There is something about October that makes reading feel even more inviting. Fall is properly underway, evenings are getting darker, the temperature is dropping, and suddenly spending a few hours with a book and something warm to drink sounds like a very good plan indeed.
It also happens to be a packed month for new books. Publishers have the fall reading season firmly in mind, Halloween gives mysteries and darker stories a natural home, and Christmas is already close enough for the first festive books to start arriving.
October 2026 certainly has plenty to choose from. There are traditional cozy mysteries, amateur detectives, police investigations, historical crime, supernatural cases, culinary mysteries and a couple of much darker options for readers who like their crime with a little more bite.
So, without further ado, here are ten new mystery and crime books worth adding to your reading list.
Death by the Sea by Hannah Ellis
Release Date: October 1st, 2026
Hannah Ellis begins a brand-new series with Death by the Sea, the first Misfit Detectives mystery.
Jamie Sinclair heads to a Scottish seaside town for what should be a simple house-sitting job involving some handyman work and looking after a glossy black cat.
Things change when an elderly client dies following one of Jamie’s routine repairs. He knows his work was sound, but Detective Constable Emma MacLeod is less than impressed by his attempts to get involved.
With help from a local gym owner and a sharp-eyed student, Jamie starts looking into a family’s secrets…
Murder with a Side of Red Velvet by Skylar Warren
Release Date: October 6th, 2026
Food, weddings, and murder meet in Murder with a Side of Red Velvet, the second Honeybee Diner Mystery from Skylar Warren.
Chef Jessie Haynes is catering a wedding in Willow Bluff, Georgia, complete with fried chicken and a beautiful red velvet wedding cake.
Unfortunately, groom Tommy Prescott takes a bite of the cake and promptly dies. Jessie returns to Honeybee’s Diner and starts asking questions, with the groom’s grown children and someone from the bride’s high-school days among the possible suspects.
Then the wedding planner disappears too!
Murder Most Proper by Josie Lloyd
Release Date: October 8th, 2026
Alice Beeton returns in Murder Most Proper, following the events of Miss Beeton’s Murder Agency.
Alice has been running the Good Household Management Agency alone since her best friend Jinx fell for a billionaire and left the city, but when Jinx invites Alice to her new partner’s country house, she is more than ready for a quiet weekend with a mystery novel.
Naturally, that is not what she gets. A guest is attacked, and valuable family heirlooms disappear, leaving Alice with another case to solve.
The Heights by Ian Rankin
Release Date: October 8th, 2026
Ian Rankin moves away from John Rebus for The Heights, his first full-length standalone thriller in two decades.
The setting is a luxury high-rise overlooking Hyde Park in London, home to wealthy residents who are very used to privacy, but that changes when the night concierge Dwayne Hogarth is found murdered in the lobby.
Detective Sergeant Gillian Gish is sent in to investigate, and everyone in the building suddenly becomes interesting. With a party, a fight, a missing apartment key, and a gap in the security footage all forming part of the case, this novel expands Rankin’s earlier short story The Rise.
Murder Most Cryptic by Alys Cummings
Release Date: October 8th, 2026
Anyone who likes solving puzzles alongside a fictional murder case may want to put Murder Most Cryptic near the top of their list.
Journalist Nina attends a weekly alcohol recovery group at a church hall. One evening, a stranger walks in and suddenly dies. Police believe his death was an accident, but the group finds a cryptic crossword clue in his pocket.
The answer is one rather worrying word: murder. More strange and threatening clues then begin appearing in a newspaper crossword, leaving Nina and the group trying to work out who is sending them and why.
The Dying Light by Ann Cleeves
Release Date: October 8th, 2026
Detective Matthew Venn is back for the fourth Two Rivers mystery from Ann Cleeves.
A young woman named Lottie is found dead in the swimming pool at Tide House, a luxury North Devon vacation property. Her friend Hannah is missing, and Hannah’s father happens to be a rising political figure, Paul Armstrong.
That immediately brings unwanted attention to the investigation as the two young women had recently been at a local music festival and had already caused trouble with social media posts mocking the area.
As Venn investigates, links between visitors, locals, and the Armstrong family begin to emerge.
Grace & Jo Have Never Solved a Murder by Jess Mey
Release Date: October 13th, 2026
The title rather perfectly explains the problem facing the two amateur detectives in Jess Mey’s debut.
Grace Anderson has moved from Florida to Philadelphia and found work assisting successful artist Garrett Baros, but just a month into the job, she arrives at his studio and finds him dead.
As she considers heading home, Garrett’s widow, Jo, turns up with an unusual job offer. She wants Grace to help her work out who killed her husband.
Neither has solved a murder before, but that apparently isn’t going to stop them.
The Unsolvable Case by Courtney Smyth
Release Date: October 20th, 2026
October 2026 is the ideal month for something witchy, and Courtney Smyth’s The Unsolvable Case arrives just in time.
This is the final book in The Undetectables series, bringing Mallory, Diana, and Cornelia back for one last case.
It is three days before Samhain, the Undetectables have stopped accepting magical cases and Theodore is on the run after the events of their previous investigation.
Then a copycat killer appears and history seems to be repeating itself, forcing the group back into action, with the whole of Occulture potentially at risk.
The Shadows of Kensington Gore by Ross Montgomery
Release Date: October 22th, 2026
Ross Montgomery returns to Edwardian London for the second Stockingham & Pike mystery, following The Murder at World’s End.
It is 1911, and London is preparing for the coronation while suffragette protests add to the tension across the city.
When a policeman is murdered in Kensington, suspicion falls on three women seen fleeing the area. Stephen Pike, former borstal boy and now assistant to Miss Decima Stockingham, witnessed the aftermath.
Miss Decima soon becomes convinced that the case is not as simple as it seems.
Bah Bloody Humbug by Jo Middleton
Release Date: October 22nd, 2026
Christmas may still be a couple of months away, but Anna has already had enough of it. After spending the previous two festive seasons dealing with killers, she has officially banned Christmas from her life in Bah Bloody Humbug, the third Christmas Murder Mystery by Jo Middleton.
Unfortunately, she has agreed to help at her daughter’s school “Seasonal Community Gathering,” which absolutely must not be called a Christmas Fair.
When Anna and her best friend Jennie find a member of the committee dead, the police think it was an accident. Anna disagrees.
Soon she is dealing with a locked office, suspicious bunting, PTA grudges, mince pies and another investigation she really did not want.
What Will You Be Reading In October 2026?
One of the best things about October’s new books is just how much choice there is.
For pure cozy comfort, Death by the Sea offers a Scottish coastal setting, a troublesome cat and the start of a brand-new detective team. Murder with a Side of Red Velvet brings food and Southern small-town life into the mix, while Murder Most Proper has country houses, old money and a dog called Agatha.
Puzzle fans have Murder Most Cryptic, while anyone wanting something with a supernatural Halloween feel can turn to The Unsolvable Case.
Historical mystery readers have 1911 London waiting in The Shadows of Kensington Gore, and readers who prefer traditional police work can spend time in North Devon with Matthew Venn in The Dying Light.
Then there is Ian Rankin’s The Heights for those wanting something darker, Grace & Jo Have Never Solved a Murder for a lighter amateur-sleuth pairing, and Bah Bloody Humbug for anyone happy to let Christmas creep into their reading a little early.
Whether October 2026 means falling leaves, Halloween decorations, the first hint of Christmas, or simply an excuse to spend longer indoors with a book, there should be something here to keep mystery readers busy!
