The week between Christmas and New Year’s offered snowy, freezing weather, a hot cup of chai creamy with a dash of eggnog and some new reads. What could be better?

“The Cuckoo’s Calling” (2013) and “The Silkworm” (2014) by Robert Galbraith. This stellar detective series, written by J.K. Rowling under a pseudonym, is full of wonderful interesting characters and a marvelously colorful, vibrant London (as much a character as the people).

Cormoran Strike (constantly called Cameron Strick by the clueless) is the son of a famous rock musician and a groupie mother. He came home from Afghanistan minus part of a leg and wears a prosthesis that isn’t very comfortable. An imposing, rugged individual, he opened a detective agency, but it’s on its last legs when he is hired by a supermodel’s brother, John Bristow, to investigate her death in a fall from her apartment balcony. The police have ruled it a suicide, but John doesn’t believe it. Lula Landry, called the Cuckoo by some friends, doesn’t seem the type. But her world includes a heady mix of rock star boyfriend, paparazzi, lots of rich friends, drugs and egotistical designers.

As the first book opens, Strike has broken up with his longtime girlfriend after one too many lies, and Robin Ellacott, a temp, has shown up to help in the office. Robin has just become engaged and is meant to be looking for a permanent position.

The second book is as entertaining as the first with another complex plot. Strike and Robin will investigate a missing writer, whose newest book parodies practically everyone he knows and has enraged most of the publishing community. As Robin becomes more of an assistant than a secretary, she finds her groove and wants to continue to work for Strike, to her fiancee’s dismay.

There are eight books so far and I can’t wait to see what new cases Strike and Robin will explore. And, the BBC has created a series of the first five books so far.

“The River We Remember” (2023) by William Kent Krueger. When my book club read “This Tender Land” by Krueger last year, I just loved it. And, we were astonished that most of us were unaware of this prolific writer. This is another keeper.

Set in another small town in Minnesota, the story again relies heavily on a sense of place as much as the vibrant people who populate it. Sheriff Brody Dern is a war veteran and native son who knows Jewel and its inhabitants well. When wealthy, but unpopular, land owner Jimmy Quinn is found shot and floating in the Alabaster River, Brody is happy to call it a suicide. But, his deputy (and former sheriff) arrived on the scene with him and is pretty sure it’s a murder.

Word travels fast and soon conjecture is everywhere in Jewel — the main suspect being a war veteran, Noah Bluestone, a Dakota, who returned from the war with a Japanese wife and worked for Quinn. This story is so rich in its town full of characters and themes that it’s hard to sum up and must be experienced. And, like any murder-mystery in a small town, the investigation will unearth prejudice, secrets, old wounds, heartache and, hopefully, new relationships and love.

Krueger has also written the Cork O’Connor detective series. I can’t wait to discover those.