Cover Reveal News Round-Up, Including Books By Maureen Johnson, Jeff Kinney, Evelyn Clarke, Amie Kaufman, And Michiko Aoyama

Happy New Year! Let's start this new edition of Cover Reveal News Round-Up with smiles on our faces. Next up we have sequels by Maureen Johnson, and Jeff Kinney; standalone work or possibly series openers by Evelyn Clarke (pseudonym of two autors in one), and Amie Kaufman; and international editions of two books by Michiko Aoyama.

The Velvet Knife by Maureen Johnson

Synopsis

Return to the world of Truly Devious as Stevie Bell and her friends travel to New York to solve a murder in the next standalone mystery from New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.

Stevie might be the greatest teenage detective Ellingham Academy and the world has ever seen, but even she can’t figure out what happened with her boyfriend, David. What she needs is a distraction: a good old-fashioned murder. Stevie is much happier dealing with dead people. They’re a lot less confusing—they don’t send cryptic texts and make out with other girls in British pubs.

But then Stevie gets exactly what she wanted when a dead body turns up in the middle of a Manhattan apartment complex, and this one is . . . complicated. Caught in a web of messy alive-people feelings, Stevie finds herself questioning all human connection. Is magnetism only manipulation? Can you trust anyone? Does anyone realize that they’re joining a cult—before it’s too late? And are things with David really over?

The Velvet Knife by Maureen Johnson will be released on April 28, 2026.

Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2 by Jeff Kinney

Synopsis

Rowley Jefferson is back with another book in his Awesome Friendly series―Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2―which is even more hilariously terrifying than the first!

Fans of Greg Heffley and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney get a chance to dive into the twisted, unexpectedly hilarious world of Rowley’s imagination, where you’ll meet monsters, ghouls, and oversized insects. Plus even more spooky surprises are in store for you in these comically terrifying tales. Don’t blame us if you can’t sleep after crawling into bed with this creepy collection―you’ve been warned!

Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2 by Jeff Kinney will be released on August 11, 2026.

The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke

Synopsis

A propulsive debut mystery from Evelyn Clarke, the billiant and diabolical creation of Cat Clarke and V.E. Schwab!

Six authors.
One private island.
Seventy-two hours to write the ending that will change their lives.

Arthur Fletch, one of the world’s bestselling novelists, is a reclusive genius known for his iconic protagonists and fiendish twists. When six struggling authors are invited to spend a weekend on his private Scottish island, they arrive to discover a shocking secret: Arthur Fletch is dead . . . and his last book is unfinished.

Desperate to publish the novel, Fletch’s agent and editor have summoned these writers in the hope that one of them will imagine a worthy ending for this final book. To sweeten the deal, they are offering an irresistible prize: in addition to ghost-writing the last chapter––for a mind-boggling sum––they will also help the lucky writer successfully re-launch their own career, guaranteeing future bestsellers. The catch: the writers have just seventy-two hours to finish Fletch’s magnum opus.

It’s the perfect plot. All it needs is a killer ending.

The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke will be released on April 7, 2026.

Red Star Rebels by Amie Kaufman

Synopsis

8 hours to stop an explosion...8 hours to fall in love.

From the New York Times bestselling co-author of Illuminae and Aurora Rising comes a high-stakes, high-chemistry, sci-fi romp about a stowaway girl and the richest boy in the galaxy, racing the clock to outwit a gang of mercenaries.

It’s 2067, and the Graves family has transformed Mars from a lifeless rock into a chaotic patch of settlements--equal parts national pride, and corporate power grab.

Enter Hunter Graves: handsome, ambitious, and with spectacularly bad timing. He shows up at the United Nations base just as an emergency evacuation sends everyone scurrying for safety. Except he's left behind. Uh oh.

Also stranded: Cleo, a sharp-tonged stowaway with no intention of dying today, and even less patience for overconfident trust fund boys. But the enemy of your enemy might just help you survive, so here we are.

