Published February 15th, 2024 by Simon & Schuster UK Romance Novel, Contemporary Fiction
Today is my stop on the blog tour for this sizzling second-chance romance. Thank you to Sara at Simon & Schuster UK for the invitation to take part and the gifted proof.
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SYNOPSIS:
A sexy, whip-smart, enemies to lovers romcom that’s fresh and topical, tackling racism and tokenism as experienced by a young Black woman in the cutthroat world of Publicity.
‘A funny, satisfying read full of sparkling banter and thoughtful social commentary’ Shauna Robinson, author of Must Love Books
‘The most delicious blend of a *very* heated novel, the dynamics of an age old and rock-solid friendship, the complexities that come with being a Black woman in any workspace and a romance that could melt any heart. Token had me rapt from the very first page with it’s humour and intelligence – I absolutely adored it’ Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of Us
‘Brimming with angst, banter, and a fiery chemistry’ Taj McCoy, author of Zora Books Her Happy Ever After
Kennedy Mitchell is brilliant, beautiful and tired of being the only Black woman in the room.
Two years ago, she was plucked from reception for a seat at the boardroom table in the name of “representation”. Rather than play along, she and her best friend founded Token, a boutique PR agency that helps diversity-challenged companies and celebrities. With famous people getting into reputation-damaging controversies, Token is in high demand and business is booming, but when her ex shows up needing help repairing his reputation, things get even more complicated and soon Kennedy finds herself drawn into a PR scandal of her own.
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MY REVIEW:
Though New York might be known as a melting pot, Kennedy Mitchell is used to being the only Black woman in the room. And she’s had enough. So she and her best friend Aurora create Token, a PR firm that helps diversity-challenged companies and celebrities. But when her ex reaches out for help after becoming embroiled in a scandal, things take a personal turn and Kennedy soon finds herself fighting to save her own reputation.
Sizzling, sexy, funny, and entertaining, Token is a second-chance romance brimming with chemistry, banter, humour, drama, angst, and thought-provoking social commentary. Set against the backdrop of the ruthless world of PR, Beverley Kendall explores topical issues such as racism, sexism, and diversity in the workplace.
Kennedy and Nate are great protagonists. Kennedy is a gorgeous, smart, fierce and independent Black woman who is passionate about what her company does. While she might despair of the attitudes of some of their clients, she truly believes that they are helping make a difference in the world and I loved her scenes at work because of this. I loved her friendships with Aurora and Sahara, who were also brilliant characters in their own right. I had initially thought Nate was going to be seen only through Kennedy’s lens, so I was surprised when I discovered he was also a narrator. But I enjoyed getting a greater insight into his mind and motivations. It would have been easy for a rich, white man who has famous parents to feel like a vapid and one-dimensional character that no one would like, but Kendall managed to make Nate someone who is compelling. You can see why Kennedy is drawn to him as a person and the spark between them is red hot, making it easy to root for them as a couple.
So if you like your romances loaded with tension, wit, intelligence, and spice, then this is for you.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰
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MEET THE AUTHOR:
BEVERLEY KENDALL has published over ten contemporary and historical romance novels. She also manages the romance review blog, Smitten by Books (smittenbybooks.com). Bev writes full-time while raising her son as a single mother. Both dual citizens of the US and Canada, they currently call Atlanta home.
Published January 4th, 2024 by Simon & Schuster UK Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Police Procedural, Crime Series, Domestic Fiction, Urban Fiction, Science Fiction
I’m finally sharing my review for the brilliant In the Blink of an Eye, which was a Squadpod Reviews book. Thank you Simon & Schuster UK for sending me a copy of the book.
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SYNOPSIS:
As seen on BBC 2’s BETWEEN THE COVERS
‘I devoured this in one sitting’ Rob Rinder, as featured on BBC 2’s Between the Covers
‘Terrifyingly timely and provocative’ Val McDermid
‘The most original crime novel you’ll read this year’ Clare Mackintosh
In the UK, someone is reported missing every 90 seconds. Just gone. Vanished. In the blink of an eye.
DCS Kat Frank knows all about loss. A widowed single mother, Kat is a cop who trusts her instincts. Picked to lead a pilot programme that has her paired with AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) Lock, Kat’s instincts come up against Lock’s logic. But when the two missing person’s cold cases they are reviewing suddenly become active, Lock is the only one who can help Kat when the case gets personal.
AI versus human experience. Logic versus instinct. With lives on the line can the pair work together before someone else becomes another statistic?
In the Blink of an Eye is a dazzling debut from an exciting new voice and asks us what we think it means to be human.
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MY REVIEW:
I’m a sucker for a crime series and In the Blink of an Eye is the first book in a crime series like nothing you’ve read before.
DCS Kat Frank is picked to lead a pilot programme where she will be partnered with AIDE (Artificial Intelligence Detective Entity) Lock. Kat isn’t a fan of AI or Lock, but when the two cold cases they are investigating become active investigations and things take a personal turn, she finds Lock is the only one willing to help her.
Fast-paced, tense, twisty and gripping, this is an exciting and original take on the familiar detective buddy trope. I’m a big fan of these kinds of books but always enjoy finding something a bit different and Jo Callaghan’s debut really does stand out from the crowd. It explores whether AI and logic are superior to human experience and gut feelings when it comes to solving crimes, the truth about loss, and what it means to be human. The story is narrated by Kat but every so often we have a section that is narrated by an unknown man who is being held captive. His terror leaps from the pages and as the story gets darker the tension goes through the roof, my heart racing as I tried to predict what would happen next.
I’ll admit that, like Kat, I had some apprehension about a robot detective. I needn’t have worried. In Lock Jo Callaghan has created a character who is obviously AI while also breathing the right amount of life and humanity into him to make him compelling. I liked that Kat is his total opposite and is a no-nonsense detective who relies on her instincts. I related to her in many ways on a personal level and enjoyed discovering more about her backstory. I enjoyed the banter between her and Lock and watching them learn how to work together rather than being at odds. The rest of Kat’s team were equally as well written and I am looking forward to returning to the whole cast of characters in the next instalment next month.
Thought-provoking, thrilling and addictive, In the Blink of an Eye is a strong start to what promises to be a great new series. Highly recommended.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰
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MEET THE AUTHOR:
Jo Callaghan works fulltime as a senior strategist, where she has carried out research into the future impact of AI and genomics on the workforce.She was a student of the Writers’ Academy Course (Penguin Random House), was long listed for the Myslexia Novel Writing Competition and Bath Novel Competition. After losing her husband to cancer in 2019 when she was just forty-nine, she started writing IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, her debut crime novel. Published to critical-acclaim, it selected by Val McDermid for her New Blood panel of the best debuts of 2023 and for BBC Two’s Between the Covers Book Club. TV rights were sold in a major acquisition.
It’s time for part two of my most anticipated February releases. There’s so many exciting books here, including new releases from Louise Fein, Nicci French and Paul E. Hardisty, and debuts such as Butter and A Fate Inked in Blood.
So, here’s the rest of my most anticipated books out next month:
To Cage A God(Those Monstrous Gods 1) by Elizabeth May
Published February 20th by Daphne Press Fantasy Fiction, Romantic Fantasy, Dark Fantasy
SYNOPSIS: Join the rebellion to burn down a cruel tyrant in this heartracing new fantasy duology, perfect for fans of Shadow and Bone and The Wolf and the Woodsman.
To cage a god is divine. To be divine is to rule. To rule is to destroy.
Using ancient secrets, Galina and Sera’s mother grafted gods into their bones. Bound to brutal deities and granted forbidden power no commoner has held in a thousand years, the sisters have been raised as living weapons. Now, the time has come for them to overthrow an empire―no matter the cost.
With their mother gone and their country on the brink of war, it falls to the sisters to take the helm of the rebellion and end the cruel reign of a royal family possessed by destructive gods. Because when the ruling alurea invade, they conquer with fire and blood. And when they clash, common folk burn.
Forced into a desperate plan, Sera reunites with her estranged lover who now leads the rebellion, while Galina infiltrates the palace. In this world of deception and danger, her only refuge is an isolated princess whose whip-smart tongue and sharp gaze threaten to uncover Galina’s secret. Torn between desire and duty, Galina must make a choice: work together to expose the lies of the empire―or bring it all down.
Published February 20th by Hodder & Stoughton Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller
SYNOPSIS: THE TENSION-FILLED NEW NOVEL FROM THE AUTHOR OF NUMBER ONE DIGITAL BESTSELLER THE PRISONER . ‘Expertly plotted and compellingly told – a cautionary tale that will put you off ever having anyone to stay with you again. I raced through it!’ HARRIET TYCE
Iris and Gabriel have just got home from a make-or-break holiday. But a shock awaits them. One of their dearest friends, Laure, is in their house – sleeping in their bed, wearing Iris’ clothes, even rearranging the furniture. She has walked out on her husband – and their good friend – Pierre over his confession of an affair.
Iris and Gabriel want to be supportive. But as Laure’s mood becomes more unpredictable, her presence begins to unravel secrets in all their pasts – until things reach breaking point …
A Tempest of Tea(Blood & Tea Book 1) by Hafsah Faizal
Published February 22nd by Pan Macmillan Fantasy Fiction, Romantic Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Vampire Ficiton, YA Fantasy
SYNOPSIS: From Hafsah Faizal, New York Times-bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame, comes A Tempest of Tea, the first book in a hotly-anticipated new fantasy duology about an orphan girl and her crew who get tangled in a heist with vampires, perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows.
On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by dark, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it-and she can’t do the job alone.
Calling on some of the city’s most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the dark and glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not everyone in her ragtag crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it.
Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.
Published February 22nd by Penguin UK Historical Mystery, Thriller, Crime Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Supernatural Fiction, YA Fiction
SYNOPSIS: House of Hollow meets A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, THE BAD ONES is a page-turning supernatural thriller about four mysterious disappearances in a town haunted by a sinister magical history – and one girl searching for the truth.
A GAME GONE WRONG. A MISSING FRIEND. A TOWN OF BURIED SECRETS . . .
Goddess, Goddess, count to five. In the morning, who’s alive?
One town. One night. Four people gone.
Nora’s best friend, Becca, is one of the lost. As Nora tries to piece together the truth, she uncovers dark events in her high school’s history and a string of coded messages Becca has left for her. These clues point to another missing girl thirty years previously and a sinister urban legend: a goddess figure, who played an eerie role in Nora and Becca’s own childhood games . . .
As Nora struggles to unravel the mystery, it’s clear there are dark forces at work in her town – and they’re willing to stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried deep.
Published February 22nd by Hodder & Stoughton Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Romance Novel, Lesbian Literature, Domestic Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘What a sumptuous, evocative triumph of a novel!’ JENNY ASHCROFT
At the golden hour, hidden truths and desires come to light . . .
In the genteel squares of late-Victorian Brighton, Ellen and Reynold Harper – twins, companions, colleagues – ply their trade as portrait photographers.
But at the golden hour, the models arrive to pose for the lucrative – and illicit – photographs that really keep the Harpers’ business afloat. This is the other, shadowy world of the city: a world of erotic tableaux, boundary-crossing music hall performers, and the sinister figure of the local gangster, the Croc.
When Ellen is drawn into the orbit of unhappy newly-wed Clementine, she finds herself torn between loyalty to her brother, her dangerous attraction to new model, Lily, and her burgeoning friendship with Clem. And as the two worlds of Brighton collide, the three women discover that there is only a knife edge between the promise of freedom, and the threat of ruin . . .
