Archives de catégorie : Crime & Thrillers

LOOK WHAT YOU DID de Kaitlin Reilly

A page-turning debut thriller for fans of Kathleen Glasgow and Megan Lally about a teen who must confront her own buried trauma to clear her friend’s name of murder and expose the dark secrets of her small town.

LOOK WHAT YOU DID
by Kaitlin Reilly
Sourcebooks Fire, September 2026

« I know about Will….I know what he did that night »

After the tragic death of golden boy Will Ashford, everyone in town is in mourning. Or almost everyone. Seventeen-year-old Mackenzie couldn’t be more relieved. Because she knows Will’s veneer of perfection hid something dark and dangerous. It was a truth she learned one night at the Ashford house and swore never to tell.

But her plan is threatened when she starts receiving texts from an unknown number. Someone knows the secret Mackenzie has tried so hard to hide—and they are determined to reveal it.

When Mackenzie’s former best friend is found dead, she is convinced the anonymous texter is connected to her murder, and she will stop at nothing to find them. But doing so will mean confronting the trauma she’s fought so hard to suppress and exposing the dark secrets her town has tried to keep buried—or risk being the next girl dead.

The author is a screenwriter, which shows in the voice, cinematic storytelling, and propulsive pacing that keeps readers eagerly turning pages.

Kaitlin Reilly is a journalist and screenwriter who grew up on Long Island and has called Los Angeles home for more than a decade. Her first film, the YA rom com How to Lose a Popularity Contest, is heading to Tubi in 2026.

THAT GIRL WON’T DIE de Jumata Emill

At Prentiss Everton Academy, the past doesn’t stay buried. . . and survival is the ultimate status symbol. Gossip Girl meets The Count of Monte Cristo in the new YA thriller from acclaimed author Jumata Emill.

THAT GIRL WON’T DIE
by Jumata Emill
Delacorte, January 2027
(via Writers House)

When Tessa Edmond steps onto the campus of Prentiss Everton Academy—the most exclusive all-Black boarding school in South Georgia—she’s immediately singled out. Students whisper. Teachers stare. Because Tessa looks exactly like Whitney Templeton, the super popular, well-connected golden girl of the school, who died three months ago in a so-called accidental drowning.

Tessa’s gone from rags to riches overnight, dropped into a world of privilege, power, and ruthless social hierarchies. At Prentiss Everton, reputations are everything—and Whitney’s former friends, rich, connected, and dangerous, don’t know what to make of the girl who looks like a ghost.

But no one suspects that Tessa and Whitney were estranged cousins, and that Tessa came to Prentiss Everton with a mission. She’s there to find out what really happened to Whitney. Because Whitney’s death certainly wasn’t an accident—and someone at the school knows it.

As secrets unravel and tensions explode, Tessa digs deeper into Whitney’s inner circle, using their lies against them. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more bodies start turning up, and soon Tessa realizes the same people who killed her cousin may be coming for her next.

Jumata Emill is the critically acclaimed author of The Black Queen, Wander in the Dark, and I Don’t Wish You Well. He earned his B.A. in mass communications from Southern University and A&M College, and now works as a journalist covering crime and politics. He’s a Pitch Wars alum and member of Crime Writers of Color. When he’s not writing about murderous teens, he’s watching and obsessively tweeting about every franchise of the Real Housewives.

BURNOUT de Michael Cooper

A debut literary novel about a down-on-his-luck former detective in LA whose most famous case comes back to haunt him.

BURNOUT
by Michael Cooper
Range Literary Publishing, 2027
(via David Black Literary)

Former Detective James Rivers—JR to his friends—has long left behind his career. He has surfed off into the easy life: hiding out in an Airstream with an ocean view, downing one glittering-green Midori after another, caring for his bulldog and his old man, taking each L.A. day as it comes. But when he learns that convicted murderer Dylan Turner has been let out of prison, a lock unlatches in his brain. He has always known—hasn’t he?—that something wasn’t right with that case, but he never figured Dylan would go free. Was his most famous case his worst mistake? And if so, how will he protect the brother who betrayed Dylan? And how will JR save himself if Dylan comes for him? Pressed back into action by his old-partner-turned-chief-of-police, JR is teamed up with Brittany Charles, a young detective with an unflinching sense of justice and no patience for a has-been’s hesitation. As new victims of brutal murder surface, JR and Britt realize that the clock is ticking.

