The Baroness’ Choices of New Books Publishing This Week
2025, Week 8’s New Books
My choices for this week include Cozy Historical Mystery, Romantic Thriller, Cozy Animal Mystery, Romantic Comedy, Contemporary Romance, Young Adult Fantasy, and Cozy Paranormal Mystery.
We are almost done with February. How is it going? Is 2025 better than 2024 for you?
I got a short list of books this time. Jen will be reading two books on the list from this week.
Here are my choices for New Books Publishing Week 8 of 2025!
The Case of the Christie Conspiracy by Kelly Oliver
Detection Club Mystery #1
Publication Date: February 16, 2025
Genre: Cozy Historical Mystery
Goodreads | Bookhype | BookBub | StoryGraph | Amazon
Discover the delightfully gripping new historical mystery series that’s perfect for fans of Helena Dixon, Verity Bright and T E Kinsey.
Agatha Christie is about to embark on a new, gripping murder case. But this time, she’s not the author – she’s a suspect…
1926 – Christie is a darling of the literary circuit and the most desired guest in London’s glittering social scene. She can often be found at meetings of the Detection Club – where mystery writers come together to share ideas, swap secrets and drink copiously. But then a fellow author’s initiation ceremony takes a gruesome turn, and one of the group ends up dead. Now, Agatha is no longer just the creator of great mystery plots – she’s a player in one.
And when Agatha disappears the day after the murder, she’s widely assumed to be guilty. Only Eliza Baker, assistant to the Club’s enigmatic secretary, Dorothy Sayers, is interested in investigating the case. But in a world where murder is the ultimate plot device, can Eliza piece together the evidence and find the killer before it’s too late?
All the Captive Girls by Linda Hurtado Bond
Publication Date: February 17, 2025
Genre: Romantic Thriller
Goodreads | BookBub | StoryGraph | Amazon
He’ll take who you love.
From Emmy Award–winning journalist Linda Hurtado Bond comes a ferocious, terrifying game where your own eyes can deceive you…and a killer will watch every move you make.
Tampa Bay crime reporter Mari Alvarez thought the worst was behind her. She thought she could return to work, her sister, her friends, and her still-undefined relationship with Detective Tony Garcia. To find something almost normal…until a killer everyone thought was dead contacts her.
Because he wants to play a game—a twisted dance of revenge, where Mari must play by the rules…or lose everyone and everything she loves.
Now Tampa Bay’s lively Gasparilla pirate festival has turned into an event filled with terror and horror, and Mari is the unwitting star. Every move she makes is being watched by social media, even as the killer twists the truth and manipulates her with lies, deepfakes, and misinformation.
He can take her job. He can take her reputation. He can take everyone who loves her.
And unless she can stop him, he’ll hold her captive in the one cage she won’t be able to escape: her own fear.
Death by Trauma by Abigail Keam
Josiah Reynolds Mystery #21
Publication Date: February 17, 2025
Genre: Cozy Animal Mystery
In the Bluegrass world of oak-cured bourbon, antebellum mansions, and Thoroughbred horse farms are secrets—deadly secrets! Kentucky is not called “the dark and bloody ground” for nothing!
Josiah Reynolds knows this with good reason. She’s solved many a murder, but Josiah prays that she does not stumble across another body. The stress is too much, and she is happy to be invited to a winter sledding party at Haze Corbyn’s home. Corbyn is a former syndicated critic for newspapers and magazines, who retired to the Bluegrass, dabbling in his love of horses.
The party is a kickoff for the Victoria Weathers film retrospective at a local theater. Miss Weathers is even coming for the showing of her first movie and Corbyn’s event. Josiah is excited to meet her movie idol, so it comes as a big surprise when Haze Corbyn turns up dead at his own party.
Never Planned on You by Lindsay Hameroff
Publication Date: February 18, 2025
Genre: Romantic Comedy
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A glittering, laugh-out-loud second chance romance that reminds us true love is sometimes the one thing you never planned on.
Ali Rubin has a reputation for spontaneity. Like that time she made a drunken bet in London that led to matching tattoos with a stranger. Her joie de vivre is one of her best qualities; she lives every day to the fullest and follows her dreams wherever they take her. And now, they’re taking her from her career as a chef in New York City back home to Baltimore, where she’s interning as a wedding planner.
Despite the occasional fantasy about her British tattoo twin, Ali never expected to see Graham again. So no one is more surprised than she is when he turns up in Baltimore, ordering a latte at her favorite cafe. When they reconnect during an enchanting evening together, Ali can’t help but wonder if Graham might be someone special.
