strange and random happenstance

A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J. Maas
Published by: Bloomsbury YA
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Romance, danger, and intrigue await you in the breathtaking sixth book in the #1 bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) series.

What was broken will be remade.

Deep in the heart of the continent, Koschei the Deathless is stirring. Though he's been bound to a mountain lake for millennia, the insidious threat of his return now spreads across the Fae territories, attracting powerful allies hell-bent on reclaiming what was once theirs: the human lands.

The Night Court will not stand idly by while innocents are attacked. But with Prythian still piecing itself together in the wake of the devastating Hybern War, the task of uniting is proving more difficult by the day.

To make matters worse, those who rule and protect the Night Court are reeling from recent betrayals and revealed truths. The rifts dividing them seem insurmountable.

But to defeat Koschei's creeping shadow, they must find a way back to each other and resurrect their former alliances. To survive, they must find a way to repair the splintered harmony all around them."

This book might be important to plans for my blog next year.

The Jewel of Corlivo by Kathleen Carr Foster
Published by: Erewhon Books
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In a reimagined Byzantine empire, a runaway courtesan and her disgraced suitor are on the hunt for ancient treasure. But in Kathleen Carr Foster's glittering debut, what they find will be far more troublesome...

Raised for the most luxurious pleasure house in mountain-ringed Corlivo, Anna has no illusions about her future. She'll be a courtesan, as her mother was before she disappeared - and like her mother, gamble that her charms attract a patron rich enough to pay her debts.

But when a gruff explorer with connections at the capital notices Anna, it's her sharp eye that draws him in. Sebastianus thinks Anna's found a clue within the pages of an ancient book to the lost city of treasure he seeks, and she might well discover more.

Together they escape to the imperial court, where marvels are commonplace - and so is treachery. Anna's courtesan training has hardly prepared her for the dangers of court life, let alone for delving into artifacts from the empire's past. But when she uncovers a secret tied to her mother's fate, Anna realizes more than her life is at stake. She holds the key to untold possibilities not only for herself, but for any of the women of Corlivo...if she can use it."

Personally, I think training for court intrigue is lesson number one for a courtesan...

Where We Go at Night by Ikwo Ntekim
Published by: HarperCollins Us
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"To name a thing is to see it, and no one can see the folk if they don't want to be seen.

As far as seventeen-year-old Trixie Godfrey is concerned, her hometown of Woods Crossing would be perfect - if not for the dark world of fae and magic lurking in the shadows. Growing up, her grandfather, Pops, never allowed her to get close to them - those aberrations, Mama used to say.

But on graduation night, when Trixie sneaks home past curfew she witnesses Pops' brutal murder in a moment so sudden, so inhuman she can no longer avoid the fae. Those without the Sight will blame wild animals, calling Pops' death an accident, a tragedy, but Trixie knows the truth because she has the Sight. She spent years burying her "gift", but she needs to revive it now.

Determined to get justice for Pops and rid Woods Crossing of its monsters, Trixie ventures into the intriguing but deceitful world of the fae - only to find herself caught in a power struggle between ancient families more terrible and crueler than hers could ever be. Or so she thinks...."

Never willingly deal with the fae. Even if you're out for revenge.

Elderwitch by Lucie Bowins
Published by: Cranthorpe Millner Publishers
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Sixteen-year-old Emeline de Gournay has always dreamed of adventure.

But as the only daughter of a wealthy Norman baron, she knows her future is to marry a stranger her parents have chosen for her and remain by his side as a dutiful wife and mother.

That is, until the morning of her betrothal, when her younger brother is abducted by a terrifying, shapeshifting Elderwitch. To make things worse, her only hope of rescuing him is to join forces with Owain ap Hywel, a young Welsh half-Hazelwitch she is inexplicably drawn to...and the boy accused of her brother's kidnapping.

As they journey from her home in the turbulent Welsh Marches to a world of fighting Treewitches and mythical beasts, Emeline comes to realise that rescuing her brother will not be enough.

The only way for peace to be restored, in both her own world and the world of the Treewitches, is to destroy the Elderwitch for good."

I mean, two sides to every coin, at least she won't have to marry a stranger...

Scorpion Deep by CG Drews
Published by: Feiwel and Friends
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"CG Drews, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Don't Let the Forest In and Hazelthorn, weaves a disturbing and intoxicating siren-call in Scorpion Deep, about a lonely boy who accidentally awakens an obsessive eldritch sea god.

The only thing Jonathan Covey wants from the gloomy, moldering isle of Kelcarrow is to leave it. Summer is ending, and his friends are looking forward to college on the mainland, unaware that Jonathan was not accepted to join them. He'll be left behind with nothing but the ocean's haunts and a rising dread of being abandoned.

In an act of wild desperation, Jonathan pays a tithe to Scorpion Deep, an eldritch sea god who many of the locals have dismissed as myth. He wants to forget the past, he wants to follow his friends, and most of all he wants to finally escape.

To his shock and horror, the ritual works - Scorpion Deep awakens. And despite his terror, Jonathan can't help but feel drawn toward the ageless entity that seems just as mutually obsessed with him. As scales start growing down his spine and Scorpion Deep's adoration of him turns bloody, Jonathan realizes the only way to end the nightmare is to destroy the monster one way or another.

But once a god has awoken, the only way to be free is to pay a price of blood."

If H.P. Lovecraft wrote Widow's Bay.

Château Reverie by Natasha Siegel
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Another sweeping speculative, romantic novel from the author of As Many Souls as Stars, in which attendees of a magical auction must bid secrets in exchange for their greatest desires. Perfect for fans of Erin Morgenstern or V.E. Schwab.

Reverie and Sons humbly requests your attendance at THE AUCTION OF SECRETS.

Genevieve de Vienne does not remember the journey to the Château Reverie. She only remembers receiving her invitation to the Auction of Secrets, writing upon it her greatest desire - to forget the woman she once loved - and setting it aflame.

Leander Sterne does not remember a life outside of the Château Reverie. When he receives his own invitation, he does not have any secrets to bid, but his greatest desire - his liberty - is worth risking everything. He has nothing to lose.

Alongside five fellow attendees, Leander and Genevieve must survive three nights in the Château in order to bid their secrets and win their hearts' desire. But the Château has a mind of its own. As guests begin to disappear and Leander and Genevieve become more and more entangled, it becomes clear that the rules of the Auction might not be in anyone's favor...and even those who win might not be allowed to leave.

Written in Natasha Siegel's transportive, lush prose and set amidst the final days of the French Revolution, Château Reverie is a rococo fairytale full of horrors and wonders: both a sweeping romance and a twisting speculative mystery."

Whomever has the ability to grant your greatest desire should not be trusted. 

Rosemary and Thyme by Olivia Atwater
Published by: Starwatch Press
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: eBook, 344 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Olivia Atwater offers up another gothic fantasy romance, full of dark magic, deceitful faeries, and "witty and nuanced enchantment" (Stephanie Burgis), in the second instalment of the Victorian Faerie Tales.

An ancient evil has awoken in Victorian England, and it knows Clarimonde Betony's name.

London is no longer safe for Clarimonde Betony. Branded as a black magician, cut off from her staid and sensible life, and hounded by a mysterious pursuer, Clarimonde has little choice but to make common cause with her foppish, self-appointed faerie adviser, Lord Foxglove - a beautiful coward with absolutely no affection for the truth.

Clarimonde's last, best hope is a weapon that lies in Whitby, under the watch of a lovely, bloodthirsty lady known as the Leanansidhe. Foxglove's keen talent for duplicity could gain them both hospitality beneath the monster's roof...but the Leanansidhe's temptations are endless, and her unearthly beauty hides a cruelty beyond mortal understanding. One wrong word might lead to a fate much worse than death…and Clarimonde always has been far too honest for her own good."

A rule I abide by, read anything Stephanie Burgis recommends.

