I love looking at all the wonderful books that are coming out in the next few months and here I’ve selected a few that I’m particularly excited about from 2026 Q3.
Covers and publication dates are correct at time of writing.
The Summer We Lied by Rebecca Hardy
(Raven Books, 2 July)
I’m very much in the mood for a twisty thriller at the moment, and this sounds brilliant.
Eighteen years ago teenager Alex sent a man to prison. She, and her two best friends from school, overheard the vicious murder of a mother and child, although only she took the stand in court.
But despite her evidence, there were always rumours that the wrong man had been imprisoned. That although he was someone not to be trusted, he wasn’t a killer.
Alex has always known she did the right thing but when new DNA evidences comes to light and the conviction is overturned, the spotlight falls on her, the woman who sent him to jail. The woman whose mistake may have let the real killer evade justice for years.
And for Jonathan, Alex and Rachel, once friends for life, now strangers to one another, there are going to be many more secrets coming to light.
Because that summer, there were many different versions of the truth.
The Killer’s Mark by M. W. Craven
(Constable, 13 August)
I adore this series and so The Killer’s Mark was always going to appear in this list. I’m looking forward to the changes that Poe and Tilly’s move to being private detectives will bring.
A MONSTER. A MOTHER. A MURDER?
When Vice Admiral Boyer, RN (retd) died without leaving a will, his estranged daughter inherited his – not inconsiderable – estate. Called home to sort through his belongings, she found an AegisBox – a tamper proof safe within a safe designed to self-destruct if anyone without the code attempts to open it. Faced with the choice of walking away or opening it, she opted for knowledge over silence and uncovered something so horrifying it launched the biggest investigation in the National Crime Agency’s history. Five years later, Washington Poe is unwittingly, and unwillingly, sucked into its gravity well…
Finally able to escape the authority they once railed against, Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw are enjoying their new jobs as private detectives or – as the sign on their door says – ‘Gumshoes for Hire’. When a teenage girl walks into their office, looking for the mother she has long believed to be dead, they agree to take the case. As Poe and Tilly investigate the girl’s claims, they find themselves drawn into a murky world of trafficking, pornography and prostitution. Will they be able to help the girl find her mother or will the dark forces at work, who will stop at nothing to protect themselves, get there first…
Little Spark by Jess Kidd
(Canongate, 13 August)
I love Jess Kidd’s work!
A secret cannot stay locked away forever
Bodkin Bell, orphan, pickpocket and survivor, doesn’t know where she came from, but she knows she’s different. Gaslights flare as she walks past. Cutlery spins. Shocks fly from her fingertips.
For years, she was ‘Little Spark’, the star of an electrifying travelling act – until it went too far and she ended up in a London gaol.
Now she’s been offered a way out. A chance to serve at Point Mote, a vast, desolate house marooned on the misty Kent marshes. There, she will assist a reclusive family of cunning inventors in the creation of automata: miraculous, lifelike machines for which gentlemen collectors will pay handsomely.
But this house of wonders hides mysteries too. As Bodkin starts to question why she is really there, she unearths secrets that have been buried bone-deep for years – and a truth beyond all imagining. One that was never meant to be found.
Under Story by Chloe Benjamin
(Tinder Press, 1 September)
I LOVED The Immortalists and Benjamin’s latest novel sounds brilliant!
WHAT IF TOMORROW WAS ALREADY WRITTEN, BUT YESTERDAY WAS YOURS TO CHANGE?
At an isolated research station in Antarctica, biologist Laurel Salter washes dishes for a living ten hours a day, six days a week. She tells no one why she left her career, or why her marriage ended.
But even in this remote outpost, Laurel can’t outrun her past. When a strange light appears across the ice and draws a group of physicists to McMurdo, her former husband, Eli, won’t be far behind.
Laurel is captivated by the Arc: its surreal glow; the way it seems almost alive. And though Eli is reluctant to test her wildest theory, Laurel is convinced that the Arc leads down a rabbit hole, and into a world they can barely imagine. Can she persuade him to risk everything to fix the burden that hangs between them – to turn back the clock and live their story a second time?
And this time, live it differently.
Once read, never forgotten, Under Story is a genre-defying exploration of the promise of this life, what might lie beyond it, and how far we would go for more time with the people we love.
The Goddess Queen by Alice Roberts
(Simon & Schuster, 1 September)
I’m really looking forward to this fictionalised account of Cleopatra, and that cover is beautiful!
PHARAOH OF EGYPT. WARRIOR OF ROME. THE FATE OF AN EMPIRE.
There was a moment, just over two thousand years ago, when the whole Mediterranean world could have been ruled by a woman. The Roman Republic was crumbling, torn apart by rivalries. Egypt was a wellspring of wealth. But its rulers had squandered their advantage and ended up hopelessly indebted to the protection racket that called itself Rome.
Now a woman, as Pharaoh, had a chance to reclaim what Egypt had lost, to forge an alliance which would save both Rome and Egypt. Ancient history, high politics, sex and power collide in this dramatic story of the Egyptian queen who confronted and contested the power of Rome.
This is Cleopatra and Antonius as you’ve never seen them before, in the first novel from number one bestselling author Alice Roberts.
These are just a few of the wonderful books coming out in the next few months that I’m really excited about. Anything here take your fancy? Anything you’re particularly looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!
Jo's Book Blog 
Fab selection, Jo. Hope you enjoy them when you get to them! x