Dean Koontz talks to Shots Magazine

 

Thomas and Mercer publishing have released two remarkable novels this January that are difficult to pigeon-hole. These two novels were not crime fiction per se, nor horror fiction per se but they were page turners that combined elements of both genres that kept me up way past my bedtime. They also provoked deep introspection.

So what were these two books?

We had Paul Finch with his harrowing THE LODGE and now hot of the presses comes Dean Koontz with his extraordinary THE FRIEND OF THE FAMILY, which is a treat for the bibliophile …..

…….Koontz’s tale commences in 1930 with a teenage girl Alida, one of the attractions of the ‘Ten-in-One’ show at McKinsey’s Travelling Carnival. The girl has a beautiful face, but beneath her shoulders lies hideous body deformations akin to the British human exhibit John Merrick [aka The Elephant Man]. Alida is exploited by being paraded nearly naked by the odious Forest ‘Captain’ Farnham for the amusement of the curious and the uncouth. Alida escapes the indignities she is forced to endure by her voracious appetite for books, especially Dickens……

Read More HERE

Following our review, I had a few questions for this prolific author.

Last time I had a chance to chat to Dean Koontz was close to two decades ago, at the London Book Fair on a video screen via Margaret Atwood’s Long Pen.

Our short exchange is archived at Jeff Peirce’s The Rap Sheet HERE

So with the release of THE FRIEND OF THE FAMILY, we present Dean Koontz in conversation with Shots Magazine, recorded on Wednesday January 28^th 2026.

To indicate the scale of Dean Koontz’s as an author – his books are published in 38 languages and he has sold over 500 million copies to date.

Let that sink in.

Ali: Welcome to Great Britain’s Shots Magazine and thanks for speaking with our readers.

Dean: Thanks for inviting me. I’ll try to be on my best behaviour.

AK: So let me ask you firstly, after so many years publishing, do you still remain excited when a new book is released?

DK: I’ve always been more excited by writing than by having written. Undeniably, however, I still get a thrill when I hold the first finished copy in my hands. In a curious way, it’s never real to me until it’s a finished book. I’m a creature for whom tactility is the most confirming of our senses. If the day came when novels were available only as eBooks or audiobooks, I’d probably stop writing. I have over 8,000 editions of my own books in 39 languages, and there are days when walking into the room that holds them is what motivates me to go on.

AK: Right off the bat, where did THE FRIEND OF THE FAMILY originate as an idea?

DK: Three things. 1) Growing up, I lived across the highway from the county fairgrounds. The best part of the year was when the carnival came to town. I was fascinated with carnies, their culture and the rules by which they worked and lived in a community of their kind. I’ve made a sort of study of them my whole life. 2) I grew up feeling like an outsider because we were poor and my father was a notorious alcoholic and gambler and womanizer, which in a small town meant constant humiliation for my mother and me. And so I tend to like writing about outsiders——Odd Thomas, Leilani Klonk in One Door Away from Heaven, both Addison and Gwyneth in Innocence, and so many others. 3)  I love Art Deco, big band music, movies, and the literature of the 1930s and ‘40s.  This was a novel that began with a character, Alida, perhaps the ultimate outsider. She arrived suddenly in my head, complete in all details. I don’t know why or from where. So much of inspiration is mysterious, which is one thing I love about this work——the sense of being connected to some mysterious source of creativity that is beyond oneself. Because freak shows were pretty much outlawed in the 1970s, the story needed to have a historical setting——and I chose my favourite historical period. With that much having fallen together, it was time to start writing.

AK: And did you just follow the muse [as is your method these days], or was there heavy plotting ahead of the writing?

DK: No plotting. I stopped writing outlines with Strangers and have never gone back to that tedious approach. I begin with a premise and a couple characters——and set them loose to do what they want. At some point in most novels, I experience a brief period of raw terror that I won’t be able to pull all the strings together and tie them in a nice knot. But after a glass of good cabernet sauvignon (perhaps two) and a chunk of dark chocolate, I recover from panic and go on. It always works out.

AK: If memory serves, the carnival backdrop features in your novelisation of The Funhouse [a film by Tobe Hooper and screenplay by Lawrence ‘Larry’ Block] as well as your novel Twilight Eyes and now The Friend of the Family – so what is the allure of greasepaint and candy floss for the novelist? 

DK: Growing up as an outsider, as the class clown in school, with a sense that I would never belong anywhere, it is not surprising that I fantasized about running away with the carnival, where every member of the troupe was an outsider by the standards of the rest of the world but not within the world of the midway. I wouldn’t have been able to run a 10-in-one (a freak show), but I think I’d have been able to put together a funhouse like no other.

AK: I thought the opening was reminiscent thematically [though much less grimy] of William Lindsay Gresham’s Nightmare Alley? 