BURNOUT is the vivid and absorbing story of a man who must face his worst mistakes and discover what’s on the other side. A detective story for our moment, this tale centers on an unruly and vulnerable man, a tarnished knight with a heart that’s been chipped and cracked but not shattered, a man tiptoeing towards sobriety and a more honest life. Fueled by day-glo dialogue, brilliantly vivid humor, one-of-a-kind characters, and vast quantities of heart, BURNOUT is a raw and blistering ballad—about ancient mistakes and lingering regrets, about violence and what crawls beneath it, but also about the life-saving possibilities of empathy, hope, and love.

VICTIM OR VILLAIN de L.T. Ryan & C.R. Gray

From the authors of the Maddie Castle series: She came to hide from her past. Now she must fight to protect her future.

VICTIM OR VILLAIN: A Gwen Kane Thriller
by L.T. Ryan & C.R. Gray
Podium Publishing, April 2026

Having escaped her abusive husband, Gwen Kane found safety at Rhiannon’s Ranch, a secret refuge for survivors of domestic violence. Now she works at a local bakery and lives a quiet life among friends who share her scars. She’s almost convinced herself the worst is over.

But when her best friend’s abuser storms into their sanctuary, Gwen erupts in a flash of panic and rage―with deadly consequences. To protect the ranch, she must cover up the evidence of what she’s done. But burying one body doesn’t erase the past. And what’s more, somebody witnessed everything . . .

As Gwen’s fragile peace unravels, she’s drawn into a romance with the one man who could either save or destroy her. With vengeance and justice blurred beyond recognition, she must decide whether she’s still the woman that runs―or the one who fights back.

Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train and Big Little Lies, VICTIM OR VILLAIN is an emotionally charged psychological thriller featuring a heroine readers won’t soon forget.

L.T. Ryan is the Wall Street Journal–, USA Today–, and Amazon-bestselling author of the Jack Noble, Rachel Hatch, and Gwen Kane series, among other mysteries and thrillers. More than eight million copies of his books have been sold worldwide. When not penning his next adventure, Ryan enjoys traveling, hiking, riding his Peloton, and spending time with his wife, daughter, and four dogs at home in Charlottesville, Virginia.

C.R. Gray is the author of gritty, emotionally charged mystery thrillers designed to linger in the minds of readers long after the final page. She also writes fantasy romance under the pen name Charlie Nottingham. When not writing, Gray enjoys hiking the Appalachian Mountains with her dog, tackling DIY projects, and reading late into the night.

THE SEER de Samantha Jayne Allen

A suspense novel set in a small, high desert town in southern California, for fans of Liz Moore’s Long Bright River and Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places.

THE SEER
by Samantha Jayne Allen
St. Martin’s Minotaur, March 2027
(via Dystel Goderich & Bourret)

Told in alternating timelines, THE SEER is about a TV psychic who disappears after leading a search for a missing teacher, and the psychic’s daughter, who is now called upon by investigators for help reexamining her mother’s role in the decades-old cold case.

THE SEER is both a gripping mystery and a heart-wrenching story about the push and pull between family and the self, between cold truth and tantalizing fiction.

“Riveting and atmospheric, Samantha Jayne Allen’s THE SEER is a taut and brilliantly plotted mystery that gripped me from the start and held me captive through every twist and turn. Rich in character and full of heart, this is a book I won’t soon forget.” –Kimi Cunningham Grant, USA Today bestselling author of These Silent Woods & The Nature of Disappearing

“Like its titular character, THE SEER drew me in with just a crook of a finger, letting me go only when it had scoured my soul. Samantha Jayne Allen has written a rare breed of thriller: one with a mystery so compelling you want to race through to the ending to discover the truth, but written with magnetic, sensitive prose, enough to slow you down to taste the desert air of Tehachapi on your tongue. You won’t be able to put this down.” —Melissa Larsen, USA Today bestselling author of The Lost House

Samantha Jayne Allen is the author of the Annie McIntyre Mysteries. Her debut novel, Pay Dirt Road, won the Dashiell Hammett Award for Literary Excellence in Crime Writing, and the Tony Hillerman Prize for Best First Mystery Set in the Southwest. She has an MFA in fiction from Texas State University, and her writing has been published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Common, and Electric Literature.