger? Did another treasure hunter end the woman’s life? Did the clockmaker decide it was the woman’s time to die? It might take a dash of fairy dust and some holiday magic for Courtney to identify the killer.
A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Cheating Death by Maxie Dara
SCYTHE Mysteries #2
Publication Date: December 2, 2025
Genre: Cozy Paranormal Mystery
Goodreads | Bookhype | BookBub | StoryGraph | Amazon
A LIBRARY READS PICK!
When a determined killer targets her brother, a grim reaper risks everything to save him in this delightful cozy mystery.
Nora Bird works for S.C.Y.T.H.E., which might seem odd for someone as terrified of death as she is. But ever since her parents died in an accident when she was six, she’s been obsessed with avoiding risk, and what better place to learn how to cheat death than the company that employs the nation’s grim reapers?
The work enables Nora to learn all about the myriad ways you can kick the bucket, which is comforting…until one day, a file crosses her desk with a name she recognizes. Her twin brother’s.
The twins haven’t spoken in six months, but Charlie is all Nora has left. Completely against her cautious nature, Nora steals the file and flees, racing to her brother’s house. She begs him to trust her that his death is imminent, and they hit the road (with his parrot, Jessica, who has plenty to say) in an attempt to evade both death and S.C.Y.T.H.E., whose sole mission of collecting souls has been disrupted by Charlie’s continued existence.
Alas, every time Nora saves him, a new cause of death appears in his file. Someone is determined to take Charlie out, and Nora will have to use everything she’s ever learned about death to discover the culprit.
All My Bones by P. J. Nelson
Old Juniper Bookshop Mysteries #2
Publication Date: December 2, 2025
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Goodreads | Bookhype | BookBub | StoryGraph | Amazon
Madeline Brimley, new owner of a bookstore in a small Georgia town, finds herself playing sleuth when a friend is charged with the murder of a much-disliked woman.
Madeline Brimley recently inherited a bookstore in Enigma, Georgia, is embarking on her second career, after her first one (acting) founders upon the metaphorical rocks. Settling in, Madeline recruits her friend Gloria Coleman, the local Episcopal priest, to help her plant azaleas in the front yard of the old Victorian that houses the bookstore. Turning the soil, however, uncovers the body of one Beatrice Glassie, a troublesome woman who has been missing for the past six months.When her friend Gloria is arrested for the murder, Madeline is determined to prove her innocence and, as she quickly finds out, there aren’t many people in town who hadn’t wanted to kill Bea Glassie at one point or another. And the very expensive and rare first edition of a particular volume of Grimm’s Fairy Tales―ordered by the victim and her sister is somehow tied to the grim death. With the help of her not-quite-boyfriend, a local lawman, and her deceased aunt’s best friend, Madeline plans to set a trap to catch the real murderer―before she becomes the next victim.
Edge by Tracy Clark
Detective Harriet Foster #4
Publication Date: December 2, 2025
Genre: Police Procedural Mystery
Goodreads | Bookhype | StoryGraph | Amazon
When a tainted drug starts claiming lives across the city, Detective Harriet Foster and her team race to track down the source…before it takes one of their own.
Chicago’s finest are scouring the city for a tainted new opioid making the rounds, but they’re coming up empty. With five people already dead―a college kid, a new mother, and three poker players―all they really know is the drug’s name: Edge. Where it’s coming from is still anyone’s guess.
Detective Harriet Foster doesn’t have time for guessing games. She needs answers. And when the next overdose hits Homicide where it hurts most, Harri is determined to get what she wants. But keeping her eyes squarely on the prize proves harder than expected.
Still reeling from her last case (and the stain of suspicion it left on her career), Harri finds herself at a tipping point. The drug isn’t the only edge she needs to worry about. If she can’t come back from her own, there’s no telling whether this investigation will lead to a satisfying conclusion…or her own demise.
Persephone’s Curse by Katrina Leno
Publication Date: December 2, 2025
Genre: Young Adult Romantic Fantasy
Goodreads | Bookhype | BookBub | StoryGraph | Amazon
The Hazel Wood meets Laini Taylor in this gorgeous urban fantasy of sisterhood, ghosts, and old family curses.
Are the four Farthing sisters really descended from Persephone? This is what their aunt has always told them: that the women in their family can trace their lineage right back to the Goddess of the Dead. And maybe she’s right, because the Farthing girls do have a ghost in the attic of their New York City brownstone ―a kind and gentle ghost named Henry, who only they can see.When one of the sisters falls in love with the ghost, and another banishes him to the Underworld, the sisters are faced with even bigger questions about who they are. If they really are related to Persephone, and they really are a bit magic, then perhaps it’s up to them to save Henry, to save the world, and to save each other.
The Body in the Trees by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran
Murder, She Wrote #62
Publication Date: December 2, 2025
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Goodreads | Bookhype | BookBub | StoryGraph | Amazon | Karen’s Book Review
The newest entry in the USA Today bestselling Murder, She Wrote series.
It’s leaf-peeping season in Cabot Cove, but for someone, it’s killing season!