At the same time, she’s desperate to succeed in her new career and prove that she isn’t the family flake. When she gets a job planning a high profile wedding at a historic hotel, it seems like things are finally falling into place. That is, until Graham turns out to be the groom.
Graham’s family owns the once-grand, now struggling Black-Eyed Susan, and he’s returned to Baltimore to help his grandmother get it back on its feet. He’s certain that hosting a wedding at the hotel is just the publicity boost it needs. Ali’s boss agrees, and promises Ali a full-time gig if the affair goes off without a hitch. Unfortunately, Ali and Graham can’t seem to ignore their rekindled chemistry, especially when it’s revealed that Graham and his fiancée are planning a marriage of convenience. Still, staying away from each other is the best thing they can do, since giving in to their growing feelings might cost them everything.
Because when it comes to love, all bets are off.
To Sicily with Love by Jennifer Probst
Meet Me in Italy #4
Publication Date: February 18, 2025
Genre: Contemporary Romance
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When she learns she has a big Italian family she never knew about, a lonely woman travels to Sicily for a life-changing summer in the new romance from New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Probst.
Aurora York had it all together: loving parents, a steady relationship, and a promising career. But after she loses both parents unexpectedly, she can’t seem to stay on track any longer. Lonely and lost after a public meltdown that threatens her professional credibility, she’s shocked when DNA test results show a blood relative in Sicily. When her cousin reaches out online and begs her to come to Italy to meet everyone in person, Aurora makes the leap.
Aurora arrives in Sicily for a month, and there she meets a colorful, dynamic family steeped in tradition. The younger generation is fascinated by her social media fame in America, and even though her grandparents have more traditional viewpoints, Aurora begins to heal from her grief…and enjoys the attention of a kind and handsome Italian man.
But when the summer ends, a new opportunity calls her back to the States and her old habits threaten to reemerge. Will Aurora leave everything in Sicily she loves behind, or take the chance on a whole new future?
Unhallowed Halls by Lili Wilkinson
Publication Date: February 18, 2025
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Goodreads | Bookhype | BookBub | StoryGraph | Amazon
DARK ACADEMIA…WITH DEMONS.
A teen girl travels to an exclusive boarding school after a deadly incident at her old school, but the wood-paneled halls of Agathion are built over centuries of secrets—including an ancient society which may have ties to demonic magic—in this dark academia fantasy perfect for fans of Curious Tides.
Page Whittaker has always been an outcast. And after the deadly incident that destroyed her single friendship at her old school, she needs a fresh start. Which is why when she receives a scholarship offer from Agathion College, an elite boarding school folded deep within the moors of Scotland, she doesn’t even consider turning it down.
Agathion is everything Page has ever wanted: a safe haven full of dusty books, steaming cups of tea and rigorous intellectual debate. And for the first time in her life, Page has even managed to become part of a close group of friends. Cyrus, Ren, Gideon, Lacey and Oak help her feel at home in Agathion’s halls–the only problem is, they’re all keeping secrets from her.
Page doesn’t know it yet, but her perfect new school has dark roots–roots that stretch back to its crooked foundation, and an ancient clandestine society with rumored ties to demonic magic. Soon, Page will be forced to learn that not everyone at Agathion is who they say they are. Least of all, her friends.
Agathion claims to teach its students history…but some histories should stay buried.
Wheels and Dirty Deals by Trixie Silvertale
Harper and Moon Investigations #6
Publication Date: February 18, 2025
Genre: Cozy Paranormal Mystery
Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Jen’s Book Review
A cryptic murder. A complete lack of suspects. Can our psychic sleuth find a lead or is she spinning her wheels?
Mitzy Moon is brimming with excitement. Planning an anniversary surprise, she’s working overtime to hide the details of a luxurious European vacation from her husband. But before she can book a single ticket, a shockingly suspicious murder lands in her lap.
With only a flimsy lead, Mitzy heads undercover into the local roller derby league. And though she rallies her entitled feline and meddling Ghost-ma to help hunt down clues, she fears if she can’t break out of the pack, this bout will turn deadly.
Can Mitzy find the killer, or will this be her final lap around the track?
Wheels and Dirty Deals is the sixth book in the hilarious paranormal cozy mystery series, Harper and Moon Investigations, a spinoff from the popular Mitzy Moon Mysteries. If you like snarky heroines, supernatural intrigue, and a dash of romance, then you’ll love Trixie Silvertale’s twisty mystery.
Buy Wheels and Dirty Deals to put the guilty in the penalty box today!
Well, that’s it for the New Books Releasing Week 8 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!
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