Ten October 2026 cozy releases I've already reviewed and thirteen more I'm counting down to, with ratings, release dates, and publishers.

27 books, 10 ARCs, and the fullest reading month I've had all year, here's my complete September 2026 wrap-up.

A darkly funny, deeply researched look at how cult language hides in plain sight, from Jonestown to your Instagram feed.

A skeptical romance reader gets swept into a devilishly good, surprisingly clean paranormal romance in Erin Cole's Inferno Affair.

A solid, well-narrated intro to habit science that works best once you treat its tips as a starting menu, not a strict rulebook.

A witchy cozy mystery review of Black Magic Kitten by Sara Bourgeois, where the heroine already knows her powers and just wants to outrun them.

A slow-burn cozy fantasy road trip with a talking parrot, a stolen inheritance, and an atlas that plots its own course, my ARC review of Natural Magic #4.

From 22-book cozy staples to a genre-jumping urban fantasy detour, here are the 10 series I've stuck with the longest, and where to start each one.

One cozy mystery author for every letter of the alphabet, sorted by last name. See how I filled A to Z for the #CozyFrolic2026 challenge, hard letters included.

A shark of an investor, a flooded Texas town and a killer nobody can escape: my review of Rhythm and Clues by Olivia Blacke.

My ARC review of Murder in the Upper Crust, the sixth Deep Dish Mystery, where a wellness retreat murder had me craving pizza and doubting a few premises.

I went into The Little Shop of Gentle Magics expecting a magical teashop and found a relationship story with too many red flags for me.

Ruby and Cordy investigate a dead delivery guy in Death at the Door by Olivia Blacke, and the two audiobook narrators sound closer than ever.

A funny, furious audiobook about food and feminism from Geraldine DeRuiter, and why I finished all ten hours in one sitting.

Ten more standalone books that closed their stories just fine, but built worlds I'm not ready to leave. Part 2 of a two-part series, starring the kittens who started it all.

Twenty two top rated nonfiction reads, sorted by category, to help you close the gap on your reading goal in the last four months of the year.

Ten more short series (1-4 books each) spanning cozy mystery and beyond, to help you close the gap on your reading goal.

Gossip isn't just slander, it's armour, and this book made me rethink everything from Gossip Girl to Britney Spears to why we feel like we "know" celebrities at all.

A dead woman, a living roommate, and a murder neither of them can solve alone, my review of Olivia Blacke's paranormal cozy debut.

A promising urban fantasy mystery buried under unlabeled POV switches and a confusing timeline.

A cozy start gives way to an odd couple and an ending that goes completely off the rails.

Ten standalone books that closed their stories just fine, but built worlds I'm not ready to leave.

A 12-hour train journey through New Zealand turns deadly in Killer on the Kelvin Explorer, the best Milverton Mystery yet.

Fourteen short, addictive cozy mystery series (2-5 books each) to help you catch up on your reading goal before the year ends.

Twenty-two books in, the Village Blend still feels like coming home, even with a body at the party.

A grumpy widower, a persistent new neighbor, and the book that will absolutely wreck you in the best way — my five-star review of A Man Called Ove.

A steam train, a scenic New Zealand railway, and a murder that threatens to derail the day. Milverton Mysteries #5 arrives 9 September

Ghost hunters descend on the Secret Bookcase in book 4 of Ellie Alexander's Novel Detectives series, and Annie and Fletcher have a real body to solve.

A twin bond, a runaway parrot, and a grim reaper's race to outsmart Death itself — book two in the S.C.Y.T.H.E. series delivers.

A witchy, generational reckoning with the patriarchy that feels less like fantasy and more like a wish list.

A 32-book August featuring a horror novel that broke every rule, a nonfiction gut-punch, and the Booktown installment that finally pushed things too far.

A masked ball, a clairvoyant from The Waste Land, and a festival for the brokenhearted that starts enchanting and ends confusing.

A serial killer is targeting women who look just like her. 🔪 My review of THE SPIRAL by Rosanne Limoncelli is up on Views She Writes — a vivid, unsettling 1979 NYC thriller that gave me actual nightmares (in the best way). Out Oct 27. Thriller lovers, don't miss this one. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

September is loaded. Eight cozy mystery releases dropping this month, from a Halloween-themed Christmas mystery to a Booktown installment that finally broke me. I read most of these early and I've got thoughts on every single one. #CozyMystery #BookTok #Bookstagram #NewReleases #SeptemberReleases #MysteryBooks #ARCReader #NetGalley #BookBlogger #TBRAlert #CozyMysteryLover #AmateurSleuth #MysteryReads #BookishFall #ReadersOfInstagram

A horror-skeptic reviewer gets pulled into C.C. Knight's cursed-VHS nightmare Hollowmarch, and comes out a convert.

A blistering, uncomfortable, necessary look at how pop culture taught a generation of women to tear themselves down.

A grim reaper with a missing soul, forty-five days on the clock, and an ending that didn't quite stick the landing.

An NHL equipment manager turns amateur sleuth in this quick, clue-forward cozy mystery.

Twenty books in, A Critical Conjunction finally made the Miles family dysfunction impossible to ignore, and the mystery itself barely holds up.

An emotional, twist-filled review of Sleep in Heavenly Pizza, the fourth Deep Dish Mystery by Mindy Quigley.

Snowed in at a Prohibition party gone deadly, Public Anchovy #1 is the Deep Dish Mystery that finally made me a believer in this series.

Randall Munroe answers the world's most absurd hypotheticals with real physics and math, and Wil Wheaton's narration makes it even funnier.

Book two of the Deep Dish Mystery series proves the series has real potential, pizza, poison, and a culinary contest gone wrong.

Halloween comes to Rudolph, New York, and Merry Wilkinson gets a ghost along with her murder investigation in Vicki Delany's ninth Year Round Christmas Mystery.

Six self-published authors, six books that earned every star, because behind every one of these is a writer doing all the work alone.

A gourmet pizzeria, a dead body, and a detective descended from Al Capone — my honest take on the first Deep Dish Mystery.

A reluctant psychic, a decades-old cold case, and a tarot deck that just might hold the answers — my ARC review of The Mystic and the Missing Girl by Vikki VanSickle.

An ER doctor's darkly funny, wildly informative tour through 99 terrifying ways to die, narrated by Natalie Naudus. My honest 4-star review.

A banshee in the basement, a murder by Monday, and narration that made me an audiobook convert — Banshees in the Basement is cozy perfection.

Gareth Brown's follow-up to The Book of Doors brings secret societies and magical artifacts, but not quite the same magic.