Hello and a very warm welcome to damppebbles. It’s Tuesday which means it’s time for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday post. I’ve decided to take part in That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday meme to mix things up a little here at damppebbles. Add a little bit of variety to our bookish weeks.

The meme was originally created by The Broke and the Bookish but has lived with Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl since January 2018. It was created to encompass a love of books, of lists and to bring readers together. If you would also like to take part then you’re very welcome: the more, the merrier. Just make sure you link back to Jana’s post every week. If you don’t have a blog, then no problem, just add your list to the comments below.

This week’s theme is Books On My Winter 2025-2026 To-Read List. I have no idea what is going on this list at the moment. In the past, I have been known to visit NetGalley and fill my TBR with forthcoming titles from there to make my winter to-read list that little bit more interesting (my poor pre-owned books, ignored again!). There’s a chance I’ll do the same again this year as there are a number of books I’m auto-approved for that I’ve been eyeing up. Let’s see how it goes…

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1. How to Kill a Crime Writer by Sarah Lotz
When bestselling author Annie Morrissey is found dead, her daughter Niamh knows in her gut it’s no accident – even if the case needs a good edit.

The village is strangely uneventful.

The suspects are suspiciously normal.

The leads quickly turn into dead ends…

But when Annie’s final manuscript lands on the doormat, the pages humming with mystery and suspense, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.

This can’t be a coincidence.

Because if Niamh learnt anything from her mother’s crime fiction, it’s that there’s no such thing. And that village secrets never stay buried for long…

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2. Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward
The Nowhere Children are expecting you…

High in the mountains sits Nowhere, a verdant valley surrounded by walls of rock. People have lived at Nowhere for centuries, though never for long, and rarely happily. Its last owner was its most famous: movie star Leaf Winham, who built Nowhere House as a refuge to hide from his fame… and to hide his crimes. Only when Nowhere House went up in flames were the graves discovered, the last resting places of lost young men who would never go home.

Years later, Nowhere valley has become a sanctuary for runaway children, a place where adults cannot enter. Drawn by this promise, fourteen-year-old Riley pulls her brother Oliver from his bed in the middle of the night, hoping to find a new family. But the Nowhere Children are fierce in defending their valley and their secrets. For something dark lives in the ruins of Nowhere House, something that asks a terrible price for sanctuary…

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3. The Exes by Leodora Darlington
Natalie chose James carefully, because he’s different from all the men she’d loved before. Calm. Competent. Kind.

And there are three very good reasons she needs to be so careful. Their names are Marc, Luca and George.

Natalie prefers not to think about what they did to her. Let alone what she had to do to them.

Except now, on a night they are meant to be celebrating how happy they are together, Natalie and James are lying in separate bedrooms. She is asking herself how she could have been foolish enough to let yet another man hurt her like this.

Slowly, Natalie realises she’s already holding a knife.

But she’s not going to do anything with it. She’s not.

Not again.

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4. How to Get Away with Murder by Rebecca Philipson
Denver Brady claims to be the most successful serial killer of our time – and that’s precisely why you’ve never heard of him.

But with the publication of his manual for aspiring serial killers, How to Get Away with Murder, that’s about to change.

When a copy is found at the home of a girl who was tragically murdered, DI Samantha Hansen is given the job of tracking down the elusive author.

As Denver and Sam’s stories unfold and converge, it becomes clear that there’s more to both than meets the eye. And once Denver’s book goes viral, the pressure to find and bring him to justice brings Sam close to breaking point.

But who is hunting whom?

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5. Last One Out by Jane Harper
In a dying town, Ro Crowley waits for her son on the evening of his 21st birthday.

Sam never comes home. His footprints in the dust of three abandoned houses offer the only clue to his final movements. One set in. One set out.

Five long years later, Ro returns to Carralon Ridge for the annual memorial of Sam’s disappearance. The skeletal community is now an echo of itself, having fractured under the pressure of the coal mine operating on its outskirts.

But Ro still wants answers. Only a few people remain. If the truth is to be found in that town, does it lie among them?

