New Books Publishing Week 42 of 2026

Mince pies. Gingerbread snowmen. Choose your favourite Christmas treat, grab a blanket and settle in with this heartwarming cosy romance.

Lucy Wilson built the First Sip coffee shop in Castle Cove from nothing. She loves every mismatched chair, every cosy corner, every friendly face that comes through the door.

The one thing she doesn’t love is Dylan Benjamin. Charming, cocky, and far too sure he can fix everything. He’s the last person Lucy would ask for help.

Then her landlord decides to sell the building. Her business and her home will be gone by spring. And Dylan is standing right there when she reads the letter.

He offers to help her buy it. And he refuses to be a silent partner.

Forced to work together, Lucy sees a different side to Dylan and begins to wonder if she’s been wrong about the man who drives her mad. Especially when she discovers the secret behind the night they both refuse to talk about.

It’s Christmas in Castle Cove. The tree is going up on the High Street, the choir is singing and the café is filled with gingerbread lattes, mince pies and unexpected second chances.

Dylan has proposed twice. Lucy has said no twice.

But with Christmas Eve approaching, she’s running out of reasons to say no again.

A warm, funny, feel-good Christmas romance set in a Cornish seaside town, with a guaranteed happy ending.Perfect for fans of Jenny Colgan, Cressy McLaughlin, Donna Ashcroft, Heidi Swain and Sarah Morgan.

Small-town Christmas
Enemies to lovers
Accidental pregnancy
Forced proximity
Grumpy x sunshine

Sand Trials by J.F. Johns

Publication Date: October 12, 2026

Genre: New Adult Romantic Fantasy

Sahira Waadi Al-Dunasi has spent her life looking after her kingdom and her wayward sister, the future queen. So when her sister Hessa decides to join the infamous Sand Trials taking place to choose the next Dunayan leader, Sahira is left with no option but to follow.

However, she does not count with Zain Al-Khamari to show up for the trials. The boy who broke her heart, and who now is a grown man that wants to gain Sahira’s trust back.

Sahira must keep her sister alive whilst trying to fight her own battles.

Especially those of the heart.

Under the desert, within the dunes, anything is possible.

A second chance.

New beginnings.

Or a new path no one saw coming.

Eggnog & Evidence by Nikki Weber

Maine Campground Cozy Mystery #5

Publication Date: October 13, 2026

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Some secrets are like Christmas lights: they get worse the more you try to untangle them.

Noelle Cooper is teaming up with her family to launch a festive new venture: a holiday extravaganza complete with Santa, gallons of eggnog, and a spectacular tree lighting guaranteed to make the season merry and bright.

There’s just one problem: Holly Winterbourne, the abrasive holiday consultant Noelle’s father has hired to help pull it off. Holly insists on holding a practice run at Babbling Brook Campground—in the middle of July—and she rubs everyone the wrong way.

When an incident at the tree lighting turns deadly, the festivities come to a shocking halt. Noelle feels partly responsible for the tragedy, but then the police determine that it was no accident, and Noelle’s guilt turns to suspicion. She sets out to discover who tried to pull the plug on the festival.

As Noelle and Mandy secretly sift through the evidence, they learn that several people at the event were up to no good. But which one actually did the deed? It might take a Christmas miracle to find out.

Can Noelle unravel the clues and expose the killer before Christmas in July loses its sparkle?

French Toast a la Santa Fe by Suzanne Stauffer

Couriers #2

Publication Date: October 13, 2026

Genre: Traditional Detective Mystery

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Aspiring Courier Prudence Bates joins ten other tourists in 1929 for a three-day Indian Detour from Las Vegas, New Mexico to Albuquerque, in hopes that their Courier will become her advocate with the Detours. She expects to explore ancient Indian ruins, stay in luxurious Harvey hotels, and observe exotic Pueblo dances. She doesn’t expect theft, attempted murder, ghosts, and mysterious strangers. What secrets are the German college boys hiding? What did Edie and Gertie see at the ruin? Who pushed Agnes into the kiva? Does she really commune with the spirits? What did Dessie see floating around the fountain at La Fonda? Was it La Llorona? Why is her sister, Cordelia, so disagreeable and spiteful? Is her husband, Frank, really as straightforward as he pretends? Where does Flora disappear to at the Pueblos? And who is that tall, dark man talking privately to their driver at every stop?

