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Review: I AM THE MONSTER UNDER THE BED by Emily Zinnikas

Aug 052026
 

Booklist: Willa is the center of Zinnikas’ debut, and readers will enjoy getting to know all three versions of her. As a child, Willa made friends with a presence under her bed. It—or he—likes to be read to and doesn’t like it when Willa’s mom vacuums under the bed, but Willa doesn’t seem afraid. Teenage Willa is known as the sole survivor of the Rapture Mystery Slayings. In her hometown of Rapture, seven teens went into the woods but only Willa came out. The last Willa is adult, reclusive artist Willa. She has hidden from her past, sort of, but is found by reporters and the memories start coming back to her. This leads her to start asking questions about the mystery slayings. Whether readers like Willa or not, she is a very interesting character to meet in compelling circumstances. Fans of the TV series Yellowjackets and the novels of Riley Sager will enjoy this suspenseful horror story.

KILLER ART by Jon St Denis

Aug 042026
 

When art professor Vika Chen discovers the strangled body of Professor McGuire in a campus art studio, she becomes the prime suspect in a murder connected to an exhibition exposing AI-generated art.

Since local law enforcement fails to find any optional leads, Vika and her partner, journalism professor Sam Worthing, take the investigation into their own hands. Vika, who until recently worked as a curator at MoMA, and Sam, a former crime reporter for the New York Times, find themselves uniquely suited for the job.

Much to the chagrin of the police chief, the pair’s investigation pinpoints multiple suspects who might have felt threatened by the exhibition. But the stakes become deadly when someone tries to run Vika off the road.

As more bodies pile up, Vika and Sam uncover a collage of secrets that someone would kill to keep buried.

THE HOUSE GUEST by Jennifer Pashley

Jul 072026
 

Brett Novak is a young upstart chef, with real, raw talent—if only she could catch a break. After getting dumped by her married girlfriend and losing the perfect job offer, Brett accepts a temporary position as a live-in, personal chef of a reclusive, bestselling author, Carson Smart, who resides in a mansion on a secluded beach in Cape Cod.

Carson immediately seduces her, but things get complicated when Carson’s wife, Vera, arrives home from her trip, and the love/hate relationship between the two spouses erupts, leaving Brett caught in the middle. Brett, starved for attention, craves Carson’s affection and yet is oddly drawn to Vera’s seductive and destructive charms.

As Brett becomes an unwitting pawn and weapon, she questions how far husband and wife will go to wound the other. With nowhere else to turn, she has no choice but to stay—even as her hold on reality begins to slip. Can she survive her employers’ dark appetites?

STEELBOUND by WA Simpson

May 192026
 

An “expansive magical adventure” – Publishers Weekly on Tinderbox, Book 1 of ‘Tales from the Riven Isles’

In the epic conclusion of the Tales from the Riven Isles series, Ursa, a once selfish princess turned bitter exile, and Lucea, a determined chronomancer, must unite to stop the Rot threatening their world. Tasked with recovering the Steel Driver’s Hammer, a powerful relic, they face internal demons and external threats. Their journey through a world teetering on the brink of destruction reveals secrets that could save or doom the Riven Isles. Steelbound is a gripping tale of redemption, resilience, and the power of unity in the face of overwhelming darkness.

Tales from the Riven Isles is a dark fantasy series set in a world outside of our own, where the characters of myth and fairy-tales exist, and their legends live on. Featuring the novels: Tinderbox, Tarotmancer, The Hatter’s Daughter and Steelbound.

Review: THE GUEST HOUSE by Jennifer Pashley

May 132026
 

Publishers Weekly: This engrossing psychological thriller from Pashley (The Watcher) finds 25-year-old budding chef Brett Novak heartbroken, out of work, and down to seven dollars in her bank account. She’s delighted and relieved when a former colleague recommends her for a temporary job as a personal chef for bestselling mystery author Carson Smart. She arrives at Smart’s beautiful, secluded beachfront property on Cape Cod in high spirits, but nothing prepares her for his offer of $20,000 for two weeks of preparing meals while he rewrites his latest manuscript. Elated, Brett endures his flirting and overlooks his more eccentric demands. Then Carson’s wife, Vera, returns from a visit to Brazil, and the psychosexual tension in the house heats up, leading Brett to wonder if she’s been hired as a pawn in a perverse marital game. An unexpected death raises the stakes, and Pashley’s subsequent dives into the backstories of her three principals keeps the tension almost unbearably high—with each new detail, readers’ loyalties shift. It’s a riveting ride.