Brown Eyed Earl by Jenny Holiday
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Ted Lasso meets Bridgerton in USA Today bestselling author Jenny Holiday's laugh-out-loud bromantic comedy featuring three Regency-era Earls on their annual trip. These ride-or-die buddies offer one another unconditional support in everything from Lady problems to family woes, but this year, the country house retreat will be earls-plus-girls as our trio of heroes is joined by two beloved wives...and an exceedingly charming lady's companion.

Simon Courteney isn't like the other earls. He was never supposed to be the heir or the spare. Yet when his older brothers tragically died in an accident, he suddenly found himself a peer of the realm. Strait-laced and scholarly, Simon is resigned to a quiet life of work and service. The two bright spots in his calendar are the annual Earls Trip with his best friends, Effie and Archie, and his visits to Archie's mother - where he trades books with her beguiling lady's companion.

Miss Diantha Brown has long been settled into her role as Lady Harcourt's companion. On the shelf and alone in the world, it's a better life than Diantha ever imagined for herself. But her boring yet peaceful existence is upended when an old enemy returns, threatening blackmail and forced marriage.

Determined to escape her fate - and to protect Lady Harcourt - Diantha devises a shocking solution: her ruination. She needs just one thing: a kind, intelligent, brave man to help her..."

I love a good ruination that is secretly a love match. 

To All the Earls I've Loved Before by Emma Orchard
Published by: Boldwood Books Ltd
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 258 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Bianca Constantine has no intention of surrendering her freedom to marriage. Newly wealthy and determined to make her name as an artist, she plans to avoid the dangers of Society altogether - until a chance encounter with a charming young lord draws her back into London's glittering world.

Commissioned to paint the boy's portrait, Bianca expects nothing more scandalous than long afternoons in an elegant townhouse. Instead, she comes face to face with the one man she hoped never to see again.

The summer Bianca spent in Venice with Xan Challender was filled with passion, freedom, and lies. She never told him she was an heiress. He never revealed that he was set to inherit an earldom.

Now Xan has returned to England to claim his title, and neither has forgotten the betrayal that tore them apart - or the desire that still burns between them.

What happened in Venice should stay in Venice - but some secrets are just too explosive to stay hidden..."

Kind of reminds me of what they're trying to do on the new version of The Forsytes.

The Killing of a Chestnut Tree by Oliver K. Langmead
Published by: Tordotcom
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 176 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Meet Havelock Harper, gentleman detective. Dapper, delightful, and decidedly queer, he's here to solve your most magical mysteries.

Everyone in England knows Havelock Harper, the celebrated consulting detective from the papers. But if any of them read his private files, they would discover secrets that must never reach the public eye - extraordinary cases, impossible crimes, and a committed love affair with his formidable companion Major Sebastian Wright.

And their next case might be the queerest yet.

Havelock and Sebastian have been summoned to investigate the murder of the Duke of Farleigh. When they arrive at the scene of the crime - a secluded, enchanting forest - they discover that the victim is a tree!

The trees of Farleigh have begun to write words in their bark and branches, expressing themselves for all to read. The Duke is an ancient chestnut, cruelly chopped down, and to the villagers of Farleigh, he is a beloved friend. They want justice.

Havelock and Sebastian must use all their wits and wisdom to find the murderer who has shattered the peace of Farleigh."

Perhaps inspired by the Sycamore Gap tree?

Murder at Pellhurst Pond by Clara McKenna
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Viscount "Lyndy" Lyndhurst and his wife Stella, an American "Dollar Princess," dive into a new investigation after discovering a body in a pond on the estate of a man rumored to have killed his wife...

When a hot air balloon lands near Morrington Hall, it draws the attention of Stella and Lyndy as well as others, including Quentin Lockyear, son-in-law of Reuben Woodridge, a recluse who is suspected of murdering his wife. Quentin is keen to invest in aeronautic ships and automobiles, and invites Stella and Lyndy to Woodridge's estate, Exbury Lodge.

Upon their arrival, they meet the mysterious patriarch, accompanied by his nurse, and his daughter, Enid. Reuben takes Stella and Lyndy on a tour of his stables and a large mill pond on the property, encouraging them to take his skiff out whenever they like. Returning the next day for a bird shoot, the couple go for a ride in the skiff only to discover a body in the pond.

The woman is dressed in expensive clothes but has no identification on her. An accidental drowning? Suicide? What is she doing on the property? When an autopsy reveals traces of poison, Stella and Lyndy attempt to discover who she was and who might have had a reason to do her harm. Rumors aside, what secrets are they hiding at Exbury Lodge?"

Please say she also fell from the sky!

Death Down the Aisle by Colleen Cambridge
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Agatha Christie's cherished housekeeper, Phyllida Bright, not only keeps the celebrated author's home running smoothly, but she has also proven herself an accomplished sleuth. So when a murderer brings mayhem to a wedding, in this USA Today bestselling series' latest installment, she's on hand to sweep up the mystery...

Phyllida is delighted to receive an invitation to the wedding of her friend Dr. John Bhatt. It's a chance to get to know his fiancée, Emily Hartparker, and to explore Coatesworth Manor - the grand seaside estate that belongs to Emily's distant relatives. Coatesworth is now managed by Lady Artemis Coatesworth and offers ample space for a celebration. But it's soon clear that some of the guests have intentions beyond cheering on the happy couple.

As is often the case when extended family gathers, there is bickering, not to mention an awkward love triangle between Emily's lovely cousin Lily, her handsome ex-husband Heath, and his new wife, Tibby. Besides that, some of the other cousins - all of whom are there simply to appease Lady Artemis, who has the power to enact a morals clause in her late husband's will that could impact the heirs' inheritances - don't seem to get along. Discomfiting, certainly. Dramatic for sure.

And the drama gets infinitely worse when a wedding guest is discovered dead in the small chapel only hours after the ceremony.

Phyllida immediately agrees to help discover what happened, and brings some of her staff over from Mallowan Hall, Mrs. Christie's manor house, for cover. But with plenty of dark secrets and ugly family dynamics, it seems the killer could be any one of the Coatesworths - and that killer is dangerously motivated to keep the grisly truth from being revealed..."

I think I'm going to bequeath the title of most prolific cozy author to Colleen Cambridge. Her output is starting to keep pace with Seanan McGuire! 

The Spiral by Rosanne Limoncelli
Published by: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When Nina finds the dead body of a woman who could easily be her twin, she must divide the men in her life into two groups: the ones she can trust and the ones who might be the killer.

A refreshing new take on the noir-thriller genre, The Spiral is perfect for fans of Tana French and Stieg Larsson.

It's 1979, and nineteen-year-old Nina Esposito survives gritty Greenwich Village by tending bar with plenty of sarcasm and elbow grease. She can navigate the lewd customers, dirty streets, and danger-after-dark of NYC until a serial killer arrives on the scene targeting women who look exactly like her. Now survival for Nina means finding the killer before he finds her.

She has the constant feeling that she is prey surrounded by predators and every man she meets could be the killer: the guy following her on the subway, her leering acting coach, the restaurant owner pressuring her for a date. But is she really a target, or are the demons of her past clouding her judgment? Detective Frankie Lopez seems to be on her side - but she knows that trusting the wrong person could make her the next victim.

Set in crime-ridden New York City, when the subways were covered in graffiti and the burned-out buildings of the East Village were homes for squatters and punk rock teens, this psychological thriller is a dark murder mystery, one that will keep you guessing until the very end when the final twist is revealed."

Sometimes it's all about the atmospherics! And boy, does this book have those in spades. Like an art house thriller from the seventies. 

A Classic Case of Murder by Daryl Wood Gerber
Published by: Kensington Cozies
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Personal chef and caterer Allie Catt combines her love of fiction with her love of food in the scenic North Carolina mountains - but amid her latest themed event, based on Dickens's beloved classic, A Christmas Carol, a rare-book expert's goose is cooked...

In the charming town of Bramblewood, not far from Asheville, Allie's preparing for a special seasonal soiree: a literary-themed dinner party that's a tribute to Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. It'll take place at the Amber Lantern, the quaint inn recently opened by her best friend's mother, Noeline - and the holiday spirit has even led a Scroogelike local businessman to lend his prized first edition of the nineteenth-century novella for the event.