Ghosted by Alexis Jacklin

Publication Date: October 13, 2026

Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romantic Comedy

Welcome to GHOSTED! The dating app for our underground side of the world. Allow us to fulfill all your haunting desires. Who knows what you might attract.

Arya Livingston has been ghosted one too many times, and the latest ghosting hurt the most. She’s too much, too clingy, too odd for love-or at least that’s what she believes. That is, until she stumbles upon a buzzy new dating app, GHOSTED, and matches with the only guy who actually has a photo: Maverick Forrester. But there’s something off about him. He’s not like other guys-he refuses to even answer a simple FaceTime call.

When Arya’s biological mom mysteriously goes missing during an alumni talk on campus, and Arya discovers she’s a legacy of the top sorority, Phantom Kappa Nu, it ignites a fire in her to become an official sorority sister. But there’s one problem-due to a string of campus disappearances and supernatural activity, a new rule has been implemented this year: all pledges require a partner for initiation week (for safety, of course).

With no other prospects, Arya accepts Mavericks’s offer to be her partner. But he turns out to be a rather ominous challenge. He’s not exactly human or even alive. And as initiation week forces them closer together, it becomes harder to deny their growing feelings. They both begin to question whether their relationship is even possible…or if they’re simply on borrowed time.

Joy to the Bones by Carolyn Haines

Sarah Booth Delaney Mysteries #31

Publication Date: October 13, 2026

Genre: Private Investigator Paranormal Southern Holiday Mystery

In this final installment of the series, sassy Southern private investigator Sarah Booth Delaney is up against her biggest―and most personal―mystery yet.

Still reeling from the discovery that her parents’ deaths, decades ago, might not have been an accident, Private Investigator Sarah Booth Delaney doesn’t know who to believe anymore. Her best friend and business partner, Tinkie, purposefully kept her in the dark; her lover, Coleman, intentionally lied to her; and her meddlesome ghost-turned-spiritual-guide, Jitty, kept more secrets than she can count. Now, even the people Sarah Booth once trusted more than anything are suspect.

Armed with new knowledge about her parents’ car crash, Sarah Booth sets out to solve her biggest case yet: her parents’ murder. And she’s prepared to do it alone if she has to.

But the Mississippi Delta doesn’t pause for anyone, not even Sarah Booth. While trying to untangle the truth about her parents’ fate, Sarah Booth gets roped into investigating the DeLonge Mansion, a magnificent old house with seemingly no one left alive to claim it. With the return of her nemesis, Gertrude Stromm, looming over her head―and the pieces of her failed relationships still scattered around her―Sarah Booth has her work cut out for her this holiday season.

Mancini Blue by Maggie Toussaint

Art Studio Mystery #1

Publication Date: October 13, 2026

Genre: Cozy Paranormal Mystery

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After his wife, famous artist Sophie Mancini, allegedly commits suicide in Savannah, wealthy financial advisor Robert Calloway makes a fresh start on St James Island. To honor Sophie, Bob creates the Island Art Gallery. He lives above the shop with his niece, her ten-year-old daughter, and Sophie’s cairn terrier.

He is certain the cops got his wife’s means of death wrong. When he left her in the studio that fateful evening to paint overnight, her door locked behind him. She wouldn’t unlock her door for a stranger. To get justice for Sophie, Bob delves into her murder using his hidden ability to help find solid evidence.

When he unsuccessfully searches his old Savannah haunts for leads, he returns to St. James to discover a bizarre murder occurred near his shop. Despite his alibi, he is questioned by the local cops. He’s stunned when many aspects of this new case are identical to Sophie’s death. Thus, solving his wife’s murder will most likely shed light on the recent case.

Bob’s suspect list includes family members, neighbors, friends, and Sophie’s art associates. He discovers people are rarely what they seem and believes this deadly foe kills to protect secrets. Can he identify his wife’s murderer before the killer strikes again?

