This brilliant historical mystery from Odden (Under a Veiled Moon) follows 20-year-old British jewel thief Kit Jameson as she conducts what she hopes is her final heist. In 1879 London, Kit operates alongside an all-female band of burglars who swipe valuables from high-society targets. Kit’s skills come honestly, as her mother was once in the same crime ring. Recently, however, Kit has grown tired of thieving and developed a desire for an honest life. Before she turns the page, however, she must ensure her younger sister, Sarah, is safe and able to support herself working as a servant. Kit’s plans hit a snag when Maggie Wirth O’Connell, the wronged daughter of the original leader of Kit’s crime ring, returns after 20 years in an Australian penal colony to reclaim control of the syndicate and organize a heist targeting the people who sent her away. Knowing of Kit’s abilities, Maggie isn’t about to let her leave the fold. Odden matches vivid details of the hard-knock life in Victorian London with complex backstories for her large cast. Readers will be rapt. Agent: Josh Getzler, HG Literary. (June)

Reviewed on 04/03/2026 | Details & Permalink

The disappearance of a teenage boy sends shockwaves through a British beach town in the overstuffed latest from bestseller Clarke (The Surf House). The morning after Jacob Symonds’s 17th birthday party, his mother, Sarah, awakes in the family’s beach hut near Bristol to find him gone. The date of Jacob’s disappearance is exactly seven years after his childhood friend, Marley, drowned in the same area, stirring up speculation among the Symondses’ neighbors that Marley’s death and Jacob’s disappearance might be linked. Clarke alternates narration between Sarah and Isla, Marley’s mother, slowly teasing out the relationships between the boys’ families and the precise circumstances of Marley’s death. Eventually, the fragile tissue of the lies about his drowning, which have kept the women’s friendship alive and maintained peace in their town for nearly a decade, begins to dissolve, and the search for Jacob forces them to face long-buried truths. The novel’s first quarter lacks heat, and when the pace picks up, Clarke lays the implausible misunderstandings and wanton cruelty on too thick. It’s a bumpy ride. Agent: Gráinne Fox, UTA. (May)

Reviewed on 04/03/2026 | Details & Permalink

Filmmaker Jakubowicz debuts with a raucous political thriller centered on 29-year-old Venezuelan playboy Juan Planchard, a roguish charmer who rejected the collective socialism of the Hugo Chavez government and made a fortune selling currency with the help of corrupt officials. At a poker table in Las Vegas, Juan falls in love at first sight with Scarlet, a high-end escort from California whom he initially assumes to be a college student on vacation. Whisking Scarlet to New York City on his private jet, Juan begins a torrid, drug-fueled love affair that culminates in their reckless marriage. All is bliss for the young couple until an eruption of violence back in Venezeula targets Juan’s family, sending him back to Caracas for vengeance. Meanwhile, Scarlet must confront a spiteful ex-boyfriend who’s been blackmailing her. While the tone veers uneasily between tawdry telenovela and Shakespearean epic, steamy sex scenes, ripe plot twists, and a deliciously over-the-top climax make this a top-notch contender for beach reading. (June)

Reviewed on 04/03/2026 | Details & Permalink

A 30-something former blackjack prodigy returns home to Nevada for her father’s funeral and gets pulled into family conflict in this immersive crime saga from Mack and Kaufman (Freud’s Mistress). Josie King’s brother, Frank, enacts harsh inheritance terms that force Josie, her horse-obsessed sister Sunny, and her troubled brother Sam to work at their late father’s Jackpot casino empire if they want to see any money. Josie’s return to Jackpot revives old rivalries as she faces union unrest, mounting debts, and a security overhaul led by mob enforcer Lionel Barrick. Meanwhile, her attraction to rival casino owner Rob McCarthy further complicates matters. As Josie investigates corruption at Jackpot, she draws on the guidance of Moe, the former head of security, and uncovers a locked room filled with skimmed cash and art, exposing her father’s mob ties. The stakes rise when Josie’s daughter is kidnapped by criminals linked to the casino, forcing Josie and Sam to undertake a dangerous rescue attempt. Mack and Kaufman’s unfussy prose and well-rounded characters balance out the larger-than-life glitz and grit of Vegas. The result is a suspenseful and entertaining trip to Sin City. Agent: Molly Friedrich and Lucy Carson, Friedrich Agency. (June)

Reviewed on 04/03/2026 | Details & Permalink

In this poignant if scattershot heist comedy from Rich (King Zeno), a disillusioned climate journalist and a woman living off the grid join forces for a harebrained heist. While burglarizing storage units in Manhattan, struggling writer Tim makes an unexpected find: a woman, Virginia, living behind the roll-up door of unit 12-084. They start an unlikely romantic relationship, and during one of their several deep discussions, kick around various money-making schemes. They decide to raid an enormous data center in Oklahoma, hoping to steal a few hard drives and harvest the sort of private information that could make them millions. Despite bumbling at every turn, the two manage to snag four hard drives and go their separate ways. On Tim’s drives, he finds plenty of exploitable financial information, but what most piques his interest are the proprietary files of a Boston company working on a cure for the rare genetic disorder that affects his sister. Virginia, meanwhile, deals with unforeseen consequences of their tryst. Rich exhibits a dry comedic touch and a sharp instinct for the zany, but he ushers the proceedings to a limp finale. Still, this is a witty reflection on living in a world of vanishing privacy. Agent: Elyse Cheney, Cheney Agency. (July)