Atmospheric, sensual and powerfully moving, The Golden Hour is a spellbinding portrait of three women determined to find their freedom – perfect for fans of Sarah Waters, The Doll Factory and The Essex Serpent.
Published February 22nd by Picador Saga, , Contemporary Horror,Ghost Horror, Political Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Costa Rica, 1968. When a lethal fire erupts at the American Fruit Company’s most lucrative banana plantation burning all evidence of a massive cover-up, the future of Teresa Cepeda Valverde’s family is changed for ever.
Now, twenty-seven years later, Teresa and her daughter Lyra are still picking up the pieces. Lyra wants nothing to do with Teresa, but is desperate to find out what happened to her family that fateful night. Teresa, haunted by a missing husband and the bitter ghost of her mother, is unable to reconcile the past. What unfolds is a story of a mother and daughter trying to forgive what they do not yet understand, and the mystery at the heart of one family’s rupture, steeped in machismo, jealousy and greed.
Where There Was Fire brims with ancestral spirits, omens and the forces of nature. John Manuel Arias’s extraordinary debut novel weaves a brilliant tapestry of love – lost and found again – and, ultimately, redemption.
Published February 22nd by Sandycove Mystery, Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Two mothers. Two daughters. Two sides to the story.
When Sara leaves her high-flying London life to move to Dublin, her only concern is her nine-year-old daughter, Lexie. For Lexie’s sake she tries to get to know other mothers at the school gates, but they appear uninterested – particularly their leader, the beautiful and charismatic Vanessa, whose daughter rules the playground.
After a simple misunderstanding between Vanessa and Sara, none of the other kids at school want anything to do with Lexie. Desperate to mend fences, Sara offers to look after Vanessa’s daughter one afternoon. But when the playdate ends in catastrophe, Vanessa is convinced that what happened wasn’t an accident.
With allegations flying in all directions, Sara is forced to ask herself what she has unleashed? And how far a mother will go to protect her daughter?
Published February 23rd by Bookouture Psychological Thriller, Saga
SYNOPSIS: On a sunny Friday afternoon, beloved teacher Mrs. Walker and her eight-year-old son wave goodbye to their friends in the school playground. But they never make it home…
It’s only been a week, but the bright little faces at the picture-perfect school I’ve stepped into have captured my heart. Their big doe eyes, their paint-covered fingers and clinging hugs. They’ve been through so much, with their favourite teacher and classmate still missing…
I’m doing all I can to help them adjust, but I can’t avoid the swirling rumours that say Cate Walker’s charismatic husband, Oliver – our headteacher – is involved in her disappearance. The thought makes me shudder. But the more I find out about Cate, the more I wonder if she was also hiding a terrible secret…
I’m determined to uncover the truth about what really happened. I have to protect these other innocent children from the same fate – it’s my duty as their teacher.
That is, until an anonymous note turns up threatening me if I don’t stop looking. Until my home is broken into while I sleep.
I know the longer I stay here, the more danger I’m in.
But whoever’s trying to scare me doesn’t know who I am – or why I’m really here.
Or just how far I’ll go to protect the people I love…
An absolutely gripping psychological thriller, where no one is who they seem, that will get your heart pounding! Perfect for fans of addictive page-turners like The Housemaid, The Family Across the Street and The Family Upstairs.
A Fate Inked In Blood(Saga of the Unfated Book 1) by Danielle L. Jensen
Published February 27th by Del Rey Romantic Fantasy, Romance Novel, Fantasy Fiction, Viking Romance, Norse Muthology
SYNOPSIS: A shield maiden blessed by the gods battles to unite a nation under a power-hungry king – while also fighting her growing desire for his fiery son – in this Norse-inspired fantasy romance from the bestselling author of The Bridge Kingdom series.
Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.
Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: she possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which gives her magic capable of repelling any attack. A magic that was foretold would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath a king-the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.
Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders his son, Bjorn, to protect Freya from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. Except the greatest test of all may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.
Published February 29th by Wildfire Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Adventure Fiction
SYNOPSIS: **The spellbinding, bold new retelling of the story of Lord Byron and the Shelleys, from the perspective of Claire Clairmont, the incredible woman that history tried to forget.** ‘Beautifully written, Clairmont tells the sensuous hidden story of an influential historic woman.’ Sara Sheridan, author of The Fair Botanists Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year
‘An absorbing, intoxicating page-turner about a woman who deserves to be remembered.’ Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne and Atalanta
‘An intimate and enlightening tale of one of Romanticism’s forsaken muses – an artfully told story that lingers in the mind far beyond the last page’ Susan Stokes-Chapman, author of Pandora
1816. A massive volcanic eruption has caused the worst storms that Europe has seen in decades, yet Percy and Mary Shelley have chosen to visit the infamous Lord Byron at his villa on Lake Geneva. It wasn’t their idea: Mary’s eighteen year old step-sister, Claire Clairmont, insisted.
But the reason for Claire’s visit is more pressing than a summer escape with the most famous writers in the world. She’s pregnant with Byron’s child – a child Byron doesn’t want, and scarcely believes is his own.
Claire has the world in her grasp. This trip should have given her everything she ever dreamed of. But within days, her life will be in ruins.
History has all but forgotten her story – but she will not be silenced.
Published February 29th by Harper Muse Historical Fiction, Thriller, Romane Novel, Domestic Fiction
SYNOPSIS: From the bestselling author of Daughter of the Reich, an historical drama set in London about a bookshop involved in an espionage network.
“An utterly atmospheric and completely compelling read!” —Julia Kelly, international bestselling author of The Lost English Girl
Two courageous women. One astonishing secret. A world on the brink of war.
London, 1962: The world is teetering on the brink of nuclear war but life must go on. Celia Duchesne longs for a career, but with no means or qualifications, passes her time working at a dusty bookshop. The day a handsome American enters the shop, she thinks she might have found her way out of the monotony. Just as the excitement of a budding relationship engulfs her, a devastating secret draws her into the murky world of espionage.
France, 1942: Nineteen-year-old Anya Moreau was dropped behind enemy lines to aid the resistance, sending messages back home to London via wireless transmitter. When she was cruelly betrayed, evidence of her legacy and the truth of her actions were buried by wartime injustices.
As Celia learns more about Anya—and her unexpected connection to the undercover agent—she becomes increasingly aware of furious efforts, both past and present, to protect state secrets. With her newly formed romance taking a surprising turn and the world on the verge of nuclear annihilation, Celia must risk everything she holds dear, in the name of justice.
Propulsive and illuminating, The London Bookshop Affair is a gripping story of secrets and love, inspired by true events and figures of the Cold War.
Published February 29th by Haper Muse Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, War Story, Adventure Fiction, Nautical Fiction
SYNOPSIS: The Titanic was only the beginning. What she survived has become legend.
Violet Jessop is Miss Unsinkable.
After her mother becomes too ill to work, the responsibility to provide for the family falls to Violet as the oldest of nine. When the world enters the Great War, she serves as a nurse, helping men who could very well be her brothers. Working as a stewardess and wartime nurse, Violet not only survives a shipwreck but also two sinkings, one on the infamous Titanic. No one can understand why she would return to sea, but something keeps drawing Violet back to the tumultuous waters, where she struggles to put the tragedies of her past behind her and pursue a life and love all her own.
Daphne has survived calamity of her own.
Daphne Chaundanson grows up as an unwanted child after her mother died in a tragedy. She throws herself into education, collecting languages like candy in a desperate attempt to finally earn her father’s approval. When the Special Operations Executive invites her to be an agent in France in World War II, her childhood of anonymity and her love of languages make her the perfect fit. She sees it as an opportunity to help the country she loves and live up to her father’s expectations. But the dangers of war challenge Daphne in ways she never could have expected, and the secrets from her own past must be faced for her to truly have a future beyond the conflict—if she can survive it.
Inspired by true stories of Violet Jessop and the thirty-nine women of the Special Operations Executive. Two unsinkable women. Two stories of survival, family, and finding one’s own happiness. One connection that reshapes both their lives forever.
Published February 29th by Harper North Historical Fiction, Alternative History, LGBTQ Literature, Adventure Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Gunpowder, treason and a plot to destroy the British Empire…
**AN OBSERVER TOP 10 DEBUT NOVELIST OF 2024**
‘Couldn’t put this book down. Beautiful, tender, and ruthless’ HANNAH KANER
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1770. Delphine lives in the shadows of London: a secret, vibrant world of smugglers, courtesans and small rebellions. Four years ago, she escaped enslavement at great personal cost. Now, she must help her brother Vincent do the same.
While Britain’s highest court fails to administer justice for Vincent, little rebellions are no longer enough. What’s needed is a big, explosive plot – one that will strike at the heart of the transatlantic slave trade. But can one woman, one fuse and one match bring down an Empire?
An incendiary alternative history, Remember, Remember is a gripping story of conscience, conspiracy, queer identity and courage in the face of injustice.
Published February 29th by Simon & Schuster UK Suspense, Mystery, Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Domestic Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘Classic Nicci French: an unputdownable missing-persons thriller that’s also a searing examination of family, memory and grief. A big-skied, full-blooded, broken-hearted book’ Erin Kelly
She’s loved by all who meet her. But someone wants her gone . . . Then
When beautiful and vivacious Charlotte Salter fails to turn up to her husband Alec’s 50th birthday party, her kids are worried, but Alec is not. As the days pass and there’s still no word from Charlie, her daughter, Etty, and her sons, Niall, Paul and Ollie, all struggle to come to terms with her disappearance. How can anyone just vanish without a trace? Left with no answers and in limbo, the Salter children try and go on with their lives, all the while thinking that their mother’s killer is potentially very close to home.
Now
After years away, Etty returns home to the small East Anglian village where she grew up to help move her father into a care home. Now in his eighties, Alec has dementia and often mistakes his daughter for her mother. Etty is a changed woman from the trouble-free girl she was when Charlie was still around – all the Salter children have spent decades running and hiding from their mother’s disappearance. But when their childhood friends, Greg and Morgen Ackerley, decide to do a podcast about Charlotte’s disappearance, it seems like the town’s buried secrets – and the Salters’ – might finally come to light.
After all this time, will they finally find out what really happened to Charlotte Salter?
Published February 29th by Bantam Press Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Psycholgical Thriller, Crime Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Eight contestants. One killer. Can you find the traitor?
‘Wow! What a page-turner. I’m a Celebrity meets Lord of the Flies.’ Emma Curtis
‘The pace never slackens.’ Faith Martin
‘Dark, disturbing and addictive.’ L. C. North
Everything is a clue. Bonnie arrives on a remote sea fort off the coast of England to take part in a mysterious reality TV show. Competing against seven strangers, she must solve a series of puzzles to win the prize money, but this is no game – and the consequences of failure are deadly.
No one leaves. Under scrutiny from the watching public, the contestants quickly turn on one another. Who will sacrifice the most for wealth and fame? And why can’t Bonnie shake the creeping sense that they are not alone?
The only way out is to win. When the first contestant is found dead, Bonnie begins to understand the dark truth at the heart of this twisted competition: there’s a killer inside the fort, and anyone could be next. If Bonnie wants to escape, she needs to win…
Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
Published February 29th by Michael Joseph Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Cozy Mystery, Crime Fiction, Dark Comedy
SYNOPSIS: ‘Clever, satisfying, impossible to put down and gloriously inventive. It’s fantastic’ STUART TURTON
SIX WRITERS. FIVE DETECTIVES. FOUR DAYS. THREE WEAPONS. TWO MURDERS. ONE TRAIN…
When the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book. Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn’t pan out.
