Bookish Books (1/13/26)

A roundup for the book obsessed!

ONLY SPELL DEEP by Ava Morgyn
9781250363763 | 3/17/26

Judeth Cole has always had certain uncanny abilities. But when she arrived at Solidago—her grandfather’s estate by the sea—she was forced to keep them secret. There she lived a harsh life under his rule and the haunting legacy of her late grandmother, Aurelia. Until the fateful day she ignited a fire with her magic. It was the last time she saw her family alive.

Seventeen years later, she’s living in Seattle as Jude Clark, and failing at life, when she makes a last detour through her favorite bookstore, selecting a book to read as she waits to die. But when she pulls it from the shelf, an invitation to her for a secret midnight meeting slips out.

Jude is quickly swept up into a world of secrets and magic, discovering a circle of powerful new companions led by the mysterious, enigmatic Arla. The source of their magic, Arla tells her, is an entity, trapped and bound, that they call The Fathom. But Jude swiftly realizes Arla wants this power all to herself, and that she’s willing to kill for it.

Terrified, Jude turns to Levi Orman, the handsome bookseller who’s seen her at her worst. With his help, she begins a research journey that leads her from the crystal waters of the Mediterranean to the icy waves of the Greenland Sea and back to Solidago, the house she swore to never return to. With the Fathom threatening to break free and Arla on the hunt, Jude must finally face her past to save her future.

HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER by Rebecca Philipson
9781250409430 | 2/24/26

This fresh debut thriller finds a Scotland Yard detective trying to find the author of a self-help book that promises quite literally to teach readers how to get away with murder, which seems to have inspired London’s newest murderer.

Detective Inspector Samantha Hansen has been on leave for six months, recovering from a breakdown she suffered at work, but when a fourteen-year-old girl is murdered in a local park, Sam jumps at the chance to return to the job and prove that she’s still got what it takes to be the Yard’s most successful homicide detective. One of the case’s only leads is a copy of a self-help book found in the victim’s backpack called How To Get Away With Murder by a man named Denver Brady.

Brady claims to be the most successful serial killer of our time, which is why no one’s ever heard of him. Chapter by chapter, he details his methodology and his past victims, and as Sam’s investigation progresses and the details of the book go viral, Sam begins to suspect that there’s more to the author than what he’s revealed. But in order to find a killer and get justice for young Charlotte, Sam must learn to trust her instincts once again, before Denver Brady—or someone else—really does get away with murder.

LIBERTY ISLAND by Virginia Hume
9781250285645 | 5/5/26

1900: Twenty-eight-year-old Anna Bradley is spending the summer on a rugged island off the coast of Haven Point, Maine, supervising her niece, Julia Demarest, and two other spirited girls. As the children race through the woods playing pirates, treasure hunters, and Roughriders, Anna—an ambitious college graduate determined to chart her own path—finds unexpected inspiration.

She secretly pens Liberty Island, a bold, imaginative novel celebrating girls unbound by the expectations of marriage and motherhood. The book becomes a runaway hit with young readers, but draws scorn from the social elite, who see it as dangerous and unbecoming. As the book’s popularity grows and Anna’s carefully kept secret teeters on the edge of exposure, she must also navigate a burgeoning romance—and reconsider everything she thought she wanted for her future.

1922: Julia Demarest, now twenty-nine, was once enchanted by her aunt’s bestselling books. But times have changed—and so has she. Disillusioned by the restrictions of her privileged upbringing and disenchanted by a failed romance with a bohemian intellectual, Julia finds herself adrift and estranged from her family. When a sudden call brings her back to Haven Point, she must reckon with the ghosts of her past, the ideals she once dismissed, and what freedom truly means to her.

Rich with heart and history, LIBERTY ISLAND is an unforgettable story of love, legacy, and belonging.

THIS WEEKEND DOESN’T END WELL FOR ANYONE by Catherine Mack
9781250326164 | 4/28/26

Eleanor Dash can never catch a break. Not only has she had to solve two real-life murder plots in the past year, but both times it was when she was meant to be on vacation. Now she’s finally got a ticket to a relaxing weekend—an all-inclusive resort at the Bahamas where she’s speaking at a conference for murder mystery writers—but she arrives to find a body on the floor of her hotel room. Because of course she does.

With plenty of familiar faces at the resort, any one of them could have been the intended target or the culprit behind it all. Was it Oliver Forrest, Eleanor’s dashing boyfriend who’s in danger of getting dropped by his publisher because his sales are dwindling? Or Connor Smith, Eleanor’s infuriating ex-lover-turned-bestselling-rom-com-author with a sordid past of his own? Or her sister Harper, whose own stilted writing career has been a sore point for years as Eleanor’s has soared? Perhaps it’s one of the other writers also in attendance, as friends, frenemies and foes from Eleanor’s past all seem to be invited to the island.

Surrounded by mystery writers who know all too well the many ways to craft the perfect crime, Eleanor is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and do whatever it takes to get out of this weekend alive.

GRETA GETS THE GIRL by Melissa Marr
9781250364869 | 1/13/26