Recommended Reads

Mystery Book Club: Monday, October 20, 2025

A rainy night, an Amish father returning home with his three children, a speeding car hurtling toward them out of nowhere.

What at first seems like a tragic, but routine car accident suddenly takes on a more sinister cast as evidence emerges that nothing about the crash is accidental. But who would want to kill an Amish deacon and two of his children? He leaves behind a grieving widow and a young boy who clings to life in the intensive care wing of a hospital, unable to communicate. He may be the only one who knows what happened that night. Desperate to find out who killed her best friend's husband and why, Kate begins to suspect she is not looking for a reckless drunk, but instead is on the trail of a cold blooded killer amid the residents of Painter's Mill. It is a search that takes her on a chilling journey into the darkest reaches of the human heart and makes her question everything she has ever believed about the Amish culture into which she was born.

Join us Monday, October 20, 2025, at Southbury Parks and Recreation Department from 3:00pm - 4:00pm!

Registration is requested, not required. Mystery Book Club selections may change. Final selections will weigh your feedback, book availability, and genre balance. Any changes made will be announced at book club meetings, in our newsletter, and on the library's website.

New members are always welcome to the Mystery Book Club! Please sign up so we know how many people to expect and to receive event updates! For more information call the Reference Desk at 203-262-0626 ext. 2.

Mystery Book Club: Monday, November 10, 2025

Retired lawyer Andy Carpenter’s calling has always been running the Tara Foundation. The dog rescue organization places hundreds of dogs in new homes every year. It’s added up to so many dogs and new owners that Andy can’t even do the math. But there’s one dog―and one owner―Andy will always remember.

About a year ago, Rachel Morehouse came to the foundation looking for a companion. In her sixties and recently widowed, Rachel wanted a senior dog that also needed someone. Andy took a liking to her, Rachel took a liking to Lion, an older Chow Chow, and the rest is history.

That is, until Rachel calls Andy begging for a favor: If Rachel dies, will Andy take care of Lion if her stepson cannot? Andy agrees, no questions asked, and promptly forgets about it... until he receives a call from Rachel’s estate to attend her will reading. Which is where he meets Rachel’s stepson, Tony, who is promptly arrested for his stepmother’s murder. And he wants Andy to prove his innocence.

Andy has continued to learn more about the woman he so greatly admired and the businesses she ran, and holy chow, was this woman impressive. The person who killed her deserves to be held accountable, and if Tony is to be believed, they’re still out there. And that possibility is too much for Andy to remain on the sidelines.

Join us Monday, November 10, 2025, at Southbury Parks and Recreation Department from 3:00pm - 4:00pm!

Registration is requested, not required. Mystery Book Club selections may change. Final selections will weigh your feedback, book availability, and genre balance. Any changes made will be announced at book club meetings, in our newsletter, and on the library's website.

New members are always welcome to the Mystery Book Club! Please sign up so we know how many people to expect and to receive event updates! For more information call the Reference Desk at 203-262-0626 ext. 2.

Mystery Book Club: Monday, December 8, 2025

At midnight, one of them is dead. By morning, all of them are suspects.

It's the party to end all parties….but not everyone is here to celebrate.

On New Year's Eve, Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests. His vacation homes on Mirror Lake are a success, and he's generously invited the village to drink champagne with their wealthy new neighbors.

But by midnight, Rhys will be floating dead in the freezing waters of the lake.

On New Year's Day, Ffion Morgan has a village full of suspects. The tiny community is her home, so the suspects are her neighbors, friends and family―and Ffion has her own secrets to protect.

With a lie uncovered at every turn, soon the question isn't who wanted Rhys dead…but who finally killed him.

In a village with this many secrets, murder is just the beginning.

Join us Monday, December 8, 2025, at Southbury Parks and Recreation Department from 3:00pm - 4:00pm!

Registration is requested, not required. Mystery Book Club selections may change. Final selections will weigh your feedback, book availability, and genre balance. Any changes made will be announced at book club meetings, in our newsletter, and on the library's website.

New members are always welcome to the Mystery Book Club! Please sign up so we know how many people to expect and to receive event updates! For more information call the Reference Desk at 203-262-0626 ext. 2.

Mystery Book Club: January 2026

Join us Monday, January 12, 2026, from 3:00pm - 4:00pm!

Registration is requested, not required. Mystery Book Club selections may change. Final selections will weigh your feedback, book availability, and genre balance. Any changes made will be announced at book club meetings, in our newsletter, and on the library's website.

New members are always welcome to the Mystery Book Club! Please sign up so we know how many people to expect and to receive event updates! For more information call the Reference Desk at 203-262-0626 ext. 2.

Mystery Book Club: February 2026

Join us Monday, February 9, 2026, from 3:00pm - 4:00pm!

Registration is requested, not required. Mystery Book Club selections may change. Final selections will weigh your feedback, book availability, and genre balance. Any changes made will be announced at book club meetings, in our newsletter, and on the library's website.

New members are always welcome to the Mystery Book Club! Please sign up so we know how many people to expect and to receive event updates! For more information call the Reference Desk at 203-262-0626 ext. 2.

Mystery Book Club: March 2026

Join us Monday, March 9, 2026, from 3:00pm - 4:00pm!

