With the sudden appearance of silent, prismatic alien orbs (that have transdimensional capabilities), humans react to yet another crisis. “Despite the narrative scope, and the frequently metatextual, multilingual nature of the story it weaves, The Coffin of Honey remains staunchly humanist, entertaining. It begs for a read, and then another,” exclaims our reviewer. —Kenna Clifford reviews The Coffin of Honey, by Geoffrey D. Morrison (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2026) $24.95 / 9781552455180
“A quick online search of Vancouver-based detective fiction turns up several other Vancouver-based private eye mysteries. Sam Wiebe, J.T. Seimens, A.J Devlin, Elizabeth Bowers, and others are prominent. Regrettably, the online lists I saw were missing the creative pen of Roy Innes. A correction is in order.” —Ron Verzuh reviews The False Creek Murder: An Inspector Coswell Mystery, by Roy Innes (Edmonton: NeWest Press, 2026) $23.95 / 9781774391389
Charming, educative, and attractive, an eclectic trio of picture books focus on an array of topics that will keeps young readers coming back for more. “If you are looking to expose a young reader in your life to a text that is informative but not didactic, deep but lively, and fun but not frivolous…,” read on. —Ginny Ratsoy reviews Just A Minute: Why Humans Tell Time, by Kirstie Hudson and Monique Polak (illustrated by Paige Stampatori) (Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2025) $29.95 / 9781459840621; Gander: The Town That Welcomed the World, by Nikki Bergstresser (illustrated by Reilly Fitzgerald) (Oakville, Plumleaf Press, 2026) $24.95 / 9781997872047; and Monarch, by S.E. Hume (illustrated by Jessica Bromley Bartram) (Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2026) $24.95 / 978155455069
“While Robson’s personality is overshadowed by the unilateral authority of Sir James Douglas, or the eccentric intensity of Amor De Cosmos, Antak posits that he was just as formative in the shaping of BC. Indeed, as a social and political reformer, Robson played a driving role in the establishment of a distinctly Canadian brand of liberalism on the Pacific coast. While Antak never makes the comparison, his portrayal of Robson paints a picture of something like a Gladstone of the Pacific.” Matthew Downey reviews John Robson: British Columbian, by Ivan E. Antak (Victoria: Tellwell Talent, 2025) $25 / 9781834184142
A “diluvial narrative” that flows with references to and musings on Arendt, Woolf, Barthes, Derrida, Cixous, and many others, a novel presents “a history of disappeared locution and a locational archive”: “Overflowing and magically disappearing, Robertson’s indelible river meets Mark Twain’s Mississippi and James Joyce’s Liffey.” —Michael Greenstein reviews Riverwork, by Lisa Robertson (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2026) $24.95 / 9781552455173
“Much of this restoration work laid out in Nature-First Cities, is happening in real-time with municipalities creating sustainability master plans, and nature-based development in partnerships with residential developers among others. The final chapters of the book detail the process for bottom-up land stewardship, joining individuals, neighbours, and community groups.” Ryan Mitchell reviews Nature-First Cities: Restoring Relationships with Ecosystems and with Each Other, by Cam Brewer, Herb Hammond, and Sean Markey (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2024) $39.95 / 9780774868648
“These are the dichotomies of human experience: keeping grudges, granting forgiveness; making up lies, trying perhaps to undo them; dealing with the miracles of new life or of death. All of them are here, encapsulated in five amazing stories, ones you may perhaps never forget.” —Heidi Greco reviews Like a River Divides the Earth: Five Stories, by Dora Dueck (Calgary: Freehand Books, 2026) $22.95 / 9781997534204
“The title of the book, Reconciling, demonstrates the ongoing process of reconciliation and meaning of Larry’s journey through life. The book opens with a description by co-author Scott Steedman of Larry Grant, ‘…a short, weathered man of eighty-five years… an Elder of both the Vancouver Chinese community and the Musqueam Indian Band.’ Steedman asked Larry if he was interested in writing his life story one day. It took eight years, starting in 2017.” Kenneth Favrholdt reviews Reconciling: A Lifelong Struggle to Belong, by Larry Grant, in conversation with Scott Steedman (Toronto: ECW Press, 2025) $26.95 / 9781770417984
Whether “stuck in a forever summer” in the city or mentally revisiting a “home landscape of spruce and willow, rabbit and moose, blueberry and fireweed” (as well as “taps that don’t bring water”), a writer showcases a craving for comfort and certainty in a debut book of poems. —Joanna Streetly reviews Spruce to Cedar, by Lasänmą (Picton: Brick Books, 2026) $23.95 / 9781771316705