The program is a who’s who of crime writing royalty:
the debut writer (me!) the forensic science writer the blockbuster writer the legal thriller writer the literary writer the psychological suspense writer.
But when one of us is murdered, six authors quickly turn into five detectives. Together, we should know how to solve a crime.
Or commit one…
But how do you catch a killer, when all your suspects know how to get away with murder?
Published February 29th by Hutchinson Heinmann Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Crime Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘A thrillingly suspenseful novel that reveals its riches, layers and secrets through effortlessly elegant prose . . . I was hooked right through to the shocking end‘ BERNARDINE EVARISTO
‘Obsessed‘ KERRY WASHINGTON
‘A shimmering success’ DIANA EVANS
Nicole Oruwari has the perfect life: a handsome husband, a palatial house in the heart of Lagos and a glamorous group of friends. She left London and a troubled family past behind to become part of a community of expat wives.
But when Nicole disappears without a trace after a boat trip, the cracks in her so-called perfect life start to show. As the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends, her aunt Claudine flies to Nigeria to take matters into her own hands. As she digs into her niece’s life, she uncovers a hidden truth. But the more she finds out about Nicole, the more Claudine’s own buried history threatens to come to light.
Published February 29th by Fourth Estate Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Translated Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘Compelling, delightfully weird, often uncomfortable’ PANDORA SYKES
‘Unputdownable, breathtakingly original’ ERIN KELLY
‘Delicious’ i-D Magazine
‘Luscious … I devoured this’ IMOGEN CRIMP
The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story.
There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine.
Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.
Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body, might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?
Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, “The Konkatsu Killer”, Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.
‘A salty morsel with one hell of a bite’ ALICE SLATER
‘A tour de force that will leave readers satisfied‘ RYŌ ASAI
Published February 29th by Hemlock Press Mystery, Suspense, Psychologcial Thriller, Crime Fiction
SYNOPSIS: The brand new edge-of-your-seat thriller from the author of the smash hit bestseller The Woman in the Window.
“I’ll be dead in three months. Come tell my story.”
This is the chilling invitation from Sebastian Trapp, renowned mystery novelist, to his long-time correspondent Nicky Hunter, an expert in detective fiction. Welcomed into his lavish San Francisco mansion, Nicky begins to unravel Trapp’s life story under the watchful eyes of his enigmatic wife and plainspoken daughter.
But Sebastian Trapp is a mystery himself. And maybe – probably – a murderer.
Two decades ago, his first wife and son vanished, the case never solved. Is the master of mystery playing a deadly game? If so, who will be the loser?
And when a body surfaces in the family’s garden, they all realize the past isn’t buried – it’s waiting.
Published February 29th by Orenda Books Science Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Polictical Fiction, Adventure Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A young man and his young family set out on a perilous voyage across a devastated planet to uncover the origin of the events that set the world on its course to disaster … The prescient, deeply shocking prequel to the bestselling, critically acclaimed Climate Emergency thriller, The Forcing.
Kweku Ashworth is a child of the cataclysm, born on a sailboat to parents fleeing the devastation in search for a refuge in the Southern Ocean. Growing up in a world forever changed, his only connection to the events that set the planet on its course to disaster were the stories his step-father, long-dead, recorded in his manuscript, The Forcing.
But there are huge gaps in the story that his mother, still alive but old and frail, steadfastly refuses to speak of, even thirty years later. When he discovers evidence that his mother has tried to cover up the truth, and then stumbles across an account by someone close to the men who forced the globe into a climate catastrophe, he knows that it is time to find out for himself.
Determined to learn what really happened during his mother’s escape from the concentration camp to which she and Kweku’s father were banished, and their subsequent journey halfway around the world, Kweku and his young family set out on a perilous voyage across a devastated planet. What they find will challenge not only their faith in humanity, but their ability to stay alive.
The Descent is the devastating, nerve-shattering prequel to the critically acclaimed thriller The Forcing, a story of survival, hope, and the power of the human spirit in a world torn apart by climate change.
Death Flight (The Jonny Murphy Files Volume 2) by Sarah Sultoon
Published February 29th by Orenda Books Crime Fiction, Thriller, Political Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Cub reporter Jonny Murphy is in Buenos Aires interviewing families of victims of Argentina’s Dirty War, when a headless torso has washed up on a city beach, thrusting him into a shocking investigation…
Argentina. 1998. Human remains are found on a beach on the outskirts of Buenos Aires – a gruesome echo of when the tide brought home dozens of mutilated bodies thrown from planes during Argentina’s Dirty War. Flights of death, with passengers known as the Disappeared.
International Tribune reporter Jonny Murphy is in Buenos Aires interviewing families of the missing, desperate to keep their memory alive, when the corpse turns up. His investigations with his companion, freelance photographer Paloma Glenn, have barely started when Argentina’s simmering financial crisis explodes around them.
As the fabric of society starts to disintegrate and Argentine cities burn around them, Jonny and Paloma are suddenly thrust centre stage, fighting to secure both their jobs and their livelihoods.
But Jonny is also fighting something else, an echo from his own past that he’ll never shake, and as it catches up with him and Paloma, he must make choices that will endanger everything he knows…
Published February 29th by Penguin UK Hisotorical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Historical Romance, Historical Thriller, Mystery,
SYNOPSIS: THREE LOST SOULS. A LONG-BURIED SECRET. THE TRUTH THAT COULD SET THEM FREE…
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London, 1915: Tarot reader Katerina is trying to hold her life together amid the wartime chaos. When she opens a bakery that offers divination alongside sweet treats, she is hailed as a beacon of hope. But Katerina is hiding a dark truth that could cost her everything.
Germany, 1918: A mute British soldier is taken to a prisoner of war camp where he meets Miriam, a researcher. She is drawn to his gentle manner and secretly vows to help him. But soon she will have to make an impossible choice: will she save the one she loves, or herself?
Cornwall, Present Day: Recently widowed Edie is astonished to discover a mysterious box hidden in the wall of her newly renovated cottage. As Edie starts to investigate, she uncovers a secret that has lain hidden for over a century…
A long-held secret ties the tales of three women, from the cobbled streets of war-time London to an isolated German WWI camp, and the sea-swept cliffs of Cornwall. Beautifully told, moving and unforgettable.
Published February 29th by Phoenix Historical Fiction, Romance Novel, Regency Romance, Christian Fiction, Religious Fiction, Regency Fiction
SYNOPSIS: SELECTED FOR THE BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB WINNER OF THE MSLEXIA NOVEL COMPETITION
‘Beautifully written . . . I raced through it’ HILARY MANTEL
‘As exquisitely and tenderly rendered as a Gainsborough painting’ TRACY CHEVALIER
‘A moving exploration of the familial ties that bind us and the grief of a life half-lived . . . a wonderful debut that lingered with me’ ELIZABETH MACNEAL
1759, Ipswich. Sisters Peggy and Molly Gainsborough are the best of friends and do everything together. They spy on their father as he paints, they rankle their mother as she manages the books, they tear barefoot through the muddy fields that surround their home. But there is another reason they are inseparable: from a young age, Molly has had a tendency to forget who she is, to fall into mental confusion, and Peggy knows instinctively that no one must find out.
When the family move to Bath, the sisters are thrown into the whirl of polite society, where the merits of marriage and codes of behaviour are crystal clear, and secrets much harder to keep. As Peggy goes to greater lengths to protect her sister from the threat of an asylum, she finds herself falling in love, and their precarious situation is soon thrown catastrophically off course. The discovery of a betrayal forces Peggy to question all she has done for Molly – and whether any one person can truly change the fate of another.
The Antique Hunter’s Guide To Murder by C. L. Miller
Published February 29th by Pan Macmillan Mystery, Thriller, Cozy Mystery, Crime Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘A bold, bright and delightful jaunt back to the golden age of detective fiction’ Janice Hallett
‘A delicious read – who could resist a treasure hunt with murder at its core?’ SJ Bennett
‘It’s a delight!’ Katie Fforde
What antique would you kill for?
Freya, it’s down to you to finish what I started . . .
Freya Lockwood has avoided the quaint English village in which she grew up for the last 20 years. That is until news arrives that Arthur Crockleford, antiques dealer and Freya’s estranged mentor, has died . . . and the circumstances seem suspicious.
You will uncover an invitation, I implore you to attend . . .
But when a letter from Arthur is delivered, sent just days before his death, and an ordinary pine chest concealing Arthur’s journals are revealed, Freya finds herself sucked back into a life she’d sworn to leave behind.
But beware, trust no-one. Your life depends on it . . .
Joining forces with her eccentric Aunt Carole, Arthur’s staunch best friend, Freya follows both clues and her instincts to an old manor house for an ‘antiques enthusiasts weekend’. But not is all as it seems; the antiques are bad reproductions and the guests all have something to hide.
Can Freya and Carole solve the mystery and unearth the killer before they strike again?
Published February 29th by Orbit Fantasy Fiction, Urban Fantasy, High Fantasy, Romatic Fantasy
SYNOPSIS: ‘Prepare to be engulfed. Chan has superbly created a world as real and complex as our own, where oppression has no easy solutions and there is no success without sacrifice. Fast-paced action combined with true social depth make this an unforgettable, must-read fantasy’ Shelley Parker-Chan
Revolution is brewing in the semi-submerged city of Tiankawi, between humans and the fathomfolk who live in its waters. This gloriously imaginative debut fantasy, inspired by East Asian mythology and ocean folk tales, is a novel of magic, rebellion and change.
Welcome to Tiankawi – shining pearl of human civilization and a safe haven for those fleeing civil unrest. Or at least, that’s how it first appears. But in the semi-flooded city, humans are, quite literally, on top: peering down from shining towers and aerial walkways on the fathomfolk – sirens, seawitches, kelpies and kappas – who live in the polluted waters below.
For half-siren Mira, promotion to captain of the border guard means an opportunity to help her downtrodden people. But if earning the trust and respect of her human colleagues wasn’t hard enough, everything Mira has worked towards is put in jeopardy when Nami, a know-it-all water dragon and fathomfolk princess – is exiled to the city, under Mira’s watch. When extremists sabotage a city festival, violence erupts, as does the clampdown on fathomfolk rights. Both Nami and Mira must decide if the cost of change is worth paying, or if Tiankawi should be left to drown.
Published February 29th by Magpie Romantic Fantasy, Historical Romance, Fantasy Fiction, Paranormal Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Enemies-to-lovers doesn’t get more high stakes than a witch and a witch hunter falling in love in bestselling author Kristen Ciccarelli’s latest romantic fantasy.
On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.
Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can’t help but find herself falling for.
Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?
Kristen Ciccarelli’s The Crimson Moth is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch…is falling in love.
Published February 29th by Penguin UK Fantasy Fiction, Fairy Tales, Dark Fantasy, Paranormal Fiction, Romantic Fantasy, YA Fantasy
SYNOPSIS: ‘Where the Dark Stands Still is a triumph; a deeply romantic debut with spiralling, atmospheric prose that swept me up and away to the enchanted forests of Polish folklore. You’ll never want to leave this beautiful, magical world’.Sarah Underwood, NYT Bestselling Author of Lies We Sing to theSea
A sweeping gothic fairytale romance for fans of Belladonna by Adalyn Grace and Gallant by V.E. Schwab.