DK: I know the novel. I am not a fan of it. In spite of growing up in a family that never knew where next week’s food would come from or whether we’d have a roof over our heads, or whether my father’s frequent talk of suicide (and of taking us with him) would suddenly prove more than idle talk, I have always been an optimist. I’ve never wasted time on despair or anger. I don’t know why. Maybe because I’ve always had a sense of time running out, of the preciousness of our days, and haven’t wanted to waste any.

AK: Unlike William Lindsay Gresham, your work [of which The Friend of the Family is no exception] is always upbeat, optimistic despite the darkness of the world. Would you care to comment?

DK: I know there’s evil in the world, but I see no reason to submit to it by taking it too seriously. One thing I saw from the example of my father’s life was that every time he did the wrong thing——the wicked thing, if you will——it worked for a while, it profited him for a time, but too soon it led to one catastrophe or another, often an amusing catastrophe. I learned early that evil is self-defeating. Likewise, so is negativism in all its forms. It sounds very Beatles-in-India, but the world is to a large extent what we make it, and attitude shapes results. At least in part, the world becomes for us what we think it is, which is why I’ve tried to steer clear of all the competing ideologies that try to pack all of existence into one small box or another.

AK: Like the character Alida [aka Adiel] in your new book; how important are novels and reading fiction to you, and wider society?

DK: Growing up, novels were my salvation. They provided desperately needed escape. But they also taught me that all families were not like mine (which is what a kid in a dysfunctional family often thinks——that behind closed doors, every family is dysfunctional).  When Gerda and I were married with $150, a used car, and our clothes, we couldn’t afford a TV, so we read novels in the evenings. After a while, we came to feel that, being as happy as we were, we might find that a TV made us less so. Therefore, we lived without one for ten years. During that period, each of us read about 200 novels a year. That was a far, far better education than I received during my four years of college.

AK: I read some of your Science Fiction Novels in my youth and enjoyed them, and your later work often has a little of the ‘weird’ striating the narrative, so can you tell us a little about what it is about SF [and ‘the weird’] that interests you?

DK: I’ve always felt that the world is something more than we are able to perceive, that our five sense are inadequate to the challenge of fully knowing reality. As an adult, both Gerda and I have had experiences that seem to confirm a depth, a complexity, beyond what we know in our daily lives. And we’ve never done drugs! One day I might write about those experiences/events, for they have confirmed my perception that the world is mysterious (quantum mechanics further confirms it), and that perception has affected what I write.

AK: Your Leigh Nichols books are favourites of mine, so can you tell us a little about this pen name, and why it came about?

DK: When I wrote the first Nichols, my agent at the time and the publisher felt it was too different from what I’d written previously, would destroy my budding career, and thus required a pen name. I was naive enough to believe that the “publishing wisdom” they cited was in fact wise. Years later, I recovered the rights to the 5 Nichols novels. When we published The Servants of Twilight under my name, it was #1 for 6 weeks and sold two million paperbacks in its first six months. It didn’t destroy my career. Neither did the other four. Lesson learned——if you don’t have belief in yourself and what you’re writing, neither will anyone else.

AK: I read you’re an enthusiast of the Richard Stark Parker Novels by Donald Westlake [even penning the Brian Coffey novels]. What other crime-fiction did/do you enjoy?

DK: Westlake was a genius. He could go from ice-water-in-your-face crime fiction to hilarious comic novels as easily as changing his hat. I also read everything by Ed McBain (Evan Hunter), Rex Stout, The magnificent John D. MacDonald, Len Deighton, Patricia Highsmith, on and on.

AK: You have a huge body of work, of which WHISPERS, WATCHERS, STRANGERS, LIGHTNING, PHANTOMS, INTENSITY and the Leigh Nichols series rank as favourites of mine – so what are your own favourites and why?

DK: I have a fondness for those that were suspenseful but also made room for humour: Life Expectancy, The Odd Thomas series, The Bad Weather Friend, One Door Away From Heaven. But I also like the go-for-the-throat books like Intensity, the 5 Jane Hawk novels, The House at the End of the World. And if I find a book indefinable, I’m especially fond of it——From the Corner of His Eye, The Friend of the Family . . .

AK: A huge thank you for your time, so in closing what are your plans for 2026 and beyond?

DK: I’ve got a forthcoming novel, A Storm So Bright and Beautiful that was a challenge unlike any I’d taken on before. This time, in spite of my optimism, I wondered if I had at last destroyed my career, just 50 years after an agent had predicted as much. Happily, everyone in my publishing life loves it. Now I’m working on a novel set in 1961, a meaningful year historically. I hope I never have to retire. I’d rather just fall dead at the keyboard——but not with a manuscript unfinished.

Shots Magazine would like to Thank Dean Koontz and Katrina Power of FMcM for organising this interview in-conjunction with Thomas and Mercer Publishing.

More information CLICK HERE

Bibliography CLICK HERE and HERE

Movie Adaptations CLICK HERE

If you are suffering from a ‘reading slump’ or hooked on an addictive ‘doom scrolling’ cycle on your Smartphone – The Friend of the Family is the antidote, because as a novel it is a hell of a thing.

The full Shots Magazine review is HERE

Text © 2026 Dean Koontz and Ali Karim

Images © respective publishers

 

Forthcoming Books from John Murray.

 

January 2026

A Gift Before Dying is by Malcolm Kempt. At the edge of the world, can justice still be found.  After a botched high-profile murder investigation, Sergeant Elderick Cole is exiled to the remote, rugged landscape of Nunavut, a vast territory in the Arctic Circle known for its untamed beauty, frigid temperatures, and endless winter nights.  His bleak existence takes a sinister turn when he discovers the hanging body of Pitseolala, a troubled Inuit girl whom he had sworn to protect. Her death dredges up demons he thought he'd buried along with the scars of a fractured marriage and the aching divide between himself and his estranged daughter. As Cole's life unravels - and with it, the fragile thread of his investigation - he turns to Pitseolala's younger brother, Maliktu, a fellow outsider. It's then that Cole uncovers what binds them: a singular mission to find her killer. Against fierce backlash, Cole's overriding desire to redeem just one aspect of his otherwise failed life becomes an obsession - and he's willing to break every rule in his unyielding pursuit of justice and the smallest shred of redemption.

For over a century two rival organisations of women have gone to deadly lengths to secure a precious scrap of fraying embroidery in the hopes of finding the original medieval manuscript from which it was torn. There's the Order of St Katherine: devoted to the belief that women must pull strings in the shadows in order to exercise covert control. And the Fellowship of the Larks: determined to amass as many overt positions of power for women as possible . . . while making sure their methods never come to light. When trailblazing paleographer Dr Anya Brown is headhunted by the exclusive Institute of Manuscript Studies at St Andrews, she's unaware that she is in grave danger - her new employers are the Larks, and they'll stop at nothing to achieve their mission. As Dr Brown is drawn deeper into this ancient web, events spiral beyond her control. To uncover the truth, and escape with her life, she must summon all her expertise to decipher a series of messages that have lain hidden for centuries. The Burning Library is by Gilly Macmillan.

February 2026

 In August 1940, a man walked into Leon Trotsky's study in Mexico City and drove an ice pick into his skull. The killer? Ramon Mercader - an aristocratic Spaniard turned Soviet assassin. The mastermind? Joseph Stalin. But this was no simple hit. It was the climax of a decade-long global hunt: a story of seduction and betrayal, of fake identities and secret loyalties, of idealists and fanatics, lovers and spies. While Trotsky raged in exile - still clinging to his revolutionary dream - Stalin's agents closed in. At the heart of it all was Mercader: a man trained to lie, charm and ultimately to kill. Tracing a path from the cafes of Paris to the battlefields of Spain, from Stalin's Kremlin to a bloodied study in Mexico, The Death of Trotsky by Josh Ireland unfolds like a spy thriller - a story of obsession and betrayal, of dreams destroyed and loyalties twisted, culminating in one of the most shocking murders of the modern age.

From James Wolff a former spy comes Spies and Other Gods an electrifying novel about the mystery, paranoia and ruthlessness of the secretive world of British espionage. The Head of British Intelligence is having a bad day. Only six months off retirement and Sir William Rentoul is wondering if he'll make it that far, what with the sudden descent of a brain fog dense enough to turn every day into a series of small humiliations. To make matters worse, Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee - the body that oversees Sir William - has received an anonymous complaint from one of his officers. Sir William dimly recalls accepting that there should be a channel for whistleblowers, but he never expected that they would pick his most sensitive case, one involving an Iranian assassin and a trail of dead bodies, or that the person who turned up to poke their nose into his files should be a lowly parliamentary researcher named Aphra McQueen, who displays smarts, tenacity and rebelliousness in unsettling measures. Aphra seems to know more about the operation than she is letting on. What will she uncover? What is she really up to? And can she survive the unexpected events that will bounce her from London to Birmingham to Paris to Lausanne?

March 2026

All Them Dogs is by Djamel White. Things are different since Tony Ward landed back in town. The West Dublin gangland has changed. His old mentor is dead, and his best pal Kenny Boyle is on the straight and narrow. After five years keeping quiet across the way, Tony is keen to reinstate himself, and when the opportunity arises to work side by side with Darren 'Flute' Walsh, a top enforcer of notorious crime boss Aengus Lavelle, it feels like a no brainer. Biting off more than he can chew has never bothered Tony Ward, but Flute Walsh is not the meek, quiet boy Tony remembers from school. Brooding, stoic, and unpredictably dangerous, Tony finds himself drawn to his new associate in more ways than one. With retribution from his past actions always close in the rear view, the protection offered by Flute's standing in the gang is crucial. But how safe is Tony really, when a mutual attraction starts to complicate matters?

When the daughter of the Swedish Ambassador disappears from her prestigious London school in broad daylight, the authorities are on high alert. There are no witnesses and no ransom demand: thirteen-year-old Freya Sjöberg has vanished into thin air. With the Metropolitan Police out of their depth, specialist agent DS Madeleine Farrow is called in to handle the case. As a former pupil at Wimpole Girls, she knows the school's affluent corridors only too well. But even she can't anticipate the dark secrets held within its walls. With the clock ticking since Freya's disappearance, Madeleine must return to a place that holds painful memories to find a girl who has left no trace. For help, she calls on dogged - and occasionally maverick - young private investigator Ramona Chang. Together the unlikely pair find themselves plunged into a world of extreme wealth and dangerous secrets. The deeper they dig, the more they uncover - exposing a tangled web of conspiracy and lies that could change everything they thought they knew about the case, and each other. Lost Girls is by Charlotte Philby.

May 2026

Murder at the Hotel Orient is by Alessandra Ranelli. In modern Vienna, the infamous Hotel Orient glitters at the heart of the city, luring lovers inside for an evening of debauchery. Behind its velvet curtain, cameras are forbidden, aliases are required, and every guest has something to hide. For those seeking illicit liaisons, Sterling Lockwood is the perfect concierge. Sultry and poised, she's the ultimate keeper of secrets, including her own. But when dawn breaks and two of the anonymous guests are found dead in their suite, Sterling must break the Orient's sacred code of discretion, turning detective to find a killer and clear her own name. Alongside Fernando, her quick-witted friend and bellhop, Sterling steps beyond the hotel's stained-glass doors, venturing from grand coffee houses where power whispers between porcelain cups, to dimly lit bars where the curious seek rapturous oblivion, and risking everything to solve an impossible case.

What happens when you can no longer keep a secret? When Arthur Cotton sees a body washed up on the beach, difficult memories come flooding back. He kept the books for the Brighton mob back in the day and got out on friendly terms. But retirement came with conditions - mainly to keep his mouth shut. Fifty years on, it's trickier. Dementia is taking hold and he's getting leaky. His former bosses are worried. Arthur didn't just keep their accounts; he also kept their secrets. Now there's going to be a reckoning. It's up to Arthur's daughter, Susan, a carer for the elderly, to find out what her father knows. What he's been saying and to whom. There are dangerous people around, and they're beginning to lose their patience. She'll have to turn detective to encounter a Brighton she barely knew existed, and to turn up parts of her father's past that are just as dark. The Darkest Tide is by Peter Hanington.

Nine nights to solve a murder...or she'll be next. When Bigglesweigh's notorious gangster, Cuttah, uses up the last of his nine lives, and is found dead at his flat, there is only one person who can solve the mystery of who killed him: indomitable retired NHS nurse Miss Hortense. Cuttah left a letter with a list of suspects. There's just one problem: Miss Hortense's name is on the list and she only has nine days before his cronies seek retribution... Miss Hortense and the Last Rites is by Mel Pennant.

June 2026

Death by Noir is by Olly Smith. Barclay Flint is the eccentric proprietor of The Bottle Bank wine shop in Lewes, the small Sussex town renowned for its annual Bonfire Night festival. Barclay can taste a kaleidoscopic universe in a single glass of wine - and will delight in luring you to share in its charms. Barclay passes his days happily matching his customers to the wines of their dreams, but when his friend, struggling regenerative vineyard owner Victor Crawshaw, goes missing, Barclay falls under suspicion and must deploy his wine detection skills to crack the case and clear his name. As the clock ticks down to Bonfire Night's epic festival of flames, the fireworks might not be all that start exploding...

Forthcoming Books from Simon & Schuster

 January 2026

Penitence is by Kristin Koval. Are you more than the worst thing you have ever done, or are some things too terrible to forgive?  When teenager Nora Sheehan fatally shoots her brother Nico in their family home one evening, her parents’ lives are left shattered. Nico had been diagnosed with a terminal illness – was what Nora did an act of mercy, or something far darker? And what will happen to her now, alone in a juvenile detention centre awaiting trial, unable or unwilling to speak? Out of their depth, Angie and David Sheehan turn to local lawyer Martine Dumont for help. Martine isn’t just legal counsel – she’s also the mother of Angie’s first love Julian, now a high-powered New York defence attorney who returns to their rural Colorado hometown to assist with the case. But Julian’s arrival stirs up secrets buried in his and Angie’s past – mistakes with far-reaching and damaging consequences. And as the verdict that will decide Nora's fate looms, the two families find themselves confronted with the same heart-wrenching questions: what will they fight to hold on to, and what must they be prepared to let go? 

'Of all the creatures in the world, only humans have the capacity for evil . . . ' Small animals – a rat, a rabbit, a squirrel – have been turning up throughout Charlotte, North Carolina, mutilated and displayed in the same bizarre manner. But one day, as Tempe is relaxing at home alongside her aimless, moody great-niece Tory, she’s diverted by a disturbing call. Now, it seems, the perp is upping the ante. This find is larger. Could the remains be human? Tempe visits the scene and discovers that the victim is a dog. Someone’s pet. As someone who has always found animal cruelty deeply abhorrent, Tempe vows to help apprehend the person responsible for the killings, and due to Tory’s especially layered knowledge of animal behaviour, the young woman turns out to be a valuable ally in the hunt for answers. Oddly, Tempe discovers that semi-retired homicide detective Erskine ‘Skinny’ Slidell is equally outraged and committed. Needing a better understanding of possible motives, Tempe and Skinny seek input from a forensic psychologist. The doctor has no definitive answer but offers several possibilities, warning that the escalating pattern of aggression suggests even more macabre discoveries – and that the perp’s focus may soon shift to humans. And then it happens. A woman is found disfigured and posed in a manner that mimics the earlier killings. As Tempe and Slidell follow the horrifying clues to a shocking conclusion, they’re forced to confront an increasingly terrifying question: ‘What is pure evil?’ Evil Bones is by Kathy Reichs.

February 2026

What Happened That Night is by Nicci French. After nearly thirty years in prison for the murder of his university friend Leo Bauer, Tyler Green is finally free. Meeting up with the group of friends who were there the night that Leo died, Tyler is looking to reconnect – but he’s also looking for answers. When another friend is found dead that night, his new found freedom is put in jeopardy. Detective Maud O’Connor is called to investigate – but can she discover the truth, or is Tyler Green never going to be free?

When Jamie’s best friend drags her to a speed-dating event, she knows what to expect . . . mediocre men and the opportunity to eat her feelings later. She’s not expecting a blackout and for her date to be gruesomely killed at their table. After the lights come back on, Jamie sees more bodies on the floor. Knowing there’s strength in numbers; she pulls together a band of would-be survivors to escape. Armed with makeshift weapons and Jamie’s extensive knowledge of what NOT to do in a slasher movie – starting with not splitting up – the group try to find a way out whilst the killer stalks them. But is he simply picking them off or is he playing some sick game to woo one of the daters and turn them into his real-life Final Girl? Nothing speeds up love like fighting for your life and Jamie somehow finds herself in a love triangle despite the potentially deadly consequences. Has she finally found true love or does the prospect of death via machete-wielding psychopath mean she’s already met her match? How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates is by Shailee Thompson.

The Institute is by Katherine Bradley. Birds of a feather flock together but never underestimate the instinct to survive. A group of students jump off a train platform into the path of an arriving train. The lone survivor, Billie, cannot recall the incident, but is adamant that she and her friends weren’t suicidal. Desperate for answers, Billie agrees to sign herself into the care of the Arbor Institute, a mysterious, corporate-backed research body investigating a disturbing rise in similar incidents around the globe. At the Institute, Billie learns more about ‘flock phenomena’, where people band together to self-destruct. She is told that she’s at risk of ‘re-flocking’, and if she does, she will likely die. But not everything is as it seems. When Billie discovers that she and her fellow survivors have been completely cut off from the outside world, she realizes they may not be safe. And as she sets her sights on survival, the Institute may regret taking her under their wing. Because this wounded fledgling might turn out to be a bird of prey…

March 2026

Based on a True Story is by Sarah Vaughan. A lavish 70th birthday party. A body found on a storm-lashed beach. And a secret that someone is dying to tell...  Famed children’s author Dame Eleanor Kingman has summoned her family and friends to her exquisite manor house on the cliffs. They're celebrating her birthday – and her latest number one bestseller in her series of books based on a mother fox and her cubs. But the night before the party, Eleanor receives an email: an email that threatens to expose the lie she’s kept up for over half a century. Someone knows her secret. Is it her estranged literary agent? Is it her ex-husband, to whom she no longer speaks? Is it the nanny she fired all those years ago, who always did have a knack for storytelling? Or is it one of her three daughters, all of whom have a stake in the publishing empire she has built... With a TV crew arriving to film a documentary of her life, Eleanor needs to find out who sent the email – and preserve her multimillion-pound career. But when push comes to shove, and it's time to tell the truth – will anyone actually believe her?

A twenty-year-old mystery. A teenage girl struck by lightning and the righting of past wrongs. ‘Just wait until I tell you all about what lightning can do . . .’ Some called her the lightning girl. The one who survived the storm. I called her my best friend. Everyone remembers the day Gen was struck by lightning. Few remember what really happened after she disappeared, leaving behind a town full of secrets. Now I’m back, and the whispers about that summer are haunting me again. I can see the truth taunting me in the shadows. I need answers. Someone out there knows what happened to the girl who vanished. Someone wants those secrets to stay buried. Whatever it takes. The Lighting Girl is by Sam Ripley.

Death at Daffodil Inn is by R L Killmore. Spring is blooming in Cinnamon Falls and the annual Daffodil Jubilee is in full swing. Morgan Taylor, who is reluctantly helping her parents host the event at the Daffodil Inn, wishes she could be left alone to daydream about Will, the dangerously hot single dad she can’t seem to get out her head. As the Jubilee draws to a close with the Petals and Promises dance, Morgan’s finally finds herself face to face with Will. But their magical moment is swiftly shattered by a bloodcurdling scream.  A guest has been found dead in the inn’s garden maze, and whispers ripple through the crowd: Murder. With the inn’s future at stake, Morgan teams up with Will to solve the mystery. Can they uncover the truth before it’s too late, or will their search only end in heartbreak?

April 2026

Here Lie All the Boys Who Broke My Heart is by Emma Simmerman. Each time Sloane’s heart is broken by a boy, she writes them a dramatic eulogy in her journal. She’s over them already. They're dead to her. But when the exes start turning up dead in real life, with her eulogies left at the crime scenes, things get complicated. Now the prime suspect, Sloane must dive headfirst into the investigation before the body count rises higher, or she ends up behind bars. Even if this means having to team up with the stubborn, sarcastic, and dangerously attractive Asher. Between college parties, messy exes, and an inconveniently hot partner-in-crime, Sloane’s senior year is turning into a real killer.

Dublin, summer 1970. Nicoletta Sarto is juggling work as the women’s editor at the Irish Sentinel with twin baby girls at home. When she’s approached by a barrister, Louise Leonard, whose aunt has just died, she’s drawn into a story that could have dangerous consequences. Was Helen Leonard murdered, as her niece thinks? And who was the mysterious nurse who has now vanished, but to whom Helen left everything? As Nicoletta investigates, she has to fight not only her own family’s disapproval of her being a working mother, but also society’s. And as she slowly unpicks the mystery of Helen Leonard’s death, she’s unaware that danger lurks around every corner…  Among the Ruins is by Claire Coughlan.

Bodies of Lies is by Jo Callaghan. Human suspicion. AI manipulation. Who can you trust when truth has no meaning?  DCS Kat Frank returns to work at the Future Policing Unit after a tragic loss, only to find herself thrust into a new high-profile case. On the night of Halloween, a local MP is found murdered, with a taunting message written in binary code that seems to target Kat specifically: Catch me if you can. The victim’s anti-AI sentiments suggest a political motive, and as Kat investigates with her partner AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI detective – she finds herself once again battling her own prejudices about the technological future he represents. But when a cyberattack takes out the National Grid, Kat and Lock have to race against the clock to track down the hacker before thousands die. Tangled in a web of suspicion and deception, Kat must choose who and what to believe when the truth seems to defy both instinct and logic. Can she set aside her old doubts and put her faith in her AI partner one last time? Or will this case send Lock down a path she just can’t follow – a path that will leave humanity behind for good?

Paw & Order is by Blake Mara When a young homeless man is found murdered in the playground of their local park, the Pack – a group of friends who meet regularly to walk their dogs together – leap into action, determined to get justice for him even if they have to bark up every tree in the neighbourhood. But the discovery of another body, this time by the canal, suggests the killer may only be getting started. And when one of their own is targeted, it’s clear that whoever it is has a bone to pick with the Pack. With the trail getting closer to home, can Louise and the gang find the murderer in time, and bring them to heel?

May 2026

A novel of death and identity where C. B. Everett himself is under suspicion.  Ten years ago, the bestselling and critically acclaimed literary author Jonathan Durward disappeared without a trace . . . and without a final novel. Now, that missing manuscript has surfaced, but it’s not another genius work of literary fiction, but an espionage novel full of all-too-stereotypical spy craft and James Bond-like twists. His former publisher has asked the author’s best friend - and fellow author - C.B. Everett, to annotate the novel with details from real life to give the novel context. But as C.B. reads, he finds the espionage thriller is filled with references to events and people who feel a little too familiar, and soon he’s wondering if the novel might in fact be a key to his missing friend’s disappearance. There’s text and subtext aplenty, and C.B. is determined to learn once and for all what happened to Jonathan through solving the mystery woven into the pages. But the final chapter may hold secrets darker and more threatening than anyone anticipated. The Final Chapter is by C B Everett.

138 Main Street is by Gavin Bell.  An address to die for… The heart of every town in America. Just became a target. There is a killer on the loose. He has committed four murders in four weeks, each of which have only one thing in common. The victims’ address: 138 Main Street. For FBI Special Agent Ben Walker and his rookie colleague, Officer Zoe Hill, the case is unlike any they have seen before. They already know where the murderer will strike: the problem is that there are over seven thousand Main Streets in the USA. And they have no clue which one will be next. But these attacks are only the beginning. When the Main Street Killer’s manifesto is released to the media, his demands become clear, as do the consequences if they aren’t met. With every town in the country at imminent risk, the pressure is mounting on Ben and Zoe to stop the killer before he can carry out his threat. But with their target always several steps ahead, and over three and a half million square miles of ground to cover, they’ll have to find him first.

When beloved celebrity gardener Finn O’Leary returns to his hometown of Abbeyford in Ireland to care for his aging mother, he is naturally roped into the Tidy Towns committee. The Tidy Towns is a competition fanatically fought over by every town and village in the land. And for his best friend’s sister, Aoife, it’s a competition she’s determined to win. With everyone’s favourite gardener on board, she is sure that this year Abbeyford will take home the prize.   But Finn’s not been back long when an alto-baritone at his mother’s choir practice drops dead during a rendition of ‘What the World Needs Now’.   With more at stake than just winning Tidy Towns, Finn soon finds himself trying to solve a murder – or two. For one of his many qualities is that people tend to confide in him…With his mother, her Nigerian carer and Aoife in tow, Finn sets out to discover just who has brought murder to Abbeyford. And so it begins. A Plot to Die For is by Ardal O’Hanlon.

June 2026

Deception is by Jack Jordan. Emma and Miles are targeted by a mysterious syndicate called The Levels, who offer them the chance to complete a series of tasks in order to earn money to afford their son's life-saving treatment. The catch? Each task is a crime, and as they escalate in intensity so will the payout. As the levels get darker, they must ask themselves how far they’ll go and how much they’ll risk to save their child.

2016. Hannah Miller has begun her senior year at The Prescott Academy of New York alongside the rich and famous of the Upper East Side. Or at least, their children. Among the trust funds and penthouse parties, there’s one rule for survival: staying out of the way of Queen Bees Madison DuPont and Elle Harrington. For Hannah, being a scholarship student makes her invisible. Or so she thinks. 2026. The Academy's alumni have gathered for a glittering charity gala. Only Madison DuPont could host an event this grand. But what starts as a champagne-fuelled party soon descends into chaos when Madison is found dead moments after her speech. It doesn't take long for fingers to point at Hannah – everyone saw her talking to Madison only moments before she died. She shouldn't even be at the gala. She's not really one of them. The truth is that everyone had a reason to want Madison dead. To clear her name, Hannah must unearth the secrets that this crowd would kill to keep buried. Murder on the Upper East Side is by Gigi Waldorf.

The Death Row Club is by V A Vazquez. Some things run in the blood… A darkly twisted and wonderfully original debut thriller for fans of Riley Sager and Jessica Knoll – at an annual weekend getaway for the adult children of serial killers, the participants begin to wonder if somebody's continuing the family tradition when one of their number turns up dead. Plenty of people have lousy parents, but Nicola Fischer’s father has just been convicted of murdering five young women, including her best friend. Fired from her job and hounded by reporters, Nicola passes the time by doom-scrolling and drunk-dialling Greer Woods, the alluring host of the hit show To Catch a Killer, who cracked the case and turned Nicola's life upside down before disappearing along with her so-called ‘best intentions’. When an email from Greer finally shows up in Nicola's inbox, there’s no apology or explanation, just a cryptic invitation. The Death Row Club is an annual weekend getaway for the adult children of serial killers – and Nicola is the newest reluctant member. Desperate to escape her small town, she accepts the offer with barely a second thought, forging tentative bonds with her fellow club members, most of whom seem intriguing, and only slightly unhinged. But when an uninvited guest shows up at their remote wilderness retreat, everyone is put on high alert, and the next morning paranoia turns to outright fear. Because one of their own is dead, and the rest of them are left with only one question. If the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, which of them is the bad seed?

Mystery Writers of America Announces 2026 Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominations

 

Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce, as we celebrate the 217th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, the nominees for the 2026 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honouring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction and television published or produced in 2025. The 80th Annual Edgar® Awards will be celebrated on April 29, 2026, at the Marriott Marquis Times Square Hotel.

BEST NOVEL

The Big Empty by Robert Crais (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Fagin the Thief by Allison Epstein (Penguin Random House – Doubleday)

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami (Penguin Random House – Pantheon Books)

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Macmillan Publishers – Flatiron Books)

Hard Town by Adam Plantinga (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)

The Inheritance by Trisha Sakhlecha (Penguin Random House – Pamela Dorman Books)

Presumed Guilty by Scott Turow (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

Killer Potential by Hannah Deitch (HarperCollins – William Morrow)

All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman (Penguin Random House – G.P.

Putnam’s Sons)

Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (Penguin Random House – Bantam Books)

Johnny Careless by Kevin Wade (Macmillan Publishers – Celadon Books)

History Lessons by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Press – Soho Crime)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Listen by Sacha Bronwasser (Penguin Random House – Penguin Books

The Sideways Life of Denny Voss by Holly Kennedy (Amazon Publishing – Lake Union)

Broke Road by Matthew Spencer (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)

The Backwater by Vikki Wakefield (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)

One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

 BEST FACT CRIME

They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals by Mariah Blake (Penguin Random House – Crown)

Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation by Michael Cannell (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Random House – Penguin Press)

Out of the Woods: A Girl, a Killer, and a Lifelong Struggle to Find the Way Home by Gregg Olsen (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)

Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen by Hallie Rubenhold (Penguin Random House – Dutton)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

V is for Venom: Agatha Christie’s Chemicals of Death by Kathryn Harkup (Bloomsbury 

Sigma)

The Kingdom of Cain: Finding God in the Literature of Darkness by Andrew Klavan (HarperCollins Christian Publishing – Zondervan)

Edgar Allan Poe: A Life by Richard Kopley (University of Virginia Press)

Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard by C.M. Kushins (HarperCollins Publishers – Mariner Books)

Criss-Cross: The Making of Hitchcock’s Dazzling, Subversive Masterpiece Strangers on a Train by Stephen Rebello (Hachette Book Group – Running Press)

BEST SHORT STORY

“Reading at Night,” The Strand Magazine by Graham Greene (The Strand Magazine)

“The One That Got Away,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine – January-February 2025 by Charlaine Harris (Must Read Books Publishing)

“Orphan X: A Mysterious Profile,” by Gregg Hurwitz (The Mysterious Bookshop)

“Lucky Heart,” Blood on the Bayou – Case Closed by Tim Maleeny (Down & Out Books)

“The Kill Clause,” Amazon Original Stories by Lisa Unger (Amazon Publishing)

“Julius Katz Draws a Straight Flush,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine – September-October 2025 by Dave Zeltserman (Must Read Books Publishing)

BEST JUVENILE

Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King (Candlewick Press)

What Happened Then by Erin Soderberg Downing (Scholastic Press)

A Study in Secrets by Debbi Michiko Florence (Simon & Schuster – Aladdin)

Blood in the Water by Tiffany D. Jackson (Scholastic Press)

The Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls by Judith Rossell (Penguin Young Readers 

Dial)

Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave by Ally Russell (Random House Children’s Books Delacorte Press)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray (Macmillan Publishers – Farrar, Straus and Giroux BFYR)

Catch Your Death by Ravena Guron (Sourcebooks – Sourcebooks Fire)

This is Where We Die by Cindy R.X. He (Sourcebooks – Sourcebooks Fire)

The Scammer by Tiffany D. Jackson (HarperCollins Children’s Books – Quill Tree Books)

Codebreaker by Jay Martel (St. Martin’s Publishing Group – Wednesday Books)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“End of the Line” – Ballard, Written by Michael Alaimo & Kendall Sherwood (Amazon/Fabel)

“Pilot” – Paradise, Written by Dan Fogelman (Hulu)

“Episode 101” – The Lowdown, Written by Sterlin Harjo (FX on Hulu)

“These Girls” – Long Bright River, Written by Nikki Toscano & Liz Moore (Peacock)

Ye’iitsoh (Big Monster)” – Dark Winds, Written by John Wirth & Steven Paul Judd (AMC)

OTHER AWARDS

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD – Endowed by the family of Robert L. Fish.

“A Textbook Example,” Sacramento Noir by Luis Avalos (Akashic Books)

“How It Happened,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, July-August 2025 by Billie Kay Fern (Must Read Books Publishing)

“Baggage,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, January-February 2025 by Rick Marcou (Must Read Books Publishing)

“Bloodsurf,” Hollywood Kills by Tiffany D. Plunkett (Level Best Books – Level Short)

“Grand Theft Auto in the Heart of Screenland,” Hollywood Kills by Robert Rotstein (Level Best Books – Level Short)

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD – Presented on behalf of Simon & Schuster.

Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

No Comfort for the Dead by R.P. O’Donnell (Crooked Lane Books)

All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

Last Dance Before Dawn by Katharine Schellman (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD – Presented on behalf of G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Cold as Hell by Kelley Armstrong (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

Rage: A Novel by Linda Castillo (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

Fallen Star by Lee Goldberg (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)

The Red Letter by Daniel G. Miller (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)

Gone in the Night by Joanna Schaffhausen (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

THE LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD – Endowed by the estate of Lilian Jackson Braun.

 Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library by Amanda Chapman (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

A Senior Citizen’s Guide to Life on the Run by Gwen Florio (Severn House)

The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

Murder Two Doors Down by Chuck Storla (Crooked Lane Books)

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

SPECIAL AWARDS

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED ON JANUARY 13, 2026

GRAND MASTER

 Donna Andrews

Lee Child

RAVEN AWARD

 Book Passage, Corte Madera CA

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

John Scognamiglio, Kensington Books

* * * * * *

Congratulations to all the nominated authors.