“Byers provides compelling vignettes of encounters with workers returning to work after injury; pre-emptive inspections of structures that could lead to repetitive strain injury; and at times antagonistic encounters with supervisors. These are stories of inspection, vigilance, witnessing, and recording.” Wendy Burton reviews Coming Home from the Candy Factory, by Jane Byers (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $24 / 9781773861746
Eclectic volume of poetry “will catch the eye of book lovers, retail workers, and tree huggers. That’s an eclectic group of people, and underlines the uniqueness of the author’s lived experience that manifests in her poems. Dickinson offers a debut that is confident in its voice and builds a world populated by bookshelves and sea urchins. If you’re a poet who works in customer service, this might be the book for you.” —Isabella Ranallo reviews Staff Picks for Invertebrates, by Zoe Dickinson (Gananoque: Guernica Editions, 2026) $22.95 / 9781778490286
“Tender, attentive to small moments of meaning within and beyond the places the poet once pushed or simply didn’t pay attention, this is poetry that, at its best, forces readers to reconsider their own histories.” —Carellin Brooks reviews Gold Star, by Emma McKenna (Toronto: Book*hug, 2026) $22.95 / 9781771669740
“Boom Times in Chilliwack without question represents Merlin Bunt’s great love for his hometown, as he states in his introduction. As a chronicler of that hometown Chilliwack could not ask for a more devoted one.” Steven Brown reviews Boom Times in Chilliwack: Memories from the Post-War Years, by Merlin Bunt (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $38.95 / 9781998526369
The latest mystery for irrepressible West Kootenay amateur sleuth Lane Winslow begins with a bespoke hat. From there, a missing boy, a stolen boat, and a hoard of cash… It’s “the perfect compact source of entertainment to exercise the brain when it comes to solving a murder mystery while at the same time rooting for each characters’ journeys and desires,” our reviewer writes. —Sergio Espinosa reviews A False and Fatal Claim, by Iona Whishaw (Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2026) $21.95 / 9781771514668
“Although the convention attracted its fair share of critics at the time, situating it in the context of what came before and after suggests it was not a write-off but an effective strategy (at least in theory) for mobilizing confederation supporters and keeping the colonial government on alert.” Sam Kiiskila, recent UVic graduate, contributes the historical essay “A ‘Lover of Beauty’ on his way to Yale”: Revisiting the 1868 Yale Convention
“When I finished the last page and closed the book, I came away satisfied. And the ending? That, I really liked.” With that said, an author’s follow-up to a phenomenally successful debut is not quite as stellar. —Trish Bowering reviews The Caretaker, by Marcus Kliewer (Toronto: Atria/Emily Bestler Books/12:01 Books, 2026) $26.99 / 9781668228944
Final book of a pentalogy rife with dualities — “the epic conclusion to an action-packed, magic-filled saga of love, loss, and becoming who you were meant to be” — leaves our reviewer satisfied and, happily, unbothered by any unanswered questions. —Myshara McMyn reviews The Call of the Rift: Fuse, by Jae Waller (Toronto: ECW Press, 2026) $23.95 / 9781770417137
The opening volume of a speculative fiction trilogy ranges between Germany of the present decade and Canada of 2085. In spite of an intriguing set-up, the novel’s surfeit of plot threads and wildly unlikable characters diminished the book’s appeal. —Sophia Wasylinko reviews Gaia’s Revolution: Book 1 of the Icaria Trilogy, by Nina Munteanu (Calgary: Dragon Moon Press, 2026) $6.88 [ebook] / 9781774000762
“Keeping the Books is a family history par excellence, the best of its genre that I have read, which traces the life of Alene Peck, a homesteader’s daughter in the Peace River district of British Columbia. It was a colourful life that Alene has chronicled and saved through a trove of letters, notes, and photographs that upon her death were bequeathed to her son, Ross Peck, who lives today in Skookumchuck, in BC’s Kootenays.” Kenneth Favrholdt reviews Keeping the Books: The life and times of a Peace River Homesteader’s Daughter, by Ross Peck (Cranbrook: Wild Horse Creek Press, 2025) $21.95 / 9781069794703
BC-set debut novel portrays environmental politics and a volatile family of five in 1989, 2001, and 2022. Against a forested backdrop, the novel “explores how a thriving family is a unique ecosystem with its own fragility and resilience.” —Trish Bowering reviews The Fall-Down Effect, by Liz Johnston (Toronto: Book*hug, 2026) $24.95 / 9781771669627
