Searching for something to read? Check out some of the new titles releasing the week of May 10 – 16, 2026 with three debut series. I hope a few of these books take you on a reading adventure!
MAY 11
Hit & Run on the Antique Road Show by David Korson and Nicole Korson (Cozy Mystery)
When Antiques on the Road rolls into the picturesque town of Walnut Falls, local antique store owner Charles McAllister is found dead from a hit-and-run accident. But Holly Harkins quickly realizes this accident is no accident at all! As she sorts through suspects, Holly also finds herself in a tangle of feelings—will the dashing Hollywood producer Will Greyson shine a spotlight on her heart, or is charming barista Samuel Branch the one who really brews love within her soul? Format: Digital
MAY 12
A Very Vexing Murder by Lucy Andrew Historical Mystery *first book in a new series*
No longer Emma’s naïve companion, Harriet Smith is a feisty con-woman-turned-detective tasked with breaking off Frank Churchill’s engagement and uncovering his aunt’s would-be murderer. While Harriet has doubts that the deadly threats are little more than society scandal, the shrewd Mrs. Churchill suspects Frank’s unsuitable fiancée, Jane Fairfax, is out to kill her. What begins as a routine investigation among Highbury’s elite quickly spirals into a web of deception, dangerous secrets, and a game of survival. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Echoes of the Lost by Cindy Brown (Traditional Mystery)
Retired detective Ster McCaffrey has lived in isolation since the death of his beloved wife. Recently disabled from a traumatic brain injury, his quiet life is interrupted when he wakes in the dead of night to find a child sobbing on his doorstep—leaving him with more questions than answers. Format: Digital, Print
Hot Wings and Homicide by Carmela Dutra (Cozy Mystery)
Business at Kluckin’ Good is smoking hot. To keep momentum going, Beth and her twin brother, Seth, just scored a prime spot at the Flavors of the Bay Food Festival. For three and a half days, food lovers will flock to the Bay Area’s biggest culinary event to enjoy gourmet food trucks, cook-offs, and live music, but this recipe for success is also the perfect setup for murder. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Murder, She Wrote: Murder Most Trivial by Jessica Fletcher & Barbara Early Cozy Mystery)
Jessica Fletcher and friends Seth Hazlitt and Maureen and Mort Metzger team up for pub trivia and crush the competition, then are stunned to learn that the prize is a chance to appear in a five-day trivia tournament filming in LA. No one expects life-or-death stakes! But on day one of the tournament, a crew member is murdered. Who would benefit from derailing the show? Jessica has to come up with the ultimate answer. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Robert B. Parker’s Booked by Alison Gaylin (Private Investigator Mystery)
World famous author Melanie Joan Hall asks for Sunny’s help in tracking down Book Babe, the screen-name of an enormously popular book reviewer, who has trolled her with a deeply insulting one-star review. This usually wouldn’t matter except that Book Babe has thousands of followers, and her unwarranted blast has Melanie’s publisher threatening to pull all her books. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
You Can Tell Me by Melinda Leigh (Police Procedural) *first book in a new series*
On the three-year anniversary of true crime writer Olivia Cruz’s horrific kidnapping, she’s scheduled to walk her podcaster friend Zoe March through the crime scene, but Zoe fails to show. Olivia knows Zoe would never stand her up—not today. Zoe’s husband, who claims she never came home the night before, has reported her missing. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Doocey Half-Sees Whodunnit by Tom McAndrew (Cozy Mystery)
Okay, his superiors might think him a clown, and okay, he might be secretly battling sight problems, but Shamie Doocey is determined to prove that he’s still a seriously good detective with a twenty-twenty mind’s eye by solving his first big case: the disappearance of an uptight crime writer’s wife. Format: Digital, Print
Voted Most Likely to Murder by Lacey Moone (Cozy Mystery)
Belinda Bishop is unemployed and single. At thirty-two, her journalism career feels stuck, and let’s not even speak about her love life, which isn’t helping her look forward to her upcoming high school reunion. Stuck working at her parents’ seaside cottage and RV park in Nova Scotia for the time being, she needs time to regroup and come up with a killer story to get her career and her life back on track. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny & Mellissa Fung (Political Thriller)
Alice Li, a first-generation Chinese American and former food blogger, has long lived in the shadow of her mother, Vivien Li— a Tiananmen Square dissident turned world-renowned human rights activist and passionate advocate for a free and democratic China. When security and fire alarms go off simultaneously all around the world, setting off a panic, the signal is traced back to China. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
The Well-Placed Lie by Kari Lee Townsend (Cozy Fantasy Mystery)
Lyra Wells is determined to keep Winter WishFest steady after a year of upheaval. Snowglow lanterns. Carolers in the square. A town ready to believe in hope again. All she has to do is protect the well that binds Wishville, Vermont, to the hidden realm of Elarion—and avoid another catastrophe. But when a respected local woman collapses mid-song during the Snowglow Sing, the tragedy feels too precise to be coincidence. Format: Digital, Print
The Emperor’s Palace by LynDee Walker and Bruce Robert Coffin (Traditional Mystery)
A panicked midnight phone call rips Carter and Avery from a remote research expedition in South America. Carter’s young niece has disappeared from her summer camp without a trace, and her safe return home instantly becomes their sole focus. Despite Avery’s wealth and the best detectives money can buy, the days stretch on with no leads, no answers, and no sign of the child. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Murder Like Clockwork by Nicola Whyte (Traditional Mystery)
Every Thursday at midday Audrey Brooks cleans the Petrov house. Mr. Petrov is never home—in fact he seems to use the house purely as storage for his impressive collection of antiques—but that doesn’t affect the care with which Audrey mops, polishes, and carefully winds each of the dozens of beautiful clocks that decorate the tall, elegant, empty London mansion. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
MAY 15
The Handyman’s Last Bite by Elaine Orr (Cozy Mystery) *first book in a new series*
Gypsy Lee Miller had a successful career in Washington, DC, but felt adrift. Her friends thought she was nuts when she decided to go back Bay View Harbor on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Not a retreat, kind of a rethinking. At her cousin Linda’s suggestion, she renovates a building to become the Bay View Harbor Bakery and the two become entrepreneurs. Business doesn’t pick up rapidly but it is growing until Gordy, the local handyman, drops dead on the bakery floor. Format: Digital
MAY 16
Turning the Page on Murder by Vanessa Westermann (Cozy Mystery)
Once, she’d hoped her fling with security expert Gary Fenris would lead to something more, but then he confessed his secret: To avenge a deceased lover, he took someone’s life. Now, Kate can’t even crack the spine on a cozy, let alone a noir. Meanwhile, Gary resolves that protecting others from danger — and protecting Kate from himself — is his best shot at atonement. Format: Digital, Print
Note: in some cases, print releases for digital titles will be forthcoming.