Raised in a small village near the spirit-wood, Liska Radost knows that Magic is monstrous, and its practitioners, monsters.
After Liska unleashes her own powers with devastating consequences, she is caught by the demon warden of the wood – the Leszy – who offers her a bargain: one year of servitude in exchange for a wish.
Whisked away to his crumbling manor, Liska makes an unsettling discovery: she is not the first person to strike this bargain and all of her predecessors have mysteriously vanished. If Liska wants to survive the year and return home, she must unravel her host’s spool of secrets and face the ghosts of his past.
Those who enter the wood do not always return . . .
Published February 29th by Fleet Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Humorous Fiction
SYNOPSIS: *AN OPRAH DAILY MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2024*
‘Incandescent, astonishing, a miracle. I’m elated and deeply grateful this book exists’ R. O. Kwon
‘Katherine Min is a singular, wildly talented voice and this is a trailblazing novel’ Sharlene Teo
‘Fiercely intelligent, perfectly crafted, and brimming with wit’ Lisa Ko A provocative, hilariously savage, and poignant novel by acclaimed author Katherine Min, to be published posthumously, about a daughter’s revenge on the man whom she believes drove her mother to her death . . . and nothing goes as planned.
The rain has made everything cold and damp, and it’s the perfect evening for Kyoko to exact her revenge. After years of rage and grief over her mother’s death, Kyoko has decided who is to blame: a man named Daniel, a fellow violinist who had wooed her mother, Emi, during their time together in an orchestra, and then dropped her – driving her to her death. Kyoko follows the unsuspecting Daniel home and manages to get her rash kidnapping plot off the ground . . . and really, what could go wrong?
The Fetishist is the story of three people – Kyoko, a young singer in a punk band who cannot find enough ways to channel her angry sorrow; Daniel, a seemingly hapless man who finally faces the wreckage of his past; and Alma, the love of Daniel’s life, long adored for her beauty and talent, but who spends her final days examining if she was ever, truly, loved. It’s a beautiful, piercing and timely story that confronts race, ideals of femininity, complicity and visibility. Written and completed before the celebrated author’s death in 2019, it’s startlingly relevant and prescient, as wise and powerful as it is utterly moving.
Published February 29th by Mudlark Biography, Autobiography, Literary Reference
SYNOPSIS: The captivating true story of an underdog business – a feminist bookshop founded in Thatcher’s Britain – from a woman at the heart of the women’s liberation movement.
An Independent and Stylist Best Non-Fiction Book for 2024
What was it like to start a feminist bookshop, in an industry dominated by men? How could a lesbian thrive in Thatcher’s time, with the government legislating to restrict her rights? How do you run a business when your real aim is to change the world?
Silver Moon was the dream of three women – a bookshop with the mission to promote the work of female writers and create a much-needed safe space for any woman. Founded in 1980s London against a backdrop of homophobia and misogyny, it was a testament to the power of community, growing into Europe’s biggest women’s bookshop and hosting a constellation of literary stars from Margaret Atwood and Maya Angelou to Angela Carter. While contending with day-to-day struggles common to other booksellers, plus the additional burdens of misogyny and the occasional hate crime, Jane Cholmeley and her booksellers created a thriving business. But they also played a crucial and relatively unsung part in one the biggest social movements of our time.
A Bookshop of One’s Own is a fascinating slice of social history from the heart of the women’s liberation movement, from a true feminist and lesbian icon. Written with heart and humour, it reveals the struggle and joy that comes with starting an underdog business, while being a celebration of the power women have to change the narrative when they are the ones holding the pen.
Maurice and Maralyn : A Whale, a Shipwreck, a Love Story by Sophie Elmhirst
Publshed February 29th by Chatto & Windus Biography, True Stories
SYNOPSIS: ***A Waterstones Book You Need to Read in 2024 *** Guardian Biggest Nonfiction of 2024 *** Observer Nonfiction to Look Out for 2024 ***
‘One of those very special books that makes you put everything on hold so you can get back to it’ RACHEL JOYCE * ‘Beautiful, moving and genuinely unputdownable’ JOANNA CANNON * ‘Extraordinary . . . Elmhirst is a terrific writer’ ELIZABETH DAY * ‘Easily one of the most captivating works of narrative nonfiction I’ve ever read’ OLIVER BURKEMAN
What begins as an eccentric English love story turns into one of the most dramatic adventures ever recorded…
Maurice and Maralyn couldn’t be more different. He is as cautious and awkward as she is charismatic and forceful. It seems an unlikely romance, but it works.
Bored of 1970s suburban life, Maralyn has an idea: sell the house, build a boat, leave England — and its oil crisis, industrial strikes and inflation — forever. It is hard work, turning dreams into reality, but finally they set sail for New Zealand. Then, halfway there, their beloved boat is struck by a whale. It sinks within an hour, and the pair are cast adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
On their tiny raft, over the course of days, then months, their love is put to the test. When Maurice begins to withdraw into himself, it falls upon Maralyn to keep them both alive. Their pet turtle helps, as does devising menus for fantasy dinners and dreaming of their next voyage.
Filled with danger, spirit and tenderness, this is a book about human connection and the human condition; about how we survive — not just at sea, but in life.
February is so packed full of amazing new releases that I’ve had to split it into two parts. There’s new releases from some of my favourite authors like John Marrs, Tina Baker, Margaret Atwood, Dorothy Koomson, Alex Michaelides, Lizzie Pook and Milly Johnson, and exciting debuts such as Anna O, Frank and Red, A Sign of Her Own, Deadly Aminals, Meet Me at the Surface, and The List of Suspicious Things. On February 1st alone there are 15 books in my most anticipated list! That is just crazy. I swear that publishers don’t want us to finish our TBRs.
So, here is part one of my most anticipated February releases:
The Stranger in Her House by John Marrs
Published February 1st by Thomas & Mercer Suspense, Psychological Thriller
SYNOPSIS: A stranger has infiltrated your family…and now he’s taking over.
Paul’s just here to help, or so he claims―sent by a charity for vulnerable people to do odd jobs for elderly widow Gwen. But for Gwen’s daughter Connie, there’s just something about Paul that rings alarm bells from day one. He’s a little too kind, a little too involved…Worse still, Gwen seems to have fallen under his spell.
The last thing Connie wants is a stranger meddling in the safe routine she’s built around Gwen. She loves being the one Gwen turns to for cooking, cleaning and company. But the more Paul visits, the more Gwen is relying on him. By the time he conveniently finds himself between homes and has no choice but to move in, Connie is certain he’s trying to push her out completely.
It’s her word against his, though, and as her attempts to unmask him become ever more desperate she’s not the only one left wondering if she’s lost her grip on reality. But when events start spiralling rapidly out of her control, should Connie wage all-out war on Paul and risk losing Gwen forever―or has that been his plan all along?
Published February 1st by Harper Collins UK Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Medical Thriller
SYNOPSIS:
ANNA O – THE WORLD WILL KNOW HER NAME
‘Reads like a dream but unsettles like a nightmare’ A J FINN
‘Certain to be on of the year’s best thrillers’ LEE CHILD
_______________________________________________
*The instant global phenomenon*
*Publishing in over 30 territories*
*The thriller that will wake up the nation*
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ANNA O HASN’T OPENED HER EYES FOR FOUR YEARS
Not since the night she was found in a deep sleep by the bodies of her best friends, suspected of a chilling double murder.
For Doctor Benedict Prince, a forensic psychologist on London’s Harley Street, waking Anna O could be career-defining. As an expert in sleep, he knows all about the darkest chambers of the mind; the secrets that lie buried in the subconscious.
As he begins Anna O’s treatment – studying his patient’s dreams, combing her memories, visiting the site where the horrors played out – he pulls on the thread of a much deeper, darker mystery.
Awakening Anna O isn’t the end of the story, it’s just the beginning.
Published February 1st by Michael Joseph Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Mystery
SYNOPSIS: Totally original and utterly compelling, with a voice all of its own, this is the outstanding new thriller from the no.1 internationally bestselling author of The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides.
‘My favourite Alex Michaelides yet –the undisputed master of the twist’ Lucy Foley ‘The king of all unreliable narrators, enough twists and turns to power two novels’ David Baldacci ‘You’ll think you know where it’s going and you couldn’t be more wrong’ Linwood Barclay ‘A very special bookand highly recommended’ Janice Hallett ‘The best novel yet from Alex Michaelides’ Sophie Hannah Even better than The Silent Patient… Alex Michaelides is a magician’ JP Delaney _______
‘There were seven of us in all, trapped on the island. One of us was a murderer . . .’
On a small private Greek island, former movie star Lana Farrar – an old friend – invites a select group of us to stay.
It’ll be hot, sunny, perfect. A chance to relax and reconnect – and maybe for a few hidden truths to come out.
Because nothing on this island is quite what it seems.
Not Lana. Not her guests.
Certainly not the murderer – furiously plotting their crime . . .
But who am I?
My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard.
Published February 1st by Headline Thriller, Suspense, Mystery, Psychological Fiction, Crime Fiction
SYNOPSIS: It takes one moment to call for help. So why did he wait?
‘The rare gift that delivers it all’ ASHLEY AUDRAIN ‘Truly gripping and deeply satisfying’ CHRIS WHITAKER ‘I was hooked’ JANE CORRY ‘A new thriller writer to watch’ ROBYN HARDING ‘Left me in awe’ JO LEEVERS ___________
THE QUESTION For the last ten years, the small town of West Wilmer has been struggling to answer one question: on the night of the crash that killed his sister, why did it take Grant Dean twenty-seven minutes to call for help? If he’d called sooner, Phoebe might still be alive.
THE SECRET As the anniversary of Phoebe’s death approaches, Grant is consumed by his memories and the secret that’s been suffocating him for years. But he and Phoebe weren’t the only ones in the car that night. Becca was there too – she’s the only other person who knows what really happened. Or is she?
THE TRUTH Everyone remembers Phoebe, but local girl June also lost someone that night. Her brother Wyatt has been missing for ten years and, now that her mother is dead, June has no one left – no family, no friends. Until someone appears at her door. Someone who knows what really happened that night. And they are ready to tell the truth.
With a shocking twist that will leave you breathless, Twenty-Seven Minutes is a gripping story about what happens when grief becomes unbearable, dark secrets are unearthed, and the horrifying truth is revealed.
Published February 1st by Faber & Faber Mystery, Thriller, Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
OPRAH DAILY’S #1 Book of 2023 A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK FINALIST FOR THE NEW AMERICAN VOICES AWARD AMAZON EDITOR’S CHOICE & TOP TWENTY NOVEL OF THE YEAR ‘A Brilliant, satisfying, compassionate mystery.’ GABRIELLE ZEVIN ‘I can’t remember a book with more layers. . . I was riveted through the last page.’ JODI PICOULT ‘Gorgeous . a layered and innovative exploration of family, love, happiness, and race.’ JEAN KWOK
We didn’t call the police right away. Later, I would blame myself, wonder if things might have turned out differently if I hadn’t shrugged it off, insisting Dad wasn’t missing missing but just delayed, probably still in the woods looking for Eugene.
Mia Parkson’s life is turned upside down when her stay-at-home dad, the family’s anchor, goes missing. The only witness? Eugene – her younger, nonspeaking teenage brother.
