The Disappearance of Maxwell Ellison by Jacob ArmatageA red herring mystery with immensely satisfying twists and cozy, character-driven energy, The Disappearance of Maxwell Ellison by Jacob Armatage is a small-town police procedural exploring the weight of mortality and the price of purpose. From the moment Sheriff Ben Caldwell begins investigating a missing person case in his scenic Idaho town, something feels amiss. Max Ellison is a wealthy investor with a complex local legacy, a dementia diagnosis, a quartet of untrustworthy children, and a valuable estate that some might kill for, complicating the investigation considerably. Suspenseful, engaging, and layered with mercurial motives beneath slow-burn clues, this is a comfortably captivating novel about living – and dying – on your own terms, standing apart from other cozy mysteries for its precise attention to character and setting.