8 Most Anticipated Thriller Books of Spring 2026

Mad Mabel

Sally Hepworth

Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is eighty-one years old. She’s lived on her idyllic street, Kenny Lane, for sixty years–longer than anyone else. Aside from being a curmudgeon who minds everyone else’s business, few would suspect that Elsie has a past that she has worked exceedingly hard at concealing. Because when it comes to murder, no one ever suspects little girls or old ladies. And Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, once a little girl and now an old lady, has a strange history of people in her life coming to a foul end. When a new little girl (talkative, curious, nosy) moves into the neighborhood and stops at nothing to befriend Elsie. And Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, once a little girl.

Release Date: April 21, 2026

Strangers in the Villa

Robyn Harding

Sydney Lowe’s life in New York is shattered when her husband, Curtis, admits to a meaningless affair with a client. Begging for forgiveness and vowing to prove his devotion, Curtis suggests the couple retreat to a remote hilltop house in Spain to repair their marriage.

High above the Mediterranean, Sydney and Curtis are working on the isolated property and their relationship when a pair of Australian travelers turns up at their door in dire need of help. Lonely for companionship and desperate for free labor, Sydney and Curtis invite the attractive young couple to stay.

Release Date: March 3, 2026

The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives

Elizabeth Arnott

Beverley, Elsie, and Margot are not your average housewives. They are all wives of convicted killers. During the sun-drenched summer of 1966, the three women form an unlikely friendship after the discoveries of their husbands’ brutal crimes. With their exes—some of California’s most infamous murderers—dead or behind bars, they are attempting to forge a new future for themselves.

Headstrong Beverley tries compulsively to maintain control of everything around her, all while raising two children.

Release Date: March 3, 2026

Boring Asian Female

Canwen Xu

Elizabeth Zhang is well aware of her place in the world. She’s in the tenth percentile for likability, the seventieth percentile for attractiveness, and the ninety-ninth percentile for academics. While she’s never been the most beautiful or the most liked, she knows she has the intelligence and ambition to achieve her greatest dream: Harvard Law School. But when Harvard rejects Elizabeth for not standing out enough—which she knows means she’s just another boring Asian female—her carefully constructed life falls apart. What shocks her even more is that Laura Kim, a classmate at Columbia, got in. Elizabeth can’t figure out how this could have happened.

Release Date: April 28, 2026