As the Police struggle for leads, and her mother and twin brother struggle to keep things together at home, Mia gains access to key clues about her father’s disappearance. Headstrong, hyper analytical, and with secrets of her own, she decides to try and solve the case. But could Mia’s impulsive actions be putting her whole family in danger?
Published February 1st by Picador Historical Fiction, Gothic Fiction, Victorian Gothic, Historical Thriller, Literary Fiction, Adventure Ficiton
SYNOPSIS: ‘Grisly, addictive fun . . . I devoured it in 24 hours’ – Emilia Hart, author of Weyward
In deepest winter, beware the coldest hearts . . .
London, 1850. Constance Horton has disappeared.
Maude, her older sister, knows only that Constance abandoned the apothecary they call home, and, disguised as a boy, boarded a ship bound for the Arctic. She never returned. ‘A tragic accident’, the Admiralty called it. But Maude Horton knows something isn’t right.
When she finds Constance’s journal, it becomes clear that the truth is being buried by sinister forces. To find answers – and deliver justice for her sister – Maude must step into London’s dark underbelly, and into the path of dangerous, powerful men. The kind of men who seek their fortune in the city’s horrors, from the hangings at Newgate to the ghoulish waxworks of Madame Tussaud’s.
It is a perilous task. But Maude has dangerous skills of her own . . .
‘Brilliant! Stuffed with adventure’ – Stuart Turton, author of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
Published February 1st by Wildfire Humorous Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Sometimes, the friend you need is the one you never saw coming.
‘A lovely feel-good treat’ The Times | ‘Simply perfect’ Daily Mirror | ‘Hilariously funny… and beneath it all really quite lovely’ The Metro | Brilliant, just brilliant’ Huffington Post
Frank and Red are a mess.
Frank is a grumpy old curmudgeon. A recluse whose only company is the ‘ghost’ of his dead wife, Marcie. He is estranged from his friends, his son, and the ever-changing world beyond his front gate.
And then Red moves in next door.
Red is six. A boy struggling to adjust to the separation of his mum and dad, a new school, and the demonic school bully. Red is curious, smart, he never stops talking, and he’s got a trampoline. From the moment Red’s blonde mop appears over the top of the fence that divides their two gardens, the unlikeliest of friendships is born.
. . . And it is a friendship that will change both of their lives forever.
Published February 1st by Tinder Press Historical Fiction, Alternative History, Adventure Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘Absolutely brilliant. Ellen Lark is unforgettable’ Emilia Hart, author of Weyward ‘Illuminating… Excellently conveys the experience of being deaf in a hearing world’ Priscilla Morris, Women’s Prize Shortlisted author of Black Butterflies ‘A fantastic novel. Shines a light into a hidden corner of history’ Louise Hare author of This Lovely City and Miss Aldridge Regrets Ellen Lark is on the verge of marriage when she and her fiancé receive an unexpected visit from Alexander Graham Bell.
Ellen knows immediately what Bell really wants from her. Ellen is deaf, and for a time was Bell’s student in a technique called Visible Speech. As he instructed her in speaking, Bell also confided in her about his dream of producing a device which would transmit the human voice along a wire: the telephone. Now, on the cusp of wealth and renown, Bell wants Ellen to speak up in support of his claim to the patent to the telephone, which is being challenged by rivals.
But Ellen has a different story to tell: that of how Bell betrayed her, and other deaf pupils, in pursuit of ambition and personal gain, and cut Ellen off from a community in which she had come to feel truly at home. It is a story no one around Ellen seems to want to hear – but there may never be a more important time for her to tell it.
The Unfinished Life of Eadie Browne by Freya North
Published February 1st by Welbeck Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A powerful love letter to youth from Sunday Times bestselling author of Little Wing.
When your present meets your past, what do you take with you – and what do you leave behind?
Eadie Browne is an odd child with unusual parents, living in a strange house neighbouring the local cemetery. Bullied at school – but protected by her two best friends Celeste and Josh, and her many imaginary friends lying six feet under next door – Eadie muddles her way through.
Arriving in Manchester as a student in the late 1980s, Eadie confronts a busy, gritty Victorian metropolis a far cry from the small Garden City she’s left behind. Soon enough she experiences a novel freedom she never imagined and it’s seductive. She can be who she wants to be, do as she pleases, and no one back home needs to know. As Manchester embraces the dizzying, colourful euphoria of Rave counterculture, Eadie is swept along, blithely ignoring danger and reality. Until, one night, her past comes hurtling at her with ramifications which will continue into her adult life.
Now, as the new Millennium beckons, Eadie is turning 30 with a marriage in tatters. She must travel back to where she once lived for a funeral she can’t quite comprehend. As she journeys from the North to the South, from the present to the past, Eadie contemplates all that was then – and all that is now – in this moving love letter to youth.
Published February 1st by W&N Humorous Fiction, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A BEST BOOK OF 2024 IN STYLIST, DAILY MAIL, THE I,IRISH TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES AND RED
‘incredibly funny. Every sentence sparkles’ CAITLIN MORAN ‘This year’s Sorrow and Bliss. Hilarious and heartbreaking’ DAILY MAIL ‘The debut of the year’ THE I PAPER ‘Witty as Fleabag, psychologically insightful as Sally Rooney’ LUCIE WHITEHOUSE
Hera is in her mid-twenties, which seems young to everyone except people in their mid-twenties.
Since leaving school, she has been trying to kick and scream into existence a life she cares about, but with little success so far.
Until she meets Arthur.
He works with her, he is older than her, he is also married. But in her soulless office – the large cold room she feels destined to spend her life in – he is a source of much-needed sustenance.
And though Hera has previously dated women, she soon falls headlong into a workplace romance that will quickly consume her life.
Laugh-out-loud funny, deeply moving and whip smart, Green Dot is a story about the terrible allure of wanting something that promises nothing and the winding, torturous, often hilarious journey we take in deciding who we are and who we want to be.
Published February 1st by HQ Mystery, Dark Comedy, Psychological Thriller, Satire, Suspense, Contremporary Romance, Adventure Fiction
SYNOPSIS: From the author of How to Kill Men and Get Away With It, don’t miss this wickedly witty and utterly addictive novel, perfect for fans of Bella Mackie, Dawn O’Porter and Killing Eve.
Something bad happened last night.
I’ve woken up with the hangover from hell, a stranger in my bed, and I’ve gone viral for the worst reasons.
But I can’t remember a thing…
My best friend Posey is dead. The police think it was a tragic accident. I know she was murdered.
There’s only one thing stopping me from dying of shame. I need to find a killer.
Published February 1st by Legend Press Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Biographical Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘One of the best novels I have read this year’ Iris Costello ‘A luminous, pin-sharp portrait of a true trailblazer’ Zoe Howe
Societies are oiled with the unpaid, unaccounted for, work of women. It is the very glue that binds us together, and yet we are blind to it; a woman’s work remains invisible.
Rosalind Franklin knows that to be a woman in a man’s world is to be invisible. In the 1950s science is a gentleman’s profession, and it appears after WWII that there are plenty of colleagues who want to keep it that way.
After being segregated at Cambridge, then ignored and put down in the workplace, she has no intention of being seen as a second-class citizen and throws everything into proving her worth. But despite her success in unlocking the very secret of life, the ultimate glory is claimed by the men she left in her wake.
Inspired by the true story of a woman so many tried to silence, Rosalind is a tale of hope and perseverance, love and betrayal … of real-life lessons in chemistry.
Published February 1st Bantam Press Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Richard Osman meets MasterChef. In this cookery school, murder is on the menu…
‘Delicious fun!’ Tess Gerritsen ‘Knife Skills for Beginners is a joy.’ S. J. Bennett ‘A deliciously dark slice of murder and mystery.’ Chris Whitaker ‘If Ruth Rendell had teamed up with Delia Smith they’d have produced something like this.’ J. M. Hall ‘Dazzlingly sharp with a wit that sparkles off the page.’ Jane Corry
A recipe for disaster. When chef Paul Delamare takes a job teaching at an exclusive residential cookery school in Belgravia, the only thing he expects his students to murder is his taste buds. But on the first night, the unthinkable happens: someone turns up dead…
The school rests on a knife-edge. The police are convinced Paul is the culprit. After all, he’s good with a blade, was first on the scene – and everyone knows it doesn’t take much to push a chef over the edge. To prove his innocence, he must find the killer. Could it be one of his students? Or the owner of the school – a woman with secrets and a murky past?
It all boils down to murder. If Paul can’t solve the mystery fast – as well as teach his students how to make a perfect hollandaise sauce – he’ll be next to get the chop.
Published February 1st by One More Chapter Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Gothic Fiction, Crime Fiction, Horror Ficiton
SYNOPSIS: ‘Wickedly fun and highly addictive… a delicious read with all the elements of a perfect whodunit’ Jeneva Rose, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Marriage
‘House on Haunted Hill mixed with Agatha Christie’ NetGalley Reviewer
The brand new locked-room thriller for fans of Ruth Ware and Freida McFadden.
You are cordially invited to the Beechwood Castle for a night you’ll never forget…
Six people find a thick cream envelope on their doorstep. Inside is an invitation to spend 24 hours in a crumbling manor house and be in with the chance to win a portion of one million dollars. The catch: Beechwood Castle was the site of one of the most horrific murders in modern history.
The smell of blood, decay and death still hangs heavy in the air.
Six people walk into the house. One of them is an imposter, all of them are traitors, which of them will survive the night?
Published February 1st by Avon Books Romance Novel, Saga, Humorous Fiction, Domestic Ficiton
SYNOPSIS: If you were to build a library that has shaped your life, which books would you choose?
For forty-two years, Sally Harrison has been building a library.
Each year, on her daughter’s birthday, she adds a new book to her shelves – with a note in the front dedicated to her own greatest work.
But Ella – Sally’s only child – fled to Australia twenty-one years ago after a heated exchange, and never looked back. And though Sally still dutifully adds a new paperback to the shelves every time the clock strikes midnight on July 11th, her hopes of her daughter ever thumbing through the pages are starting to dwindle.
Then disaster strikes and Ella is forced to return to the home she once knew.
She is soon to discover that when one chapter ends, another will soon follow.
All you have to do is turn the page…
Journey through the pages of this heartwarming novel, where hope, friendship and second chances are written in the margins. Perfect for book lovers everywhere and fans of Sally Page’s The Keeper of Stories.
Published February 6th by Chatto & Windus Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A BBC, Financial Times and Cosmopolitan What to Read in 2024 pick
Set in a New York apartment building, Fourteen Days is an irresistibly propulsive novel with an unusual twist: each character in this diverse, eccentric cast of neighbours has been secretly written by a different, major literary voice – from Margaret Atwood and John Grisham to Emma Donoghue and Celeste Ng.
One week into lockdown, the tenants of a run-down apartment building in Manhattan have begun to gather on the rooftop each evening and tell stories. With each passing night, more and more neighbours gather, bringing chairs and milk crates and overturned pails. Gradually the tenants – some of whom have barely spoken to each other before now – become real neighbours.
A dazzling, heartwarming and ultimately surprising narrative, Fourteen Days is an ode to the power of storytelling and human connection.
