Read time: 10 minutes
Welcome back. If you missed Part 1, go catch up, it’s got a courtroom thriller and a joke shop full of grief and gadgets. This half of the list is where things get a little unhinged, starting with the book that actually made me want to write this whole post in the first place: three magical black kittens who solve crimes and say “Motherrrrrr” in a way that will live in my head forever.
Same rules as before. Every book here is a complete, satisfying standalone. And every single one left me wanting to live in its world a little longer.
The Black Cat Detectives
Kit Gray ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📱📖 Read on Kobo 📃 304 pages ⏱️ 4 hours 🏷️ Publisher: Crooked Lane Books 📅 Released: May 26, 2026 🧾 ARC provided by NetGalley
Three magical black kittens named Bippity, Boppity, and Boop narrate a huge portion of this book, and it’s not a gimmick. It’s a fully realized, emotionally rich choice that makes their fierce, instinctual love for Mila hit like a gut-punch between the laughs. The mystery itself delivers (two bodies, a shady boyfriend, the unimpeachable Mrs. F, and a pile of magical mishaps), but it’s the kittens who make this impossible to read just once: every “Motherrrrrr” from Boop is basically a series pitch on its own. Kit Gray’s writing swings from mischief to an unexpected tear with total control, and by the twist, the mystery mattered less than getting these three home safe. Read this if you’re a cat lover, a cozy mystery reader, or both, and start clearing shelf space, because this world is begging for a sequel.
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Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
Death of a Billionaire
Tucker May ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📱📖 Read on Kindle 📃 268 pages ⏱ Approx. 4-hour read 🏷️ Publisher: BooksGoSocial 📅 Released: November 14, 2025 ✨ ARC provided by NetGalley
A book that was supposed to be a skim-and-move-on turned into an accidental three-hour Sunday read. Tucker May builds a razor-sharp, disturbingly real billionaire ecosystem around tech mogul Barron Fisk, the kind of mogul you hate on sight, and lets the mystery unfold with enough wit that you barely notice you’ve been holding your breath. The real scene-stealer is the narrator: snarky, judgmental, dry as a bone, with an identity twist that stays hidden until the very end despite a hunch I had at the 20% mark. Alan and Shayne’s reluctant dynamic gives the plot enough friction to move, but it’s that narrator voice, so confident for a debut, that makes this feel like the start of something rather than a one-off. Read this if you want a mystery that’s sharp, slightly unhinged, and dares you to guess wrong, and if you’re already hoping May brings that voice back for round two.
Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Hardcover | Booktrovert
Voted Most Likely to Murder
Lacey Moone ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📱📖 Read on Kindle 📃 304 pages ⏱ 5 hours 🏷️ Publisher: Crooked Lane Books 📅 Expected Publication: May 12, 2026 🎁 ARC provided by NetGalley
This does not read like a debut. Lacey Moone drops readers into a twenty-years-later high school reunion, the perfect breeding ground for resentment and bad decisions, and hands the whole thing to Belinda “Pretty” Bishop, an unemployed, underwhelmed, buttercream-sharp heroine cozies need more of. The Nova Scotia setting is unapologetically Canadian without ever leaning on clichés, and the plotting is so polished you’ll double-check the cover to confirm this is really her first book. Belinda is exactly the kind of heroine you want to follow into a dozen more small-town messes. Read this if you love a cozy with real bite under the comfort, and start clearing your shelf, because this feels like the first entry in a series that’s going to run for a while.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
How to Get Away with Murder
Rebecca Philipson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📱📖 Read on Kindle 📃 368 pages ⏱ ~5 hours Read as an ARC (thank you, NetGalley!) 🏷️ Publisher: Minotaur Books 📅 Publishing: February 24, 2026
A debut so assured it reads like a genre veteran flexing. Rebecca Philipson builds a novel-within-a-novel structure, bouncing between DI Samantha Hansen’s gritty, trauma-threaded investigation and the chillingly calm chapters of killer Denver Brady’s “how-to” manuscript, and both halves hold up on their own. Note: this runs darker than the usual cozy lane, with descriptive murder scenes and an off-page past rape mention, so go in with that in mind. But the precision of the dual narrative, and a detective this raw and real, makes it hard not to wonder what case Hansen tackles next. Read this if you want a thriller with real bite and don’t mind the dark, and if you’re already hoping Hansen gets a second book to carry that trauma into.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
Hollowmarch
C.C. Knight ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📚 Read as a book | 📃 391 pages | Genre: Horror 🏷️ Publisher: Independently published 📅 Released: July 26, 2026
Horror isn’t usually my genre, but this one left a mark. C.C. Knight builds a story about being trapped in an alternate reality and the rush to escape, more IT or The Nun than gore-forward horror, with visuals vivid enough that I only read it in broad daylight. The alternate-reality premise is exactly the kind of concept that could stretch across more than one book, different characters, different traps, same unsettling rules. It’s scary enough to earn its genre, but imaginative enough to pull in readers who don’t usually go near horror. Read this if you want horror that sticks without leaning on gore, and if you’re hoping Knight finds another reality worth escaping from.
Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Hardcover | Booktrovert
Death and Other Occupational Hazards
Veronika Dapunt ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📅 Publishing: January 6, 2026 🏷️ Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press ✨ ARC provided by NetGalley
A dark comedy unlike anything else on this list, with sharp satire, an otherworldly and ethereal setting, and a slow start that pays off once it picks up in the middle. Picturing Death as a relatable entity was fascinating enough, but adding her family to the mix was just epic hilarity. Now, not only do we have someone who has a job of getting dead people, but a family that’s annoying. So relatable! Read this if you want dark comedy with real bite. Content warnings apply, so check those before diving in, but the world here has plenty more it could explore.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
The Mystic and the Missing Girl
Vikki VanSickle ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📱📖 Read on Kindle 📃 336 pages ⏱ 5 hours Genre: Cozy Mystery 🏷️ Publisher: Minotaur Books 🙏 ARC provided by NetGalley
Vikki VanSickle opens every chapter with a tarot card description, unrelated enough to the coming scene to dodge spoilers while still teaching you something about the cards. Drew and her aunt Hannah’s rebuilt relationship carries real weight, and skipping the obvious romantic subplot for Nick was a refreshing swerve from cozy convention. The mystery moves slower than ideal and the killer’s reveal could use tighter fair-play clues, but the foundation, and the tarot device especially, feels built to carry a whole series forward. Read this if you’re curious about tarot or want a cozy that skips the romance formula. This one’s got real room to grow.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | Litsy
Sticks, Pucks, And Murder
Samantha Rich ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Carolyn Lutkin Mysteries #1) 📱📖 Read on Kindle 📃 180 pages ⏱ 2 hours Genre: Cozy Mystery 🏷️ Bee in the Poppy Press ARC provided by the author
Samantha Rich swaps tea shops and bakeries for skate tape and sticks, following NHL equipment manager Carolyn Lutkin, a woman who’s earned her place in a man’s world and doesn’t take shit from anyone. The motivation behind her amateur sleuthing is thin (there’s no real stake in the case beyond a bruised ego), but the fair-play mystery and Carolyn herself carry it easily. Read this if you want a cozy with a fresh setting and a lead worth following into the next case. Good thing it already has a #1 on the cover.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
The Naysayers: A Novel
Liz Fenton, Lisa Steinke ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📱📖 Read on Kindle 📃 328 pages ⏱ ~4 hours 🏷️ Publisher: Little A 📅 Publishing: January 13, 2026 📘 ARC provided by NetGalley
An enemies-to-lovers romance with a satirical bite: Megan, raised by a mother who demands perfection, makes her living as a professional naysayer, which makes her slow arc toward self-acceptance land with real weight. Her romance with Ben unfolds through empathy rather than instant chemistry as the two team up to fix a mess of their own making inside a corporate hellscape. Naysayers Inc. itself, a whole company built around professional pessimism, is such a rich, weird premise that it’s hard not to want more employees, more chaos, more romances born out of spite. Read this if you want a fresh spin on enemies-to-lovers, and if you’re hoping the Naysayers Inc. universe gets more stories to tell.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
These Are the Fireworks
Vicki Grant ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📚 Read as a book 📃 306 pages | ARC by publisher 🏷️ Publisher: Vagrant Press | Nimbus Publishing 📅 Published: January 15, 2026
Vicki Grant’s leap from award-winning YA into adult fiction lands with real wit and precision. The Fforde sisters’ tight-knit, slightly suffocating bond forms the heartbeat of the story as they orbit their newly widowed mother Petra, whose late-in-life reinvention is equal parts chaotic and quietly devastating. The rotating POV (Nina anchoring, with glimpses from Petra, Gord, and the detective) makes this family feel so fully lived-in that a return visit, even just to check in on where they all land next, feels like a gift waiting to happen. Read this if you want a character-driven mystery with real warmth, and if you’re hoping the Ffordes get another chapter.
Indiebookstores.ca | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable
Closing
And that’s twenty books, twenty worlds I wasn’t ready to leave. Some of these already have a sequel confirmed. Most don’t. All of them deserve one. If you missed Part 1, go check it out, and either way, let me know down below which of these twenty you’re most hoping gets a book two.
Kittens, Courtrooms, or Corporate Chaos: Which Sequel Do You Want Most?
Of everything across both parts, which world are you most desperate to revisit? Bonus points if your answer involves Bippity, Boppity, or Boop.
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