Even though I rarely stick to them, I love making seasonal TBR lists. I also enjoy hopping around to all of your blogs and seeing what you're planning to read next. So, I'm excited for today's prompt: Top Ten Books On My Summer 2026 To-Read List. I actually started doing this topic last week; if you missed Part One of my list, it's here. Today, we'll be moving onto Part Two, which consists mainly of mysteries, many of which are the first installments in a series because, you know, I'm not stuck in the middle of enough series right now! Ha ha.

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

1. A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke—The good folks at St. Martin's Press have kindly sent me ARCs of all the books in the Ruby and Cordelia paranormal mystery series. Since the third installment will be published in October, I figure it's high time I finally start this series. I began reading A New Lease On Death today and I'm enjoying it so far.

The novel is about a recently-deceased woman who is unable, for some reason, to move on to the afterlife. With nothing else to do, she's been hanging out in her old apartment, even though it is now inhabited by a 20-year-old chatterbox who's too perky for her own good. When their congenial across-the-hall neighbor is murdered, the two form an unlikely partnership in order to solve what the police are dismissing as a mugging gone wrong. 

2. Under a Gilded Moon by Joy Jordan-Lake—This historical novel centers around Kerry MacGregor, a young woman who's called home from college in New York City to attend to family matters in her Appalachian hometown. Nearby, the Vanderbilts are constructing a palatial mansion called Biltmore House. The acquisition of the MacGregors' land is required to complete the building project. Caught in a collision between wealth and poverty, progress and stagnation, pride and desperation, Kerry must decide whether to sell out or hold tight to what she has in spite of the consequences.

3. Beach Thriller by Jamie Day—Day's books are hit-and-miss for me, but I'm up for reading their newest effort. It's about a novelist beset by writer's block who returns to her family home on a Massachusetts beach on strict instructions from her agent to write a best-selling novel. Haunted by her sister's death, which occurred years ago at the seaside cottage, the writer feels increasingly like she is being watched. Because she is. As the author starts to write about what really happened to her sister, it becomes crystal clear that someone will do anything to stop her from revealing the truth.

4. Time Travel for Beginners by Jaclyn Moriarty (available August 4, 2026)—Although I've read a bunch of books by Liane Moriarty, I've never explored those by her novelist sisters. Time Travel for Beginners, Jaclyn's newest, seems like a good place to start. It's about a time travel agency in Sydney, Australia, that seems to attract customers among those who need it most. The lives of three very different people are about to converge as they come together at the mysterious Agency...

5. A Deadly Inheritance by Kelley Armstrong—In Armstrong's newest YA novel, a teenager is mourning the recent loss of her mother. After the death, Lilianna is "rescued" by the wealthy, estranged grandparents she has never met. They pack her off to an exclusive boarding school which hides some sinister secrets behind its glittering facade.  

6. You Had Me at Bigfoot by Nancy Campbell Allen (available July 7, 2026)—This cozy mystery series opener sounds super fun. It stars a green investigative journalist and a award-winning war photographer who are both covering an important wedding in the Pacific Northwest. When a maid goes missing, the unlikely duo find themselves teaming up to investigate a tantalizing mystery involving a lost treasure, a web of lies, and...Sasquatch?

7. The Body at the Tower by Y.S. Lee—I've been re-reading Lee's engaging YA Victorian mystery series starring 17-year-old secret agent Mary Quinn. In this second installment, Mary disguises herself as a boy in order to go undercover to investigate a mysterious death at the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament. 

8. Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman—The first book in the Mrs. Blossom mystery series, this installment introduces the main character, a retired assistant to a private investigator. Having won the lottery, Mrs. Blossom has embarked on a cruise through France. On the flight to France, she meets Allan, the first man to interest her since the passing of her husband. Twenty-four hours later, Allan is dead in Paris, a city he is not supposed to be in. Mrs. Blossom's detecting skills are clearly needed to find out what happened to the unfortunate man.

9. The Secret Bookstore Sleuth Society by Lindsay Currie (available September 15, 2026)—Although I've been tempted in the past, I've yet to read anything by Currie, who usually writes children's horror novels. I received an e-ARC of her forthcoming book, the first installment in a new middle grade series. It revolves around four besties who become stranded in a book-themed inn during an ice storm. When a guest is murdered on the premises, they must combine their sleuthing skills to figure out whodunit.

10. A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie—As soon as I finish this post, I need to start tidying up my messy kitchen. Good thing I've got a new audiobook to start! This book, published in 1993, is the first installment in the long-running Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series. In their first outing, the duo investigate a death at a country house party gone wrong. 

