This column was submitted by Evangeline Cessna, Local History Librarian at the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library.

This week’s column features mysteries in our New Large Print collection.

“Absence of Mallets” is the latest novel by Kate Carlisle featuring contractor Shannon Hammer. Shannon is thrilled to have her writer boyfriend, Mac, living with her. With both of them being so busy, it’s a good thing they are, or they would never get to see one another. Mac has been hosting writing retreats at his now vacated lighthouse mansion, while Shannon and her crew are building a village of tiny homes for veterans in need. Mac’s latest guests, however, are proving to be a handful, and Shannon is fielding complaints from some of the old guard of Lighthouse Cove about her passion project. When one of Shannon’s new friends is found bludgeoned with a mallet near the lighthouse, she and Mac build a suspect list and search for a motive. As they look for clues, more violence happens and another victim winds up in a coma. Can they find the culprit before anyone else falls prey to this killer?

Bestselling suspense author Colleen Coble starts a new series with her latest “Edge of Dusk.” Nine-year-old Annie Pederson had her life turned upside down the night her sister was kidnapped when the two girls had been playing outside on a dock. Annie can’t forgive herself for not being able to save her sister. Annie is still searching, 24 years later, for answers even as she grieves the loss of her husband and parents in a boating accident. As she and her eight-year-old daughter, Kylie, are trying to put the pieces back together, Annie discovers a dead body floating in the frigid waters of Lake Superior. She begins working with the sheriff’s department to tie the death to a series of other mysterious reports in the area. At the same time, her first love, Jon Dustan, returns after nine years — having left town under a cloud of suspicion. Annie tries to avoid him, but that becomes impossible when she is targeted by someone desperate to keep secrets in the past.

Lyndsay Faye delivers a new collection of Sherlockian tales that show the Great Detective and his partner, Watson, as their acquaintances saw them in her new novel “Observations By Gaslight.” This collection of both new and previously published short stories and novellas narrated by those who knew the Great Detective. Beloved adventuress Irene Adler teams up with her former adversary in a nearly deadly investigation into a room full of eerily stopped grandfather clocks. There is also the tale of the case that cemented the relationship between Holmes and Inspector Lestrade, and of the tragic crime which haunted the inspector into joining Scotland Yard. Familiar faces like Mrs. Hudson and Stanley Hopkins to minor characters like Lomax the sub-librarian make appearances and tell their stories through diaries, telegrams and even grocery lists at the same time painting a portrait of the legendary Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Carolyn Hanes’s latest novel featuring Southern private investigator Sarah Booth Delaney is called “Lady of Bones.” It’s Halloween season in Mississippi and Sarah Booth and her entourage gather to decorate and gush over Tinkie’s baby, Maylin. On her way to refill the cocktails, Sarah Booth answers a knock at the door and finds a woman named Frankie distraught about the disappearance of her journalist daughter, Christa. Turns out Christa’s disappearance may be linked to a story she was working on involving young women in New Orleans who all went missing around Halloween. Frankie fears that everything may be connected to a cult based in the Garden District, called People of Eternity. They are known to have far-reaching connections that may include law enforcement, so Frankie came directly to Sarah Booth who reluctantly accepts the case. She’ll have to wade through a secret underworld of charismatic cult leaders, witchcraft and perhaps even human sacrifice. Can she find Christa and make it back alive?

“Drown Her Sorrow” is the latest suspense novel from Melinda Leigh. When Sheriff Bree Taggert discovers the body of a young woman floating near the bank of the Scarlet River, there is also a note in her abandoned car that suggests suicide. The autopsy, however, tells a different story. Holly Thorpe was dead long before her body went off the bridge and into the water. As Bree and Matt Flynn dig deeper into Holly’s life, they learn she left behind a volatile marriage, an equally tempestuous relationship with her sister and an employer whose intimate involvement with her was no secret. Bree’s case goes off the rails, though, when Holly’s sister falls victim to a sick stalker’s prank and the prime suspect turns up dead. Then the killer strikes close to home and Bree and Matt are in a race against time to solve the murders before one of their own becomes the next victim.

“Missing Pieces: 4 Puzzling Cozy Mysteries” is a collection of short stories featuring jigsaw puzzles headlined by Cynthia Hickey. What could go wrong when jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts get together? Well, how about four murders and a couple of thefts? The first story is “Elvis Has Left the Building” by Cynthia Hickey. CeeCee is hosting a jigsaw puzzle party in Apple Blossom, Arkansas, and everyone is expected to bring an unopened 500-piece jigsaw puzzle to work on that depicts something from the 1950s. There is going to be a vintage car show, vendors, live music, and a dance and everything is set for a good time — until the Elvis impersonator is murdered and a priceless puzzle goes missing. “The Puzzle King” is by Linda Baten Johnson. Jane enters a jigsaw puzzle competition in Fargo, North Dakota, but when a competitor is poisoned, everyone is sequestered in the hotel and Jane is determined to work out who the killer is. The final two stories are “A Puzzling Weekend” by Teresa Ives Lilly and “Mystery at the Jigsaw Swap” by Janice Thompson. You’ll enjoy these four short cozy mysteries to read snuggled on the sofa.