With the voices of carolers ringing in the air and the community theater staging a special performance, it looks like it will be a happy Christmas - until the priceless book disappears and someone murders the expert who authenticated it. And if the police have their way, Allie's lawyer friend Freddy will be dragged away in chains like Marley's ghost...

The crime has also cast a shadow over Noeline's fledgling business, so Allie feels doubly obliged to find the real killer among the gathered guests and local visitors - and put an end to this nightmare. It's time to investigate them all, every one..."

My question is, is the party going to be more Fezziwig or more ghostly?

Murder in the Upper Crust by Mindy Quigley
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The sixth book in the delectable Deep Dish Mystery series, set in a Wisconsin pizzeria.

Chef Delilah O'Leary is going where no deep dish pizza chef has gone before: a swanky wellness retreat, where she's agreed to cater for a crowd of the who's who. Instead of cashing a fat check for an easy gig, though, she encounters a diabolical plot with more layers than one of her signature pies.

The exclusive event, hosted by superstar guru Rhiannon Frost, promises inner transformation - but when a spiteful attendee turns up dead during the guided meditation, Delilah smells more than incense in the air. Every guest has a motive…and access to a sinister walled garden brimming with exotic poisonous plants.

With her restaurant short-staffed, and her boyfriend, Detective Calvin Capone, splitting his time between bartender duties and undercover sleuthing, Delilah's got her hands full. Can she slice through the lies before the killer strikes again? Or will this luxe getaway turn into a one-way trip to the great beyond?"

Only in Wisconsin would deep dish be on the menu at a wellness retreat! We CAN NOT LIVE without our cheese!

The Moriarty Murders by Jack Gatland
Published by: Simon Stream
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Welcome to Moriarty and Co: who would have thought that solving crimes is more fun than committing them?

Investigative journalist Abigail Wren has spent her career chasing cases no one else cares about. But everything changes when Abbie learns she's the last living heir to the Moriarty criminal empire (yes, that Moriarty). Now, not only has she inherited a crumbling country house, she's also acquired a cellar full of ageing operatives who've spent their lives on the wrong side of the law. She wants none of it.

Her new 'employees' aren't too thrilled either. They want a Moriarty in charge - not someone who's only ever solved crimes, rather than committed them. But when Maurice Finch, one of the old guard, is found dead in circumstances nobody believes were accidental, the team wants revenge.

Abbie sees an opportunity: she decides they're switching sides and going straight to find Finch's killer. But pulling at the threads of his death turns up a second body, and a name that keeps surfacing where it shouldn't. Because someone thinks the Moriarty inheritance should have been theirs, and he's only just getting started...

With time running out to catch the killer, can they solve the case before another body turns up? Or is the world's most unconventional detective agency also going to be its most short-lived?

The Moriarty Murders is a cozy crime novel with a Sherlock Holmes twist - the first in a new series from Multi-Million Selling and #1 New York Times bestselling author Tony Lee, writing as Jack Gatland."

I'm assuming Abbie survives given that this is a series, but otherwise she'd be at the top of my list of potential victims. 

The Poison Pen Murders by Dee MacDonald
Published by: Bookouture
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 242 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Anonymous letters, a years-old mystery and...a dead body? Ally McKinley is on the case!

Ally McKinley might be the owner of the cosiest little guesthouse in the Scottish Highlands, but she also has a reputation as an amateur detective! So when a threatening note drops through her elderly neighbour Juliet Munro's door, Ally is called in to investigate. But what first seems like a nasty prank soon proves lethal, when the very next day, Juliet is found murdered...

Her faithful dog Flora by her side, Ally soon learns that more than one woman in Locharran has received a poison pen letter. And though locals' lips are sealed over coffee and cake, Ally skilfully unlocks the old Locharran mystery that connects the recipients: they were all rumoured to be involved in the death of a young woman called Marie McKay. Is someone trying to stamp out Marie's killer? And if so, who in Locharran is not who they seem?

A faded photo of a little blond boy with pale eyes has Ally on the right track, but when a woman's scream shatters the village's gentle calm, can Ally sort through the secrets before the post delivers another murder?

Fans of Agatha Christie, Faith Martin and Clare Chase will love this totally addictive and cozy mystery set in the beautiful Scottish Highlands from bestselling author Dee MacDonald."

If any of the recipients of the letters had a hand in the young woman's death.... Well, let them die.

Venus, Vanishing by Rebecca Birrell
Published by: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In raucous 1928 Berlin, Hannah Sherman has deviated from the traditional arc of a woman's life. An artist and a runaway, she revels in the city's underground art scene and her newfound freedom. Working as a tailor while studying art in every spare moment, Hannah comes to know women and their bodies, first with measuring tape and silk, and later through sensuous layers of paint.

Hannah feels like she can finally call herself an artist when an intoxicating, wealthy female collector commissions an elaborate series of nude portraits. But after Hannah finishes the acclaimed Venus paintings, she discovers that her work has been tampered with and exhibited under a man's name. When lines between artist and muse are crossed in a heady but perilous affair, Hannah transforms her work into an act of revenge, finding herself caught up in a devastating game of betrayal.

Laced with queer desire and life-threatening secrets, Venus, Vanishing pulses with the hedonism and danger of 1930s Berlin as history comes to Hannah's door, offering a heart-pounding story of Jewish survival, creativity, and resistance."

And hopefully vengeance on the man exhibiting her art!

The Resurrection of Evania James by Jaime Jo Wright
Published by: Bethany House Publishers
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"If walls could talk, what nightmare might they expose?

1879
When Eloise James's sister, Evania, goes missing after being admitted to an asylum, Eloise is determined to find her sibling but instead discovers evidence of dying patients and missing remains. Wannabe journalist Silas Dobbs has his own suspicions that something more nefarious is at work, and that black market sales may originate at the asylum. Together, they are intent on learning whether Evania is alive, or if her body has also been stolen. But unraveling a web of underground resurrectionists proves daunting, and the dead cannot share their secrets.

Present Day
Tilly Thompson is horrified to find historical human remains entombed in a wall of the Gothic mansion her grandfather just purchased, launching her into an investigation of the original owners' questionable past. The James family legacy harbors a darkness tightly woven through decades of secrets, but the past refuses to remain ensnared by silence. Will revealing the truth resurrect dangers best kept buried forever?

Jaime Jo Wright masterfully weaves a dual-timeline gothic suspense novel that brings together a haunting historical tale and a shadowy modern-day mystery. For fans of atmospheric thrillers, spooky reads, the Victorian era, creepy mansions, and dark family secrets."

1879 is a bit late for resurrectionists...

From the Library of Jurgen Leitner by Premee Mohamed with Jonathan Sims
Published by: Random House Worlds
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Enter the library of an enigmatic collector, where occult books are guarded and researched at a fatal cost, with this uncanny eldritch horror novel from Nebula Award-winning author Premee Mohamed and The Magnus Archives' Jonathan Sims.

Fear comes before the fall.

In the winding, perilous corridors of Jurgen Leitner's private library, you never know what you'll find. A starving cookbook. An ancient scroll that casts cool, predatory breezes. A cloth-bound hardback that compels you to DIG, DIG, DIG, DIG.

Free, these books are more than simply unnerving - they're deadly. But the library keeps their dangers in check and their would-be readers safe....

Or so Leitner claims.

For two of his employees, the risks are worth it. Hugh Franklin, research assistant, has finally found a place he belongs, where his skill in translation is valued, even if his employer is a bit odd. Sebastian Everett, acquisition specialist, can indulge his arcane ambitions, even if it means pretending to care about Leitner's mission.

Though their tenures at the library were years apart, Hugh and Sebastian's stories unfold in parallel, and their footsteps echo down the same eerie aisles, caught in a web spun long before either ever heard the name "Jurgen Leitner."

Will they find a way out...or will the library consume them before it's too late?"

For anyone doubting the power of books.

