This Changes Everything by Lisa Scottoline (pub date 07/14/26)

 

Julia Pritzker loves her new life as a wife and mother in beautiful Tuscany—except that she misses her best friend Courtney, back in the States. One night, Julia calls Courtney and reaches her as she’s arriving at her grandmother’s farm in Pennsylvania.

Then the unthinkable happens. A dreadful premonition overwhelms Julia moments before Courtney enters the house—and makes a heartbreaking discovery. Her beloved grandmother has been murdered, and the killer is escaping out the back door.

Julia flies home the next morning to support Courtney in her grief. The local police believe the murder was a botched burglary, but the women suspect something much more sinister and enlist hotshot Philly lawyer Bennie Rosato to assist. In addition, Courtney entreats Julia to trust her psychic intuition to point her to the missing pieces of this dark puzzle.

But in a town filled with explosive secrets, events take a deadly turn, and Julia becomes the target of a murderous conspiracy. She ends up fighting for her life, with no one to save her … but herself. author's website

 

This Changes Everything by Lisa Scottoline was one of the best books that I have read this year.  I’ve been a fan of Lisa’s for years now and her latest novel really ratchets the thrills and tension up to a new level.  This is a follow-up to last summer’s The Unraveling of Julia, but you don’t have to read that book (although you definitely should as it’s also great) to enjoy This Changes Everything.  This Changes Everything also features a cameo from attorney Bennie Rosato from Lisa’s Rosato & Associates and Rosato & DiNunzio series.  I hope we hear more from Bennie and the ladies at the law firm in the near future too.

This Changes Everything by Lisa Scottoline releases 07/14/26 but you can pre-order now at your favorite local bookstore or online shop.  Check out Lisa’s social media for more details and try to catch her on tour. 

Thank you to the publisher, Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

 

 

Missing by E.A. Jackson (pub date 03/17/26)

 

In August 1990, London is suffering through an unprecedented heatwave when baby Bella Carpenter is snatched through the open window of her hotel room. Detective Inspector Martha Allen is assigned the high-profile case and, knowing that it could make or break her career, is determined to find Bella.

When a young woman named Nell Beatty walks into the police station with a baby who appears to be Bella, and whom Nell claims she found on a bench, it seems that the mystery is solved. Her family, the police, and the press are overjoyed at her return. But DI Allen isn’t convinced, something about Nell’s story doesn’t ring true. As much as she wants to continue, however, now that the baby is safe, she’s ordered to close the investigation.

Thirty years later, Nell Beatty is found dead. Now a superintendent, Allen has never really gotten over her doubts about the Carpenter case and can’t resist doing a little digging on her own time, eager to find out what happened to Nell, and her involvement in the baby’s disappearance all those years ago. But will her efforts uncover something darker than she could have ever imagined? And what is she risking as she tries once and for all to reveal the truth? - Simon & Schuster

This was an engrossing and layered crime thriller.  I normally breeze through books in just a few days but this one took me over a week to finish and that’s not a complaint, there was just so much detail.  We meet Detective Inspector Martha Allen in the first half of the novel in the summer of 1990 as she is called to investigate the sudden disappearance of baby Bella from her parent’s hotel room.  As one of the few women rising the ranks in policing at the time, she faces pressure from all sides and is struggling to balance her family life with her career aspirations.   When a woman named Nell Beatty returns baby Bella to the police station after finding her in a local park, it seems like this case has come to a happy conclusion.  Only DI Allen has her doubts that something just isn’t right.  Flash forward 30 years to 2020, Nell is found dead and DI (now Superintendent) Allen finally gets the chance to pursue those loose ends. 

What I loved about this book is just how deep and developed the characters were.  Despite the flash forward of 30 years, the reader really gets to know DI Allen as a person and how her work has impacted her whole life.  The settings were richly described.  I could feel the oppressiveness of the 90’s summer heatwave through the pages.  This novel is also set in London so it was interesting to see how police work is done in the UK vs the US as well as how crime solving technology has advanced over the past 30 years in both positive and negative ways.  This book also kept me guessing which I always love.  I don’t appreciate it when it’s too easy to solve the caper. 

