October was a big one. I finished 30 books and DNFed 3 more, which adds up to 8,352 pages, and 18 of the finished books were ARCs from NetGalley. Audiobooks carried most of it (19, to be exact), Kindle took the other 11, and not one physical book made it in. Cozy mysteries ran the show, paranormal cozies were right behind, and a couple of Christmas cozies snuck in early. Eleven books got five stars. Let’s get into them.
Favorite Read of the Month
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
🎧 Listened in audio
📢 Narrated by Maggi-Meg Reed, Jane Oppenheimer, Carly Robins, Jeff Ebner, David Pittu, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Mark Bramhall, Petrea Burchard, Robert Petkoff, Kimberly Farr, Cerris Morgan-Moyer, Peter Ganim, Jade Wheeler, and others
⏱ Duration: 10 hours
Genre: Literary Fiction
📃 285 pages, Hardcover | First published April 29, 2025
🏷️ Publisher name: Crown Publishing and Books on Tape
Sybil Van Antwerp takes a little getting used to, and then… you are completely gone. She writes her letters with pen and paper, which made me realize what we lose when letters disappear (Virginia Evans, expect a “letter” from me soon!), and watching her find love after so many years alone was beautifully written. The narrators carried such raw emotion that I felt like I was living inside the story, so please, if you can, listen to this one. Every letter tugged at my heart, and it is a book I would press into your hands if I could. Would I read it again? ABSOLUTELY. This time, as a book, so I can enjoy the format of the letters.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
Other Favorites (All 5-star books)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
🎧 Listened in audio | 📢 Narrated by John Dougall, Stuart MacQuarrie, full cast | ⏱ 1 hour
Genre: Horror | 🏷️ Publisher name: BBC Digital Audio
📅 Published December 1, 2016 by BBC Digital Audio and January 1, 1994 by Penguin
Read as part of Goodreads Challenge: Find your next Horror Read
Stevenson tells it through the lawyer Utterson, so Hyde only ever shows up through horrified witnesses who can’t say what is wrong with him, and that vagueness is scarier than any gore. The full cast audio runs about an hour, and it is much subtler and stranger than the split personality cliché suggests.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
Sweet Spot (Ghostwriter Mystery #3) by Kemper Donovan
🎧 Listened in audio | 📢 Narrated by Eva Kaminsky | ⏱ 11 hours
Genre: Mystery | 🏷️ Publisher name: Recorded Books and John Scognamiglio Books
📅 Published June 30, 2026
Belle Currer has the worst luck EVER, but this is my favourite of the series so far, funnier and more humane, with Belle finally trusting people enough to call a few of them friends (gasp). Eva Kaminsky’s narration is a big reason it works, and fair warning that it references child sexual abuse and suicide, though never explicitly.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary
The Menu of Happiness (Kamogawa Food Detectives #3) by Hisashi Kashiwai
✍️ Translated by Jesse Kirkwood
🎧 Listened in audio | 📢 Narrated by Hanoka Footman | ⏱ 5 hours
Genre: Translated Japanese Fiction | 🏷️ Publisher name: Penguin Audio
📅 Published October 14, 2025
Chef Nagare and his daughter Koishi run a Kyoto diner where they track down the one dish a person has never stopped thinking about, and this may be my favorite of the series yet. Do not listen on an empty stomach (I listened over lunch and still ended up hungry).