Public Access Aferworld by Jane Schoenbrun
Published by: Hogarth
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 608 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A mysterious realm on the other side of our screens. A dark force that draws victims into its static. The unlikely hero called to save them and herself from this electric hell. Public Access Afterworld is the profound, binge-all-night, headrush of a novel by the celebrated filmmaker of I Saw the TV Glow and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.

Find the receiver. Make it real.

At 5:35 p.m. on September 3, 1988, Dallas weatherman Ray "Can You Say Sunshine" Davino makes passing reference to Public Access Afterworld during a rambling monologue, right before he puts a gun to his head on live television and pulls the trigger.

On June 12, 2009, David Sawyer and Erin Morrison, two lonely, TV-obsessed suburban teens who might be falling in love, gather in Erin's basement to watch TV's analog-to-digital transition. But in the static that follows, Erin witnesses surreal broadcasts from a pirate TV network called Public Access Afterworld, and their lives are changed forever.

Seventeen years later, Bethany Peters toils through the night shift at megacorp GlobalVill's bleak Austin campus. A trans content moderator, she spends her evenings reviewing an endless stream of horrific videos. But then a young streamer begins to crop up in her feed calling out to Public Access Afterworld.

But what is Public Access Afterworld?

Spanning decades and realities, with an unforgettable ensemble of outcasts and nerds - especially the messy but wholly relatable Bethany, who must overcome paranoia and self-doubt to transform into a hero of our times - Public Access Afterworld will have you reading through the night and rooting for its characters to survive. A mesmerizing mash-up of speculative fiction, horror, and conspiracy, it marks the arrival of a major new force in contemporary fiction by a groundbreaking filmmaker who's been compared to David Lynch and Paul Thomas Anderson."

Just the thought of being trapped in an afterlife that is just Public Access gives me the goosebumps. 

Wandering Cat's Cage by Akane Torikai
Published by: Takumigraphics
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 344 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In Akane Torikai's Wandering Cat's Cage, it is the near future. Only a few women are still able to menstruate, and even fewer men will be born to them. Reproduction is limited to medical intervention controlled from on high, and the structures and lives of the past hold no weight: they are only hinted at through the remaining scraps of a world that no longer exists. Life can be good, though, if you fall in line, and the women of The City live bright, happy, tightly controlled lives. But complete obedience isn't for everyone. For the women across the river, who live in a rundown shantytown, viewing the opulence of the city from afar each night, life is different. It is humble, and often dangerous, but it is free. It is here that Sanada, a young acupuncturist, lives with the mysterious Reiho, the only male she's ever met, and who sells himself to the rich women who sneak across the river for something they've never experienced...The two form a small "family," taking in other young women ousted from the city. But a real, living, breathing male might be too precious to leave to the shabby streets. When Reiho is kidnapped at gunpoint and taken to the breeding program in the city, Sanada must join with the other outcasts to try and rescue him, and learn the difficult truths of love, self-actualization, society, community, safety, and the future itself.

Master manga-ka Akane Torikai (Sensei's Pious Lie) has produced a stunning work of relational SF through a gender-bent looking glass. Torikai pulls no punches examining the deeply messy subjects of our day - sexuality, gender dynamics, romantic love, familial trauma, freedom, and control, through immaculately realized settings and character-rich, emotive body language. Produced in partnership with MSX: Mangasplaining Extra."

You'll find me across the river.

An Uncertain Magic by A.M. Kvita
Published by: Orbit
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Brooklyn's most chaotic coven is back in An Uncertain Magic. This time all they have to do is take on ancient gods (yes, gods), avoid a magical apocalypse, and save New York City. No big deal. Joan Greenwood has been adjusting nicely to her life away from her powerful family of witches. She has an apartment full of friends, her dream job at an architecture firm, and a constant companion in the sentient magic that makes up New York City. For once, everything's coming up Joan.

Until her best friend gets possessed.

There's a god wearing his skin, a new cult is springing up around him, and magic is going haywire. Things go from bad to worse when Joan's rival-turned-crush, Astoria Wardwell, arrives from California with the news that her best friend is also possessed. That's one hell of a coincidence, and the two have to work together to save their best friends before these gods corrupt them. Unless their pesky feelings for each other get in the way."

Possession is never good. Especially with higher powers involved.

The Coven of Redthorn Manor by D.M. Million
Published by: Midnight Haus
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 348 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Her ancestors are calling on her to stop The Second Burning...

All Davina wants is to finish her dissertation on the connection between Seventeenth-Century Witch Hysteria and modern witch intolerance to change the way the world perceives witch-kind. Inside Redthorn Manor, Davina is the reluctant high priestess of the Divine Moon Coven. She can't seem to wield magic with authority. Now, with the rise of a Puritan revivalist group and their leader, Patrick Parris, and the group's frequent live-streams of witch-burnings, she knows she must step up and protect her coven at all costs.

When one of her sisters is attacked outside of the coven's apothecary, Davina uses her family's grimoires and academic research skills to find a solution to keep them safe. During her research, and with the help of an old acquaintance, Nathan Graham, Davina learns of an ancient prophecy that she must fulfill to stop The Second Burning Times. Her ancestral lineage is the key to Davina accessing an ancient form of magic that will help her defeat Parris and his lackeys, the King James Brotherhood (KJB). Her destiny is written in the stars: she either defeats Parris or he burns every last witch.

Redthorn Manor is no longer a safe haven for the coven. Davina can no longer ignore the prophecy - she must fight back! Saved by new allies, The Equinox, a secret coven of elemental sorcerers, and their sexy yet infuriating high priest, Cato, the Divine Moon Coven must leave Redthorn behind to help prepare Davina for her battle with Parris.

To accomplish her goal, she needs to access sorcery magic before Parris does. He's already ten steps ahead, and the clock is ticking."

The fact that she thinks that a dissertation could change minds is so naively sweet.

Supernatural Machines by David Brandon Hodge
Published by: Insight Editions
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Supernatural Machines is a groundbreaking visual history of the devices invented to speak with the dead.

From the spectral raps of the Fox Sisters to the rise of the Ouija board, Brandon Hodge guides readers through two centuries of spiritual innovation - exploring the haunted technologies born from our longing to pierce the veil between life and death. A unique fusion of esoteric history, visual culture, and ghost story, this richly illustrated, large-format volume reveals the occult ingenuity of mediums, inventors, and mystics who crafted writing planchettes, talking boards, spirit trumpets, and other strange apparatus to reach beyond the grave. With original photography, archival ephemera, and gripping historical narratives, Supernatural Machines brings to light a forgotten chronicle of technological mysticism. Each of its 14 chapters is a portal to the past, a captivating read accompanied by stunning photographs, detailed illustrations, and haunting accounts that breathe life into the arcane artifacts that have captivated the imagination of our ancestors and ourselves."

Here's hoping the book also details how their ingenuity was used to create cons.

In My Own Time by Christopher Lloyd
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Emmy Award-winning actor Christopher Lloyd - one of the most iconic performers of his generation - shares an intimate portrait drawn from the defining moments of his life, from his early years in theater to his time on the sets of iconic television and film, his struggles with addiction, and an isolated childhood of privilege.

Whether appearing as a disembodied head in Wednesday or taking on the title role in a stage production of King Lear, Christopher Lloyd has become known for portraying larger-than-life characters with a singular intensity and imagination. Now, for the first time, Christopher shares stories from his life that he has rarely spoken about before.

In My Own Time begins with Christopher's childhood at Waveny, the sprawling Connecticut estate. Raised primarily by governesses and wandering the grounds, he became a quiet observer of the people and relationships around him, including the complicated dynamic between his creative mother and his stern father.

With New York already a familiar part of his world, Christopher immersed himself in the demanding life of the theater. On stage he developed the intensity, imagination, and fearlessness that would come to define his work. From there, Christopher's career expanded across television and film, where audiences came to know him as the intense and unpredictable Taber in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the eccentric and beloved Reverend Jim Ignatowski on Taxi, and the wild-eyed genius Doc Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy - performances that helped define some of the most enduring films and television of their time.

