All the Little Houses - a small Texas town in the 1980s is filled with people behaving very badly.

It's the 1980s and Nellie Anderson can't wait to graduate and get out of Longview, Texas. While she's a member of one of the wealthiest families in the area, Nellie is an outsider. The people she hangs out with only include her because of the influence and power of her beautiful mother, Charleigh, but she's never fit in. Everything changes when the Swift family moves to town. Despite lacking wealth, their attractive daughter Jane is quickly embraced by Blair and the other popular kids. Nellie hates her. Jane's bohemian mother, Abigail, makes farmed-sourced products and potions, and her father Ethan, crafts custom furniture. The wealthy clique begins including the Swift family in their activities. The Swifts soon become Charleigh's adversaries, and she clings to her best friend and designer, Jackson Ford, for support as husband Alexander stays neutral. From the beginning of this sinister tale, it's clear that by the end, a dead body will be floating in the lake.

All the Little Houses by May Cobb is packed with morally gray characters. There's jealousy, secrets, scheming, ruthlessness, and more, with the adults behaving even worse than their children. Don't expect to like or root for any of them. You'll just want to know how it will all end. Like Cobb's The Hunting Wives, which was adapted into a Netflix series, this novel seems tailor-made for a television adaptation. 

Many thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for the advance. 

Rated 3.75 out of 5 stars.

Mystery Thriller.

Publication Date: January 20, 2026.

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