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | Litsy
How to Talk to Your Dog About Murder by Emily Soderberg
🎧 Listened in audio | 📢 Narrated by Kristie Lee Walsh | ⏱ 9 hours
Genre: Cozy Mystery | 🏷️ Publisher name: Spotify Audiobooks and Crooked Lane Books
📅 Published October 21, 2025
I can’t believe this is a debut, because Nikki’s shift from dog walker to amateur detective feels earned. Reginald, the grieving old hound, stole my heart completely.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert
Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave by Mariana Enriquez (translated by Megan McDowell)
🎧 Listened in audio | 📢 Narrated by Annette Amelia Oliveira | ⏱ 14 hours
Genre: Non-fiction | 🏷️ Publisher name: Books on Tape and Hogarth
📅 Published: [add date]
Read as part of Goodreads Reading Challenge: Great New Books to Read for Hispanic Heritage Month
I almost put it down in the first couple of chapters and I’m so glad I didn’t, because Enriquez turns cemeteries across the Americas, Europe and Australia into living places full of history and ghosts. It’s part travelogue and part memoir, with far more heart than the title suggests.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
ARC Reads I totally enjoyed
The Liars’ Book Club (Secret, Book, & Scone Society #9) by Ellery Adams
🎧 Audio | 📃 288 pages | Cozy Mystery | 🏷️ Kensington Cozies | 📅 Releases November 24, 2026 | ARC by NetGalley
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Mark your calendar for this one.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary
Death by the Sea (The Misfit Detectives #1) by Hannah Ellis
📱📖 Kindle | 📃 284 pages | Cozy Mystery | 🏷️ Thomas & Mercer | 📅 Released October 1, 2026 | ARC by NetGalley
⭐⭐⭐⭐½ A new series is out now, so get in on the ground floor.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary
Rituals and Rolling Pins (Magical Bakery Mystery #11) by Bailey Cates
📱📖 Kindle | 📃 315 pages | Paranormal Cozy | 🏷️ Berkley | 📅 Releases November 10, 2026 | ARC by NetGalley
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Save the date for book eleven.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
Death at a Scottish Halloween (Scottish Isle Mystery #5) by Lucy Connelly
🎧 Audio | 📃 253 pages | Cozy Mystery | 🏷️ Crooked Lane Books | 📅 Released August 11, 2026 | ARC by NetGalley
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Still timely if you want a Halloween read.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert
The Key to a Killer (Ruby and Cordelia Mysteries #3) by Olivia Blacke
📱📖 Kindle | 📃 368 pages | Paranormal Cozy | 🏷️ Minotaur Books | 📅 Released October 20, 2026 | ARC by NetGalley
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Out now, so add it to your TBR.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Hardcover | Booktrovert
A Classic Case of Murder (Literary Dining Mysteries #3) by Daryl Wood Gerber
📱📖 Kindle | 📃 320 pages | Cozy Mystery | 🏷️ Crooked Lane Books | 📅 Releases November 24, 2026 | ARC by NetGalley
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Mark your calendar for late November.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert
Shout-Out to the Self-Published Authors
Seven of the books I read this month came from indie authors, and they deserve a spotlight of their own. If you like finding a good book before everyone else does, put these on your list:
- Whipped Cream and Werewolves (Sugar Shack Witch Mysteries #6) by Danielle Garrett ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book Links: My Review | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert - Batter and Broomsticks (Sugar Shack Witch Mysteries #5) by Danielle Garrett ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book Links: My Review | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | Litsy - Murder at Ashcroft Manor by Owen Sheridan ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book Links: My Review | Goodreads | Pagebound | Hardcover | Amazon CA - Post Early for Christmas by T.J. Sumi ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book Links: My Review | Goodreads | Pagebound | Hardcover | Amazon.ca - The Forty at the Crooked Lantern by G.D. Mercer ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book Links: My Review | Goodreads | Pagebound | Hardcover | Booktrovert - Murder at Buttermilk Café (Windmere Cove Cozy Mystery #1) by Harper Burton ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary - The Wrong Ambrose Hearne by Alice Wendover ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book Links: My Review | Goodreads | Pagebound | Hardcover | Booktrovert
October by the Numbers
- Books finished: 30
- DNFs: 3
- Total pages: 8,352
- Format: 19 audiobooks, 11 Kindle, 0 physical
- Genres: 10 cozy mystery, 8 paranormal cozy, 2 Christmas cozy, 2 memoir, 2 puzzle, and one each of mystery, literary fiction, horror, contemporary romance, translated fiction and fantasy
- Average rating: 4.35 stars
- ARCs: 18
Closing
That’s October done, and I’m already eyeing the November stack. Tell me in the comments: what was the best thing you read this month, and did anything make you stay up way too late? I’m always looking for my next TBR victim.
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