Turns out the evacuation was just a cover for the mercenaries who came next, and the plan to blow up the base--and every trace of their crime--in eight hours.

Now, Hunter and Cleo have one shot to stop the explosion, escape alive, and deal with the inconvenient fact that they're falling for each other.

The clock is ticking.

Red Star Rebels by Amie Kaufman will be released on February 10, 2026.

Hot Chocolate on Thursday by Michiko Aoyama

Synopsis

Across a bridge in a quiet neighborhood in Tokyo, a seasonal cherry blossom sits on the river. Nearby is the Marble Cafe, where a woman writes in a notebook and a young waiter prepares her favorite hot drink. Both wonder about each other and about the other lives of the clientele who frequent this charming little cafe behind the trees...

Without even realizing it, we may touch and change someone else's life.

Taking a walk along the river, cooking the best tamagoyaki, ordering hot chocolate, forgetting to remove our nail polish... The small, everyday acts that we do can lead to unexpected encounters, reverberate far beyond our own circle, and ultimately make a difference in the world around us.

Hot Chocolate on Thursday is a tapestry of slice-of-life moments that each open and close with a woman ordering her regular hot chocolate at the mysterious Marble Cafe. What happens in between will touch and swell your heart, as we connect with a community of untold unfolding lives.

Hot Chocolate on Thursday by Michiko Aoyama will be released on February 17, 2026.

Matcha on Monday by Michiko Aoyama

Synopsis

From the three-times nominated author for the Japan Booksellers award: Volume Two of the Marble Cafe series, in which customers, staff, artists and manager connect over 12 powerful episodes to create vivid experiences of unexpected happy encounters and anonymous kindness.

Matcha on Monday by Michiko Aoyama will be released on July 7, 2026.

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Cover Reveal News Round-Up, Including Books By Anthony Ryan, James Rollins, Jeff Kinney, Peter V. Brett, Ann Leckie, Brandon Sanderson & Peter Orullian, And Agatha Christie

We have a slow edition the last time, but this edition of Cover Reveal News Round-Up is pouring like a predicted deluge (holiday season, eh?). We have sequels by Anthony Ryan, James Rollins, and Peter V. Brett; in-world standalone work by Ann Leckie; collaborative work by Brandon Sanderson & Peter Orullian; and the ever-welcome redesigned books by Agatha Christie.

Upon the Forge of Battle by Anthony Ryan

Synopsis

Upon the Forge of Battle is the epic conclusion to Anthony Ryan's Covenant of Steel series, perfect for fans of John Gwynne's Bloodsworn trilogy.

Upon the Forge of Battle by Anthony Ryan will be released on August 25, 2026.

Trust No One by James Rollins

Synopsis

From the #1 New York Times bestselling master of international intrigue comes a shocking new stand-alone thriller that thrusts a group of university students, falsely accused of murder, into a treacherous hunt across Europe, all to unlock the secrets buried within a centuries-old book that could change humankind forever.

Knowledge can be magic—until it falls into the wrong hands.

The ritualistic murder of a British professor at the University of Exeter points to a startling cast of suspects: his own students. All are enrolled in a postgraduate program covering the history of witchcraft, folklore, and spiritualism.

All evidence points to Sharyn Karr—an American student. Prior to the professor’s death, he had thrust a centuries-old book upon her. It appears to be the handwritten and encrypted diary of an eighteenth-century mystic and occultist, the Comte de Saint-Germain. The professor begged her to keep the text safe, ending with a warning: Trust no one.

Such a responsibility forces her into cooperation with Duncan Maxwell, a fellow postgrad and the sixteenth in line to the British Crown. Already, Duncan has proven himself a savant with encryptions. Unfortunately, the pair clash at every level, but they both need one another. Especially when they discover the book’s opening words: Herein lies the secret to my immortality. Come find me, if you dare.

