Pretty Dead Things: A Novel by Kelsey Cox

 

 Pretty Dead Things: A Novel by Kelsey Cox. Minotaur Books, 2026. Adult fiction.

 In 2000, a young woman disappeared in Anhalt, Texas. Now it's 2025 and time again for the Lone Star Princess Pageant. Ingrid has come home for the first time since her sister's disappearance. She must revisit friends and pageant competitors and find answers to her big questions. The excavations at Sherman Ranch provide unexpected findings and a big storm cuts the electricity at an inopportune time. Tension builds, old grudges reappear, and things become deadly.

   What attracted me to this novel in the first place was the Texas setting and the transplanted to Texas author. She did not disappoint. The book is full of beautiful young women (even one with a double name: Sarah Lynn) who want to compete in a beauty pageant, gorgeous new home                                          communities with amenity centers, controlling mothers, and other typical                                        tropes. 

Yesteryear: A Novel by Caro Claire Burke

 

Yesteryear: A Novel by Caro Claire Burke. Alfred A. Knopf, 2026. Adult fiction.

     When Natalie Heller Mills marries her husband, Caleb, one of the sons of a want-to-be President, and they buy Yesteryear Ranch, and she becomes a social media darling, her life is very different from what she has expected. Then, she wakes up in 1805.

     Another in the novels that explore trad wife life through fiction, this book will spark book group discussions about the role of women in the past and in the present. The novel is full of religious and political ideals of the characters and may inspire readers to consider what they believe themselves.

Mr. and Mrs. Dixon Hide a Body: A Novel by Jennifer Holdich

 

 Mr. and Mrs. Dixon Hide a Body: A Novel by Jennifer Holdich.

Sourcebooks Landmark, 2026. Adult mystery.

Daisy Dixon certainly married up when she wed James Dixon, but her life is not the one she expected. She has even day dreamed about doing away with James. But, when James drinks too much and Daisy has to drive them home from a business party, Daisy unexpectedly hits a man and kills him. James insists they must hide the body. And there the story really begins!

Definitely filled with tongue in cheek British humor, this novel hides more than one body. Ultimately, Daisy lives at the manor house and has a life of her own. If readers can get over that Mr. Dixon may not be the only villain in this story, they can laugh out loud at the antics of the characters. 

Down with the Shipmans by Meg Mitchell Moore

 

Down with the Shipmans: A Novel by Meg Mitchell Moore.

William Morrow, 2026. Adult fiction.

When Calvin Shipman summons his three grown daughters back to the beach house where their summer memories lie, they come back to New Hampshire. Jordan, the eldest, is a single career woman whose personal life is at loggerheads with her work life. Natalie, married with three small children (Evangeline, Scarlett, and Caspian) who come with her, is having problems with her online life about the Vermont dairy farm he and her husband run. Mae, the youngest, is single and living out of her car in Colorado and boarding a pitt bull dog to make some money.

Calvin has remarried after the fairly recent death of the girls' mother. And not to just anyone, but to Kara, the hospice nurse who helped all of them during the death and grieving process. Now Calvin is ready to sell the beach house. As he tells them, the important thing is family, not a house...

The tale unspools like any good beach read, The daughters are well described and current issues make it timely. From trad wife to the me, too movement, Moore hits all the modern notes. The plot makes readers both feel like they might know these characters and still want to know what happens to them. Pack this one in your summer bag for vacation!

Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer

 

 

Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer. Gale, 2026. Large print edition. Adult biography.

Almost everyone in America can tell you that Judy Blume is an award-winning author of books for children and adults. Her children's books totally changed the publishing landscape to include issues that girls really wanted to read about...themselves! This biography delves into the life of Judy Blume, her complicated early family, her three marriages, her daughter and son, and other personal details. By the end, at age 86, Blume and her husband, George Cooper, have opened a bookstore in Key West, Florida and perhaps she is still writing. She is an advocate for free speech and other authors including many of the more contemporary ones who well remember reading Blume's books as children. Many of her works have been adapted into movies, television specials, and theatre productions.

 

Born February 12, 1938, Judith Marcia Sussman entered life in a Jewish family in Elizabeth, New Jersey. This became the nucleus for many of her early children's books, the most famous of which may be Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. 

Oppenheimer has extensively interviewed and researched Blume's life. He provides sources at the end of the book. This work does not gloss over the difficult parts but shows a very human author who cares about her readers, agents, publishers, as well as family and friends. 

Three Queens by Rebecca Connolly

 

 

Three Queens by Rebecca Connolly. Shadow Mountain Publishing, 2026. Historical fiction. 

    Marie Antoinette, Abigail Adams, and Queen Charlotte of England never met in real history. But, in this insightful historical fiction novel. they meet in Calais and find they have much in common. All have powerful husbands, but little power themselves. All have lost children. All wish for more for themselves and their families in a world of turmoil and wars. They form an unlikely bond and communicate with each other through letters.

     Connolly has done a good job with the research on each woman.  A bibliography is included. Beautiful young Marie Antoinette is about to be part of the French revolution. Commonsense filled Abigail Adams wants to be home with her husband but must support him as he looks for political alliances in Europe. Dignified Queen Charlotte must deal with her husband, the King, who suffers from mental problems and her son who wants to take over and is not ready to be a king. Their letters are believable, their situations dire. Most moving is the plight of Marie Antoinette who clings to these two women friends even as she knows her end is coming.

The Royal Insider by Paul Burrell

 

 

 The Royal Insider: My Life with the Queen, the King, and Princess Diana by Paul Burrell. Sphere, an imprint of Little, Brown, 2025. Memoir.

     In his sixties now, Paul Burrell is ready to tell the story of his life. Growing up poor, he tells how he got a job at Buckingham Palace and worked his way up to serving the Queen herself. After some years, he chooses to work for Charles and Diana. Paul has married Maria, a maid for Prince Phillip and they want to settle down with their two little boys. Highgrove would enable them to have their own place.  He works for Diana after she and Charles split up. 

      Much later, after the death of Princess Diana, Paul Burrell is charged with stealing some of her treasures and belongings. Only the Queen helps him. Paul tells of how he met and married his husband Coop. He has been on celebrity reality shows in England and has undergone treatment for prostate cancer. He tells all honestly and truly still believes in the royalty he spent so much of his life serving. His perspectives on their current situations is enlightening.