Includes writing from: Charlie Jane Anders, Margaret Atwood, Jennine Capo Crucet, Pat Cummings, Joseph Cassara, Angie Cruz, Sylvia Day, Emma Donoghue, Dave Eggers, Diana Gabaldon, Tess Gerritsen, John Grisham, Maria Hinojosa, Mira Jacob, Erica Jong, CJ Lyons, Celeste Ng, Tommy Orange, Mary Pope Osborne, Doug Preston, Alice Randall, Caroline Randall, Ishmael Reed, Roxana Robinson, Nelly Rosario, James Shapiro, Hampton Sides, R.L. Stine, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Monique Truong, Scott Turow, Luis Alberto Urrea, Rachel Vail, Weike Wang, DeShawn Charles Winslow, Meg Wolitzer
Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead by Jenny Hollander
Published February 6th by Constable Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller
SYNOPSIS: THEY CALL ME THE LUCKY ONE. THEY DON’T KNOW I LIED.
‘My favourite debut of the year . . . utterly compelling’ LUCY CLARKE
‘Glossy, clever and unsettling’ ANDREA MARA
‘One of the most chilling reads of the year’ M. W. CRAVEN
‘Totally gripping’ RACHEL ABBOTT
‘The breakout debut thriller of 2024’ CELIA WALDEN __________________________________________
Nine years ago, Charlie Colbert’s life changed for ever.
On Christmas Eve, as the snow fell, her elite graduate school was the site of a chilling attack. Several of her classmates died. Charlie survived.
Years later, Charlie has the life she always wanted at her fingertips: she’s editor-in-chief of a major magazine and engaged to the golden child of the publishing industry.
But when a film adaptation of that fateful night goes into production, Charlie’s dark past threatens to crash into her shiny present.
Charlie was named a ‘witness’ in the police reports. Yet she knows she was much more than that.
The truth about that night will shatter everything she’s worked for. Just how far will she go to protect it?
THE GRIPPING DEBUT THRILLER OF 2024. A dark and deeply compulsive read that will keep you racing through the pages late into the night, perfect for fans of Lucy Foley, Gillian McAllister and Girl A by Abigail Dean.
Published February 8th by Sphere Historical Fiction, Gothic Fiction
SYNOPSIS: THE ESSEX SERPENT MEETS AMMONITE IN THE STUNNING HISTORICAL NOVEL EVERYBODY IS TALKING ABOUT:
‘Singular and astonishing . . . I’ve never met a character quite like Ada’ ANNIE GARTHWAITE ‘The Bone Hunters has cemented Joanne Burn’s place as one of my favourite writers’ SONIA VELTON ‘Joanne Burn is fast becoming my go-to historical fiction writer’ EMMA CARROLL ‘The Bone Hunters is that rare combination . . . beautifully written but also a gripping page-turner’ LAURA SHEPPERSON ________
In 1824, Lyme Regis is as tumultuous as the sea that surrounds it. When twenty-four-year-old Ada Winters – poor, peculiar and brilliant – uncovers a set of unusual fossils on the cliffs, she believes she has found the answer to her scientific frustrations and her family’s financial struggles.
Meanwhile, Doctor Edwin Moyle has come to Dorset in search of the discovery that will place him amongst the greatest geologists of the age. What he finds instead is a strange young woman who seems to hold the key to everything he desires.
But what is the creature that Ada and Edwin seek to unearth? And will it lead them to greatness, or destruction?
Published February 8th by Hodder & Stoughton Historical Fiction, Erotic Literature, Adventure Fiction
SYNOPSIS: THE ENCHANTING NEW NOVEL BY THE AUTHOR OF THE 2022 WATERSTONES SCOTTISH BOOK OF THE YEAR, THE FAIR BOTANISTS.
You wouldn’t suspect it, but scandalous secrets are being kept on Blythswood Square…
1846. Glasgow is a city on the cusp of great social change, but behind the curtains, neighbours are watching, and rumours of improper behaviour spread like wildfire on the respectable Blythswood Square.
When Charlotte Nicholl discovers that the fortune she has been bequeathed by her father is tied up in a secret collection of erotic art, she is faced with a terrible dilemma: sell it and risk shaming her family’s good name or lose her home.
An encounter with Ellory McHale, a talented working-class photographer newly arrived in Glasgow, leads Charlotte to hope she has found not only someone who might help her, but also a friend. Yet Ellory is hiding secrets of her own – secrets that become harder to conceal as she finds herself drawn into Charlotte’s world.
As the truth begins to catch up with both women, will it destroy everything they’ve fought to build – or set them both free?
Until one night after a work event she suffers an unspeakable attack.
As she tries to confront what happened to her, she finds herself caught between her parents who can’t understand, her boyfriend who feels betrayed, and her job that expects silence. The world Jade has constructed starts to crumble.
This raw, darkly funny novel explores the ‘grey-area’ of consent and recovery that’s far from linear, and will leave you asking yourself: what would you have done in Jade’s situation?
‘JADED is a thoughtful, hard-hitting exploration of race, identity, and the rippling effects of sexual assault. Ela Lee writes with an urgency and clarity that will have you hooked until the last page.’ ? Cecile Pin, Women’s Prize longlisted author of Wandering Souls
Content warning: this novel features themes of sexual assault and violence.
Published February 8th by Viking Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller
SYNOPSIS: DISCOVER THE THRILLER KEEPING EVERYONE AWAKE
‘The most gripping thriller I have ever read’ GILLIAN McALLISTER ‘As tender as it is terrifying’ ABIGAIL DEAL ‘I am trying to think of a book that has grabbed me by the throat more quickly’ LINWOOD BARCLAY ‘You won’t be able to look away’ SHARI LAPENA ‘Heart-thumping and mesmerizing’ ASHLEY AUDRAIN
—-
There was someone in the house.
Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. Then she hears a noise – old houses are always making some kind of noise. But this sound is disturbingly familiar: it’s the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs…
In that split second, she has three choices.
Should she hide? Should she run? Or should she fight?
Published February 8th by Footnote Press Literary Fiction, LGBTQLiterature, Contemporary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘Mongrel is so beautiful that I became lost in it . . . Simply, it must be read’ LISA TADDEO ‘A brilliant explosion of writing and storytelling . . . This feels like reading an Oscar-winning film’ AISLING BEA ‘Heart-shatteringly visceral and precise . . . a triumphant tribute to the self’ WIZ WHARTON ‘This compulsive, engrossing, and gorgeous debut will utterly consume you. Read it now’ STEPHANIE SCOTT
Mei loses her Japanese mother at age six. Growing up in suburban Surrey, she yearns to fit in, suppressing not only her heritage but her growing desire for her best friend Fran.
Yuki leaves the Japanese countryside to pursue her dream of becoming a concert violinist in London. Far from home and in an unfamiliar city, she finds herself caught up in the charms of her older teacher.
Haruka attempts to navigate Tokyo’s nightlife and all of its many vices, working as a hostess in the city’s sex district. She grieves a mother who hid so many secrets from her, until finally one of those secrets comes to light . . .
Shifting between three intertwining narratives, Mongrel reveals a tangled web of desire, isolation, belonging and ultimately, hope.
Published February 8th by Head of Zeus Fantasy Fiction, Gothic Ficiton, Contemporary Fantasy, Supernatural Fiction, Coming-of-Age Story
SYNOPSIS: ‘A dizzying dream ride you will never forget’ LEIGH BARDUGO ‘An astonishing, gorgeous novel’ HOLLY BLACK ‘An incredible achievement’ CASSANDRA CLARE
FROM PULITZER-PRIZE FINALIST KELLY LINK
Supernatural beings and chaos descend on the small seaside town of Lovesend, Massachusetts, in the wake of the unexpected return of three missing teenagers.
Laura, Daniel and Mo disappeared without trace a year ago. They have long been presumed dead. Which they were. But now they are not. And it is up to the resurrected teenagers to discover what happened to them.
Revived by Mr Anabin – the man they knew as their high school music teacher – they are offered a chance to return to the mortal realm. But first they must solve the mystery of their death and learn to use the magic they now possess. And only two of them may stay.
What they do not realise is their return has upset a delicate balance that has held – just – for centuries.
Published February 13th by Quercus Historical Fiction, Mystery, Fairy Tale
SYNOPSIS: Some people think foxes go around collecting qi, or life force, but nothing could be further than the truth. We are living creatures, just like you, only usually better looking . . .
Manchuria, 1908: A young woman is found frozen in the snow.
Her death is clouded by rumours of foxes, believed to lure people into peril by transforming into beautiful women and men. Bao, a detective with a reputation for sniffing out the truth, is hired to uncover the dead woman’s identity. Since childhood, Bao has been intrigued by the fox gods, yet they’ve remained tantalizingly out of reach. Until, perhaps, now.
Snow is a creature of many secrets, but most of all, she’s a mother seeking vengeance. Hunting a murderer, the trail will take her from northern China to Japan, with Bao following doggedly behind.
And as their paths draw ever closer together, both Snow and Bao will encounter old friends and new foes, even as more deaths occur.
The Fox Wife is a stunning novel about old loves and second chances, the depth of maternal bonds, and ancient folktales that may very well be true.
Published February 13th by Titan Books Gothic Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Fairy Tale, Dark Fantasy
SYNOPSIS: Set in the same universe as the acclaimed All the Murmuring Bones and The Path of Thorns (one of Oprah Daily’s Top 25 Fantasy Novels of 2022), this beautifully told Gothic fairy tale of ghosts, witches, deadly secrets and past sins, will be perfect for fans of Hannah Whitten and Ava Reid.
Ellie Briar is the first non-witch to be born into her family for generations. The Briar family of witches run the town of Silverton, caring for its inhabitants with their skills and magic. In the usual scheme of things, they would be burnt for their sorcery, but the church has given them dispensation in return for their protection of the borders of the Darklands, where the much-feared Leech Lords hold sway.
Ellie is being trained as a steward, administering for the town, and warding off the insistent interest of the church. When her grandmother dies suddenly, Ellie’s cousin Audra rises to the position of Briar Witch, propelling Ellie into her new role. As she navigates fresh challenges, an unexpected new ability to see and speak to the dead leads her to uncover sinister family secrets, stories of burnings, lost grimoires and evil spells. Reeling from one revelation to the next, she seeks answers from the long dead and is forced to decide who to trust, as a devastating plot threatens to destroy everything the Briar witches have sacrificed so much to build.
Told in the award-winning author’s trademark gorgeous, addictive prose, this is an intricately woven tale of a family of witches struggling against the bonds of past sins and persecution.
Published February 15th by Viper Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychcological Thriller
SYNOPSIS: ‘Haunting and atmospheric’ – DAILY MAIL ‘Tina Baker’s best yet’ – JANICE HALLETT ‘Compelling and suspenseful’ – LISA HALL Everyone brings their secrets to the island…
On the beautiful and windswept island of Tresco, two worlds live side by side. The wealthy visitors come by helicopter to stay at their lavish time-share properties. The estate staff travel by boat, and work all hours to keep them happy, to keep the money flowing in.
But while the blue skies and savage waves make the island seem a wild paradise, under the surface the inhabitants are concealing more than they dare reveal. The truths about their marriages, their love affairs, and what they do in the darkness while their neighbours are sleeping.
As black clouds come rolling in and a storm hits the island, truths and rumours begin to tumble out, wreaking terrible damage. In the midst of the tempest, two women are attacked and one goes missing. The secrets of this fragile community can no longer be hidden if it hopes to survive. The islanders must finally reveal what they did in the storm, no matter the cost.