As dark forces close upon the pair, she and her friends are forced to flee, pursued by law enforcement and hunted by a powerful cabal. In an explosive chase across Europe—from the Tower of London to Parisian chateaus to a fortress in the Italian Alps—Sharyn must learn the true secret hidden in Saint-Germain’s text. It will send her and the others across history and deep into the heart of one of the world’s greatest mysteries, a secret buried at the roots of Western Civilization, a discovery that could topple empires and change humanity forever.

For what lies at the end of Saint-Germain’s diary is as shocking as its opening words.

Trust No One by James Rollins will be released on February 24, 2026.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Poster Book by Jeff Kinney

Synopsis

Zoo-Wee Mama! If you’re a fan of Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series―and let’s face it, who isn’t?―then have we got the book for you. But not just any book, a poster book! And it’s filled with 40 full-color pull-out posters featuring the iconic covers of all 20 Wimpy Kid books, as well as the Awesome Friendly series, movie posters from Disney+, and a few special surprises.

Each poster is easy to remove and ready to hang on your bedroom wall or locker. We even included an extra poster so you can create your own book cover. All of your favorites are here in this must-have collection―Greg Heffley, Rowley Jefferson, Manny, Rodrick, and Löded Diper.

But be careful as you turn the pages―one of these posters may or may not be the dreaded Cheese Touch!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Poster Book by Jeff Kinney will be released on March 24, 2026.

The Demon King by Peter V. Brett

Synopsis

He is known as The Prince of Lies. The Father of Demons. He is Alagai Ka, the Demon King.

Though humanity won a hard-fought victory in its war against demonkind, the Demon King has escaped in search of a new queen to restart his dark hive, and has found signs of one on a distant shore.

But pursuing him are humanity's best hopes: Olive Paper and Darin Bales, whose legendary parents brought demonkind low once before. Olive and Darin will not rest until the demons are defeated, and so relentless is their hunt that they have followed Alagai Ka across the sea to a strange new land.

There they discover a culture unlike any they have never known, where demons live alongside humans as servants and companions. And there they meet the demon's masters--including a seductive prince who is drawn to Olive--who seem unable or unwilling to understand the danger they are in.

Because no human is safe from the Demon King's thirst for war--and every human must join the battle against his kingdom of death.

The Demon King by Peter V. Brett will be released on April 7, 2026.

Radiant Star by Ann Leckie

Synopsis

Space opera's sharpest mind returns to the world of the Imperial Radch in this brilliant standalone from award-winning author Ann Leckie.

The Temporal Location of the Radiant Star has always been a source of both conflict and hope for the people of Ooioiaa. However, the imperial Radch see it only as an inconvenience, an antiquated religious site soon to be absorbed into their own, superior culture. But local politics is complicated, and the Radch have made a final concession: One last man will be allowed to join the mummified bodies in the temporal location to become a “living saint”.

But this decision will ripple out to affect every part of the city. Amidst a slowly worsening food shortage, riots, and a communication blackout from the rest of the Radch Empire, a religious savant will entertain visions of his own sainthood, a socialite will discover hir comfortable life upended, and a young man sold into servitude will find unlikely escape.

Radiant Star by Ann Leckie will be released on May 12, 2026.

Songs of the Dead (The Strata Wars) by Brandon Sanderson & Peter Orullian

Synopsis

Featuring stenciled edges and original art for the front and back endpapers.

A London rocker is faced with a life-or-death choice when he realizes that a powerful society of magic wielders are the only ones keeping London safe in this deft contemporary fantasy cowritten by #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson with author and musician Peter Orullian.

When Jack Solomon, a struggling musician who works in London’s West End, is killed, he awakens to a new reality in which light and music are used to create magic and where living eras of the past sprawl beneath modern London, layer upon layer, all the way back to recorded history.

Jack also soon discovers that many of those who reside in the stratums of London’s past have grown angry with the present world, and that their anger is being channeled by a powerful society of light-and-music-based magic wielders who can cross the realms between life and death, between the present and the past. A past where the dead are sowing revolution against the living, and all of history is at stake.

