August is full of sexy twists and turns, starting with a visit to the glitzy 80s in Wicked Wanted Widows by our own Kimberly Belle and Vanessa Lillie (alongside good friend Cate Holahan). Then we’re diving into former Thriller Thursday contributor Liv Constantine’s latest page-turning suspense about a horror novelist whose new wife is haunted by his ex’s disappearance. From there we follow a forensic examiner investigating a dark legacy and a mother reckoning with inherited trauma and religious hypocrisy. We’re also reading a much-anticipated short story collection exploring Indigenous resiliency and colonial horrors, a high-stakes thriller with Oceans 13 vibes, a serial killer mystery set at a seaside amusement park, an international whodunit with retired spies taking down an organized crime syndicate, and a psychological suspense featuring a former vigilante drawn back to the scene of her earlier crimes.
Danielle & Tessa recommend: Wicked Wanted Widows by Kimberly Belle, Cate Holahan, and Vanessa Lillie (out August 25!)
Danielle: The Young Rich Widows series has always understood that revenge is satisfying, but friendship is what keeps readers coming back. The third installment, Wicked Wanted Widows, raises the stakes yet again, sending its unforgettable heroines on a wild, fast-paced adventure filled with kidnappings, jailbreaks, buried secrets, and enough twists to keep the pages turning. Set against the vibrant backdrop of 1988 Providence, the novel balances high-octane suspense with sharp wit and just the right dollop of nostalgia.
What makes this series so addictive, however, isn’t simply the action–it’s the women at its center. Each widow is forced to confront her past while weighing loyalty against the possibility of a future she’s fought hard to claim. The authors seamlessly blend crime, humor, heart, and emotional complexity, creating a story that celebrates resilience, reinvention, and the kind of chosen family that can survive almost anything, even if it has to break a few laws along the way.
Tessa: I was so stoked to return to the ‘80s for another installment of this excellent crime series! Belle, Holahan, and Lillie add a compelling character to the mix with Irish art thief Grace Flaherty, who—like recurring heroines Meredith, Krystle, Justine, and Camille—is driven by deeply personal motives and won’t back down from a fight. This series is pure New England; not only does Wicked Wanted Widows draw inspiration from the Salem Witch trials, but it includes a visit to Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and plenty of Providence atmosphere. Adventuring with the Young Rich Widows, all of whom leap off the page, couldn’t be more fun.
Tessa recommends: Promise Me Never by Liv Constantine (out August 18!)
A husband with a home office he keeps locked at all times. An ex whose disappearance was never fully explained. A newlywed wife who fears she could be in danger. In Promise Me Never, three perspectives on one seemingly perfect domestic life collide—and in classic Liv Constantine style, the truth about it all is electric. I love a thriller with a strong POV strategy, and Constantine nails this one, creating suspicion, relentless suspense, and a mounting sense of dread around a pivotal question: What is bestselling horror novelist Bennett Bryson hiding about his first wife? Readers and writers alike will race to the deeply satisfying finish.
Carter recommends: The Butcher Legacy by Alaina Urquhart (out August 11!)
In The Butcher Legacy, Alaina Urquhart delivers a relentlessly dark thriller that escalates with unnerving confidence. Her prose is sharp and unsentimental, driving the story forward with a mounting sense of inevitability and moral rot. This is a book unafraid to stare directly at violence, obsession, and the damage left behind by men who believe they’re righteous. Cold, propulsive, and deeply disturbing, The Butcher Legacy doesn’t flinch.
Carter also recommends: The Sleeping Sisters by Jennifer Givhan (out August 18!)
Jennifer Givhan’s The Sleeping Sisters is as brutal as it is beautiful. When teenage girls are found decapitated in Albuquerque, one mother begins to fear the violence haunting her community may be rooted in her own bloodline. What unfolds is part crime novel, part fever dream, part reckoning with inherited trauma and religious hypocrisy. Givhan writes with a raw, lyrical intensity most writers spend a lifetime trying to unlock, turning myth and memory into something sharp, unsettling, and, at times, devastating. This is a bold, haunting novel about generational violence and the women who refuse to stay buried.