There you go, ten more books I'm hoping to read this summer. Have you read any of them? Which titles are you planning to enjoy in the next few months? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

March has already been a busy month for me and it's barely even started. Whew! I'm heading to the U.K. on Sunday for a two-week sightseeing/family history trip (mostly the latter), so this is the only TTT you'll see here this month, sadly. I'll get back into it in April, I promise. In the meantime, I'll leave you with my Spring TBR list (next week's topic) since I'm not feeling this week's prompt, which is: Top Ten Books I'm Worried I Might Not Love As Much the Second Time Around. 

This fun, weekly blog event is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Be sure to click on over to her blog and give it some love.

1. Disturbing the Dead by Kelley Armstrong (available May 7, 2024)—I'm a huge fan of Armstrong's Rockton/Haven's Rock series, but her A Rip in Time books are actually my favorites. This one is the third installment in the series, which features a modern-day homicide detective who gets thrust back in time to Victorian Scotland, where she helps solve crimes while trying to figure out how to return to her own time. In this book, Mallory and her undertaker landlord investigate a murder that occurs during a mummy unwrapping.

Since this series is set in Edinburgh, the city I will be flying in and out of, it will be the perfect read for my airplane ride. Maybe I'll save it for the trip home, after I do a ghost tour in the city!

2. Where There's Smoke by E.B. Vickers—This YA novel concerns Calli, an 18-year-old girl who has graduated from high school and lost her father, all in the last week and a half. Grieving the only parent she had left, she finds purpose in helping a young girl who shows up at her house bruised, beaten, and scared out of her mind. When the police come knocking, asking about a missing child from a neighboring town, Calli finds herself caught up in a quest for truth and justice that will expose shocking secrets about her small community and people she's known all her life who she maybe doesn't really know at all.

3. The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin—When an enslaved girl stumbles upon a secret society of spies run by a free Black woman, she finds purpose in helping to undermine the Confederacy. At the same time, she is on a journey to reunite with her beloved mother, an enslaved woman from whom she has been tragically separated.

4. The Hunter by Tana French—I'm a big Tana French fan and I'm always excited when a new book from her is announced. This is the second book in her Cal Hooper series. In this installment, Cal is immediately put on alert when the absent father of a teenager he's been mentoring shows up in town with suspicious motives. How far will Cal go to protect the people he cares about?

5. What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan—McTiernan is another of my favorite crime writers. Her newest is a standalone mystery featuring a young couple—Simon and Nina—who go on a Vermont vacation together, from which only Nina returns. Desperate to find out what happened to their daughter, Nina's family plies the police for answers, while Simon's wealthy family rushes in to protect him from suspicion. What happened to Nina? Is Simon to blame? Finding the truth might just tear them all apart.

 

6. Swimming in a Sea of Stars by Julie Wright—In this YA novel, a teen girl is attending school for the first time since she tried to kill herself. Everyone thinks they know what happened. They don't. As she floats through the halls, keeping her secrets to herself, she encounters several other students who are hiding their own doubts and insecurities. As painful as it might be, sharing their truths might be the first step to all of them finding the courage and understanding they all need to move forward.

7. A Novel Disguise by Samantha Larsen—The first installment in a new historical mystery series, this one introduces Miss Tiffany Woodall, a spinster who's pretending to be her dead half-brother in order to find the diamond pin that could save her from financial ruin. Things get complicated when a body is found, among other puzzling mysteries. It's up to Tiffany to figure out what in the world is going on in hers.

8. In the Lonely Hours by Shannon Morgan (available July 23, 2024)—This gothic mystery doesn't come out until the summer, but I have an e-ARC I can't wait to read. Also set in Scotland, it's about a woman who is shocked to discover she's inherited an old castle from a relative she's never heard of. When she and her teen daughter move in, they're quite unsettled to find out that it's full of ghosts and mysteries aplenty. As they dig into the edifice's dark past, they unwittingly put themselves in danger, especially as trapped as they are on a remote island...

9. Everyone on This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson—I enjoyed Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, so I'm excited to read this sequel. Our intrepid author of how-to guides for mystery novelists has been invited to a writing conference via a train packed with other authors. When one of them is murdered, it's up to him to find out whodunit.

10. The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie (available April 2, 2024)—This middle-grade puzzler sounds like tons of fun. It's about three kids who are determined to find a treasure that is rumored to be hidden inside an old, abandoned funhouse. As they solve riddles and other clues, they start to feel as if they're in the ultimate escape room, one that has been set up just for them. It's impossible, isn't it? What exactly is going on and how are they going to win this game that is getting gradually more unnerving?

There you go, ten books I hope to read this summer. Have you read any of them? What did you think? How about you? What's on your Spring TBR list? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on yours.

Happy Halloween! I'm actually not a big fan of this holiday. Never really have been, even as a kid. However, I do enjoy a shivery tale (as long as it's not TOO scary because I'm also a wimp) this time of year. We'll get to that in a minute.

