Cosimano’s madcap sixth adventure for mystery writer and divorced mom Finlay Donovan (after Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave) finds the frazzled series heroine trying to clear Vero, her nanny and trusted friend, of bogus theft charges. At the outset, Vero is under house arrest in Maryland as she awaits trial for stealing from her old sorority. Though Vero did squirrel away cash for the organization by hosting clandestine poker games as a senior, she swears she’s not responsible for the money’s disappearance. For her part, Finlay believes Vero (“Vero and I had both broken plenty of laws in the short time we’d known each other,” she muses, “but stealing from her former sorority house hadn’t been one of them”), so when the 20-something receives threatening letters at her family home, Finlay heads to Maryland to investigate. As the women seek ways to circumvent Vero’s ankle monitor, Finlay’s boyfriend, hunky police detective Nicholas Anthony, steps in to take care of Finlay’s two precocious kids back in Virginia. Cosimano keeps the tone freewheeling and funny, though the sheer volume of red herrings and colorful supporting characters threatens to overwhelm. Still, this is a raucous good time. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink

Snowden’s brooding third gothic mystery featuring Raven Burns (after A Killing Rain) finds the emotionally damaged Louisiana detective investigating the possibility that a serial killer is on the loose in her hometown of Byrd’s Landing. The daughter of serial killer Floyd “Fire” Burns, Raven has made a career of tracking down murderers, both in her previous post as a New Orleans homicide detective and in her current job with the Byrd’s Landing police. Ever since Floyd died by suicide in prison, his ghost has been haunting Raven (“The image of him dying sharpened and layered blood and gore over her daily life”). When a spate of axe murders rocks Byrd’s Landing, Raven becomes convinced that another serial killer is at large, though she struggles to identify a link connecting the victims, among them a doctor and a local police officer. Her search for clues reawakens unwelcome memories, including of Floyd’s murder of an elderly woman when Raven was a child, that prove crucial to solving the current case. Raven’s fear that she shares her father’s ruthlessness lends the novel thorny emotional stakes, and Snowden excels at conjuring a swampy Southern atmosphere. Attica Locke fans should check this out. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 02/06/2026 | Details & Permalink

Harried German defense attorney Björn Diemel’s life spirals out of control in Dusse’s witty and inspired debut. Urged by his wife, Katharina, to become “mindful” as a means of dealing with his anxiety, Björn hires self-help coach Joschka Breitner, whose teachings usher him uneasily toward peace of mind. Meanwhile, Björn takes a case defending Dragan Sergowicz, whose pimping, drug dealing, and other criminal operations stretch Björn’s questionable ethics to their breaking point. Then Dragan starts encroaching on Björn’s personal life, causing a father-daughter weekend with Björn’s toddler, Emily, to go awry. Afterward, Dragan vanishes, and Björn takes over leadership of the gang as his proxy. As Björn reckons with betrayals, executions, and a criminal takeover of Emily’s preschool, he clings to his newfound mindfulness—including breathing exercises and meditations suggested by Breitner—even as his efforts to protect his daughter and reclaim control of his life grow darker. Dusse pairs brisk plotting with a sardonic send-up of self-help culture, keeping the suspense taut while supplying plenty of laughs. The result is an inventive, endlessly surprising comic thriller. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 02/06/2026 | Details & Permalink

This slim but harrowing collection from Kiste (The Haunting of Velkwood) packs a punch, much like most of its heroines. Looking deep into the eyes of difficult, often literally monstrous women is Kiste’s specialty. Sometimes the faces are familiar, as in the Bram Stoker Award–winning “The Eight People Who Murdered Me,” written as an entry from the diary of Lucy Westenra as she transforms into a vampire after meeting Dracula, and “Lost in Darkness and Distance,” in which an undead Marie Antoinette (with severed head in tow) meets Mary Shelley as she’s in the process of writing Frankenstein. Other protagonists are entirely original, like the clerk of “The Last Video Store on the Left,” who hides a dark past among her dusty VHS tapes until a beautiful reporter asks the right questions; the eponymous heroine of “The Sea Witch of the World’s Fair,” lurking in plain sight in the Salvador Dalí exhibition; and the mysterious, visionary filmmaker at the center of standout entry “The Eleven Films of Oona Cashford,” whose obscure horror classics sometimes make their audiences disappear. Kiste lends each story the deeply unsettling quality of an apparition half-glimpsed in a dark mirror. The result is a visceral celebration of women’s wrongs. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 02/06/2026 | Details & Permalink

In this superb historical espionage thriller, Parks (To Die in June) introduces Joseph Gunner, a former Scottish police detective on medical leave in Glasgow after being injured on a French battlefield during WWII. Gunner intends to return to police work once he’s healed and has found his brother Victor, a conscientious objector whose allegiance to Russia has put the siblings at odds. Then two German POWs are murdered, their fingers cut off and their faces mutilated. Gunner’s former boss convinces him to investigate, and some quick digging reveals that both victims were the spitting image of high-ranking Nazi official Rudolf Hess. Soon, Gunner is unraveling a complex Third Reich espionage plot involving multiple body doubles. Along the way, he also finds Victor and warns him that he faces a firing squad for treason if British officials catch up with him. Parks excels at capturing the brutality of war, writing vividly of Germany’s relentless bombing of Glasgow and the makeshift hospitals springing up in bars and on football fields to treat the wounded. Gunner, meanwhile, is a clever, endearing hero whose personal and professional baggage have enough heft to sustain future installments. This is a winner. Agent: Isobel Dixon, Blake Friedmann Literary. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 02/06/2026 | Details & Permalink

