When a bored San Francisco widow wakes up one morning to find a dead body in her Chinatown tea shop, her solitary life is changed. It’s the latest from the bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties, who grew up living between Singapore and Jakarta. Vera, confident that her powers of deduction are superior to those of the police, begins her own investigation by befriending each of the viable suspects. Sound fun? Mindy Kaling is already adapting it as a TV series.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning humourist and syndicated columnist, who lives in Miami, aims his hilarious slings and arrows close to home in this ridiculous Sunshine State caper about a woman marooned in the Everglades with her ex and infant daughter, a treasure, amateur monster hunters and a preening presidential hopeful who gives full meaning to the term Florida Man. Insane premise, crazy characters and enthusiastically blurbed by Steve Martin (several times!).

One of the pleasures of TV procedurals is following the character development over time. Likewise, in this third entertaining book, the Virginia-based writer’s self-deprecating heroine and single parent (whose assistant is her babysitter) owes the Russian mob. It mixes black comedy, thriller and women’s fiction elements with plenty of snark.

TriStar Pictures has bought the rights to this “novel of manners and murder — Knives Out meets The Favourite.” First-time L.A. novelist Seales has worked as a writer’s assistant to Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge, which hints at her sense of humour — and sensibility. Her Regency-era whodunit is for those who enjoy Jane Austen’s brand of dry wit. A wealthy suitor drops dead at a ball and Beatrice, a young lady more inclined to true crime tabloids than the usual genteel feminine pursuits, takes on the “unseemly” role of amateur detective. Expect riffs on etiquette and tongue firmly in cheek as a storm traps the gala guests under one roof.

Until gourmet gumshoes Roger Allam and Nancy Carroll give us a new season of Murder in Provence on BritBox, there’s this droll murder mystery about a not-quite-divorced, middle-aged Englishman who runs a B&B in a fictional town in the Loire Valley (where the British stand-up comedian-turned-novelist runs a guesthouse). So far, so Peter Mayle — although perhaps it’s more like if Midsommer Murders had way better food, wine and scenery (and were funny on purpose).

Poverty, intimate partner violence and the caste system in rural India are all in the crosshairs of this darkly comic satire about Geeta, a “self-made widow,” and the group of middle-aged housewives in her remote village who band together to rid themselves of their husbands. Pulling partial inspiration from notorious criminal-turned-politician Phoolan Devi, the feminist revenge caper mixes fiercely loyal female friendship and camaraderie with hardboiled humour, and was a Good Morning America buzz pick and longlisted for The Women’s Prize.

As I said when this breezy series debuted last year: it’s At Bertram’s Hotel, if Miss Marple lived in Swinging Sixties London and wore Mary Quant minis. The second instalment follows the ongoing misadventures of Priscilla Tempest, a young Canadian in charge of press and public relations at London’s famous Savoy Hotel. This time she’s investigating the murder of a showgirl while juggling difficult and demanding guest relations. It’s written by Victoria-based former film publicist Emery, 86, who worked at the Savoy from 1968 to 1973, so clearly she would know.

The bestselling English novelist, screenwriter and comedian behind the Tom Thorne crime novels inaugurates his first new series in 20 years, built around a maverick British detective. Gruff but charming Blackpool detective Declan Miller’s wife, Alex (also a police officer), was recently murdered on the job, so while he and new Detective Sergeant Sara Xiu investigate a double murder, he’s also on the trail of Alex’s killer. The subtitle, The McMasters Guide to Homicide, is a nod to their shared love of ballroom dancing (their pet rats are called Fred and Ginger). Miller’s flippant sarcasm may be a cover for grief, but it’s also a delight.

It’s charity ball season in Palm Beach, where high society is a gerontocracy. The Queen Bee — who was one of the “Potussies” who serviced the American president — vanishes. He lives in the state for half the year, which offers ample opportunity to lampoon the vulgar then president and Florida’s political foibles. This 2020 novel (with a new epilogue, written in hindsight) tides us over until the beloved author’s next one arrives — or the premiere of the Apple Original series of his Bad Monkey from the Ted Lasso co-creator, whichever comes first.

The wildly bestselling author of the Walter the Farting Dog children’s series (who lives between Arizona and coastal Maine) follows up his 2021 Felonious Monk with more over-the-top exploits. Brother Thomas is a Benedictine monk with an anger-management problem who’s called away from his monastery in the Mexican desert  to his northeastern hometown. There, he’s known as Tommy Martini; a former high-school football hero and son of a local crime family. His oldest friend’s dying request, left on voicemail, is that Thomas protect his wife. Violent and wryly funny in equal measure, you’ll be chuckling as several of the Brother’s vows — chastity and pacifism, for example — get tested.

Claire, a burnt out millennial medium, was meant to be the entertainment at an English mansion birthday party with several generations of one family. The granny matriarch dies on the party’s eve but, from the other side, leads Claire to a cold case that needs solving. In this supernatural whodunit, the twist is that her sleuthing sidekick is the mysterious ghost of a teen who died in the 1990s. Various ghosts from different historical periods of the stately manor also pitch in (imagine Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit meets the sitcom Ghosts), adding one-liners and fun charm to the proceedings. (Sept. 5)