From the #1 bestselling author of Call Me Mummy comes a dark and luscious thriller, perfect for readers of Harriet Tyce, Amanda Jennings and Louise Candlish.
Published February 15th by Headline Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Crime Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘Master of the jaw-dropping twist’ S MAGAZINE
Please take care of my baby. But don’t try to find me. You’ll put him in danger. x
Profiler and therapist Kez Lanyon is shocked when she finds a baby on the backseat of her car, with an unsigned note asking her to take care of him.
Kez has a pretty good idea who the mother is – Brandee, a popular social media star with a troubled background, who once lived in Kez’s house.
Brandee recently dropped out of the limelight and if the internet rumours are true, Kez knows Brandee’s life is in danger.
Kez is torn. Should she simply take care of the baby as she’s been asked, or should she risk her whole family by using contacts from her previous job to save this young woman?
Time is running out for Brandee. Can Kez find her before it’s too late?
This is the heart-stopping new novel from The Queen Of The Big Reveal.
Published February 15th by Zaffre Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Police Procedural
SYNOPSIS: DISCOVERTHE GRIPPING 2024 BRITISH CRIME NOVEL EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT:
‘Utterly mesmerising’ – PETER JAMES ‘A crime novel I wish I had written’ – LYNDA LA PLANTE ‘Marie’s writing is beautiful’ – BELINDA BAUER ‘Exceptional in every way’ – CHRIS WHITAKER ‘A dark glittering gem of a book’ – LISA GRAY ‘Gloriously dark, deadly and deathly’ – C. J. SKUSE ‘An incredible debut. Damn near perfect’ – SUSI HOLLIDAY ‘A masterpiece’ – WILLIAM HUSSEY
Thirteen-year-old Ava Bonney possesses an unusual intellect far beyond her years. While her friends play, Ava’s fascination lies in the intricate process of animal decomposition, studying roadkill found in the streets around her home.
But, one night, Ava’s secret nocturnal routine takes a chilling turn when she stumbles upon the lifeless body of fellow schoolmate, Mickey Grant.
As Detective Seth Delahaye takes charge of the perplexing case, Ava refuses to sit idle. Determined and resourceful, she embarks on a daring quest to unveil the truth behind the string of chilling deaths plaguing her community.
Armed with her unique skills and unrivalled local knowledge, Ava becomes an unlikely force in the race to apprehend the elusive killer before more lives are claimed.
‘Deadly Animals is a shockingly beautiful, rare and heartbreaking gem. I really can’t recommend it highly enough’ – CHRIS WHITAKER
Published February 15th by Fourth Estate Fairy Tale, Horror Fiction, Lesbian Literature
SYNOPSIS: A haunting ode to Cornish folklore and the secrets of the places we call home
‘An astonishing debut … Rhythmic, atmospheric and enduring’ CHARLIE CARROLL
‘A book where language feels like hands reaching into the soil, where landscapes feel alive, where sentences, houses and memory are suffused with the uncanny’ TOM DE FRESTON
Everything that comes from the ground has to go back down… eventually
Merryn grew up on the wilds of Bodmin moor, raised by her mother and her aunt in an old farmhouse. Here, the locals never leave the village, fear for the future of their farms and cling desperately to the folkloric tales that are woven into their history. Except Merryn, who has escaped to Manchester for university, briefly untethering herself from her past.
When Merryn returns home for the memorial service of her ex-girlfriend Claud, she finds her childhood home stranger and more secretive than ever. She’s sure that her mother is hiding something. The villagers are hunting on the moors at night, but for what? And then there’s a notebook, found in an old chest of drawers, full of long-forgotten folklore that seems to be linked somehow to Claud…
Published February 15th by Magpie Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Historical Fiction, Crime Fiction, Historical Mystery
SYNOPSIS: An unputdownable tale of obsession, jealousy and heartache against the backdrop of WW2
May 1945 and at long last, Rosamund Caradon is feeling optimistic. As she returns the last few evacuees to London from her Devonshire manor, she vows to protect dance-obsessed daughter Jasmine from further peril.
But a chance meeting with a Sadler’s Wells ballet dancer changes everything.
When the beautiful, elusive Briar Woods bursts into Rosamund’s train carriage, it’s clear her sights are set on the immediately captivated Jasmine. And Rosamund cannot shake the eerie feeling this accidental encounter is not what it seems.
For Briar may be far away from the pointe shoes and greasepaint of the Sleeping Beauty ballet that is so much a part of her, but her performance for Rosamund might just be her most successful yet.
This, Briar feels, is a show for a mother and daughter. A dance that could turn deadly…
One of Lucy Popescu’s Books to Look Forward to in 2024 in Camden New Journal
Published February 15th by Hutchinson Heinmann Mystery, Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Coming-of-Age Story
SYNOPSIS: ‘Funny, poignant and drawn with real compassion. This is a heart-warming book’ EMMA HEALEY
‘A heartwarming tale about the power of human connection, written with empathy, warmth and care. To read it is to feel that little bit better about life’ ELIZABETH DAY
‘Profoundly original and dazzlingly written. A beautiful mystery with heart’ ROB RINDER
Yorkshire, 1979
Maggie Thatcher is prime minister, drainpipe jeans are in, and Miv is convinced that her dad wants to move their family Down South.
Because of the murders.
Leaving Yorkshire and her best friend Sharon simply isn’t an option, no matter the dangers lurking round their way; or the strangeness at home that started the day Miv’s mum stopped talking. Perhaps if she could solve the case of the disappearing women, they could stay after all?
So, Miv and Sharon decide to make a list: a list of all the suspicious people and things down their street. People they know. People they don’t.
But their search for the truth reveals more secrets in their neighbourhood, within their families – and between each other – than they ever thought possible.
What if the real mystery Miv needs to solve is the one that lies much closer to home?
Published February 15th by Piatkus Contemporary Romance, Humororus Fiction, Domestic Fiction
SYNOPSIS: From the bestselling author of Everything Is Beautiful, comes an utterly heartwarming new novel, about what it truly means to belong to those you love.
‘Gripping, endearing and thought-provoking, this beautifully woven novel championing family, solidarity and friendship is full of warmth and heart. A joy from start to finish – one not to miss’ HOLLY MILLER ‘Heartfelt and heartwarming, this uplifting read is full of characters to cherish and cheer for’ PHAEDRA PATRICK
‘The Art of Belonging is a gorgeous read . . . Eleanor Ray has created a warm hug of a book that will capture your heart’ HEATHER CRITCHLOW
………………………………………… Sometimes you need to open your heart to find where you truly belong . . .
When unexpected circumstances bring Grace’s estranged daughter, Amelia, and granddaughter, Charlotte, to live in her home, complicated feelings start to emerge, revealing a messy and emotional past which drove this family apart.
It will take a school mystery, an exquisite miniature railway and some brave decisions to help them each find not only themselves, but also each other – and to appreciate what it truly means to belong together.
This uplifting novel will warm your heart and touch your soul, and remind you of all the reasons humans can be downright wonderful.
Published February 15th by Pan Macmillan Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Medical Fiction, War Story
SYNOPSIS: Soon to be a major motion picture!
‘Astonishing. Compelling. Powerful’ – Delia Owens, bestselling author of Where the Crawdads Sing
‘Stuns with sacrifice. Uplifts with heroism’ – Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry
From the worldwide bestselling author of The Four Winds, The Nightingale and Firefly Lane (a Number One series on Netflix),The Women is a story of devastating loss and epic love.
It would be the journey of a lifetime . . .
‘Women can be heroes, too’. When twenty-year-old nursing student, Frances “Frankie” McGrath, hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on California’s idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different path for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurses Corps and follows his path.
As green and inexperienced as the young men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unexpected trauma of coming home to a changed America. Frankie will also discover the true value of female friendship and the heartbreak that love can cause.
Published February 15th by Hodder & Stoughton Historical Fiction, War Story
SYNOPSIS: Jersey, 1943. Once a warm and neighbourly community, now German soldiers patrol the cobbled streets, imposing a harsh rule on the people of the island.
Grace La Mottée, the island’s only librarian, is ordered to destroy books which threaten the new regime. Instead, she hides the stories away in secret. Along with her headstrong best friend, postwoman Bea Rose, she wants to fight back. So she forms the wartime book club: a lifeline, offering fearful islanders the joy and escapism of reading.
But as the occupation drags on, the women’s quiet acts of bravery become more perilous – and more important – than ever before. And, when tensions turn to violence, they are forced to face the true, terrible cost of resistance . . .
Based on astonishing real events, The Wartime Book Club is a love letter to the power of books in the darkest of times – as well as a moving page-turner that brings to life the remarkable, untold story of an island at war.
Published February 15th by Simon & Schuster UK Romance Novel, Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: What if you could write your own perfect storyline…? The heartwarming, feelgood novel from the much-loved Sunday Times bestselling author, Milly Johnson.
‘Gloriously funny, witty, wise and wonderful, this book is a total joy!’ Alexandra Potter ‘A delicious warm hug of a book’ Jill Mansell ‘An escapist, uplifting read full of heart’ Libby Page ‘Funny and brilliant and gorgeously warm, Milly Johnson always, always delivers’ Paige Toon ‘Takes you on a classic transformative journey in the most wonderful and original way. What a joy!’ Julietta Henderson
Polly Potter is surviving, not thriving. She used to love her job – until her mentor died and her new boss decided to make her life hell. She used to love her partner Chris – until he cheated on her, and now she can’t forget. The only place where her life is working is on the pages of the novel she is writing – there she can create a feistier, bolder, more successful version of herself – as the fictional Sabrina Anderson.
But what if it was possible to start over again? To leave everything behind, forget all that went before, and live the life you’d always dreamed of?
After a set of unforeseen circumstances, Polly ends up believing she really IS Sabrina, living at the heart of a noisy Italian family restaurant by the sea. Run by Teddy, the son of her new landlady Marielle, it’s a much-loved place, facing threat of closure as a rival restaurant moves in next door. Sabrina can’t remember her life as Polly, but she knows she is living a different life from the one she used to have.
But what if this new life could belong to her after all?
Published February 15th by Transworld Books Contemporary Fantasy, Romance Novel, Magical Realsim, Mystery, Literary Fiction, Time Travel Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘Joyful, exuberant, and crackling with adventure.’ STUART TURTON
‘A clever and beautiful novel about the power of books.’ SUNYI DEAN
‘Full of magic, wonder and heart.’ ANITA FRANK
‘A magical, mesmerising adventure from the very first page.’ A. J. WEST
———————————-
Because some doors should never be opened.
New York bookseller Cassie Andrews is not sure what she’s doing with her life. She lives quietly, sharing an apartment with her best friend, Izzy. Then a favourite customer gives her an old book. Full of strange writing and mysterious drawings, at the very front there is a handwritten message:
This is the Book of Doors. Hold it in your hand, and any door is every door.
Cassie is about to discover that the Book of Doors is a special book – a magic book. A book that bestows extraordinary abilities on whoever possesses it. And she is about to learn that there are other magic books out there that can also do wondrous – or dreadful and terrifying – things.
Because where there is magic there is power and there are those who will stop at nothing to possess it.
Suddenly Cassie and Izzy are confronted by violence and danger, and the only person who can help them is Drummond Fox who has a secret library of magical books hidden in the shadows for safekeeping, a man fleeing his own demons. Because there is a nameless evil out there that is hunting them all . . .