The Channel Islands Christmas Murder by Ashley Cain

Gull Bay Mysteries #8

Publication Date: October 13, 2026

Genre: Holiday Mystery

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Welcome to Gull Bay — a picture-postcard harbour village in the Channel Islands where the sea sparkles, the cakes are legendary, and secrets lie buried beneath the golden sand.

Meet April Hart. Gull Bay resident, café owner . . . and reluctant amateur sleuth.

It’s nearly Christmas, and April is back home after six weeks away planning a TV cookery show.

She’s delighted to find the little harbour transformed into a glittering Christmas market — wooden cabins strung with fairy lights, an ice rink, and a giant tree outside the village’s cosy pub.

But the festive magic soon turns deadly when a local reporter is crushed beneath a stack of fallen timber — identified only by her sequinned Christmas-tree earrings.

The police think it a tragic accident, but April’s not convinced.

Then the market claims its second victim . . . and the evidence points straight to April as the killer.

Her reputation on the line, April must unwrap the truth before the murderer strikes again — because in Gull Bay this December, not everything waiting under the tree is a gift.

Perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Fiona Leitch, the Rev Richard Coles, M.C. Beaton, Lucy Connelly and Ellery Adams.

Each book in the series includes a delicious recipe or two, for hungry readers who’d like to try some of the café’s mouthwatering menu!

The Way You Always Hold Me by Ava Miles

Wild Mountain #2

Publication Date: October 13, 2026

Genre: Sweet Cowboy Romance

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USA Today Bestselling Author Ava Miles returns to her bestselling Wild Mountain series—an emotional small town Western romance filled with second chance love, grumpy-sunshine sparks, a protective cowboy single dad, and a heroine worth fighting for.

Welcome back to Wild Mountain, where family is everything, secrets run deep, and true love is always worth the fight.

Ben McAllister never stopped loving Hannah Montgomery.

When she came back to Sanctuary Springs, he fell for her all over again.

Hard.

Hannah never planned to love again after Ben shattered her heart years ago. But the rugged cowboy with the guarded smile—and his little boy who stole her heart—make walking away impossible.

Their second chance at forever feels like everything they’ve both been missing.

Until the past refuses to stay buried.

Small town secrets are unraveling their fresh start. A ruthless billionaire is determined to crush the McAllister ranch and destroy their Wild Mountain dreams. And Ben’s ex-wife—Hannah’s lifelong enemy—is back in town, ready to stir up trouble… and she may not be working alone.

Now Ben must protect the woman he’s always loved, the son who depends on him, and the ranch that’s been in his family for generations.

Because in a town like Sanctuary Springs, love isn’t the only thing fighting for survival.

Perfect for readers who love:

• Small town Western romance

• Second chance at love

• Grumpy sunshine romance

• Single dad cowboy heroes

• Opposites attract

• Protective heroes

• Ranch romance

• Community meddling with heart

• Emotional, heartwarming love stories with high-stakes drama

Murder at Magpie Inn by Sherry Briscoe

Off The Record #1

Publication Date: October 14, 2026

Genre: Paranormal Mystery

A locked room. A missing woman. A trail of blood. And one question nobody in Mineral Wells wants answered.

When seventy-year-old Beth Lewis disappears from a locked room at the historic Magpie Inn, she leaves behind her luggage, her shoes, a bloodstained pillow—and absolutely no clue how she escaped. No footprints. No body. No explanation.

For true-crime podcaster Wren Calloway, that’s practically an engraved invitation.

With her best friend and reluctant partner-in-crime-solving, Corbin Fisher, riding shotgun, Wren heads to Mineral Wells, Texas, determined to uncover the truth. Their investigation leads from the charming Magpie Inn to an assisted-living center filled with secrets and finally to the crumbling halls of an abandoned hospital—all three forming what locals ominously call the Mineral Wells Bermuda Triangle.

But the deeper Wren digs, the stranger the story becomes.

People are lying. Someone is hiding evidence. And the whispers about what lurks inside the old hospital are beginning to sound less like local folklore and more like a warning.

