Kate Flora: I have bold ambitions for 2026. Find a publisher for the romance featuring a match-making dog. Get my second true crime, Death Dealer, back in print and perhaps find someone to do an audio book. Finish the next Thea Kozak mystery, Until Death Do Us Part, and get it to the publisher. And then settle in to write the next romance, one I’ve been “cooking” in my head for nearly a year, the story of a match-making cat. It’s going to be called Emily and Mr. Rogers. First, I’m going to recline on the sofa, sip hot cocoa, and read the books I expect I’m getting for Christmas. One year I didn’t get a single book and I was both shocked and disappointed. This year will not be like that.

Rob Kelley: Working on finishing my manuscript for Critical State (Olivia Wolfe, Book 1), the first in an at-least three book series planned for fall 2026, 2027, and 2028. Also hoping to finish editing then shop my first Maine-based thriller, From Away (Bedford, Maine, Book 1), also the first in contemplated series. Finally, I have some short fiction written in the world of my recently published debut, Raven, that I hope to get out in the world!

Matt Cost: Looking for a home for a house trained book. Bob Chicago Investigates follows Bob, a divorcee and retired teacher, who has become a mystery writer. When an employment agency crosses wires and believes him to be a PI, he takes the case of a stolen katana, which turns out to be a priceless heirloom sword originally lost at the end of WWII. Only one leg was lost in the making of this book. In May, EveryThing vs Max Creed, Book 2 in the Modern-Day Chronicles of Max Creed will publish. Max and the band are tasked upon taking down a social media mogul bent on creating anarchy and ruling the world. In October, 1955, the first in the Jazz Jones & January Queen Raleigh Mysteries will debut. Jazz is hired by the NAACP to investigate the lynching of a young Black man and uncovers a rotten underbelly in white Raleigh. I will most likely be writing a new Mainely Mystery, the third in the Jazz Jones & January Queen Raleigh Mysteries, and hopefully the second Bob Chicago. I hope to be involved in many COST TALKS, Authors in Conversation, Making Mysteries Panels, and Writers on Writers panels. Please reach out to me for more information on these fascinating presentations.

Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett: Since I just finished a major revision project, my first goal is some time off to read other people’s books and stream some movies and tv I missed. Next? Probably a hard look at The Finder of Lost Things. Rights are about to revert to me after five years of not-so-great sales with a small press, so I may want to do some revision and maybe give it a new title before I release it on my own. Stay tuned.

John Clark: Since my Mojo vanished after the 2024 presidential election, I’m focusing on enhanced time travel in 2026. I’m hoping to convince Sysiphus to take a hiatus from his rock gig and come along. Planned stops include dinosaur riding, interviewing the Virgin Mary to get her side of the story, watching Rome burn in anticipation of it happening again in November of 2026, and having a ringside seat when the asteroid plows into the Yucatan Peninsula. Hopefully those experiences will re-energize my writing career. I’m also continuing serializing my books on Substack.

Gabriela Stiteler: What I’m working on:

• Current Project: Finish the third draft of my manuscript set in Pittsburgh in the 1980s by mid-January. Feeling cautiously optimistic about the shape it’s taking. (Fewer plot holes, stronger characters, etc.) Send it to two beta readers for reactions. Respond accordingly to feedback.
• Short Stories: I have two short stories coming out in the spring. One in Alfred Hitchcock and the other in Ellery Queen. I have two more in the queue. Fingers crossed. I have the ideas for four short stories that I’m promising myself I can work on when the longer manuscript is done. I’ll reward myself with one or two of them after I finish the Pittsburgh story.
• Up Next: In the summer, tackle the second draft of another longer work in progress set on an island in Maine and centered around the way a family responds to the disappearance of a local girl. Finish draft two by end of the summer. See if it makes more sense because the plot is a hot mess.

Allison Keeton: I’m eagerly awaiting the February launch of Book Two in the Midcoast Maine Mystery series, titled Arctic Green. Named after the Arctic Cat snowmobile, the story centers around the town of Secretly’s snowmobile trails and the controversies that come with them. Raven and the cast of character from Blaze Orange are central to the story again, with the addition of new troublemakers, of course. I’m also re-writing a novel that involves the Lizzie Borden story, and submitting texts of picture books, also on the dark side. I’m also looking forward to meeting more readers at libraries and bookstores.

Kait Carson: I’m looking to finish final edits on my first Maine Mystery, No Return. I had submitted it to a small press, and they asked for edits with an offer to look at it again. So, nose to the grindstone. I’m also working on finishing the fourth in the Hayden Kent Myseteries Death by Deception. The romance between Kurt and Hayden is heating up, and the diving, well, that’s as shark-infested as love. How bad can it get? Looking forward to hearing everyone’s plans. It’s a new year and a clean slate. Dream big.

What does 2026 look like for the rest of you?