Lisa Towles sets Arctic thriller release for Aug. 7

Bay Area crime novelist Lisa Towles will release her standalone thriller The Weight of Cold Things on Aug. 7, 2026, after earning three industry awards tied to the book and her broader catalog. The novel blends Arctic noir, espionage and conspiracy as a Wyoming deputy’s missing-person case leads to Alaska’s oil frontier.

Why it matters: - The Weight of Cold Things extends Lisa Towles’ run as a prolific crime and thriller writer with a sixteenth published book. - The novel taps into real-world concerns around Arctic oil extraction, environmental abuse and oversight in remote industrial zones. - Towles enters the launch with momentum from multiple awards, which can widen attention for the book and her broader platform.

What happened: - Lisa Towles will publish The Weight of Cold Things on Aug. 7, 2026 through Indies United Publishing House. - The standalone thriller follows Wyoming Deputy Sheriff Gree Gooding after her boss disappears. - The investigation sends Gree 4,000 miles north to Deadhorse, Alaska, an isolated oil outpost near the Arctic Circle. - The same region is where Gree’s geologist husband vanished six months earlier. - The story begins as a missing-persons case and becomes a decades-old cover-up tied to a conspiracy with lethal stakes.

The details: - The novel blends Arctic noir, psychological suspense and espionage-driven conspiracy. - Towles frames the book around oil extraction and petroleum geology at the edge of the habitable world. - The setting places the story inside an industry fault line where environmental abuse and edge technology operate far from public scrutiny. - The Weight of Cold Things won a Silver Medal in the 2026 Readers' Choice Book Awards for Adult Fiction. - The book also received the Literary Titan Gold Award for Fiction before publication. - Towles’ book Switch, the third title in the E&A Investigations series, won an American Fiction Award in the Thriller: Techno category. - The novel includes praise from early reviewers, including The Prairies Book Review calling it “an elegant fusion of Arctic noir and psychological suspense.” - Literary Titan described the reading experience as “like watching a slow-motion avalanche: quiet, heavy, and utterly unyielding.”

Between the lines: - The release positions Towles to reach readers who want both genre suspense and topical themes. - The Arctic setting gives the book a built-in isolation factor that heightens the stakes around corruption and secrecy. - The awards suggest early industry validation before the public release, which can help a thriller stand out in a crowded market.

What’s next: - Towles is scheduled for a Monday Morning Sonoma appearance on KSVY 91.3 FM on Aug. 10, 2026. - She will appear on the What Are You Reading, What Are You Writing? podcast on Aug. 12, 2026. - Towles is also set for a Sisters in Crime Author Branding Workshop in Santa Cruz on Sept. 19, 2026. - She will speak at the Solano County Library Foundation Annual Authors Luncheon on Nov. 1, 2026. - Towles says media and speaking requests can go through her author website or by email at lisamarietowles@gmail.com. - Readers can find more information through her author website.