First, some exciting news:

My Little Free Library is finally open for business! Other than some clean up from the landscape company (hence the fences in the background) and a few plants that need to go in, our big front yard remodel is done. After almost a year of sitting in boxes in my hallway, my LFL is finally set up. Isn't it cute? We live right by a community mailbox, so I'm hoping it will get lots of traffic. 

Okay, on to our Top Ten Tuesday prompt for today. (As always, TTT is hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.) I was going to compile a list of my favorite "spooky" book authors for today's Halloween freebie, but as I started doing it, it seemed awfully...familiar. Looking back at previous years confirmed that I had already created such a list for TTT a couple years ago. Since the lists were pretty much identical, I bagged that idea. (If you want to see my list of My Top Ten Favorite Go-To Authors for Haunting Halloween-ish Reads from 2021, click here.) Since I can't think of anything more creative, today I'm going to talk about ten spooky books on my TBR list. I'm a bit of a wuss, so "spooky" for me is probably not nearly as scary as it is for you!

1. The Only One Left by Riley Sager—Sager is one of my favorite writers of creepy, atmospheric books. His newest features a reclusive elderly woman, notorious for allegedly murdering her family as a teenager, who decides to finally tell the real story behind the killings. Is the crone an innocent woman whose life was ruined by false accusations? Or is she a cold-blooded murderer who's not done with her dark work?

2. Murder Road by Simone St. James (available March 4, 2024)—I've got an e-ARC of St. James' latest, which tells the story of a young couple who take a wrong turn while looking for the resort where they're planning to spend their honeymoon. They pick up a hitchhiker, who they realize only belatedly is bleeding profusely. When the girl later dies, the newlyweds become suspects in her murder. A string of unsolved killings has been happening along that same deserted highway. As the couple investigates, desperate to clear their names, they find that something otherworldly is at work. 

3. The Last One by Will Dean—This chilling novel is about a new couple who decide to take a trip on a luxury cruise ship together. On the morning of their second day at sea, Caz wakes up to find her boyfriend gone. When she steps outside her room, she discovers that he's not the only one. All the passengers and crew members have disappeared, leaving Caz in the middle of the ocean by herself. What happened? How will she save herself from whatever menace made an entire cruise ship of people vanish?

4. My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon—McMahon's books never fail to thrill (and terrify) me! Her newest effort is about a woman who is persuaded to take in her dying mother for one last Christmas together. After living with her mom's verbal abuse and alcoholism for too long, the two have been estranged for years. One final bid for quality time together turns into a nightmare when strange things begin happening and the daughter starts to wonder if her parent has been possessed by a demon.

5. The Girl in White by Lindsay Currie—This MG novel is set in a small town that's proud as punch of its reputation as one of the region's most haunted places to visit. New to Eastport, Mallory definitely feels unsettled by the place. She's having nightmares, missing chunks of time, and feels like she's being watched. When Mallory encounters the same terrifying old woman she's been dreaming about, things start to get really weird...

6. Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney—Feeney's latest features an elderly woman living in a nursing home and the enigmatic woman who cares for her. Both of them have secrets concerning a kidnapped baby and the murder of an old lady. How do the cases connect? The two women will find out when they filter through each other's lies to discover the truth. 

7. The Dark by Emma Haughton—Emergency room doctor Kate North has been upended by a personal tragedy. Eager to start over somewhere else, she takes the opportunity to be the emergency replacement for a doctor at a UN research center in Antarctica. Her predecessor died in an accident on the ice. As the winter darkness descends, Kate begins to suspect there's more to his death than meets the eye. Completely cut off from civilization and fumbling around in almost total darkness, it's up to her to figure out what really happened. 

8. Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas—It seems like everyone's read this dark academia novel but me. It's set at an exclusive college, famous for nurturing the world's most promising minds. Students are required to spend three years at the isolated institution, leaving music, media, friends, family, even their clothes behind. First-year student Ines is ready to soak in the intoxicating environment, but when a tragedy occurs, she starts to realize just how trapped she really is in a place that is much darker and more dangerous than she ever could have imagined.

9. Flight 171 by Amy Christine Parker—This YA horror novel concerns a group of teenagers who board a plane flight, headed for a school ski trip. A terrifying supernatural creature takes over the flight, demanding that one of the passengers be sacrificed or all of them will die. As the kids scramble to save themselves, each person's deepest, darkest secrets are revealed, including the truth behind the death of one teen's sister.

10. The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong—In post-World War I England, Ruby Vaughn runs a rare bookstore in Exeter. When a customer in Cornwall requests a box of books, she's forced to deliver them, even though she swore she would never return to the area. Imposing Penryth Hall is the home of a former friend and her husband. After an unnerving night spent in their presence, Ruby is anxious to leave. Then, the husband turns up dead, launching a murder investigation and frantic talk of an old curse returning to haunt the present. 