Christopher Lloyd offers a rare and deeply personal reflection on a life spent both onstage and on screen, told with charm, dry wit, and honesty. In sharing the stories behind his work, his struggles, and the people and places that shaped him, In My Own Time reveals the thoughtful and deeply observant man behind the iconic characters."

This detestable Fester's the echt Fester Addams!

We'd Thought They'd Never Leave by Tony Shalhoub with Josie Adams
Published by: Gallery Books
Publication Date: October 27th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From Emmy, Tony, and Golden Globe winner Tony Shalhoub comes a delightful, heartfelt memoir about food, family, recipes, and the stories we pass down around the table.

Every summer for over five decades, more than fifty members of the Shalhoub family have gathered in Door County, Wisconsin, for a week of home-cooked meals, fiercely competitive card games, old stories, new memories, and just enough chaos to keep things interesting.

Written with his daughter Josie Adams, We Thought They'd Never Leave is Tony Shalhoub's warm and deeply personal reflection on the people who shaped him. Through stories spanning four generations - from an orphaned Lebanese boy who survived wartime hunger to the sprawling family he would one day help create - Tony traces the Lebanese American family traditions, meals, and rituals that continue to bring the Shalhoubs back together year after year.

Along the way, the beloved actor known for Monk and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel reflects on growing up as one of ten children in a lively Lebanese American household in Green Bay, Wisconsin; navigating family life, work, and parenthood; and helping preserve a reunion that has become a beloved family institution. Also included are twenty treasured family recipes, ranging from stuffed grape leaves and tabbouleh to Midwestern chili and cherry pie.

Filled with unforgettable characters, deeply moving stories, and Tony's signature humor, We Thought They'd Never Leave is an invitation to join the Shalhoub table, where everyone has an opinion, everyone is expected to pitch in, and there's always room for one more."

A table my father has been at a time or two. 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Christopher Lloyd, Clara McKenna, Colleen Cambridge, Daryl Wood Gerber, Dee MacDonald, Emma Orchard, Jaime Jo Wright, Jenny Holiday, Mindy Quigley, Natasha Siegel, Olivia Atwater, Premee Mohamed, Sarah J. Maas, Tony Shalhoub

A Botanist's Guide to Tradition and Treachery by Kate Khavari
Published by: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Brilliant botanist Saffron Everleigh has set sail on her first research expedition, but it's disrupted by accusations of murder when one of her fellow scientists is murdered in this daring fifth installment.

Saffron Everleigh is newly engaged and full of optimism as she sets off on the adventure of a lifetime for any scientist: a research expedition. She sails to newly formed Turkey with her fiancé, Alexander Ashton, and a bevy of fellow researchers under the watchful and reformed eye of Dr. Henry. With only two other women on board, Saffron soon finds she is right back in the same infuriatingly misogynistic environment that marked the earliest days of her career. Only this time, Saffron is determined to show everyone, including Alexander, that she can handle the trials of an expedition.

And trials she has in spades. Before the expedition team has even arrived, Saffron has managed to find an enemy in historian Joseph Clark, who frequently torments the assistant that Saffron has taken under her wing, Martin Neill. But when Martin unexpectedly dies, Saffron is targeted as the main suspect.

Falling ruins, venomous snakes, and mysteriously blocked passages are the least of Saffron's worries. With unexpected help from a familiar face, Alexander and Saffron have to work fast to prove not only that Saffron is innocent but that they both have nothing to do with a larger conspiracy at play among the expedition crew."

An expedition and murder!?! Be still my heart.

Feast by Catherine Kurtz
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In nineteenth-century France, a young woman with a magical sense of taste saves a duc from poison, and her new role as poison taster thrusts her into the world of the nobility, where secrets and danger lurk around every corner.

Minha is born on the backstreets of late nineteenth-century London, the daughter of an Indian spice merchant and an English prostitute. She has a remarkable gift: an incredible sense of taste. She can taste the earth in which potatoes were grown or the tree on which fruits have ripened. She can smell each ingredient - and identify a single false note. But Minha's gift and her mixed-race heritage provoke mistrust and rejection, even within her own family. Escaping alone to France, Minha chances upon work in the Château de Bellefalaise, where for the first time her strange abilities are lauded.

As official poison taster for Duc Nicolas, Minha must taste every morsel of food that will pass his lips. Others in the household are hostile to her, but when she discovers a man hiding in the stables, their unexpected meeting turns into the first true connection she's felt since arriving in France.

But mystery and paranoia continue to swirl around the château, with the Duc's poisoner unidentified and antagonism toward Minha growing. She knows it's only a matter of time before fingers begin pointing her way. Will she run again, or is this the time to stand and fight?

A thoroughly addictive novel about food, possession, race, love, and a young woman fighting to build a fulfilling life against all odds, this is a gorgeously written debut by author Catherine Kurtz."

I've always wondered about poison tasters. Because what if the poison is slow acting? Then everyone dies?

Letters from the Last Apothecary by Bita Behzadi
Published by: Hay House LLC
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Emily Wilde meets Divine Rivals in this debut cozy historical romantic fantasy about a grumpy apothecarist, the whirlwind woman who comes to save his shop, and the letters that secretly unite them. You've Got Mail with a magical twist!

Nestled between steel skyscrapers lies a small shop stocked with old magic and experimental elixirs. This cozy historical romantic fantasy debut is a tale of mistaken identity, reluctant partnership, and the quiet, transformative magic of being truly seen - on and off the page.

Josephine Pinova doesn't believe in fate. Yet, it must be fate when she walks into one of the last magical apothecaries in the city and they offer her a job after she's just been fired.

Struggling against a tide of anti-magic sentiment amidst the city's rapid industrialization, the shop is slated to close in six short months unless Josie can save it. Luckily, she's no stranger to impossible odds - she's applying to study magic at the local university, something women are typically excluded from - even as the shop's prickly apothecarist, Aufidius Reid, seems determined to dislike her.

Reid finds her unbearably insistent. She finds him infuriatingly uptight - nothing like the sensitive scholar Josie has been exchanging anonymous letters with as they study together for entrance to a graduate magic program. A scholar who just so happens to be Reid himself, unbeknownst to either of them.

Letter by letter, they fall in love. But at work, Josie and Reid clash constantly about the direction of the business. As pressure rises, they discover the threat to the shop is more dangerous than they could have ever imagined, and working together to save it might be their only chance at true purpose, and at each other."

I'd say more The Shop Around the Corner than You've Got Mail, even if one is a reimagining of the other.

The Sourdough Compendium by A.G. Slatter
Published by: Titan Books
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 688 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Award-winning stories from the world of All the Murmuring Bones and The Briar Book of the Dead, this is a compendium of fantastic tales from the dark gothic heart of the Sourdough universe. Witches, assassins and pirates are brought to life in immersive, sinister and magical prose.

Within these pages, coffin-makers work hard to keep the dead buried and their own murderous urges in check; poison girls are schooled in the art of marital assassination; books carry forth stories and forbidden secrets; a young witch wreaks a terrible revenge on an old lover; the Little Sisters of St Florian devote their lives to knowledge good and bad; a dying forest god is reinvigorated; mermaids and seamstresses make dangerous bargains; changelings bring havoc. Saints slumber, hind-girls dance across the countryside, bears show their true colours, and the fate of the upper and lower worlds rests on the whim of a volatile plague maiden...

Comprised of three collections (Sourdough and Other Stories, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings and The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales) these award-winning storms form much of the foundational mythology for Slatter's dark fairy-tale gothic Sourdough novels. Exquisite, compelling and rich with unforgettable characters, these tales layer and intertwine in the dextrous hands of a master storyteller."

There's nothing a love more than big compendiums to get really stuck into the lore of a fantastical world.

Devils We Know by L.T. Thompson
Published by: Bloomsbury YA
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The sequel to the Stonewall Honor winner Devils Like Us.

Three queer teens must bring Death out of hiding to save one of their own in book two of this YA historical fantasy duology that's Our Flag Means Death meets The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy.

We need to find Death.

