Five books we can’t wait to read in March

Is it getting sleuthy in here?

There are a lot of mysteries on the way in March, including some that will get full reviews in the Minnesota Star Tribune (get ready for Adrian McKinty’s wildly entertaining “Hang On St. Christopher” next week). There’s also the return of two fictional women we’d all like to have on our side if we were in the vicinity of a murder: Minnesota’s Cash Blackbear and San Francisco’s Vera Wong.

As these five much-anticipated titles reveal, March also seems to be a good month for taking new looks at classic tales of twisted romance:

Broken Fields, Marcie R. Rendon

The fourth in the Minneapolis writer’s mystery series featuring Ojibwe sleuth Cash Blackbear takes place, as usual, in the 1970s. This time, Cash investigates the murder of a farmer who was also her employer. She’s Dr. Watsoned by a child who may have witnessed the crime but has been too traumatized to speak ever since. A current Minnesota Book Awards finalist for last fall’s “Where They Last Saw Her,” Rendon is an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation. March 4

Broken Country, Clare Leslie Hall

An American debut by an English writer I’d never heard of until recently doesn’t scream “can’t wait to read” but it’s inspired by one of my all-time top 10 movies, “The Go-Between.” That classic is probably best known for the line that begins both it and the excellent movie version, “The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.” Like “The Go-Between,” “Broken Country” is about a boy named Leo who knows more than he should about a forbidden romance. And, like “The Go-Between,” it’s set in an English countryside that is not as placid as it seems. March 4

Chloe, Connie Briscoe

This one had me at “‘Rebecca,’ but make her Black.” Angel is working as a private chef for a family in an exclusive Black enclave on Martha’s Vineyard when a visiting billionaire falls for her. But he’s mourning the death of his wife, Rebecca — er, Chloe — and anyone who has read Daphne du Maurier’s Gothic “Rebecca” knows things will be much more complicated than they seem. Briscoe also includes a creepy housekeeper, named Ida instead of Mrs. Danvers, and it will be fun to see how she deals with the fact that most readers already know the devious “Rebecca” twist. The “Chloe” subtitle, “A Novel of Secrets and Lies,” offers a few clues. March 11

The Mesopotamian Riddle, Joshua Hammer

The subtitle lays out the territory: “An Archaeologist, a Soldier, a Clergyman, and the Race to Decipher the World’s Oldest Writing.” That word “race,” in particular, suggests there may be an Indiana Jones element to Hammer’s nonfiction, as does “rollicking,” which pops up in the book’s press materials. Hammer previously demonstrated a knack for uncovering the fun in what could be academic territory with his bestselling “The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu.” March 18

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man), Jesse Q. Sutanto

Sutanto’s follow-up to mystery-com “Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers” again features the 60-something San Francisco sleuth who thinks she knows everything. Many of the characters from the Edgar Award-winning “Murderers” pop up again in “Snooping,” in which amateur detective Vera tries to get to the bottom of the death of a social media influencer. Speaking of snooping, Vera stumbles upon the crime when she pokes into the briefcase of a cop who is dating her son, a match Vera arranged. Of course. March 25