Wren has built her career investigating stories other people are afraid to tell. This time, she may have found one that should have stayed buried.

Because some mysteries aren’t waiting to be solved.

They’re waiting for you to get too close.

Murder at Magpie Inn is the first Off the Record Mystery, a fast-paced paranormal mystery filled with dark secrets, eerie twists, snarky humor, and a heroine who’ll chase a killer—or something considerably less human—for one hell of a story.

Would you believe it?

Off the record, of course.

Murder on Flesher Pass by K.L. Borges

Montana Animal Rescue Mystery #2

Publication Date: October 14, 2026

Genre: Cozy Mystery

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RogerDog Rescue of Helena, Montana, is operated solely for the benefit of Montana dogs, no transported outsiders allowed. When a fellow rescuer dies while completing a transport for an infamous Butte operation, Betty Mills, Kelly Boyd and Cici Vargas don’t believe it was an accident. They infilter the Butte group, just in time to partake in a rescue flight from Mexico. Plans go awry and they unwittingly wind up with something that multiple suspicious characters want to get their hands on. Is it the foreign dogs themselves or something else? The body count begins to grow and the danger spreads to other RogerDog workers. Can they solve the mystery before it is too late?

Set to Love by Tomi Tabb

Friends of the Unexpected Royals #4

Publication Date: October 14, 2026

Genre: Sweet Romance

The hardest part of chasing an impossible dream isn’t the hustle. It’s knowing when to stop.

Between endless training sessions, a brutal losing streak, and double shifts at Mamma Lina’s, Katie Keller’s tennis career is hanging on by a thread. Her ranking is slipping, her savings are disappearing, and one more bad tournament could mean finally walking away from the sport she’s spent her life chasing.

Then she meets Max St. Millay.

A British theatre performer chasing an impossible dream of his own, Max understands exactly what it feels like to bet everything on a future that might never happen. What begins as an unexpected friendship soon becomes the bright spot neither of them knew they needed.

But Max’s tour can’t last forever. When a career-changing opportunity sends him back to London, Katie knows she has to focus on saving her own dream.

Then an unexpected chance to train with a new coach brings her to London—and straight back into Max’s life.

Now Max is on the verge of his West End breakthrough, Katie is finally climbing the rankings, and the friendship they tried to leave behind is becoming impossible to ignore.

The closer they get to the futures they’ve spent years fighting for, the harder it becomes to imagine them without each other.

Because sometimes the hardest dream to chase isn’t the one you’ve spent your whole life working toward.

It’s the one you never expected to find.

Set to Love is a sweet, closed-door contemporary romantic comedy featuring an underdog tennis player, a lovable theatre actor, friends-to-lovers, slow burn, found family, and no third-act breakup.

A Visitor’s Guide to Guarded Vampires by Rebecca Arden

Ravenslight Creek #1

Publication Date: October 15, 2026

Genre: Romantic Fantasy

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Ellery runs to Alaska to figure out what she wants. Too bad nobody mentioned her new boss is grumpy, gorgeous, and technically dead.

Twenty-four years of being the perfect daughter ends with one explosive fight, three thousand miles, and a taxi driver named Gary who drops her in the entirely wrong town. Stranded, with a broken suitcase and seven dollars, she takes the first job she’s ever chosen for herself. Falling for the locals is not on the itinerary.

Nick would like it noted, for the record, that he did not sign up for any of this. He didn’t ask to be a vampire. He didn’t ask to inherit his dead father’s tour company, or the interspecies pact that chains him to Ravenslight Creek for the rest of his long life. And he definitely didn’t ask to hire some city girl in an impractical coat (that part was his meddling mother).

But stuck together, night after night under the northern lights, something shifts. For the first time in her life, Ellery feels seen. And Nick, who gave up on wanting anything, starts to want her. Badly.

When something with teeth comes hunting too close to town, too close to Ellery, Nick is forced to show her exactly what he is, and pray she doesn’t run screaming back to New York.

But Ellery doesn’t run, she’s got questions. Lots of them. Which is a problem – because Ravenslight Creek has a way of dealing with outsiders who learn too much.

He can’t leave.

She was never supposed to stay.

