Archives de catégorie : Crime & Thrillers

THE WILL de Maggie Smith

THE WILL is part psychological thriller, and part meditation on motherhood, the rabbit holes of magical thinking, and the terrifying power of desire. This deeply unnerving, yet psychologically relatable story by New York Times bestselling author and poet Maggie Smith will appeal to fans of Helen Phillips’ The Need, Ashley Audrain’s The Push, and Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch.

THE WILL
by Maggie Smith
Knopf, 2027
(via the David Black Agency)

When Caroline’s sister and brother-in-law are killed in a car accident, the couple’s will names Caroline as the guardian of their two young children. After years of miscarriages and failed fertility treatments, Caroline had said she’d do anything to be a mother. Anything. Grieving her only sibling and struggling to parent two heartbroken children, Caroline begins to unravel, convinced she willed the accident in some Faustian bargain. But that’s impossible—isn’t it?

Maggie Smith is the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of nine books of poetry and prose, including You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Good Bones, Goldenrod, Keep Moving, and My Thoughts Have Wings. A 2011 recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Smith has also received a Pushcart Prize, and numerous grants and awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has been widely published, appearing in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Nation, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Best American Poetry, and more. She is the host of The Slowdown podcast, and she writes about craft in her bestselling Substack newsletter, For Dear Life. You can find her on social media @MaggieSmithPoet.

SHE HAD ENOUGH de Stacie Grey

Six friends. One dinner. And a secret that won’t stay buried.

SHE HAD ENOUGH
by Stacie Grey
Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks, July 2026

Mallory Taylor was looking forward to a fun night out with old college friends—nostalgia, laughter, nothing more. But Caitlin, always the quiet one of the group, seems even more withdrawn than usual. On edge. Distant. Then, hours after the women all head their separate ways, a massive earthquake reduces San Francisco to rubble—and Caitlin disappears.

It isn’t until six months later, as the city begins to recover, that Mallory learns the truth. Was her disappearance related to the earthquake? Or was something else, something sinister, going on with Caitlin?

No one else seems alarmed. No one is asking questions. But the more Mallory digs, the more she uncovers secrets from that night: fractures in their friendships, hidden motives, and quiet betrayals. The kind of secrets people would kill to protect.

Twisty, atmospheric, and impossible to put down, SHE HAD ENOUGH is a chilling exploration of friendship, silence, and what happens when one woman refuses to stop asking questions.

Stacie Grey is the pseudonym of cozy mystery author Daisy Bateman. She lives with her husband and dog in California.

THIS IS WHY WE DON’T DATE SERIAL KILLERS de L.M. Gilmore

Fans of Brynne Weaver and Navessa Allen will delight in this killer dark romcom by upcoming author L.M. Gilmore. When your soulmate’s a serial killer, true love gives ‘touch her and die’ a whole new meaning—but all the red flags in the world won’t stop Roxie from being with the man of her dreams until death (or murder) may they part.

THIS IS WHY WE DON’T DATE SERIAL KILLERS
by L.M. Gilmore
Sourcebooks, January 2027

After narrowly escaping death at the hands of a serial killer, Roxie wants one thing and one thing only: her rescuer’s phone number. Too bad he disappears into the night, determined to return to his solitary life of hunting down the men who give serial killing a bad name.

The last thing Maximilian Ruscombe wants is to be saddled with an unhinged stalker who’s determined to make him out to be some kind of hero. But when Roxie puts herself in the direct path of another serial killer in order to draw him out, he has no choice but to kidnap her and take her in hand.

Only instead of showing fear at her captivity, Roxie kind of likes it. In fact, she’s never had a hotter experience in her life. She’ll stop at nothing to enjoy it again and again…even if it means convincing Max to let her be used as bait to draw out one of the worst criminals Sin City has ever seen.

As the pair of them join forces to catch a killer before time runs out, Max and Roxie discover that dating in the modern world comes with its challenges—especially when one of them is a sociopath and the other just wants her Happily Ever After.

L.M Gilmore is the open pen name of Lucy Gilmore, celebrated novelist in a wide range of genres, including literary fiction, contemporary romance, and cozy mystery. She began her reading (and writing) career as an English literature major and ended as a book lover without all those pesky academic papers attached. She lives in Spokane, WA with her family.

THROW AWAY THE KEY de Jason M. Hough

A former CIA locksmith turned glorified janitor is haunted by a botched Cold War operation with ramifications that extend to the present day. New York Times bestselling author Jason M. Hough pens a fast-paced thriller packed full of action, perfect for fans of Alma Katsu and David McCloskey.

THROW AWAY THE KEY
by Jason M. Hough
Crooked Lane, July 2026
(via Megibow Literary)

Lars Bergman is no ordinary janitor. He’s the CIA’s locksmith.

Formerly part of the CIA’s infamous Surreptitious Entry Team, Lars is now responsible for every padlock, safe, and secure door across the CIA headquarters. He’s never met a lock he couldn’t pick…except one, which he tried and failed to open during a botched mission in Warsaw at the end of the Cold War.

Cruising toward retirement, Lars’s life is upended when a senior CIA official dies and he’s called upon to open the safe in her office. Inside the safe is a clue only Lars would notice, left by someone he’d worked with in his heyday. As he investigates, Lars soon realizes that his failed Warsaw operation has come back to haunt him and perhaps give him another chance at picking the one lock that’s ever eluded him.

What Lars doesn’t realize is that what the lock is protecting could have dire ramifications for the organization he has spent his whole adult life safekeeping.

Jason M. Hough (pronounced « Huff ») is the New York Times bestselling author of ten novels, including The Dire Earth Cycle, Instinct, and the near-future spy thriller Zero World, which Publishers Weekly called « a thrilling action rampage that confirms Hough as an important new voice in genre fiction.” In a former life, Jason was a 3-D artist, animator, and game designer (Metal Fatigue, Aliens vs. Predator: Extinction, and many others). He has worked in the fields of high-performance cluster computing and mobile user interfaces and is named as coinventor on three patents related to mobile content and licensing. He lives near Seattle, Washington, with his family. When not writing, reading, or hanging out with his kids, he spends his time chasing espresso perfection (with mixed results) and taking long road trips in his electric car.

DEAD WEIGHT de Hildur Knútsdóttir

An Icelandic night may hide secrets and affairs – or even bodies – in this gruesomely cathartic horror thriller from the author of The Night Guest.

DEAD WEIGHT
by Hildur Knútsdóttir
Tor Nightfire, May 2026
(via The Gernert Company)

Unnur was living a normal, if lonely, life until a black cat showed up at her door.

When she tracks down the cat’s wayward owner, she finds a young woman just as lost and in need of help. Like a gust of cold air in a Reykjavík night, Ásta and her pet slip into Unnur’s life.

It’s unexpected, but welcome. Unnur likes the company, and she begins to rely on Ásta in turn. But like a black cat, trouble has been tailing her new friend, and Unnur is the only one there for Ásta when things take a violent turn.

The two women quickly learn: nothing tests a friendship like blood on your hands.

Hildur Knútsdóttir was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, in 1984. She has lived in Spain, Germany, and Taiwan and studied literature and creative writing at The University of Iceland. She writes fiction both for adults and teenagers, as well as short fiction, plays, and screenplays. Hildur is known for her evocative fantastical fiction and spine-chilling horror. The Night Guest is her first book translated into English. She lives in Reykjavík with her husband, their two daughters, and a puppy called Uggi.