Evil Genius (Pre-Order Feb 17th 2026)

Evil Genius by Claire Oshetsky Pre-Order Feb 17th 2026

Set against the shadowy allure of 1974 San Francisco, Evil Genius by Claire Oshetsky is an exuberant, brutally hilarious comic noir about obsession, ambition, and the dangerous thrill of imagining a different life. Nineteen-year-old Celia Dent appears to have everything she’s supposed to want: a steady job at the phone company, a husband who claims to adore her, and a future carefully mapped out by expectation. But when a coworker is murdered in a scandalous love tryst, Celia’s tidy world cracks open, unleashing a fascination with desire, death, and the possibility of reinvention.

As Celia begins skipping work, haunting gun ranges, and fantasizing about escape—from her suffocating marriage and from the life she never truly chose—her private imaginings start to blur into action. What begins as curiosity becomes obsession, and obsession becomes peril, as Celia and her domineering husband drift toward a collision neither can avoid.

Exhilarating, surreal, and wickedly clever, Evil Genius is a feminist-inflected noir that skewers domesticity, romance, and the myths of female contentment. With razor-sharp humor and psychological depth, Claire Oshetsky explores how longing, rage, and ambition can transform an ordinary young woman into something far more dangerous. Perfect for readers who love dark humor, literary thrillers, and subversive stories about women daring to want more—no matter the cost.