Danielle recommends: Heart of Glass by Jennifer Hillier (out August 25!)
Since her first book, Jennifer Hillier has widely been recognized as one of the most reliable voices in psychological suspense, and Heart of Glass is a stellar reminder of why so many readers flock to her books. Equal parts serial killer mystery and emotional reckoning, the novel explores the lasting damage of buried secrets, fractured friendships, and the ways one event can change the trajectory of so many lives. Set against the eerie backdrop of a seaside amusement park with a decades-old murder at its center, Hillier creates an atmosphere thick with nostalgia, dread, and the unsettling realization that the past isn’t quite as tied up as we’d like to believe.
One of my favorite aspects of Heart of Glass is Hillier’s beautiful portrayal of two survivors of the same horrible event. Both Barb and Nicolette are women shaped by a shared trauma but separated by the choices they’ve made to escape it, and watching those carefully built lives begin to unravel is as compelling as the mystery itself. With razor-sharp pacing, layered relationships, and revelations that land with emotional weight in addition to the satisfying pleasure of the unexpected twist, Heart of Glass is a thriller that lingers long after the final page.
Lauren recommends: The Shadow Friends by Tess Gerritsen (out August 25!)
Full disclosure, this is my first Martini Club mystery but I jumped right in with The Shadow Friends, which reads very much as a standalone but with familiar ex-spies readers will certainly recognize. When a renowned disease expert and Russian defector dies at an international conference and the body of a hotel server is found with a troubling murder weapon, retired CIA operative Maggie Bird and her friends are pulled into a complex web involving Russian assassins, a shadow agency, and a “fifth man” from a past mission that left three people dead. The Shadow Friends takes readers from Maine to Amsterdam and Madrid, as the Martini Club pools their resources to rescue one of their own and take down an organized crime syndicate. Maggie and her friends may be growing older, but that comes with a wealth of expertise and the added benefit of blending in. I devoured the first half on my way to this year’s ThrillerFest, and have to say, I’ve never been more cautious of my hotel room (read it—you’ll understand!)
Vanessa recommends: Never Whistle at Night: Part II Back for Blood edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. (out August 18!)
Never Whistle at Night remains one of the most important books ever published for lifting Native voices and Back for Blood is an incredible follow-up full of the same depth, darkness and vital explorations of Indigenous resiliency and colonial horrors that everyone should be reading and discussing.
Vanessa also recommends: Good Girls Die Bored by Elizabeth Little (out August 4!)
I’m so excited to see another fantastic thriller from Elizabeth Little! Good Girls Die Bored centers on Juno, a Los Angeles hating, ex-marine who gets fired from her bikini bar bouncer job just as her best friend needs help with a high-profile security detail that goes terribly wrong. With Oceans 13 vibes, I especially loved the compelling women at the heart of the story, even if I wasn’t sure who I could trust.
Greg recommends: The Nobody Code by Miciah Bay Gault (out August 11!)
In the 1990s, Dinah, a lonely and inquisitive young woman, is recruited into a group of underground vigilante teens who make it their mission to right injustices in their small Vermont town. Dinah falls under the spell of Rex, the group’s enigmatic leader, pulling her into unchartered territory both physically and emotionally. Two decades later, working at a zoo while raising a baby and navigating a tense marriage, Dinah is drawn back to her hometown after a suspicious fire and a series of clues point to unfinished business connected to the group and the now-disappeared Rex. Gault conjures a lyrical, heady story—part psychological suspense-part fairy tale, at once tender and ominous—that beautifully explores the mutability of truth and time, the seductive pull of nostalgia, and the ways by which women navigate the societal rules and expectations imposed upon them.
Tell us: What are you reading this month?
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