I highly recommend Missing by E.A. Jackson to anyone who loves Crime Thrillers and strong female leads. 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster/Atria Books/Emily Bestler Books and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.  

Missing releases 03/17/26 but you can pre-order now at your local book store or click the publisher's link above. 

 

 

The Gallery Assistant by Kate Belli

 

November 2001: Chloe Harlow wakes up late, with hazy memories of the party the night before but no recollection of how she got back to her Brooklyn apartment. Ever since the terrifying and catastrophic terrorist attack, it seems she has been on a collision course with destruction.

When she finally arrives at the exclusive Upper East Side art gallery where she works, she is immediately called into her boss’s office. A pair of NYPD detectives greet her, also very curious to know how her evening ended…because the host of the party, a rising painter and the gallery’s newest artist, is dead.

Navigating both the sophisticated high-stakes art world and her personal life in burgeoning Williamsburg, Chloe struggles to piece together a complete picture of that lost night. As she digs deeper, inconsistencies emerge between what she remembers and what people tell her actually happened, and more questions are raised. Everything begins to feel like a conspiracy and maybe it is. Because Chloe is the only one who glimpses the secrets the murdered artist left behind, and the closer she gets to the truth…the more deadly it becomes.

 

If you’re of a certain age like me, you remember exactly where you were on 9/11/01 and all the feelings and emotions of that day and time like it was both yesterday and another lifetime ago. Like Chloe, the protagonist of The Gallery Assistant, I was then a twenty something young woman trying to find my way in the world but I was safely ensconced in my upstate college bubble.  Chloe is dealing with surviving the attacks when her life is upended again by the murder of an artists set to debut works at the galley she’s working at.  While she’s a somewhat “unreliable” narrator you can’t help but root for her to heal and clear her name. This novel’s strengths are its atmospheric descriptions of NYC and the US in the fall/winter of 2001 and it adds an extra layer of paranoia to the mystery of whodunnit and why.  Belli also does a great job of illustrating the art world and the high stakes and passion that flows throughout.  This was one mystery thriller that kept me guessing until the final chapters! 

Thank you to the publisher, Atria books @atriabooks via @netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

You can find The Gallery Assistant at your local bookstore, library or online shop. 

The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens

 

It’s the summer of 1976 and Alice and Tom set out on the remote Canadian highways in their new RV, hoping to heal their broken hearts after a devastating tragedy.

They’ve planned the trip perfectly, taken care of every detail. Then they meet two young hitchhikers down on their luck and offer them a ride. But Simon and Jenny aren’t what they seem. They’ve left a trail of blood, destruction, and madness behind them.

Now Alice and Tom are trapped, prisoners in a deadly game, with nowhere to turn. As the tension builds, the lines blur, and the question becomes, In whose heart does evil truly lie? What secrets are Jenny and Simon hiding? And who will live another day? chevystevens.com

If you grew up in the early 80s like I did, television was full of “very special” episodes or films to caution the youth on the world’s dangers such as hitchhiking and bumming a ride in a stranger’s car.  But what about the reverse?  What if the hitchhikers themselves are the ones with sinister motives?

Chevy Stevens takes readers for one hell of a thrill ride with her latest novel, The Hitchhikers.  It’s not a surprise to the reader that Simon and Jenny are not the innocent couple they pretend to be when they are picked up by Tom and Alice.  However Stevens creates such a fully developed setting and characters within the first few pages that you’re screaming with everything inside you for Tom and Alice simply pass Simon and Jenny by and continue on with their trip.  Of course that would leave us with one very short story.  LOL   Once Alice and Tom discover who Simon and Jenny really are, Stevens pumps the gas and doesn’t let go.  When I watch any horror movie I’m always thinking about what I would do and how I would escape.  This book was no exception, I was in the driver’s seat with Alice, scared out of my mind but determined to survive.  There’s a couple more sharp curves on the road of Simon and Jenny’s story too.  Some I predicted, some really surprised me. 

This was the first novel I read by Chevy Stevens and it certainly won’t be my last.  She has a knack for great characters and storytelling.

I was fortunate enough to get an ARC of The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens thanks to the publisher St. Martin's Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

You can find your copies at your local bookstore, library or online shop.  Just don’t pick up any strangers along the way OK?

 For more information, visit the author's website linked above.