Murder Will Out by Jennifer K. Breedlove, releasing February 17, 2026, is the kind of mystery that invites you in with salt air, creaking floorboards, and the promise that something is very wrong behind the prettiest postcard façade. Set on Little North Island off the coast of Maine, this lighter, modern gothic mystery follows Willow Stone, an organist returning to the island she once loved after the sudden death of her godmother, Sue—and it doesn’t take long for memory, grief, and suspicion to start tangling together.
Breedlove excels at atmosphere. Little North Island feels like the sort of place where everyone knows everyone else’s business and still manages to hide secrets in plain sight. The town’s cast of characters would fit right in at Stars Hollow: the super brainy librarian, the attorney-turned-café owner, the pottery shop proprietor, the crotchety church organ player, and the young woman married to the island’s elderly rich man, who is himself a near-parody of greed and indulgence. Willow is very much the Outsider—with a capital O—returning after years Away (also capitalized, as islanders do), and that social tension quietly fuels the mystery.
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Write on the World 