Read time: 4 minutes
March was a month of contrast: a cozy mystery streak that swung wildly between five-star delights and quick DNFs, and a run of tech nonfiction that turned out to be some of the best reading I’ve done all year. Twenty-five books logged in total, and here’s everything worth knowing about them.
🏆 Favourite of the Month: A Field Guide to Murder
Author: Michelle L. Cullen
Published by: Crooked Lane Books, 2026
A retired cranky anthropologist with a fractured hip and his spirited young caregiver team up to investigate a neighbour’s suspicious death. The cross-generational banter, genuinely warm character work, and cleverly plotted whodunit made this the most purely enjoyable cozy I’ve read in ages; I was rooting for Harry and Emma from page one and devastated when it ended. Looking forward to book 2.
Links: My Review | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
📚 Top 5 Reads of the Month
Five-star picks excluding ARCs and the favourite above, chosen for variety across genre.
- Housewife by Lisa Selin Davis
Part social history, part memoir, part call to action, Davis traces the “housewife” archetype from Paleolithic hunters to TikTok tradwives and makes a quietly radical argument that women have always been sold a myth; it’s the kind of book that leaves you both furious and strangely empowered.
Link: My Review | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy - Technically Wrong by Sara Wachter-Boettcher
A sharp, urgent look at how the tech industry’s lack of diversity gets quietly baked into the apps and algorithms we use every day. Wachter-Boettcher lays out the real-world harms with such well-chosen examples that it’s impossible to use the internet the same way afterwards.
Link: My Review | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy - Reclaiming Conversation by Sherry Turkle
Turkle’s argument that we’ve traded real conversation for mere digital connection feels more urgent than ever in 2026. Backed by years of research across homes, schools, and workplaces, this is the book that finally made me put my phone face-down at dinner.
Link: My Review | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy - The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill
A clever, layered meta-thriller about a mystery writer who becomes entangled in a real-life murder, Gentill plays with the conventions of the genre in the most delicious way, and the pacing is absolutely relentless; I listened to this one in nearly a single sitting.
Link: My Review | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy - I Only Read Murder by Ian Ferguson & Will Ferguson
Witty, self-aware, and genuinely funny, a cozy mystery set at a small-town literary festival that pokes loving fun at the genre while delivering a satisfying puzzle; it’s the rare book that earns every single one of its laughs and absolutely sticks the landing.
Link: My Review | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
📬 ARCs Read This Month
Five advance copies read this month: a mix of upcoming releases across urban fiction, cozy mystery, and romance.
- Out Law by Jim Butcher | Publish Date: May 12, 2026
Butcher at his sharpest. A propulsive, action-packed novella that drops you right into the world without missing a beat; if you’re already a fan this is an absolute must-read, and if you’re not, it might just convert you.
Link: Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy - The Girl Next Door by Georgia Beers | Publish Date: April 14, 2026
Warm, charming, and completely swoony, Beers writes the kind of romance that makes you forget everything else you were supposed to be doing; the chemistry is off the charts and the ending left me grinning for the rest of the day.
Link: My Review | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy - Paranormal Payback by Jim Butcher & Others | Publish Date: April 14,, 2026
Fun and fast-moving, this will absolutely satisfy fans of the genre, with a bunch of stories from known and new authors. Worth it for the world-building alone.
Link: Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy - The Dogwalkers’ Detective Agency by Michael Hogan | Publish Date: June 2, 2026
A solid if sprawling mystery, the premise is charming and there are some genuinely clever moments, but at 480 pages it overstays its welcome a little; cozy fans will likely still enjoy the ride.
Link: My Review | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy - Murder Most Trivial by Jessica Fletcher | Publish Date: May 12, 2026
A nostalgia pick for Murder, She Wrote fans but doesn’t quite capture what made the original so compelling. The mystery is thin and the pacing drags; better suited to die-hards than general cozy readers.
Link: Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
📊 March by the Numbers
Closing Thoughts:
March had clear peaks and valleys. The cozy mystery run taught me I need to DNF faster when something isn’t clicking, but it also delivered my favourite of the year so far in A Field Guide to Murder. The nonfiction binge was the real revelation: four of my five top picks came from that tech-and-society lane and all four genuinely changed how I think about the world.
On to April!
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