Registration is requested, not required. Mystery Book Club selections may change. Final selections will weigh your feedback, book availability, and genre balance. Any changes made will be announced at book club meetings, in our newsletter, and on the library's website.

New members are always welcome to the Mystery Book Club! Please sign up so we know how many people to expect and to receive event updates! For more information call the Reference Desk at 203-262-0626 ext. 2.

Mystery Book Club: April 2026

Join us Monday, April 13, 2026, from 3:00pm - 4:00pm!

Registration is requested, not required. Mystery Book Club selections may change. Final selections will weigh your feedback, book availability, and genre balance. Any changes made will be announced at book club meetings, in our newsletter, and on the library's website.

New members are always welcome to the Mystery Book Club! Please sign up so we know how many people to expect and to receive event updates! For more information call the Reference Desk at 203-262-0626 ext. 2.

Mystery Book Club: Monday, July 14, 2025

This thrilling addition to the Martha’s Vineyard Mystery series follows hero J.W. as he navigates threats to his family and protecting friends from his past.

For year-round Vineyard residents J.W. Jackson and his wife, ​Zee, winter brings its own beauty, with uncrowded streets and cozy nights by the fire, but it can also bring danger.

There’s a chill in the air one January day when J.W. receives a surprising visit from long-ago pal Clay Stockton. Clay has come to J.W. not to relive the reckless days of their youth but to ask J.W. for help.

He’s in big trouble and needs to lie low on the Vineyard. And it isn’t just Clay who needs J.W.’s assistance; J.W.’s pal Bonzo has made a frightening discovery and becomes a “person of interest” to the police.

With two friends in trouble and his own family receiving threats, J.W. must summon all of his investigative skills to try to restore order to his beloved island home, where fishing and good food should always take precedence over murder.

Join us Monday, July 14, 2025, at Southbury Parks and Recreation Department from 3:00pm - 4:00pm!

Registration is requested, not required. Mystery Book Club selections may change. Final selections will weigh your feedback, book availability, and genre balance. Any changes made will be announced at book club meetings, in our newsletter, and on the library's website.

New members are always welcome to the Mystery Book Club! Please sign up so we know how many people to expect and to receive event updates! For more information call the Reference Desk at 203-262-0626 ext. 2.

Mystery Book Club: Monday, August 11, 2025

Joe Gunther gets the call that every law enforcement person hates and every friend and family member of a policeman fears–-a cop has been murdered in the line of duty. Deputy Sheriff Brian Sleuter has been shot to death during a routine traffic stop on a dark country road. From what can been seen on the cruiser’s tape recorder of the killers, it is believed that they are a couple of Boston-based drug runners who were stopped by the deputy on their way from Canada down to Boston.

That brings Gunther and his major crimes team into the investigation―-and eventually to Alan Budney, the disaffected son of a Maine lobsterman, now a drug kingpin, who uses the closed, clannish lobster fishing community, and his extended family in particular, to move drugs along the New England coast.

Join us Monday, August 11, 2025, at Southbury Parks and Recreation Department from 3:00pm - 4:00pm!

Registration is requested, not required. Mystery Book Club selections may change. Final selections will weigh your feedback, book availability, and genre balance. Any changes made will be announced at book club meetings, in our newsletter, and on the library's website.

New members are always welcome to the Mystery Book Club! Please sign up so we know how many people to expect and to receive event updates! For more information call the Reference Desk at 203-262-0626 ext. 2.

Mystery Book Club: Monday, September 8, 2025

It’s Lights, Action, Murder as tea maven Theodosia Browning scrambles for clues in this latest installment of the New York Times bestselling series.

When Theodosia Browning reads the tea leaves on the set of the movie, Dark Fortunes, things go from spooky to worse. Lights are dimmed, the camera rolls, and red hot sparks fly as the film’s director is murdered in a tricky electrical accident.

Or was it an accident? Though the cast and crew are stunned beyond belief, nobody admits to seeing a thing. And when Theodosia’s friend, Delaine, becomes the prime suspect, Theodosia begins her own shadow investigation. But who among this Hollywood cast and crew had murder on their mind? The screenwriter is a self-centered pot head, the leading actress is trying to wiggle out of her contract, the brand new director seems indifferent, and nobody trusts the slippery-when-dry Hollywood agent.

Between hosting a Breakfast at Tiffany’s Tea, a Poetry Tea, and trying to launch her own chocolate line, Theodosia doggedly hunts down clues and explores the seemingly haunted Brittlebank Manor where the murder took place. And just when she’s ready to pounce, a Charleston Film Board member is also murdered, throwing everything into total disarray. But this clever killer will go to any lengths to hide his misdeeds as Theodosia soon finds out when she and her tea sommelier, Drayton, get caught up in a dangerous stakeout.

Join us Monday, September 8, 2025, at Southbury Parks and Recreation Department from 3:00pm - 4:00pm!

Registration is requested, not required. Mystery Book Club selections may change. Final selections will weigh your feedback, book availability, and genre balance. Any changes made will be announced at book club meetings, in our newsletter, and on the library's website.

New members are always welcome to the Mystery Book Club! Please sign up so we know how many people to expect and to receive event updates! For more information call the Reference Desk at 203-262-0626 ext. 2.