The Baroness’ Choices of New Books Publishing This Week
2026, Week 39’s New Books
My choices for this week include Holiday Romance, Cozy Holiday Mystery, Young Adult Detective Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Historical Mystery, and New Adult Romantic Fantasy.
Woohoo! The first day of Fall is on Tuesday. Let the Spooky Season be upon us! We are hoping to decorate either this weekend or next weekend for Fall. My little Bella is still here and being a stinker. She is a comfort to me.
It’s a short list of books this week. I think Jen and I both have books on our TBRs. You should be seeing some reviews from us. I know I keep saying that, but honestly, we are working on it.
Here are my choices for New Books Publishing Week 39 of 2026!
A Christmas Wish for the Village Midwife by Tilly Tennant
Village Midwife #5
Publication Date: September 21, 2026
Genre: Holiday Romance
Goodreads | StoryGraph | Amazon
As stars sparkle in wintery skies, the little village of Thimblebury is getting in the Christmas spirit. Fairy lights hang in shop windows, couples kiss under the mistletoe and midwife Zoe Padbury has a heartfelt Christmas wish…
For midwife Zoe Padbury, there’s nowhere more magical than her Lake District home at Christmas. The air smells of hot chocolate and mulled wine, there are Santa cruises on the lakes, and Zoe has her hands full welcoming babies into the world – the best presents of all.
But at home at Kestrel Cottage, despite the lights twinkling on the tree, the mood is far from festive. Zoe has just had unexpected news: she may never be able to have children. She and her boyfriend Alex have been dreaming of starting a family of their own, and as she watches Alex put together the perfect Christmas for his daughter Billie, she hides her heartbreak. She’s determined not to ruin the holidays for him…
Zoe wraps presents with Billie, and sees Alex look at them both with such love. The season should be joyful, but she’s far from feeling light and hope. But what’s more important at Christmas? Keeping the peace or telling the truth? Zoe’s only wish is for many more Christmases with those she loves. But is her relationship strong enough to survive the secrets she’s been keeping?
A gorgeous heart-warming festive read about coming together at Christmas. Fans of Jessica Redland, Jo Bartlett and Shari Low will fall in love with A Christmas Wish for the Village Midwife.
A Killer for Christmas by Kim Harrington
Publication Date: September 22, 2026
Genre: Cozy Holiday Mystery
Goodreads | Bookhype | BookBub | StoryGraph | Amazon
Wrapped in red has a bloody new meaning in this contemporary holiday romance with a murderous twist, perfect for readers who enjoyed The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year.
Christmasville, Maine, is the only place where Kelsey Hendricks has ever felt happy. When she loses both her job and her boyfriend, the move is a no-brainer, especially when she sees a listing for a position as Christmasville’s social media manager. Surrounded by twinkling lights and candy canes and with the perfect job, this tinsel town is working its magic on Kelsey. With two heartthrobs vying for her attention, her life is now just like a Christmas movie.
Except for the murders.
The first one is dismissed as an accident. But after the second, and definitely the third, it becomes abundantly clear that Santa is leaving coal in someone’s stocking this year.
Determined to bring back the holly jolly spirit to the town before tourists begin canceling their reservations, Kelsey must sleuth her way out of a chilling murder mystery and back to a holiday rom-com.
This charming and clever mystery-romance where a cozy winter wonderland warms the heart while suspense chills the bones is the perfect read for the holiday season.
Accidental Tribes by Candice S. Pascoal
Publication Date: September 22, 2026
Genre: Young Adult Detective Mystery
Eight kids nobody trusted. One room everyone forgot. Secrets the school was hiding.
At an underfunded public school in Times Square, eight teens facing expulsion or worse are given one last chance: Experiment 359, a thirty-day test designed to prove they can change.
Hacked grades.
AI-generated humiliation.
Anonymous accounts.
One disastrous week that put them all in the same room.They aren’t friends. Some are enemies. And none of them trusts the others.
Then they uncover something no one expected them to find. A student died, and what really happened was never explained. The deeper they dig, the stranger things get. Money is missing. Stories conflict. Adults dodge questions. And someone seems determined to keep the past buried.
To save themselves, eight outsiders who can barely look at one another will have to do the one thing nobody expects.
Trust each other.
Because the eight are about to discover one thing no one warned them about: they aren’t the only ones being tested.
Perfect for fans of One of Us Is Lying and Truly Devious, Accidental Tribes is a sharp, funny, digital-age YA mystery about outsiders, second chances, secrets, and the unexpected family you find when everything goes wrong.
