Tantalizing Tales — July 2026 — Part Four

Hello, dear readers! This week we have a whole slew of exciting books to look forward to before and as August begins, and then a title I want to highlight from 2025.

First is a book I’m so eager to dive into. The late Victoria Thompson’s legacy lives on through her daughter Ellen, in the form of the latest Counterfeit Lady adventure City Of Promises. Excitingly, this title is also a crossover with her beloved Gaslight Mysteries series, bringing the main characters of both together for the very first time!

A pregnant Elizabeth Bates must pull out all the stops when detecting duo Frank and Sarah Malloy come to her husband Gideon looking for legal advice. The Malloys’ adopted daughter Catherine is a rising star of the stage. She also happens to be coming into her inheritance: a substantial trust fund that should set her up for life. But a man named Sebastian Talbot has recently turned her head, and seems extraordinarily eager to marry her as quickly as possible.

As a reformed con artist herself, Elizabeth smells a rat. She, Gideon and the Malloys are soon teaming up to get to the bottom of Sebastian’s plans and, more importantly, to ensure Catherine’s ongoing safety and well-being.

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I’m also a big fan of our next author. Shari Lapena’s Getting Away With Murder also revolves around a loving couple, tho the thing they dote on the way most other people value their children is the immaculate New York City Brownstone that they’ve spent years perfecting.

Jill and Ted have turned their home into a sanctuary that perfectly reflects their elite status and (expensive) tastes. But when Ted’s inheritance runs out and a bad investment threatens to ruin them financially, the couple will have to take desperate measures in order to hang onto their beloved home.

Obviously (!) to the couple, the only answer is murder. Their home means everything to them, and all they’ll need to do to safeguard it is to kill one wealthy family member and inherit millions. As long as they can trust each other and ensure that no mistakes are made, they’ll get away with it cleanly. But some things are inevitably easier said than done.

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Our next gripping psychological thriller is Daniel Hurst’s The Doctor’s Widow, the follow-up to his jaw-dropping cat-and-mouse bestseller The Doctor’s Wife.

As you can probably tell from the title, Fern has successfully outmaneuvered her late husband Dr Drew Devlin. Now he’s dead and she’s sitting pretty in the luxurious new home she bought with his life insurance money. Ofc, she makes sure to look the part of grieving widow, but she can’t be expected to grieve forever, can she?

Meeting handsome, romantic Roger soon after feels like a dream come true. He’s perfect company for a rich, lonely woman like herself… until he says something in bed one night that makes Fern’s blood run cold. He can’t possibly know what she did to Dr Drew, can he? But Fern hasn’t survived this long by being naive. She’s going to find out the truth about Roger and stop him from exposing her, by any means necessary.

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If you prefer your chills less fictional and more Summerweeny, then you must check out TikTok sensation Rebekah “The Ghost Guide” Carmichael’s The Not-So-Scary Guide To Ghosts, with the cool subtitle How To Make The Paranormal Normal.

From the publicity materials:

“Anyone can communicate with the other side—and this book will show you how. Easy-to-follow instructions and fun stories about Rebekah’s real-life paranormal adventures will help you learn how to prepare for, initiate, and explore spirit communication and ghostly encounters. Filled with adorably macabre illustrations and lots of spooky fun, this book balances goosebumps with giggles while helping you understand:

“-What ghosts are (and aren’t).
“-How to ground and shield yourself.
“-How to start ghostly conversations.
“-What to do with the information from your otherworldly encounters.
“-And more!

“Whether you’re setting out on your first paranormal investigation or you’re just looking for fresh inspiration, this book will help you start connecting with the spirits around you—in a not-so-scary way!”

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Looking forward to August, we have Lisa Gardner’s latest chilling standalone thriller, You’ll Be Sorry.

Thirty years ago, the Dixon family — both parents and all four children — disappeared from their summer lodge in the New Hampshire town of Shereford. All that was left was a trail of bloody footprints.

Once the remote town’s crown jewel, the grand lodge fell into disrepair. Newcomers Raquel and Theo Collins hope to change that tho, as they seek to bury the tragedies of their own recent past by making a fresh start with the old house.

Newly appointed sheriff Amanda Grady is happy that someone is finally rehabilitating the place. But not everyone in Shereford feels the same way. Things come to a boiling point when a stray dog unearths a human skeleton on the property. Raquel, Theo and Amanda will have to figure out who they can trust and who they can believe as their efforts to unravel the decades-old mystery put their very lives in danger.

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Finally, we have a historical horror novel that spans three centuries with Kristi DeMeester’s fiercely captivating Dark Sisters.

The Dark Sisters of the title are a legend used to cow the women of Hawthorne Springs into obedience. Back in the 18th century, healer Anne Bolton was forced to flee in the night with her daughter Florence, running from accusations of witchcraft and the inevitable fate that such would incur. In the mid-20th century, new mother Mary Shephard is coming to terms with her suffocating life as a homemaker, when a forbidden passion upends her world. And in 2007, Camilla Burson is the pampered only child of a megachurch pastor, whose rebellion will unleash an ancient power upon her father’s flock.

This atmospheric, feminist novel examines how a terrible bargain sealed the fates of generations of women, and how they fight back to end the curse on Hawthorne Springs.

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All of these books are either available or available for pre-order now, so let me know if you’re able to get to them before I do, dear readers! I’d love to hear your opinions, and see if that will spur me to push any of them higher up the mountain range that is my To Be Read pile.

And, as always, you can check out the list of my favorite books in my Bookshop storefront linked below!