Neither of them counted on the town having a say.

A slow-burn, cozy paranormal romance under the Alaskan northern lights.

…………………………………..

It’s Stars Hollow, in Alaska, if half the town had fangs. Perfect for fans of The Ex Hex, My Roommate is a Vampire, Payback’s a Witch and Bride.

You’ll love this if you’re here for:

Cozy vibes with real stakes

Grumpy x sunshine

Small town Alaska

Forced proximity (one van, many long, cold nights)

Found family

Slow burn

Workplace romance (boss / employee)

He falls first, and he falls hard

Vampire x Human

Door open, consent-forward, a little spicy

Always A Silver Lining by Jessica Redland

Escape to the Lakes #6

Publication Date: October 15, 2026

Genre: Sweet Romance

‘It’s all about reframing things. No regrets. Just silver linings.’

Juliet believes in love stories. As a wedding planner, she’s helped create more than five hundred perfect days for other people, though her own path to happy-ever-after has been far from easy. Her first love always taught Juliet to look for the silver linings in life, and when she unexpectedly meets Christian Wynterson, it feels as though one might finally be shining through.

But not everyone is ready to accept Juliet and Christian’s new beginning. Family tensions, buried secrets and old wounds threaten to overshadow what should be a joyful new chapter.

Juliet has spent years believing in happy endings for everyone else. But can the people she and Christian love see that their relationship isn’t just a silver lining – it could be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

The Atlanta Conspiracy by Wendy Meadows

Travel Writer Mystery #8

Publication Date: October 15, 2026

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Patricia McKay is finally heading home.

After weeks on the road chasing stories for her boss Edna’s magazine, the Georgia border is close and her yellow SUV is aimed east. Then her phone rings. Brian Johnson, her detective boyfriend and the man she’d argued with the last time they spoke, has vanished. His North Georgia cabin is ransacked, and a trace of tranquilizer on his pillow is the only sign anyone knows what happened to him.

The Atlanta detective running the case treats Patricia as a suspect rather than a grieving girlfriend, so she does the only thing she knows how to do. She digs. What she finds leads straight to a cold case no one was supposed to reopen: the unsolved death of a restaurant owner named Jill Grayson. Someone wanted that file buried. Now they have taken Brian to make sure it stays that way.

The Atlanta Conspiracy is part of the Travel Writer Mystery series.

Why readers love this Travel Writer Mystery cozy mystery:
– A cross-country chase with a new American setting every few chapters
– Clean, wholesome whodunit with no graphic violence, language, or steam
– A warm farm family, unlikely allies, and a cold case worth reopening

Perfect for fans of small-town cozy mysteries, amateur-sleuth series, and binge-worthy clean whodunits.

The Cowboy’s Christmas Twins by Melinda Curtis

Bennetts of Bentwood Creek #2

Publication Date: October 15, 2026

Genre: Sweet Holiday Cowboy Romance

Josie Whitaker never planned to tell Colt Bennett the truth.

Not after he left Bentwood Creek eight years ago, chasing rodeo dreams. Not after she’d rebuilt her life, her flower shop, and her heart—on her own terms, with two little boys who look more like their father every day.

When Colt returns to sell the family ranch, he’s not aiming to stick around. Then he ends up helping Josie renovate her antique shop, and temporary starts feeling a lot like forever.

The closer they grow, the harder it is for Josie to hold on to the secret she’s kept since the day he drove away.

Because Colt doesn’t know the twins are his.

Now old wounds are opening, small-town memories are surfacing, and Colt must prove he’s no longer the man who left—before Josie decides her heart is safer without him.

A second-chance cowboy romance about hidden truths, family ties, and fighting your way back to the people who need you most.

The Crossword Murders by Helena Dixon

Secret Detective Agency #5

Publication Date: October 15, 2026

Genre: Historical International Mystery

A crossword that’s tricky to crack, a hot cup of coffee… and hidden clues? Can Jane Treen work this mystery out?

England, 1942. Jane Treen is hot-footing it to Devon, having received an urgent message from her colleague and fellow sleuth, Arthur Cilento. He had been deeply worried for his mentor, crossword writer Professor Watkins. And the invitation he’s sent Jane is to the Professor’s funeral… he’s dead.