Cas, Remy, and Finn are on the run from the Order of Lazarus, a secret society that wants to use Cas's prophetic powers to capture Death and ensure that only the "unworthy" and "immoral" will meet their ends. Which will not only upend nature's balance but also tear apart the only place the friends have ever felt safe to be themselves: Aboard the Mori, where Cas can live openly as a trans boy, and where Remy and Finn are beginning to fall for each other. No matter what, they can't let that happen.

To protect their found family of queer sailors, the three teens will need to find Death first and strike a bargain of their own. But the society is hot on their heels - and so is a demon who's determined to claim the soul he's owed."

Found family fighting Death? I mean, that's the purpose of our lives isn't it?

Black River by Ruby Jean Cottle
Published by: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"JUST ONE TASTE CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING.

All seventeen-year-old Dusty wants is to escape into books and the Adirondack wilderness that surrounds her small town. But in the dead of night, strange things have been happening in Black River.

Animals are being ravaged by something unnatural. And Dusty wakes up one day with dirt on her feet, changed and starving. When new kid Will arrives, Dusty feels an attraction unlike anything she's felt before. She wants him...or she wants his blood. As Dusty realizes she's transforming into something she can't control, she reluctantly turns to the only person she somehow knows will understand: the annoyingly attractive Eli Blake.

Together, Dusty and Eli must uncover the mystery of their town and their new, insatiable desires. Have they become vampires or some other kind of monster?

Whatever they are, they're not the only ones.

An irresistible blend of suspense and romance, this paranormal small town mystery is perfect for fans of Stephanie Meyers and Tigest Girma."

What's the collective noun for a group of vampires? I want something cooler than coven or brood.... A Sanguine of Vampires? 

The Way It Haunted Him by Laura R. Samotin
Published by: Titan Books
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A terrifying and claustrophobic queer dark academia horror set in a demon-infested archive about trauma, grief and the lengths we will go to for love.

Perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher and Tori Bovalino.

GUILT. GRIEF. OBSESSION.

Michael Stein arrives at the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies battered and broken, blaming himself for the tragic accident that took his boyfriend's life. He is haunted by his guilt and grief, but is determined to repent by completing his boyfriend's research into demonic entities.

But instead of being welcomed by the archivist, Michael is met by Jacob Schechter - the archivist's enigmatic, brooding grandson, who has inherited the Institute after his grandfather's death. As Michael explores the archive, delving into cryptic texts and whispered histories, shadows from the past begin to seep into the present. Tormented by demons both real and imagined, Michael's grief warps into something far darker - an intoxicating, yet increasingly toxic obsession with Jacob, whose own secrets threaten to destroy them both.

Now, Michael must confront the terrible truth behind his boyfriend's death - and his obsession with Jacob - before the darkness they awaken in each other claims more than just their love, and consumes them entirely."

If his boyfriend's death had anything to do with his research perhaps it's better for Michael to leave well enough alone?

The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones by Lex Croucher
Published by: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From New York Times bestselling author Lex Croucher comes an extraordinary dark academia fantasy about dangerous privilege, corrupted power, and two former best friends caught on opposite sides of the secrets rotting at the heart of Britain's most prestigious boarding school.

For as long as they can remember, Briar Jones dreamed of attending the Temple School of Thaumaturgy. Behind its looming ornate gates, the elite boarding school - the place that has produced the most CEOs and Prime Ministers in British history - is whispered to be magical.

Briar's best friend, Sebastian Wolfe, never cared about Temple. He just wanted them to stay together forever.

When, at age eleven, Seb gets an acceptance letter and Briar doesn't, their childhood friendship is shattered. Seb vanishes onto Temple's grounds and Briar resigns themself to a mundane life. But they can't completely forget their yearning for Temple, for the extraordinary, to be one of the chosen in the ivory tower.

Seven years later, Briar secures a temp job sorting through the junk in Temple's attics. And when Briar takes it, they discover that quiet, sensitive Seb, the boy they once loved more than anything else in the world, has become Bastian: a beautiful, arrogant villain feared by the entire school. And worse, the secrets Temple is hiding might not be so enchanting after all."

Oh, do we have some Neverending Story vibes?

The Making of a Witch by Judy Molland
Published by: She Writes Press
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Inspired by true events, this novel tells the tale of young Alice Molland, who must grapple with accusations of witchcraft and the persecution of women with mysterious gifts in turbulent seventeenth-century England.

In the tumultuous era of seventeenth-century Exeter, England, ten-year-old Alice Molland is forced to attend the brutal execution of her mentor in the healing arts, Goody Luscombe, who has been condemned to death for witchcraft.

In the years that follow, with her use of herbs such as mugwort, slippery elm, and comfrey, Alice becomes well known as a magical healer. But such gifts come accompanied by danger in the misogynistic age she lives in, and it's only a matter of time before a prominent Exeter merchant raises suspicion that she is a witch. When a love spell leads to an unexpected pregnancy, Alice becomes a target and must flee for her life."

It just didn't pay to be a smart woman on your own in the past. Even if you were actually a witch.

Kingdom of Devils by Katherine Grandjean
Published by: Random House
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The chilling true story of a brutal string of deaths on the post-Revolutionary frontier that reveal the violence at the heart of the young United States.

Kentucky, 1798: A harrowing series of murders begins. The first body, discovered by cattle drovers, lies bloody at the bottom of a ridge. Then another - a dead boy staring up from a sinkhole. Bodies turn up along roadsides, stuffed into brush. They float to the surface of muddy brooks. For nine terrifying months, over hundreds of miles of Kentucky and Tennessee countryside, the terror unfolds. The killers - two men with hazy backgrounds - are brothers, named Wiley and Micajah Harp.

The Harps killed dozens, but why they did it has eluded folklorists and historians for generations. Almost every story imagines that their motive was pure bloodlust, but for historian Katherine Grandjean, that's too simple. Instead, she uses the Harp murders to reveal the dark side of the young United States' independence. These were uncertain and dangerous years - a time when the fledgling federal government could do little to protect its citizens. And if the American Revolution was liberating, it was also deeply destabilizing, politically and socially. Even as it built up some men, it stacked the deck against others, punishing them with volatile markets, lost safety nets, and shattered aspirations. Unspooling the mystery of what sent the Harps reeling exposes the hidden, violent legacies of the revolutionary era.

Bristling with tense, page-turning storytelling - and driven by a historian's obsessive detective work - Kingdom of Devils recovers these long-forgotten murders as a haunting tale about the darkness at the heart of the American dream."

Long-forgotten indeed! How have I not heard of these serial killers?

Red Sheet by James Ellroy
Published by: Knopf
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 544 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Turn to the first page. Disavow what you think you know about the so-called Red Scare. This is commie malfeasance and '60s L.A. as you've never read it before.

It's late October 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis has just concluded. The Russkies blinked and pulled their ICBMs out of Cuba. Attorney General Robert Kennedy fears reprisals from seething commies. He orders a red probe and puts the LAPD on the job.

Freddy Otash is injudiciously named the lead investigating officer. He's a stone-cold criminal with police sanction and a harrowing dope habit. He homes in on a red-front trade union. There's a murder on Halloween night. It may link to ex-VP and current gubernatorial candidate Richard Nixon and two commie snuffs from eight years back. Freddy's overworked and overamped. He's running the probe, and Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman - Tricky Dick Nixon's head goons - have hired him to keep Nixon away from the smear-minded press.

L.A. is coming unglued. Ex-cop/lawyer Tom Bradley is running for a city council seat and pushing the Rumford Fair Housing Act. Playboy kingpin Hugh Hefner is along for the ride, out to exploit racial tension and peddle untold copies of his smut rag.

Red Sheet is James Ellroy's most crazed kamikaze run and a daring, subversive work of fiction."

The truth about humanity is there is always corruption. Everywhere. It just happens that James Ellroy has made a successful career about telling these tales set in Tinseltown. 

The Man Who Led a Dream Life by David Handler
Published by: The Mysterious Press
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Stewart Hoag and his new bride dive into married life with the discovery of a murdered millionaire in this mystery from early in the crime-solving career of the author-sleuth.