Welcome to the Strata Wars.

Songs of the Dead (The Strata Wars) by Brandon Sanderson & Peter Orullian will be released on June 16, 2026.

Continental Christie: Twelve European Mysteries by Agatha Christie

Synopsis

Embark on a journey across Europe with Agatha Christie and some of her most iconic creations in this collection of short stories.

From the mountainous landscapes of Switzerland to the glamourous streets of Cannes, each story immerses you in a world of mystery, intrigue, and clever solutions.

Join fellow passengers including Hercule Poirot, Parker Pyne, Mr Quin, Miss Marple and more as they navigate the complexities of human nature and solve the most puzzling of crimes. Whether it’s a schoolgirl’s disappearance in Amiens, a puzzling case on the Orient Express, or an accidental death off the coast of Gran Canaria, Christie’s own love for travel and exploration shines through every story.

Continental Christie: Twelve European Mysteries by Agatha Christie will be released on March 26, 2026.

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

Synopsis

A quiet English village
A shocking murder
An unlikely detective...
Nobody liked Colonel Protheroe.

So when he’s found dead in the vicarage study, there’s no absence of suspects in the seemingly peaceful village of St Mary Mead.

In fact, Jane Marple can think of at least seven.

As gossip abounds in the parlours and kitchens of the parish, everyone becomes an amateur detective.

The police dismiss her as a prying busybody, but only the ingenious Miss Marple can uncover the truth …

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie will be released on March 12, 2026.

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Cover Reveal News Round-Up, Including Books By Mark Lawrence, And Josiah Bancroft

We have not a lot in this edition of Cover Reveal News Round-Up, but it has a few of my most anticipated titles. A new series opener by Mark Lawrence and a sequel by Josiah Bancroft are coming our way.

Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence

Synopsis

Set a thief to catch a thief. Set a monster to punish monsters.

The Academy of Kindness exists to create agents of retribution, cast in the image of the Furies – The Kindly Ones – against whom even the gods hesitate to stand.

Each year one hundred girls are sold to the Academy. Ten years later only three emerge.

The Academy’s halls run with blood. The few who survive its decade-long nightmare have been forged on the sands of the Wound Garden. They have learned ancient secrets amid the necrotic fumes of the Bone Garden. They leave its gates as avatars of vengeance, bound to uphold the oldest of laws.

Only the most desperate would sell their child to the Kindnesses. But Rue … she sold herself. And now, a lifetime later, a long and bloody lifetime later, just as she has discovered peace, war has been brought to an old woman’s doorstep.

That was a mistake.

Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence will be released on March 26, 2026.

The Hexologists: A Tangle of Time by Josiah Bancroft

Synopsis

From one of the most exciting and original voices in fantasy comes the second book following the adventures of the Hexologists, Iz and Warren Wilby, as they tackle a case that could redefine the nature of magic itself.

As the nation's foremost investigators of the paranormal, Isolde and Warren Wilby are accustomed to bumping up against things that go bump in the night. They have made quite a name for themselves as the Hexologists: detectives of the uncanny, the monstrous, the strange. After a decade of wedded bliss and dozens of fantastical adventures, there is little in the world that can still surprise them.

But when a famous artist dies under suspicious circumstances, Isolde finds herself investigating a murder that may not have happened, and a crime scene that seems to shift beneath her feet. The mystery will carry the devoted duo to seedy underworlds, enchanted gardens, and subterranean military zoos. Old friends will come to the Wilbies' aid as they infiltrate secret societies, battle vicious imps, and flee from a pack of venomous wolves. Equipped with Isolde's hexes, Warren's muscle, and an enchanted bag full of magical relics, the Hexologists will have to risk life and limb to unravel the riddle at the heart of A Tangle of Time.

The Hexologists: A Tangle of Time by Josiah Bancroft will be released on September 9, 2025. Andrerida harcover edition is to be announced.

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