Caldwell’s delightful debut mashes up a swoony Regency romance with a high-octane racing adventure. In 1810, with the Napoleonic wars raging on the continent, conscientious Lucy Elliot is safe in England, where she secretly attends illicit carriage races under cover of night. Since such behavior isn’t proper for a lady of Lucy’s pedigree, she ensures that her presence at the Night Races never crosses over into her prim daily life. One evening, however, Lucy’s handsome new neighbor, Captain Dashwood joins the Night Races and recruits Lucy as his messenger. Though Lucy has long considered romance beneath her, she can’t help being swept away by Dashwood’s appreciation of her wit and racing knowledge. As Lucy’s affection for Dashwood deepens, she seeks to unravel the mystery of his sudden appearance at Elsworth Manor and his possible involvement with a string of coach robberies in the area. Caldwell captivates from the first page, spinning an escapist tale that will thrill fans of Bridgerton and other, similarly irreverent takes on Austenesque romance. Readers will eagerly anticipate the author’s next outing. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 02/06/2026 | Details & Permalink

Knox and Mare’s effervescent sequel to Homemaker melds mystery and light romance as divorced Midwestern mom Prairie Nightingale launches her own PI agency. Fresh off solving her first murder, Prairie recruits three friends—podcaster Emma Cornelius, forensic genealogist Joyce Ozmanski, and office manager Marion Banks—to help make mystery solving her official business. The group’s first case, brought to them by local gossip blogger Bernie Dubicki, involves a series of unexplained deaths in Door County, Wis. Bernie’s convinced there’s a serial killer on the loose, and though at first glance the victims seem random, the subsequent disappearance of a female college student in the area raises alarm bells for Prarie and her team. Aided by FBI agent Foster Rosemare, Prairie’s love interest, they races to connect the dots before another person turns up dead. Despite the heavy subject matter, Knox and Mare maintain a witty tone that helps them straddle the line between cheeky cozy and full-blown thriller. With rich cast dynamics and a sweet central love story, this series shows promise. Agents: (for Knox) Pamela Harty, Knight Agency; (for Mare) Tara Gelsomino, One Track Literary. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink

A quirky cast of wordsmiths vies for a life-altering prize in this deviously plotted satire of the publishing industry from Clarke, a pseudonym for Cat Clarke (The Lost and the Found) and V.E. Schwab (The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue). Invited to the remote Scottish island of Skelbrae by bestselling thriller writer Arthur Fletch, a half-dozen commercially challenged authors—ranging from horror writer Kenzo Gray to bubbly YA novelist Millie Mitchell—assemble in his castle for one of his legendary salons. But after all the invitees sign NDAs, Fletch’s agent drops a bombshell: Fletch is dead, and the group has actually been summoned to compete in a 72-hour competition to ghostwrite the final chapter of his blockbuster Petrarch series. The winner will receive $1 million and a three-book deal with a healthy marketing budget. Soon enough, the contest morphs from battle of wits to cutthroat competition darker and twistier than the secret passageways honeycombing Fletch’s castle. In the home stretch, the narrative takes a turn so head-spinning it nearly undermines the careful plotting that came before, but fortunately Clarke has a few more surprises in store. The result is nothing short of dazzling. Agent: Holly Root, Root Literary. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink

A woman returns to a deteriorating Australian mining town five years after her son’s disappearance in this satisfying slow-burn from Harper (Exiles). The once close-knit community of Carralon Ridge has thinned in recent years, with most residents either fleeing or contemplating buyouts from the ever-expanding Lentzer coal mine. Rowena “Ro” Crowley’s estranged husband, Griff, still works for Lentzer, though he spends most of his time grieving the couple’s son, Sam, who vanished five years earlier while conducting in-person interviews for a research paper about the socioeconomic impact of the mine’s expansion. Ro moved away from Carralon Ridge soon after, but she’s come back to be with her family on the fifth anniversary of Sam’s disappearance. When she arrives, the community is abuzz about the death of the local pub owner. His suspicious demise and the ensuing dispute over his property rights fuel gossip and speculation about Lentzer’s business practices; soon, Ro starts to suspect that the company might be hiding details about Sam’s disappearance. Harper’s evocative portrayal of a decaying landscape and the grief-burdened people who live there provides the narrative with simmering tension. It’s a solid outing. Agent: Dan Lazar, Writers House. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink

Erratic pacing kneecaps Rose’s disappointing sequel to Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder. At the outset, flighty New York City hotel heiress Pomona “Pom” Afton is hoping to rebrand herself from hedonistic party girl to philanthropic society fixture. To that end, she’s planning an over-the-top gala for her nonprofit, the Pomona Afton Foundation, at the New York Public Library, to fund scholarships for needy students. The party descends into chaos when a guest and major donor turns up dead in the middle of the event, and Pom’s best friend Vienna becomes a key suspect in their murder. To smooth over the scandal and clear Vienna’s name, Pom drags her history teacher boyfriend Gabe to a series of clubs and private islands where they attempt to sniff out the culprit. Though Rose managed to draw laughs from Pom’s privileged cluelessness in the previous book, it mostly just grates this time around. Meanwhile, the mystery takes too long to heat up and ends with a whimper. Here’s hoping the author’s next outing is a return to form. Agent: Merrilee Heifetz, Writers House. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink