Brand New Cozy Crime Mysteries Coming In 2026 – From All Your Favorite Authors

Last Updated on April 22, 2026

As we turn the page on 2025, I hope the year treated you kindly and that your reading pile brought you plenty of comfort.

We might not know what 2026 will bring in day-to-day life, but we do know that a wave of new cozy crime mystery delights are on their way.

A number of much-loved authors have been hard at work on fresh cases and charming small-town puzzles, and it feels like a good time to gather them all in one place.

Before the release dates start flying by, here is a round-up of the new books that look set to brighten our shelves in 2026.

The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts – Robert Thorogood

Publication: January 16th 2026

Judith Potts is facing more trouble in Marlow, and this time it feels closer to home than ever.

Someone from her past has arrived in town, digging up memories she hoped would stay quiet. With her crossword work and the many cases the Marlow Murder Club have solved, Judith has kept herself busy enough not to think about old wounds.

Now that past has stepped right onto her doorstep and refuses to fade.

At the same time, Marlow’s well known faces are being picked off. A footballer is found dead, then a popular thriller writer. Judith, Suzie, and Becks begin looking into the links, hoping the clues will lead them to whoever is behind the killings.

But Judith is keeping something to herself, and it starts to pull the friends in different directions.

With strain growing on the club and danger rising in the town, the stakes feel higher than ever.

Can the three of them solve the case and help Judith before everything falls apart?

My Husband’s Wife – Alice Feeney

Publication: January 27th 2026

Eden Fox is an artist hoping her first exhibition will change her life. She heads out for a morning run, feeling ready for the day ahead.

But when she returns to Spyglass, the old seaside house she has only just settled into at Hope Falls, something is badly wrong.

Her key no longer works. A woman who could almost be her double opens the door. And Eden’s husband calmly tells her that this stranger is his wife.

One home, one man, two women. Someone is not telling the truth.

Six months earlier, Birdy, a quiet Londoner dealing with a life-shifting medical diagnosis, inherits Spyglass from a grandmother she barely knew.

The house gives her a fresh start in Hope Falls. Yet her new life takes a strange turn when she finds a London clinic that claims it can predict a person’s date of death, including her own.

Soon she finds herself pulled into old secrets and half-told stories, and she starts to feel a growing need to make past wrongs right.

The Opposite of Murder – Sophie Hannah

Publication: January 29th 2026

Jemma Stelling has admitted to a murder she could not have carried out.

When Marianne Upton was stabbed outside her home, Jemma was already at the police station, telling officers that she had become fixated on Marianne and had even planned to kill her in the same way.

Her confession and her alibi clash in a way that makes no sense.

So is Jemma telling the truth, or has she found a way to make herself look innocent while pulling the strings from the shadows?

Just Desserts – Suk Pannu

Publication: February 12th

When Mrs Sidhu is hired to cater the launch of Berkshire’s newest art gallery, she can hardly believe her luck.

It is her biggest job so far, full of sparkle and high hopes, and a chance to show her cooking to the most well known faces in the area.

But trouble soon follows.

The gallery’s prize painting vanishes, and far worse, Mrs Sidhu’s kind young waitress is found dead. Shocked and heartbroken, Mrs Sidhu is determined to find out what really happened.

As she starts to look closer at Berkshire’s art crowd, she finds strained rivalries, sharp tempers and people who will go far to protect their own interests. Greed sits under the surface, and old grudges are never far away.

It becomes one of the most puzzling cases she has ever faced. The question is whether she can piece it all together and reveal the killer before they slip away for good.

A Death on Location – Richard Coles

Publication: February 26th

It is spring 1990, and Champton is buzzing with excitement. A Hollywood film crew has taken over Lord de Floures’ Champton House, turning the village into a grand stage for a story set in the 1600s.

Local extras pull on farthingales, gowns and crowns, the cameras roll, and the whole place seems swept up in the fun.

Then filming comes to a halt when a body is found on set, and the way the crime was carried out raises plenty of questions.

Daniel is soon pulled into the case, joined once again by Detective Sergeant Neil Vanloo.

Their partnership is going through a rough patch, yet the clues keep pointing them back to the same small group of actors, crew and villagers.

Solving the case will test them more than usual, and the question is whether they can work together long enough to get to the truth.

A Deadly Episode – Anthony Horowitz

Publication: April 23rd

The Word is Murder, the first Hawthorne novel, is on its way to the big screen. The cast is in place, the script is ready, and filming is already underway in Hastings.

When Hawthorne and Anthony arrive on set, they walk straight into tension. The director is full of himself, the screenwriter is locked into his own causes, the leading actors can’t stand each other, and the producer’s budget has hit the wall.

Then the real trouble begins.

In the middle of filming, the actor playing Hawthorne is stabbed. With the cast and crew in shock, the real Hawthorne steps forward, certain that someone on set knows more than they are saying.

He is forced to ask an unsettling question: was the attack meant for him?

A Deadly Episode takes Hawthorne into a setting full of clashing egos, hidden motives and rising pressure, and it becomes the most personal investigation he has faced so far.

How to Cheat Your Own Death – Kristen Perrin

Publication: April 28th

When Annie Adams travels to London to see her mother, Laura, she does not expect to walk into a crime scene.

The victim is Fliss, a young artist Laura had been helping and speaking highly of only days before.

Annie has solved cases before, and something about this one unsettles her. The way Fliss died mirrors a case described in the journals of Annie’s Great Aunt Frances.

In the 1960s, Frances lost a close friend in the same grim manner, with the victim’s heart removed with clinical precision.

Soon, threatening notes start turning up at Laura’s home, and it becomes clear that she may be the next target.

Laura is also holding back the full truth, and Annie can feel time slipping away.

A Plot to Die For – Ardal O’Hanlon

Publication: May 7th

From Ardal O’Hanlon comes a debut novel that follows well known gardener Finn O’Leary who comes home to Abbeyford in Ireland to look after his mother, he is quickly pulled into the local Tidy Towns committee.

The contest is taken very seriously across the country, and Aoife, his best friend’s sister, is set on winning it this year.

But Finn has barely settled back into village life when trouble strikes. An alto baritone at his mother’s choir practice collapses and dies during a run through of ‘What the World Needs Now’.

What first seems like a tragic moment soon raises awkward questions.

With far more than a tidy front garden at risk, Finn finds himself drawn into a search for answers.

Joined by his mother, her Nigerian carer and Aoife, Finn starts to piece together what happened.

Before long it becomes clear that someone has brought murder to Abbeyford, and Finn must work out who is behind it before more harm is done.

Death and Deja Vu – Ian Moore

Publication: June 4th

Richard Ainsworth thought life in rural France would be quiet, so being voted in as mayor of Saint-Sauver leaves him stunned.

His nerves soon get the better of him, and thanks to a bit of paperwork and a few helpful signatures, he is sent away to rest at a health spa.

The Esprit de l’Air is no ordinary retreat. It sits alone on an old island fort off the west coast of France, and the choice of venue has Valérie d’Orçay written all over it.

She is his business partner, a bounty hunter with contacts everywhere, so Richard really should have known something unusual was coming.

On his first evening, the spa guests, an odd and prickly group, are thrown into a strange contest in which the prize is nothing less than ownership of the resort.

As the tension grows, Richard’s film-loving mind starts to drift. He has seen a set-up like this before, though he cannot quite place it.

Then a body is found, and the memory snaps into focus. Richard realises he is trapped in a scene he knows all too well, only this time he is living it rather than watching it unfold on a screen.

The Defence – Rob Rinder

Publication: June 18th

At the glossy launch of MP-turned-wellness-guru Adrian Wells’ new bath salt treatment, the room is packed with influencers waiting to see his latest claim in action.

The event is full of noise and flash, but once Adrian steps into the copper tub at the centre of the room, the mood shifts.

Something is wrong.

The bath salt has been tampered with, and moments later Adrian is dead. His assistant, Jules, who has put up with Adrian’s demands for years, is suddenly treated as the main suspect.

Barrister Adam Green takes on Jules’s case and soon realises that plenty of people had grown tired of Adrian’s behaviour.

Old grudges and hidden resentments start to rise to the surface, giving Adam far more possible motives than he expected.

As the pressure builds, Adam must work out who truly wanted Adrian gone, before the wrong person pays the price.

Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel – Lucy Connolly

Publication: September 8th

The new Miss Marple story from Lucy Foley, the No.1 bestselling author of The Guest List and The Midnight Feast, brings the much loved sleuth into fresh surroundings.

Miss Marple is taking a rare break abroad, settling into the calm comfort of the Grand Alpine Hotel, a grand winter retreat high in the Swiss Alps.

She expects quiet days, good food and a peaceful stay. But when a guest is found dead and a heavy snowstorm seals everyone inside, the hotel quickly becomes the scene of a troubling case.

With tensions rising and no way for the police to reach them, Miss Marple begins to study the guests, the staff and the small details that others overlook.

Hidden motives start to surface, and it falls to her to piece together what happened before more harm is done.

Lucy Foley’s Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel brings the iconic detective back into the spotlight, proving once again why she remains such a favourite with readers.

New Cozy Crime Coming In 2026

With these upcoming brand new cozy crime mystery releases, 2026 is shaping up to be a fantastic year for crime fans.

Whether you prefer small-town mysteries, supernatural sleuths, or amateur detectives, there’s something for everyone in this year’s lineup.

Make sure to add these books to your reading list, and get ready to spend some time in a world of charming settings, quirky characters, and captivating mysteries!