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6. The Shark by Emma Styles
Every monster has a weakness.

At the height of Australian summer, a serial killer dubbed The Shark stalks a beachside suburb, targeting young female swimmers whose bodies are later found on the shoreline.

Disempowered and angry at the failures of the police to protect them, two young women are hell-bent on revenge. Raych has lost someone and will go to any length to discover what happened to her, while Carmen suspects her own disturbing connection to the killer.

Together they form an uneasy alliance and, in a moment that changes the trajectory of their lives, Carmen and Raych abduct and imprison the prime suspect. Do they think they can save the day, or are their intentions darker? Can they trust one another’s agenda? And when another young woman goes missing, what stops them from going to the police?

A dark and voice-led serial killer thriller that subverts the tropes of crime fiction at every turn, The Shark is an unforgettably propulsive novel about victimhood, power and autonomy.

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7. Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce
SHE’S LOOKING FOR THE TRUTH, BUT SOMETHING ELSE IS STARING BACK.

Newly-trained child psychologist Mina has little experience. In a field full of experts, she’s been unable to find work, instead aimlessly spending her days stuck in the stifling heat wave sweeping across Britain. So it feels like a welcome reprieve when journalist Sam Hunter approaches her with a proposition.

Alice Webber is a thirteen-year-old girl who claims she’s being haunted by a witch. Living with her family in the remote Cornish village of Banathel, Alice’s symptoms are increasingly disturbing. Taking this job will give Mina some experience; Sam will get the scoop of a lifetime; and Alice will get better, Mina is sure of it.

But as Alice’s behaviour becomes increasingly inexplicable and intense, the dark cracks in Banathel begin to show. The village has a deep history of superstition and witchcraft. They believe there is evil in the world, and they have ways of . . . dealing with it. Mina is desperate to understand how deep their sinister traditions go – and how her own past may be the biggest threat of all.

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8. Warning Signs by Tracy Sierra
You can look for danger. And danger can look for you.

There’s something out there in the darkness.
By morning, bones lie in the snow, picked clean.

Zach knows the moods of the mountains – his mother taught him before she was gone. His father and the other men on the ski weekend think they know better though.

Drinking and boasting, they laugh in the face of the icy conditions.

But Zach understands what danger looks like. Can he survive the wilderness, and all the monsters within it?

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9. It’s Not What You Think by Clare Mackintosh
He has a secret. She knows he’s lying…

You think you know the people you love.

Nadeeka is certain Jamie is having an affair. She knows the tell-tale signs.

She’s been here before.

You think you know who you can trust.

When Jamie claims to be at work late, she knows he’s lying. He’s with another woman, and she’s determined to catch him in the act.

You think you know how the story ends.

But when Nadeeka arrives home to confront him, Jamie can’t explain himself. The house has become a crime scene…

Jamie is dead.

It’s not what you think.

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10. Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
In seven days Jet Mason will be dead. Jet is the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Woodstock, Vermont. Twenty-seven years old, she’s still waiting for her life to begin. She’ll do it later, she always says. She has time.

Until, on the night of Halloween, Jet is violently attacked by an unseen intruder. She suffers a catastrophic brain injury. The doctor is certain that within a week, she’ll suffer a deadly aneurysm.

Jet never thought of herself as having enemies. But now she looks at everyone in a new light: her family, her ex-best friend turned sister-in-law, her former boyfriend. She only has seven days, and as her condition deteriorates she has only her childhood friend Billy for help. But nevertheless, she’s absolutely determined to finally finish something:

Jet is going to solve her own murder.

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Yup, NetGalley has helped supplement my to-read list for the winter months again. One of these books is from my TBR (Holly Jackson) and the rest are review copies, either physical proofs or eARCs from NetGalley. I can’t help but feel sorry for the books that have been on my bookshelf for years and years! 😬 Are you taking part in Top Ten Tuesday this week? Let me know in the comments.

So there we have it! If you fancy joining in next week then head on over to That Artsy Reader Girl’s blog to find out what the next topic is!