Reviewed on 04/03/2026 | Details & Permalink

Styles (No Country for Girls) probes the obsessive rage of two young women as a serial killer stalks their Perth, Australia, beach community in this nerve-shredding thriller. Inspired by the real-life case of the Claremont Stalker, the novel alternates between the perspectives of Raych, whose widowed father frequently travels for work, leaving her to fend for herself, and Carmen, who’s relentlessly bullied by her adoptive sister. The two teenagers meet in a psych ward, where both have been confined following violent outbursts, then go their separate ways. A short time later, a killer dubbed “the Shark” murders young female swimmers in Perth. Raych’s best friend, Piper, for whom she harbors romantic feelings, has gone missing—a possible victim of the Shark—and she and Carmen seek revenge. Motivated by their shared anger at “men muzzling in on everything,” the girls track down and enact bloody vengeance on the prime suspect, but the truth of the case is more complicated than they realize. Though some plot developments strain credulity, Styles delivers jolts aplenty with her pitch-black plunge into wounded psyches and the costs of revenge. It’s a gut-wrenching ride worth taking. Agent: Euan Thorneycroft, A.M. Heath Literary. (June)

Reviewed on 04/03/2026 | Details & Permalink

Voris (Say a Little Prayer) impresses with this taut heist thriller. Chloe Bly has practically bankrupted herself paying off her late mother’s medical bills and her own sizable student debt. To stay above water, she takes catering shifts at Miami’s luxury Carlyle Hotel and supplements her income by stealing from the hotel’s wealthy guests. As the story begins, she’s trying to swipe a diamond-studded watch from a billionaire attending a Senate fund-raiser for Andrew Carlyle, CEO of the Carlyle hospitality group. Chloe initially succeeds, only to be thwarted by her longtime nemesis, Harper Parisi, an already affluent thief who steals for the thrill. When Harper tries to turn Chloe in to Andrew for stealing the watch, however, both women are startled to learn that he already knows about Chloe’s thefts. He coerces her into teaming up with Harper to recover a Florida Hospitality Award that his business rival stole from him, offering a lucrative payout if the pair succeeds. They reluctantly agree, kicking off a nimble caper plot that’s supplemented by budding romantic attraction between the two frenemies. Fans of Glen Erik Hamilton’s Van Shaw series will delight in Voris’s clever and crowd-pleasing narrative. This is a blast. Agent: Claire Friedman, InkWell Management. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 04/03/2026 | Details & Permalink

A Hollywood heavyweight’s reunion with her former flame turns dangerous in this provocative if problematic page-turner from bestseller Knoll (Bright Young Women). Actor/writer/director Faye Heron returns to her alma matter in the Adirondacks for the first time in 12 years to speak at the funeral of her mentor, film professor Patrick Toner. In attendance is Patrick’s hunky nephew, Henry Spalding, a college ex of Faye’s whom she’s never completely gotten over. Despite Faye’s enviable career and marriage to her writing/producing partner, all it takes is one look into Henry’s ink-blue eyes to arouse her dormant, decade-old lust. But instead of the X-rated romp Faye fantasizes about, she wakes up woozy and locked inside Henry’s isolated cabin. At first blush, it seems like Faye is in dire straits. But is she? Kidnapping, blackmail, and murder enter the frame as Knoll unfurls her devious tale, but the high degree of gamesmanship between the leads makes it increasingly difficult to distinguish between real danger and role-play. The whiplash-inducing twists are fun for a while, but the plot’s uncomfortable sexual dynamics eventually become a liability, and Faye and Henry feel more like plot devices than three-dimensional characters. Readers will hope Knoll’s next outing marks a return to form. Agent: Alyssa Reuben, WME. (July)

Reviewed on 04/03/2026 | Details & Permalink

The eldest daughter of a famous British influencer family considers revealing explosive secrets about her mother in the sharp sophomore thriller from Wilson (The Goldens). Crystal Shaw is excited to move to London for journalism school and escape her mother’s laser focus on producing the family’s popular At Home with the Shaws vlog. In London, Crystal quickly bonds with fellow journalism student Alyssa and invites her back to the picture-perfect Shaw home for Christmas. There, Crystal uncovers unsettling new details about the years-ago death of her older sister and seeks Alyssa’s help in sharing the information, which would destroy her mother’s reputation and bring At Home with the Shaws to an end. As Crystal weighs whether to besmirch her family name, however, she questions the motives of Alyssa, who seems a bit too excited to ingratiate herself with the Shaw family, and who turns out to have secrets of her own, including a spotty past at boarding school. Wilson delivers solid suspense while exploring the rich if familiar theme of social media’s ability to warp reality. Fans of the author’s debut will enjoy themselves. Agent: Chloe Seager, Madeleine Milburn Literary. (June)

Reviewed on 04/03/2026 | Details & Permalink

British TV critic Hogan debuts with an enchanting cozy about a group of dogwalkers turned amateur sleuths. Graphic designer Charlie Boardman has come home to Framstone, England, “a seaside town they forgot to shut down,” to care for his aging mother, and is adjusting to a much quieter life than he led in London. He’s on a stroll with his terrier, Ruby, when two other dogs—the pets of his friend Tess, proprietor of Framstone’s coffee shop—emerge from the bushes with toupées in their mouths. Charlie follows them back into the brush, where he finds the rotting corpse of Frank Courtney, a retired cop turned pub owner. His curiosity piqued, Charlie sets out to help police find the culprit, with the help of his new friends and fellow dog walkers Viv, Sue, and Malcolm. Despite his inexperience, Charlie proves an effective enough investigator to be blackmailed by Courtney’s killer, who threatens to kill Ruby if he and his friends get any closer to the truth. With well-rounded characters, a soothing atmosphere, and a sufficiently surprising core mystery, readers are likely to give this a long leash. A sequel would be welcome. Agent: Juliet Pickering, Blake Friedmann. (June)

Reviewed on 03/27/2026 | Details & Permalink