LOST IN YELLOWSTONE by Nicole Maggi

May 052026
 

A foot in a geyser. A school in the wild. A truth no one saw coming.

When a human foot is ejected from a geyser in Yellowstone National Park, Special Agent Emme Helliwell of the National Park Service is assigned the chilling case.
Tasked with identifying the victim and uncovering what led to such a grisly end, Emme is drawn into the park’s vast, unforgiving wilderness—and into the orbit of a private school for at-risk teens where extreme backcountry excursions are part of the curriculum. As disturbing truths begin to surface, Emme must also confront personal fault lines, including the unresolved tension with an ex-boyfriend who’s suddenly back in her life and assigned to the same case.

In a place where danger hides behind natural beauty and good intentions can mask darker motives, Emme must navigate both treacherous terrain and emotional landmines to solve a mystery that could cost her everything.

HOME SWEET HOME by Karin Nordin

Apr 092026
 

Zora was only sixteen when she lost everyone. The commune she called home and the people she called family gone in the blink of an eye. She’s spent twenty years trying to block it out, to reinvent herself and forget the other five survivors.

But then the letters start arriving.

Someone remembers and they won’t let her forget what’s coming. After all this time, her previous life is catching up to her. Drawn back to the commune, Zora must face her past and the other survivors – the only people who truly understand what she’s been through.

But will the ghosts of their shared past threaten her future?

Review: LOST IN YELLOWSTONE by Nicole Maggi

Mar 032026
 

Kirkus: What’s the connection between a missing person, a severed foot in a sneaker, and a group of troubled kids?

Emmeline Helliwell, a special agent for the National Park Service, is sent to Yellowstone to unravel the mystery of a foot blown out of a geyser in front of a group of tourists. She’d rather be anywhere else, having left Yellowstone three years earlier, when she was unable to close a missing persons case, abandoning her boyfriend, fellow park ranger Holden Thrush, with no explanation. Although the coroner’s report shows the foot belonged to a malnourished teenager, no one has reported a teen missing from the vicinity. Emme gets a clue from a sharp-eyed tourist who noticed something red when the foot flew her way. Awkwardly, the only person available to help Emme with the investigation is Holden. At the geyser, they spot something red, and both get burned recovering it—but it turns out to be a useful clue: a red pocket knife. They manage to connect it to Higher Purpose, a wilderness school for troubled teens. Despite its fancy promotional video, the school is a dump, and by checking permits and interviewing the handyman, Emme and Holden learn that a group from the school is in Yellowstone right now and another was there a few months ago. Locating the area of the park the Higher Purpose group set off from, they follow the students’ trail on horseback until they come upon three woefully unprepared teens who’d been kicked out of the main group after having been taken from their homes (with their parents’ permission), then mistreated and starved. Clearly, the school is worse than Emme could have imagined. But are its owners killing their students?

Stunning scenery and romantic tensions combine in a ripped-from-the-headlines mystery.

 

WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS by Alex Bledsoe

Feb 032026
 

When a notorious crime lord’s top lawyer is beheaded by hired killers, it’s clear someone’s sending a message. But Stavros Kefali didn’t get to be top dog by scaring easily, so he sends his go-to guy, Darren Flaxstone, to learn who’s behind it. Two cops, Slade and Slaughter, are also on the case, and one of them has a secret source for street info: the Lightning Girl, a vigilante fighting crime her way in the city’s poorest section. Meanwhile reporter Rebecca Hutchcraft is determined to unmask the Lightning Girl, while rival gangster Harrison Marley thinks this might be the time to take on Kefali’s organization. Hovering over all this is the upcoming, mysterious Festival, Kefali’s annual super-secret event for the city’s elite where all questions may be answered…if anyone survives to ask them.

January Subsidiary Deals

Jan 312026
 

a pair of black ear budsAudio rights to Alex Bledsoe’s WHILE THE CITY NEVER SLEEPS, about a pair of honest cops investigating a mob hit while a ruthless gangland fixer, a crusading journalist, a crime lord, and a vigilante all complicate matters, before they come together for a mysterious festival where all questions may be answered—if anyone survives  to Stefan Rudnicki at Skyboat Media, by Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Anne Tibbets (world English).

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