January 1983: Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag is getting married to the love of his life Merilee at New York City Hall. Hoagy's college chum, Ezra Spooner, stands up for him. Merilee's lovely cousin, Phoebe, stands up for her. And their young basset hound Lulu stands up for both of them. After they say "I do" and pop open the Dom Perignon, Phoebe somberly announces that she and her husband, the legendary adventurer and old money multi-millionaire Junior Singleton, are now officially divorced.

Junior leads what most men would consider a dream life. He has climbed Mount Everest twice, captained his yacht to an America's Cup victory, raced Formula One Ferraris in Europe, surfed the most dangerous Maui waves, and slept with as many women as he chose to despite being married to sweet and gentle Phoebe, who works as a music teacher and plays violin in a chamber music quartet. The pair could not be more different, and most of their friends predicted the marriage wouldn't last. They were right. Phoebe is done putting up with Junior's constant absence and compulsive philandering. She's not even asking for much of his fortune in the divorce - just $1 million and their gorgeous townhouse in the East Sixties, which she intends to sell. In fact, she'd love to sell it to Hoagy and Merilee.

The newlyweds agree to tour the home and find that it's almost exactly what they're looking for: There's a fabulous gourmet kitchen, a paneled office where Hoagy can write, a garden where Lulu can romp, a luxurious master suite with his and hers dressing rooms. The only drawback - and it's a mighty big one - is that they find Junior dead on the floor of his dressing room with a rosewood handled Claude Dozorme steak knife plunged into his left eyeball.

Who would want to kill Junior Singleton? Plenty of people, as it turns out. Junior's autopsy reveals that he was HIV-positive, which means any of the women with whom he had unprotected sex have been exposed to the deadly AIDS virus - including the hot-shot realtor Siena Bing who was supposed to be helping them sell the house. And that's just the start of the suspect list. As the NYPD's top Homicide Lieutenant, Meyer Golden, pursues the case he finds it unfolding in several different directions, and Hoagy, who possesses not only amazing insights into the criminal mind but also a gifted short-legged partner, gets drawn deeper and deeper into the fascinating and utterly bizarre world of New York City's elite."

I'm just saying, if Junior knew then he deserved to die.

Heather by Caitlin Mullen
Published by: Celadon Books
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A small-town detective reopens an unsolved case, sending shock waves across generations of women in this gripping new mystery from the Edgar Award-winning author of Please See Us.

1990. In the myth-riddled woods of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, sixteen-year-old Annabelle Riley's twin sister, Sabrina, has been having an affair with a mysterious older man, and Annabelle is determined to uncover what's going on. Then, inexplicably, both sisters disappear.

In this same town years later, newly instated police chief Callie Hauser makes an arrest that unexpectedly resurrects details from a heartbreaking cold case. As she digs deeper, the past and the present collide, challenging everything Callie believes about right and wrong, who she is, and the town she's always called home.

A propulsive mystery as incisive as it is forgiving, Heather bears a visceral reminder that the truth of a woman's life is often complicated and unknowable - to those on the outside, and sometimes even to herself."

Introspection in the Pine Barrens might be a dangerous habit. 

Summer's Never Over by Darby Bozeman
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this addictive dual-timeline debut novel, a woman confronts her past at the remote Southern summer camp where the tragic death of her fellow counselor may not have been an accident after all.

Five years ago, Greer left her family's summer camp in the mountains of Georgia and vowed she'd never return. An idyllic season had turned into a nightmare after a mysterious Phantom began stalking the camp - and ended with Greer's friend and fellow counselor dead. Losing Steph shattered everything, and Greer's been fleeing from the grief ever since.

But then Greer's mother dies, and Greer finds herself back at Dread's Cove, surrounded by the people she was closest to that intense summer. Two ex-boyfriends - one a childhood sweetheart, the other the guy she's never gotten over - and old friends. Including Margo, Steph's best friend.

Greer and Margo didn't leave things on the best of terms. But now, Margo needs her. Margo never believed that Steph's death in that horrific fire was an accident - and she's on the trail of an explosive secret Steph took to her grave.

Greer has to make a choice: keep the Cove's secrets and her own, or finally face the truth about that summer."

You know your camp Dread's Cover, you HAVE to expect something bad to go down. Isn't it delicious?

Strangers Behind Closed Doors by Catherine Adel West
Published by: Park Row
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A twisty thriller about a woman who vanishes from a luxury hotel, and the detective who believes the case is tied to the unsolved disappearances of other Black women in the city.

Giovanni Mason worked hard to become the first Black head concierge at Chicago's exclusive and glamorous Ivory Hotel. It's a job that requires patience, perfection, and, above all, self-control. But when Giovanni reunites with her former best friend, makeup influencer Natalie Moore, things get heated as a mending of fences morphs into a public argument in the hotel restaurant, and Giovanni loses her cool. Hours later, Natalie is missing. Evidence piles against Giovanni - a ransacked, blood-spattered hotel room, fresh bruises on her body, and a troubling gap in her memory from the last twelve hours.

Detective Redding Stark is the only one unconvinced of Giovanni's guilt. She sees disturbing parallels to a series of disappearances targeting Black women and believes Natalie's case is part of something bigger. Together, she and Giovanni are pulled into a dangerous web of privilege, power, and betrayal inside - and far beyond - the walls of the Ivory Hotel.

Will Giovanni and Detective Stark find Natalie or join the missing?"

Murders in hotel are catnip to me. Elisa Lam for example....

Based on a True Story by Sarah Vaughan
Published by: Harper
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A compelling novel about power, money and lies from the author of Anatomy of a Scandal.

All families have secrets. But it's the lies that can kill.

A lavish seventieth birthday party. A body found on a storm-lashed beach. And a secret that someone is dying to tell....

Famed children's author Dame Eleanor Kingman has summoned her family and friends to her exquisite manor house on the cliffs. They're celebrating her birthday - and her latest number one bestseller in her series of books based on a mother fox and her cubs.

But the night before the party, Eleanor receives an email that threatens to expose the lie she's kept up for over half a century.

Someone knows her secret. Is it her estranged literary agent? Is it her ex-husband, to whom she no longer speaks? Is it the nanny she fired all those years ago, who always did have a knack for storytelling? Or is it one of her three daughters, all of whom have a stake in the publishing empire she has built...

With a television crew arriving to film a documentary of her life, Eleanor needs to find out who sent the email - and preserve her legacy and multimillion-pound career.

But when push comes to shove, and it's time to tell the truth will anyone actually believe her?"

If you have deep dark secrets, perhaps a documentary on your life isn't the best idea.

Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer
Published by: Doubleday
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less, showcases his wit, sophistication, and deep knowledge of focaccia in this tale of a young man who takes an unspecified job with a charismatic elderly Baronessa at her crumbling villa in the Tuscan hills.

An aspiring archivist determined to begin a "serious" life after an undistinguished undergraduate career takes up residence in the Italian countryside. Here, he becomes the all-purpose assistant to the Baronessa, known to her friends as Coco, a defiantly youthful and naturally flamboyant woman of ninety-two. Amid a chaotic and colorful milieu of gin-swilling princesses, incomprehensible handymen, roaming boarhunters, nuns, and other local wildlife, our young man does his best to catalog the villa's extensive collection of art and antiques - although he notices that things seem to go missing from right under his nose.

Despite himself, he tumbles into an affair with a married man, complicating his future plans considerably. And when the Baronessa loses someone close to her, he becomes an unwitting accomplice in the acceleration of Coco's great and final plan: to locate the love of her life and be reunited before it's too late. Told with the signature wit, charm, and humanity that made Less an international phenomenon, Villa Coco is a dazzling, sun-soaked ode to life itself, a meditation on how seriously we ought to take ourselves, and a bawdy Mediterranean ballad about becoming who we've always wanted to be."

I can totally see my grandmother fitting in at Coco's villa.

Contrapposto by Dave Eggers
Published by: Knopf
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A sweeping novel about friendship, love, and the lifelong pursuit of art from Dave Eggers, the award-winning, bestselling author of The Circle, Hologram for the King, and The Eyes and the Impossible.

