Hi friends,

It’s the third annual Mid-Summer Murders week here at What to Read If.

As I wrote in the first edition, “For the uninitiated, “Midsommar Murders” is a long-running British TV show, based on a book series by the same name, about crimes in a wealthy English county. It is peak cozy British crime.

For Mid-Summer Murders, I’m spotlighting three mysteries spanning the genre. In keeping with the TV show, none of them are too gory or dark. Think puzzle books, not hard-boiled noir.”

This summer, I have three more submissions to add to your beach bag (check out the sophomore edition here). Quick programming note: I’m taking next week off. I’ll be back in your inboxes on July 28^th.

And, now, what to read if …

You Want to Play Detective

Can You Solve the Murder? by Antony Johnston

Anyone who read the “Chose Your Own Adventure” books as a kid will want to put Antony Johnston’s Can You Solve the Murder? at the top of their lists. Like those novels, it puts the reader in the driver’s seat, as you make decisions about who to interview, what leads to chase and which scenes to examine. Depending on the choices you make, the murderer will be brought to justice — or you’ll need to go back to page one to try again.

(Sidebar: The “Choose You Own Adventure” books were created by the grandfather of David Corenswet, the actor starring in the new “Superman. This is not relevant to the book; just a delightful bit of trivia I recently learned.)

It’s a bit difficult to describe the plot of Can You Solve the Murder? because it will be different for every reader. The only constant is the opening: A local businessman has been murdered at the Elysium, a floral-themed wellness retreat set in an English country manor. The victim appears to have been stabbed with a fork and then fallen from a balcony. Strangely, there’s a rose in his mouth. You quickly discover the balcony can only be reached through a locked door, and the key is missing. Every guest and employee is now a suspect.

I solved part but not all of the mystery at the core of Can You Solve the Murder?, but I still had a lot of fun with the unique reading experience it provided. If you read it, let