A quartet of friends from Florida have come to Maine to experience a New England autumn, complete with hiking in the woods and fishing. When one of them goes missing, the town rallies to find the presumably lost but otherwise safe tourist. But when newspaper editor Dan Andrews is biking on the trail along a ridge, he looks down and sees a leg caught in the branches of a tree. Count on Jessica Fletcher to uncover the secret reason the victim came to town . . . and how it led to her murder.
The Last Vampire by Romina Garber
Publication Date: December 2, 2025
Genre: Young Adult Romantic Fantasy
Goodreads | Bookhype | BookBub | StoryGraph | Amazon
Pride & Prejudice meets Crave when Austen-loving Lorena Navarro attends a new boarding school expecting to find her own Mr. Darcy, but accidentally awakens the world’s last vampire instead!
Pride comes before the fall.
When a boarding school opens in a once-condemned Victorian manor buried in the woods of New Hampshire, Austen-loving Lorena Navarro enrolls in hopes of finding her own Mr. Darcy. Instead, she stumbles across a coffin and accidentally awakens the world’s last vampire.
After hibernating for nearly three centuries, William Pride is desperate to find his family―and clueless about the modern world. Relying on Lorena for more than just blood, he enrolls at the school to catch up on all he’s missed.
Soon, William uncovers a chilling truth: He is the last hope for his kind’s return to power. Torn between protecting the humans around him and fulfilling his fate, William must make a choice that could change everything. Will he sacrifice his species for love . . . or will he embrace his dark destiny at last?
The Obsession by Natasha Preston
Publication Date: December 2, 2025
Genre: Young Adult Thriller
Goodreads | Bookhype | BookBub | StoryGraph | Amazon
What if being famous was the most dangerous thing you ever did? #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Natasha Preston is back with a twisted tale of social media, secrets, and survival.
SOMEONE IS ALWAYS WATCHING.
Connie never asked to be famous—but thanks to her mother’s relentless vlogging, she and her sister Isla have spent their lives under a virtual microscope. Every smile, every moment curated for clicks. Every stranger online thinking they know them.
Then local girls—girls who look just like Connie—start dying. One by one. As the bodies pile up and the spotlight turns sinister, Connie is forced to confront the terrifying truth: someone isn’t just watching. They’re planning.
The Snow Lies Deep by Paula Munier
Mercy Carr Mystery #7
Publication Date: December 2, 2025
Genre: Police Procedural Mystery
Goodreads | Bookhype | BookBub | StoryGraph | Amazon
The latest thrilling installment in the bestselling Mercy Carr mystery series
Mercy and Troy are looking forward to baby Felicity’s first holiday season, and they’re determined to make it a Christmas to remember. At Northshire’s annual Solstice Soirée, hosted by Northshire’s finest and funded by Mercy’s billionaire pal Feinberg, Amy’s little girl Helena is sitting on Santa Claus’s lap. She’s telling him she’d like a Bitty Baby doll just like little Felicity when the bearded man leaps up, thrusts the toddler at her mother Amy, and staggers away from the festivities. He disappears into the woods. By the time Elvis and Mercy find him, Santa Claus aka the town mayor, is lying on his back, dead. A yule log made of oak sits on his chest, burning bright, a beacon of light on the darkest day of the year.This strange murder is the first of a series of similar Solstice-themed killings targeting the town’s most prominent citizens. Beloved family friend Lillian Jenkins, the grande dame of Northshire, could be next. Mercy and Troy and the dogs must team up with Thrasher and Harrington to capture The Yuletide Killer before he strikes again, this time far closer to home.
A Joyful Home by Shanna Hatfield
Silver Bell Sweethearts #4
Publication Date: December 4, 2025
Genre: Sweet Cowboy Romance
A legacy rooted in silver. A future shaped by love. And two hearts searching for home.
Silver artist Bo Birke has crisscrossed the globe showcasing her award-winning work, but the only place that truly feels like hers is Lovely, Oregon—the quiet Eastern Oregon town where generations of Birkes have crafted heirloom treasures. Time with her beloved grandpa Baylor and her Birke cousins restores her spirit, while the call to protect her family’s legacy grows stronger every time she steps into her workshop. Bo thinks she knows exactly what her future holds… until a chance encounter introduces her to the one thing she didn’t realize she was missing.
Rafe Judson lives for the rhythm of working with horses. When his parents buy a ranch outside Lovely, they tempt him to move there with wide-open pastures and the freedom to train equines the way he prefers. He’s not convinced this small town is where he belongs—until he bumps into a gorgeous, spirited woman in the local convenience store. Suddenly, staying doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.
As the holiday season arrives, Bo and Rafe are drawn together by shared dreams, unexpected laughter, and a growing sense that home isn’t a place—it’s a person.
Will they discover that the joyful home they’ve both been searching for is waiting for them to take a leap of faith?
A wholesome, holiday romance filled with hope and Christmas-kissed nights, A Joyful Home is perfect for readers who love heartfelt family legacies, tender love stories, and happily-ever-afters wrapped in the sparkle of the season.
Well, that’s it for the New Books Releasing Week 49 of 2025
Drop a comment if you like one of the books above or if you have one to recommend.
Thank you for stopping by,
Happy Reading!
Baroness’ Book Trove is an Amazon affiliate, meaning that if you click the link and purchase something, this blog gets a tiny percentage back. Mainly, this helps with the cost of the website and a few giveaways.
Leave a Reply