Arsenic and Old Ladies by Maggie Shayne
Arsenic and Old Ladies #1
Publication Date: September 22, 2026
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Goodreads | Bookhype | BookBub | Amazon
Sharp, wicked, and darkly funny, Arsenic & Old Ladies is a small-town crime caper about lifelong female friendship, vigilante justice, and four retired women who know exactly where the bodies are buried.
Retirement has never been so lethal.
It begins the day Bonnie Tucker kills the wrong man-or rather, exactly the right one…
Retired teacher Bonnie Tucker is the last woman in town you’d suspect of murder. But some men have it coming, and when one of them ends up dead, she does what any sensible woman would do-she calls her three best friends.
Between them, Diane, Christine, and Rosie have decades of patience and a frankly useful knowledge of the local cemetery. At their age, you get on the mailing list. One body, they can handle. The trouble is, someone was watching-and the new detective in town happens to be Bonnie’s son.
Murder on the Sacred River by Tasha Alexander
Lady Emily Mysteries #20
Publication Date: September 22, 2026
Genre: Historical Mystery
Goodreads | Bookhype | BookBub | StoryGraph | Amazon | Karen’s Book Review
In this next enthralling mystery in Tasha Alexander’s bestselling series, Lady Emily chases down a killer in India along the misty banks of the sacred river Narmada.
1908: Lady Emily and her husband Colin Hargreaves, along with an eccentric group of English tourists, are vacationing in India at Ahilya Fort, the old home to the Maharaja’s family, when a man is found shot along the Narmada River. Emily and Colin jump into action, but their suspect list is large, including a wonderful spinster and her not-so-wonderful companion; a local doctor; a widow who lives nearby; an English explorer; and an Englishman who now runs a tea plantation near Darjeeling.1740: Fifteen-year-old Ahilyabai has been married to the son of Malharrao Holkar, the Lord of the Malwa territory, for seven years. Now the time has finally come to produce an heir. But though Ahilya’s in-laws have shown her nothing but kindness, her notoriously-drunken husband remains a mystery to her, having rarely spoken to Ahilya since their wedding as children. Faced with this tortured and distant man, Ahilya’s sense of loyalty is tested as she attempts to balance fulfilling her duty with forging her own destiny. Her decisions will have ripple effects across time―including Lady Emily’s investigation almost two hundred years later.
Lady Emily’s case takes a dramatic turn when a shocking new person arrives at the fort―and when the killer strikes again shortly afterwards, she and Colin must race to uncover the villain’s identity before it’s too late.
The Golden Isle by Nora Nightingale
Publication Date: September 22, 2026
Genre: New Adult Romantic Fantasy
Goodreads | StoryGraph | Amazon
Jude Delmar can read every emotion in a room. It’s her magic: tidal, instinctive, always on. And it’s the reason her family sent her to the Season, the most-watched bonding event in the realm, where ten heirs are paired on a remote island while every moment is broadcast through scrying mirrors.
She arrived with a plan. Read the room. Make the right alliance. Protect her family’s position. Get out.
She did not plan on Leo Lucente.
Leo is the golden heir of the most powerful family in the realm, and the one person on the island her magic can’t reach. Every time she pushes past his surface, something shuts her out. She can feel the wall between them thinning, straining, almost giving way. Never what’s behind it.
Her bracelet lights up for him anyway.
As the Season’s ceremonies turn ruthless, Jude starts seeing what the realm doesn’t: an event everyone believes is sacred is being gamed from the inside. But the island’s own magic has always been honest. And it’s starting to push back.
Now Jude has to choose between the alliance her family needs and the connection she never wanted. Knowing the most powerful family in the realm will do anything to stop her.
Perfect for readers who love:
- One shared bedroom. Five beds. No walls.
- “I can read everyone except him”
- Matchmaking magic that can’t be faked
- Forced proximity with nowhere to hide
- He falls first, and he falls hard
- Slow burn with a payoff
- Female friendships that survive the game
The Golden Isle is a standalone romantasy with a happily ever after. Contains explicit sexual content. Intended for readers 18+.
Well, that’s it for the New Books Releasing Week 39 of 2026
Drop a comment if you like one of the books above or if you have one to recommend.
Thank you for stopping by,
Happy Reading!
Baroness’ Book Trove is an Amazon affiliate, meaning that if you click the link and purchase something, this blog gets a tiny percentage back. This mainly helps cover the cost of the website and a few giveaways.
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