There you go, ten spooky books that are haunting my TBR list. Have you read any of them? What did you think? What did you do for today's Halloween freebie? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog. I also reply to comments left here (although I am a week behind at the moment).

I'm a little late to the party today, but I didn't want to miss out on TTT. These weekly lists are pretty much all I've been managing to post lately, so...yeah. Today's official topic is Top Ten Typographic Book Covers. I'm not feeling that one; instead, I'm going to go with something more seasonal. Spooky books always appeal to me, but they're even more alluring the closer we get to Halloween. I can't handle anything too gory or horror-y these days as I'm becoming a right wimp in my old age. However, I still enjoy an atmospheric Gothic tale or a shivery ghost story, the kind that are spine-tingling without being nightmare-inducing. My favorite trope by far is the haunted house. Give me a broody old pile with a mysterious past, secrets swirling through the corridors, and plenty of ghosts in the closets (real and/or metaphorical) and I'm a happy reader. The authors I prefer in this genre are: Eve Chase, Carol Goodman, Simone St. James, Riley Sager, Jennifer McMahon, etc. If you've got any suggestions for readalike authors, let me know. In the meantime, I'll share my list of the Top Ten Haunted House Books On My TBR List.

First, though, be sure to click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl and give TTT's fearless hostess some love. Then, make your own list and enjoy a fun evening of blog hopping. It's a good time, I promise!

Top Ten Haunted House Books On My TBR List  

1. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson—For some reason, I still haven't read this classic haunted house novel. It's about four people who gather at a notoriously spook-infested old mansion. Strange happenings occur. 

2. Girls of Brackenhill by Kate Moretti—When human remains are discovered at Hannah Maloney's ancestral castle in the Catskills, she's convinced they're the bones of her sister, who disappeared seventeen years ago. Obsessed with figuring out what really happened all those years ago, Hannah uncovers disturbing secrets from the past.

3. The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell—Two years ago, a young woman left her baby with her mother and headed to a party at a house in the woods. She never returned. In the present, Sophie is strolling through the forest near the boarding school where her boyfriend has just accepted a position. She sees a note that says, "Dig here." Sounds like an intriguing premise...

4. What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie—This is a children's book—how creepy can it possibly be? Probably enough to scare me silly! The story is set in a decrepit old mansion deep in the Michigan woods called Woodmoor Manor. Rumors in the town say it was once the home of a mad scientist whose disturbing experiments roam through the trees, always watching. 

5. The Good House by Tananarive Due—Trying to put her life back together after her son's suicide, Angela Toussaint returns to her ancestral home, the place where her boy took his own life. What she finds is a sentient evil that's causing residents of her town to act out in violence. Is it the same entity her grandmother battled long ago? Just what is it that lurks in her home—and in her family history?

6. Death Overdue by Allison Brook—The first installment in a series, this cozy mystery features a haunted library in Connecticut. When a retired homicide detective who claims to know the murderer of a beloved library aide is killed, the library's new event planner vows to find his killer. 

7. Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas—Located deep in the forests of Pennsylvania, Catherine House is an elite, unconventional school that has educated some of the most brilliant minds in America. School policy demands that students leave their outside lives behind and devote three years of their lives to an intense education. Ines is finding herself inside the strange institution when tragedy strikes, making her question everything that's happening at Catherine House.

8. The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen—In an attempt to outrun her past and finish the cookbook she's writing, Ava Collette retreats to an old pile on the coast of Maine. Her peaceful reverie is broken when she starts hearing strange noises in the night. When an apparition appears to her, Ava begins looking into the disappearance of the house's previous renter. Something sinister is going on and Ava intends to get to the bottom of it.

9. The Winter Guest by W.C. Ryan—Once a grand Irish mansion, Kilcolgan House is now a crumbling pile filled with broken people and whispering ghosts. When Lord Kilcolgan's oldest daughter is killed, an IRA intelligence officer comes to the home to investigate. As he digs into the secrets of Kilcolgan House, he uncovers secrets galore. Can he use them to find the murderer?

10. The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates—Coates has several books that fit this genre, but this one sounds especially good to me. Plus, I like the symmetry of ending my list with a title similar to the one I began it with. The plot concerns a woman who inherits a creepy old house after the owner, a mysterious recluse, dies. With ominous messages scrawled on the wallpaper, a hidden grave in the backyard, and portraits that seem to watch her every move, the new occupant is understandably unnerved. As she digs into the house's sinister past, she begins to believe every terrifying rumor she's ever heard about the place...

There you go, ten haunted house novels that should make for excellent, eerie Halloween reading. Have you read any of them? What did you think? Can you think of any similar books I might like? I love recs! What books did you feature on your TTT list today? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.