Arthur suspects foul play, but before they have time to fill in the blanks, their clues lead them into a secret vault nearby. Jane, fluffy ginger cat by her side, begins to connect the dots. But then another man is murdered, and she realises that Professor Watkins’ death is one piece in a much larger and deadlier game.

But who could be behind the untimely deaths? Could the professor’s beloved sister be responsible? Or a wealthy and influential benefactor and her assistant? And someone else close to the professor – also no stranger to compiling a crossword – seems to be increasingly cryptic too.

It’s clear that the killer isn’t playing by the book. And when the clue the professor left in the last crossword he wrote doesn’t help them to solve the crime, Jane and Arthur are back to square one and must think outside the box to crack the code. But just as they start to figure out what’s happening, they find themselves trapped, their lives at stake…

Can the duo solve the puzzle and escape before it’s too late?

If you love twisty crime novels and top-secret intrigue, then you will adore Helena Dixon’s utterly gripping cozy novel, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Verity Bright!

The Enchanted Atlas of Fortune and Fate by Ciara Blume

Natural Magic #4

Publication Date: October 15, 2026

Genre: Romantic Fantasy

“Trust the book that brought you here. It’s known you since time began..”

When Tempest Glass loses the bookshop that should have been rightfully hers, she takes what she can carry and runs: a bus full of secondhand books, a parrot with opinions, and an enchanted atlas that plots its own magical route across the country…

Tempest was born a book witch. One touch of a well-loved novel and she can feel its whole story humming beneath her fingertips. But it’s her stepfather who inherited Owl’s Books, the legendary Portland shop built by her mother’s family, and he’d rather strip it of its soul than let Tempest run the place.

So she hits the road with her parrot familiar, Fortune, and the one thing her late mother left her: an enchanted atlas where every page is blank. Then its empty pages begin to fill with a hand-drawn map, leading east to a tavern in magical Primrose Court, a shy trivia buff named Dan Wilder, and a destiny she never knew was hers to claim…

The bestselling cozy fantasy series returns! Perfect for fans of J. Penner and Sarah Beth Durst. This book features:

– A magical book witch
– A stolen inheritance
– An epic road trip
– Slow-burn shifter romance
– Found family
– Cozy fantasy with a mystery at its heart

Tempted by the Vampire Prince by Ainsley James

High Prince Duology #1

Publication Date: October 16, 2026

Genre: Romantic Fantasy

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Cora Kemp, a dark witch haunted by her past, is drawn to the sea by her mother’s ghost, looking for answers. She lands in Valemer with no coin, no coven, and only her raven familiar for company.

A mishap in the harbor lands her in the arms of Yves Allard, a widowed vampire duke who has struggled to find a blood nanny for his young son. The boy takes to Cora immediately, and Yves makes her an offer she can’t afford to refuse. Working under a false name, Cora tries to dodge the gossip that follows her through Château du Mer. It proves impossible once the sparks between her and the duke become obvious to everyone at court.

When their proximity turns into something neither of them planned, they make a new rule: no promises, no strings, just the kind of nights they can pretend to forget in the morning. It’s the only arrangement that makes sense. The scandal would cost Yves everything, and Cora has no interest in a future she already knows can’t last.

But she isn’t the only one who came to Valemer looking for something. A secret society of dark witches has been waiting a very long time for a witch with Cora’s blood, and now that they’ve found her, they aren’t letting her walk away.

Can a witch with a false name and a hunted bloodline hold on to a man she was never supposed to have? Or will a dark secret society take the choice away?

Tempted by the Vampire Prince is the first book in a lush, gothic romantasy duology filled with forbidden love, political intrigue, and a romance neither vampire nor witch can resist.

Series note: This book is part of the Sanguineverse, which is an interconnected romantasy universe where vampires rule over the brittle peace between rival factions of witches. Each duology follows a new central couple that can be read as a standalone.

ReTreat Yourself by Jo Lyons

Publication Date: October 17, 2026

Genre: Romantic Comedy