Cricket Dib, born on the American prairie, has no particular prospects or ambitions until, in grade school, he realizes he can draw. He soon meets a girl, Olympia Argyros, one year older, who is captivating and brilliant and far more worldly. Recognizing his talent, she convinces him to deface, with profound vulgarity, a popular playground. Under her direction, he does it willingly, already in love, and thus begins a sixty-five-year entwining between Cricket and Olympia, encompassing friendship, working partnership and love affair. Together they go to art school - an experience of dubious value - and then navigate the art world for the next fifty years, together and apart.

Contrapposto is a moving and very funny novel about allies and art, and what it means to be an artist. All through their lives, Cricket sees Olympia as his soulmate and destiny, and while she is always his champion, romantically her eyes are always seeking something - and someone - else. Their love changes over the decades, but their commitment to each other, and their search for meaning in the making of art, never wanes. The novel spans the globe, from New York to Thailand, Indiana to Paris, and follows Cricket and Olympia through sickness and health, war and death.

The novel is a wild and beautiful examination of the rules and market forces of the art world, but chiefly it's about two friends who believe they can change that world, and bring new meaning to it, if only they can start their own movement, dodge charlatans, remain open-eyed and open-hearted, avoid going mad, avoid dying young of rare cancers, stay true to their ideals, and never tire of beauty. Not easy, but not impossible, either."

No matter how dubious the value of art school, it is kind of necessary to learn the proper language to take the art world by storm... 

Sometime This Century by Samantha Silva
Published by: Harper Perennial
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A riotous rom-com meets a swoon-worthy Regency comedy of manners in this heartfelt time-travel story about sisters, love, identity - and how Jane Austen just might change your life.

Annabel Blake was born in the wrong century. An Austen-loving book nerd, she dreams of being a writer herself, with a just-penned Regency novel to prove it. Her hopes sink when her hot author crush rejects her: The novel reads like she's never been in love. Ouch.

Annabel sees a chance to rewrite it when her ex-pat boss sends her to England to sort out her family's "crumbling old pile" of a country house. Tempted by an invitation tucked in an antique writing desk and a "period" coachman at her door, Annabel's whisked away to a local Regency Society ball - cue candlelight, costumes, dancing - that might be just the inspiration she needs. There's even the achingly perfect - and wildly out of her league - Henry Leighton D'Evercy.

When Annabel's audacious influencer sister crashes the party with her super-chill ex-boyfriend, the unlikely trio wake to find themselves trapped in the actual Regency era. No Wi-Fi, lattes, cellphones - just a world where manners, money, and marriage rule.

As Annabel falls deeply for D'Evercy, she must decide: write her perfect love story...or live it."

While Jane Austen did indeed change my life, I have never once thought I'd want to live back then. The healthcare alone!

A Shop Girl's Guide to Wooing a Lord by Shana Galen
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A down-on-her-luck shop girl and the son of an earl find they have more in common than they thought - including sexual chemistry they can't resist - in this fresh Regency romance by Shana Galen.

Tamsin Archer might just be having the worst year of her life. And that's saying something, considering her father is dead, her mother was maimed at work, and her family regularly sleeps under London's bridges. But when her younger siblings go missing, Tamsin decides it's time to step up and fight.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Tamsin's more than willing to take a few risks to reunite with her siblings. But while disguising herself to sneak into homes and steal from the rich, Tamsin is caught by Garret Kildare, the second son of an earl. Much to Tamsin's surprise, Garret doesn't want to turn her in. He wants to help her. Though Tamsin's wary - she's learned to never trust supposed "good luck" - the unlikely pair form an alliance, one that quickly muddles their class differences.

Garret knows he must be careful. Falling for a woman of a lower class could be the nail in the coffin for his family's tenuous social standing, and there are eyes everywhere. Ignoring their attraction proves impossible, though, and soon the lines they've drawn around their partnership begin to blur. As more focus lands on Tamsin and Garret, they wonder if their red-hot connection means giving up everything - and everyone - they've ever known."

So forget about the siblings and run off with the son of an earl? OK....

How to Not Marry a Lord by Emma Orchard
Published by: Boldwood Books
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: eBook, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Discover the BRAND NEW gorgeous, super spicy Regency romance from Emma Orchard.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of a good fortune must not be in want of a husband...

After four weary years on the marriage mart, Cecilia longs for an appealing match - or maybe, shockingly, no match at all. So when she and her sisters discover they are unexpectedly heiresses to a substantial Suffolk estate, Cecilia dares to imagine a future shaped by her own choosing.

There is, however, one strict condition: to secure their inheritance, none of the sisters may become engaged for a full year.

Cecilia is confident she can manage - but that's before fortune hunters in the shape of handsome lords begin to circle, matchmakers sharpen their claws, and a taciturn Major proves far more difficult to ignore than any conventional proposal.

Can Cecilia protect her heart, her sisters, and the freedom she has only just discovered...or will desire cost her everything she stands to gain?"

Totally take the money and remain a spinster. It's a far safer prospect all around.

It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo
Published by: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Peter Pan meets Stephen King's It in this twisted horror retelling of a classic childhood fairy tale set during WWI.

1914, Wendy Darling works by day as a school teacher, and by night, she assists soldiers who have returned home from the Western Front. There is one mysterious patient who, despite all the care they've given him, is in a deep sleep, unable to wake up. One night, when he murmurs the words "Peter Pan," Wendy is thrown back to a darker time, one that she wishes she could forget.

When one of her students goes missing, it brings back memories of when children went missing and were later found murdered in London many years ago. Wendy is convinced that Peter Pan, the entity that she believes killed those children, is back. She and her brothers had a close encounter with Peter Pan, after all. But her brothers only remember Peter Pan and Neverland as a fantasy of childhood games.

When another child goes missing and signs start to point to Wendy, Scotland Yard digs into old reports, finding that Wendy knew the names of all the children who had been killed. As Wendy tries to prove her innocence, she also has to find a way to stop Peter Pan once and for all."

If the Sandman came in a warped our childhood memories.

Mister Magic by Kiersten White, Scott Peterson, Veronica Fish and Andy Fish
Published by: Ten Speed Graphic
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Who is Mister Magic? Former child stars reunite to uncover the tragedy that ended their show - and discover the secret of its enigmatic host - in this stunningly illustrated graphic novel adaptation of the thrilling national bestseller Mister Magic.

Thirty years after a tragic accident shut down production of the classic children's program Mister Magic, the five surviving cast members have done their best to move on. But just as generations of cultishly devoted fans still cling to the lessons they learned from the show, the cast have spent their lives searching for the happiness they felt while they were on it. The friendship. The feeling of belonging. And the protection of Mister Magic.

But with no surviving videos or scripts, no evidence of who directed or produced the show, and no records of who - or what - the beloved host actually was, memories are all the former circle of friends has. In Val's case, kidnapped by her father and in hiding ever since, she doesn't even have those.

A surprise encounter with Val's old castmates brings them all together for a reunion. Back to the remote desert filming compound that feels like it's been waiting for them all this time. Back among friends they haven't seen for years, but who somehow understand one another better than anyone has since.

After all, they're the only ones who hold the secret of that circle, the mystery of the magic man in his infinitely black cape, and, maybe, the answers to what really happened on that deadly last day. But as Val reclaims parts of her past, she wonders: Are they there by choice, or have they been lured into a trap?

Because magic never forgets the taste of friendship....

Rendered in striking full-color art by beloved comic artists Veronica Fish and Andy Fish, this gripping graphic adaptation of Mister Magic fully immerses you in the psychological thriller that PopSugar, CrimeReads, and the Chicago Public Library named a best book of the year."

I love it when prose books get adapted into graphic novels. LOVE IT!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A.G. Slatter, Andrew Sean Greer, Caitlin Mullen, Catherine Adel West, Cynthia Pelayo, Darby Bozeman, Dave Eggers, Emma Orchard, James Ellroy, Kate Khavari, Kiersten White, Lex Croucher, Samantha Silva, Sarah Vaughan, Shana Galen