Dent, Susie. Guilty by Definition. Sourcebooks Landmark. May 2025. ISBN 9781464236075. 384p. $27.99. MYSTERY

Dent, who worked for the Oxford English Dictionary and is the resident word expert for the UK’s Countdown, debuts with a mystery centered on a team of lexicographers working at a famous dictionary publishing house. They begin to get letters with clues to a decades-old secret involving one of their own, new senior editor Martha Thornhill, whose sister went missing. Every letter teases out a linguistic clue.

Doiron, Paul. Skin and Bones: And Other Mike Bowditch Short Stories. Minotaur. May 2025. ISBN 9781250382122. pbk. 368p. $20. MYSTERY

Award-winning Doiron (Pitch Dark) offers a collection of eight Mike Bowditch short stories. “Sheep’s Clothing” is brand new and follows Mike as he comes to suspect that a horrible crime is more than meets the eye. Other stories, such as “Rabid,” a 2019 Edgar Award nominee, have been previously available but are collected here for the first time.

Goodman, Alison. The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin. (The Ill-Mannered Ladies, bk. 2). Berkley. May 2025. ISBN 9780593440834. pbk. 400p. $19. MYSTERY

Bestselling Goodman returns with another romystery in her “The Ill-Mannered Ladies” series set in Regency England. The Colebrook twins are amateur detectives hiding out in high society as old maids as they secretly protect women and children that the law neglects. Lord Evan needs their help. His sister seeks sanctuary, and he must find a way to clear his name.

Hall, Rachel Howzell. Fog and Fury. (Haven Thriller, bk. 1). Thomas & Mercer. May 2025. ISBN 9781662522857. pbk. 300p. $16.99. MYSTERY

Bestselling Hall (The Last One) starts a new series featuring LAPD cop Sonny Rush, who moves with her mother to the peaceful town of Haven, CA, to join her godfather’s PI business. What seems to be any easy case of dognapping quickly becomes messy: Sonny re-meets her ex, a teenager is found dead, and Haven turns out to be anything but safe.

Hollis, Lee. My Father Always Finds Corpses. Kensington Cozies. May 2025. ISBN 9781496738929. 320p. $27. MYSTERY

Hollis, the pen name of author and screenwriter Rick Copp (The Golden Girls; The Brady Bunch Movie), offers a modern take on the classic murder mystery as former child star Jarrod Jarvis and his daughter Liv, with her brand-new degree in criminal justice in hand, stumble into a case when Liv finds her boyfriend Zel murdered in his apartment.

Mack, Catherine. No One Was Supposed To Die at This Wedding. (The Vacation Mysteries, bk. 2). Minotaur. May 2025. ISBN 9781250326133. 352p. $28. MYSTERY

Bestselling Mack delivers book two in “The Vacation Mysteries,” with film rights already sold. Author Eleanor Dash is headed to her best friend’s wedding on Catalina Island, now that shooting on the film adaptation of Eleanor’s bestselling murder mystery has wrapped up. A storm traps the wedding party on the island, along with a killer who leaves the bride a note.

Merson, K. A. The Language of the Birds. Ballantine. May 2025. ISBN 9780593874523. 368p. $30. MYSTERY

Merson debuts with a puzzle-, riddle-, and code-filled case that mixes fact and fiction and is solved by a brilliant teenager. Seventeen-year-old Arizona’s mother has been kidnapped. The ransom? Some secret that Arizona’s father knew before his death. Following the clues, she takes to the road with her dog, seeking answers in ancient texts, U.S. history, and the landscape of the West.

Sampson, Freya. The Busybody Book Club. Berkley. May 2025. ISBN 9780593550557. pbk. 384p. $19. MYSTERY

Sampson (The Last Chance Library, a GMA Buzz Book pick) sets her newest within a dysfunctional book club that meets in a small Cornish village community center. The five members disagree on everything, but when someone steals the center’s money and suspicion lands on one of their own, the other members have their own book-inflected theories—and secrets.

Sutton, Paula. The Potting Shed Murder. (Hill House Vintage Murder Mysteries, bk. 1). John Scognamiglio Bks. May 2025. ISBN 9781496754813. 320p. $28. MYSTERY

Sutton (Hill House Living) turns to fiction with this cozy set in the charming Norfolk village of Pudding Corner, where Daphne Brewster has moved from London, with her husband and three young children. She sets up a vintage shop but soon is at work solving a murder—the school headmaster has been found dead in his allotment patch.

Swann, Leonie. Big Bad Wool. (A Sheep Detective Story, bk. 2). tr. from German by Amy Bojang. Soho Crime. May 2025. ISBN 9781641296625. 350p. $28.95. MYSTERY

Swann, a Glauser Prize winner for 2005’s Three Bags Full, picks up her “Sheep Detective Story” series with book two, as the sheep of Glennkill move to their winter home, a French castle, with new shepherdess Rebecca. But the castle is not safe—deer are dying unnatural deaths, and the goats in the neighboring pasture think a werewolf is to blame. The sheep are on the case.

Forthcoming Series Titles

Armstrong, Kelley. Death at a Highland Wedding. (Rip Through Time, bk. 4). Minotaur. May 2025. ISBN 9781250321312. 336p. $28. MYSTERY

Gates, Eva. Shot Through the Book. (A Lighthouse Library Mystery, bk. 12). Crooked Lane. May 2025. ISBN 9798892420440. 272p. $29.99. MYSTERY

Haines, Carolyn. Doggone Bones. (Sarah Booth Delaney, bk. 29). Minotaur. May 2025. ISBN 9781250377654. 352p. $28. MYSTERY

Horowitz, Anthony. Marble Hall Murders. (Susan Ryeland, bk. 3). Harper. May 2025. ISBN 9780063305700. 384p. $28.99. MYSTERY

Johnson, Craig. Return to Sender. (Walt Longmire, bk. 21). Viking. May 2025. ISBN 9780593830703. 336p. $30. MYSTERY

March, Nev. The Silversmith’s Puzzle: A Mystery. (Captain Jim and Lady Diana, bk. 4). Minotaur. May 2025. ISBN 9781250348036. 320p. $29. MYSTERY