Sunbringer (The Fallen Gods Trilogy, Book 2) by Hannah Kaner
Published Februayr 15th by Harper Voyager High Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction, Religious Science Fiction
SYNOPSIS: The thrilling epic fantasy sequel to No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller, GODKILLER.
War is coming, godkiller.
Gods are forbidden in the kingdom of Middren. Now they are stirring, whispering of war. Godkiller Kissen sacrificed herself to vanquish the fire god Hseth and save her friends, but gods cannot be destroyed so easily – and neither can godkillers.
Reeling from the loss of Kissen, young noble Inara and her little god of white lies, Skedi, seek answers to the true nature of their bond. The secrets they uncover could determine the outcome of the war.
Meanwhile, Elogast, no longer a loyal knight of King Arren, has been charged with destroying the man he once called friend. The king vowed to eradicate all gods, but has now entered into an unholy pact with the most dangerous of them all.
The kingdom is on the brink of destruction. What will they each sacrifice to save it?
Published October 24th, 2023 by Simon and Schuster UK Memoir, Autobiography, Biography
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SYNOPSIS:
The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.
In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.
Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.
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MY REVIEW:
“The woman in me was pushed down for a long time.”
When I heard Britney Spears was releasing a memoir I wasn’t sure I’d read it. I wouldn’t call myself a huge fan, but I have always enjoyed her music and was interested in hearing her side of the story after she spent so many years silenced. This was definitely a case of ‘Bookstagram made me do it’ but I was glad I decided to listen to this at the end of last year. Powerful and heartrending, The Woman in Me left me with a new-found respect and admiration for Ms. Spears. The writing can be shaky, it’s obviously written by a ghost-writer, and it was sometimes hard to follow, but it was good to finally hear Britney’s side of her story.
This was an emotional listen. There’s sadness, anger, frustration, heartbreak and joy, taking you on a rollercoaster of emotions as Britney recounts her personal and family history. We learn that the Spears family have been beset by tragedy and trauma for generations. Britney talks about how her alcoholic father, Jamie, continued the cycle of abuse and they all lived under a constant cloud of fear where nothing was ever good enough. At a young age Britney became a ‘little entertainer’, discovering that she came alive, was taken out of her bleak reality, and felt a sense of taking back control whenever she sang or performed on stage. But what felt like an escape for her soon became another tool for control and she was repeatedly let down and betrayed by her family; the very people she should have been able to rely upon most. Even the supposedly heartwarming memories she discusses are concerning and it is so hard to listen to as she’s mistreated again and again. I was enraged and incensed as I listened to the many awful things her family has put her through.
Obviously this wouldn’t be a memoir from one of the biggest female pop stars of her generation without discussing her fame and having achieved huge stardom when she was just a teenager, this is something that has been a massive part of her life. The way she has been treated by the media and paparazzi is vile. It made me so angry to hear how she was slut shamed and mocked, especially when compared to how men in the industry were treated so differently in the same situations. My rage was also inflamed as I listened to Britney’s side of her infamous breakdown and break-up with Justin Timberlake, revealing the media spin that was put on those situations so that she was portrayed as the problem, feeding into what her father wanted the world to see so he could keep control.
Heart-rending, maddening, and illuminating, The Woman in Me is a candid memoir which serves as a stark warning of the negative side of fame and fortune.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰
********
MEET THE AUTHOR:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album …Baby One More Time in 1999. During her first decade within the music industry, she became a prominent figure in mainstream popular music and popular culture, followed by a much-publicized personal life. Her first two albums established her as a pop icon and broke sales records, while title tracks “…Baby One More Time” and “Oops!… I Did It Again” became international number-one hits. Spears was credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s.
In 2001, she released her third studio album Britney and expanded her brand, playing the starring role in the film Crossroads. She assumed creative control of her fourth studio album, In the Zone released in 2003, which yielded chart-topping singles “Me Against the Music”, “Toxic” and “Everytime”. After the release of two compilation albums, Spears experienced personal struggles and her career went under hiatus. Her fifth studio album, Blackout, was released in 2007 and despite receiving little promotion, it spawned hits “Gimme More” and “Piece of Me”. In 2008, her erratic behaviour and hospitalizations caused her to be placed in a conservatorship. The same year, her sixth studio album Circus was released, with the global chart-topping lead single “Womanizer”. After embarking on The Circus Starring Britney Spears, she released greatest hits The Singles Collection, which featured U.S. and Canadian number-one single “3”. In 2011, Spears returned with her seventh studio album, titled Femme Fatale, which was released on March 29, 2011, including the lead single “Hold It Against Me” which has become Spears’ fourth U.S. number-one single. The album debuted at #1 on Billboard 200. This made Spears the only female artist ever to have six number one debut albums, and have seven albums debut in the top two spots.
Spears has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists in the history of contemporary music. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the eighth top-selling female artist in the United States, with 33 million certified albums. Spears is also recognized as the best-selling female artist of the first decade of the 21st century, as well as the fifth overall. She was ranked the 8th Artist of the 2000s by Billboard. In June 2010, Spears was ranked sixth on Forbes list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world; she is also the third most mentioned musician on the internet, according to Forbes.
Welcome to the first anticipated treasures of 2024. Yes, this is a little late, but December was crazy and I didn’t get around to posting this until now.
There is an array of exciting new books out this month, including some I’ve been lucky enough to read already (The Actor, One of the Good Guys and First Lie Wins). There are lots of debuts I’m excited to explore such as The Beholders, Miss Austen Investigates, Loot and The Knowing, which is our Squadpod Book Club pick. I’m also very excited to get reaquainted with Rhiannon Lewis in the newest Sweetpea installment, Thorn In My Side and to read the latest offering from the fabulous Polly Crosby with her first YA book This Tale is Forbidden.
So, here are the books I’m most anticipating this month:
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
Published January 2nd by Headline Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller
SYNOPSIS: Everything she is about to tell them is a lie…
Evie Porter has everything a girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a picket fence, a fun group of friends.
The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.
First comes the identity. Once she’s given a name and location by her employer, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it.
Then the mark: Ryan Sumner.
The last piece of the puzzle is the job. For Evie, this job feels different. Ryan has gotten under her skin and she’s started to picture another kind of life for herself – one where her boss doesn’t pull the strings. But Evie can’t make any mistakes. Because the one thing she’s worked her entire life to keep clean, the one identity she could always go back to – her real identity – just walked right into this town. A woman, who looks just like her, has stolen her name – and she wants more. As Evie’s past begins to catch up with her, can she stay one step ahead to save her future?
Published January 4th by Pan Macmillan Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Crime Fiction
SYNOPSIS: If most men say they’re one of the good guys, then why are so many women afraid to walk alone at night?
Cole is the perfect husband: a romantic, supportive of his wife, Mel’s career, keen to be a hands-on dad, not a big drinker. A good guy.
So when Mel leaves him, he’s floored. She was lucky to be with a man like him.
Craving solitude, he accepts a job on the coast and quickly settles into his new life where he meets reclusive artist Lennie.
Lennie has made the same move for similar reasons. She is living in a crumbling cottage on the edge of a nearby cliff. It’s an undeniably scary location, but sometimes you have to face your fears to get past them.
As their relationship develops, two young women go missing while on a walk protesting gendered violence, right by where Cole and Lennie live. Finding themselves at the heart of a police investigation and media frenzy, it soon becomes clear that they don’t know each other very well at all.
This is what happens when women have had enough . . .
Published January 4th by HQ Dark Comedy, Suspense, Crime, Mystery, Humorous Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Sweetpea soon to be a major TV series starring Ella Purnell
Everyone’s favourite serial killer is back, and she’s more unpredictable than ever… _____________
Sometimes, you can be your own worst enemy…
Rhiannon Lewis thought she finally had it all: thanks to the pandemic she’s had to keep a much lower profile but has found happiness with her fiancé Rafael and his family. For once, she is surrounded by people who love her for who she is (or who they think she is).
After over 800 days without murdering anyone, the woman formerly known as the Sweetpea Killer thinks she might have finally turned over a new leaf.
That is until her soon-to-be sister-in-law has a run in with her abusive ex, and Rhiannon rediscovers her taste for revenge. This time, with a loving family in tow, the stakes are much higher. Wedded bliss and life as a normal person are finally within Rhiannon’s reach, but you can never keep a good serial killer down.
Published January 4th by Scholastic UK Urban Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Control the story, control the world…
Nesta believes in the fairy tales – the true stories of powerful magical women who shaped and ruled the world decades ago.
But the world has changed since then, and now, she is forbidden from wandering too far from the isolated woodland cottage where she lives with her grandmother. Nesta longs more than anything to see the city that lies beyond the forest, and when her grandmother is abducted, she gets her chance, journeying there in the hope of rescuing her.
But once there, she is horrified to see her grandmother’s warnings were true: girls are forced to wear certain clothes and punished if they don’t behave in certain ways. The city’s Authorities have rewritten history, replacing the fairytale heroines with weak girls who must rely on men.
Worse still – everyone believes this is how the world has always been.
Only Nesta knows the truth. But truth is a dangerous thing, and suddenly she finds herself a target. Can she evade the Authorities long enough to rescue her grandmother and liberate everyone else, bringing magic back into the world?
The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Brother’s Grimm in this thrilling dystopian fantasy
A feminist fairy tale retelling which will make you rethink traditional stories forever
YA debut from Polly Crosby, the much-loved author of Vita and the BirdsThe Unravelling and The Illustrated Child
A stunning cover by Noma Bar, the illustrator of Margaret Atwood’s book covers
Published January 4th by Manilla Press Literary Fiction, Romance, Travel Fiction
SYNOPSIS: From the international bestselling author of The Phone Box at the Edge of the World: a powerful, moving novel of grief, hope, friendship and love based around a real archive on an island in Japan, where people travel to record their heartbeats.
To find what you have lost, you must listen to your heart . . .
On the peaceful Japanese island of Teshima there is a library of heartbeats, a place where the heartbeats of visitors from all around the world are collected. In this small, isolated building, the heartbeats of people who are still alive or have already passed away continue to echo.
Several miles away, in the ancient city of Kamakura, two lonely souls meet: Shuichi, a forty-year-old illustrator, who returns to his home-town to fix up the house of his recently deceased mother, and eight-year-old Kenta, a child who wanders like a shadow around Shuichi’s house.
Day by day, the trust between Shuichi and Kenta grows until they discover they share a bond that will tie them together for life. Their journey will lead them to Teshima and to the library of heartbeats . . .
Published January 4th by Century Thriller, Suspense, Mystery, Crime Fiction, Psychological Thriller
SYNOPSIS: Obsession. Intrigue. Revenge. Get ready for one of the most twisty-turny novels you will read this year.
‘Compulsive, clever and gasp out loud twisty, I absolutely loved it’ Lisa Jewell ‘This brilliantly written and unique novel had me turning the pages through the night‘ Heidi Perks _____________
A woman falls to her death from a London bank’s twenty-fifth-floor roof terrace.
You’re arrested for her murder.
You tell the police that you only met the victim the previous night at your office party. She was threatening to jump from the roof, but you talked her down.
You’ve got nothing to do with this tragedy. You’re clearly being framed.
So why do the police keep picking holes in your story? Even your lawyer doesn’t seem to believe you.
It soon becomes obvious that you’re keeping secrets.
Published January 4th by The Borough Press Thriller, Horror Fiction, Domestic Ficiton, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Supernatrual Ficiton, Religious Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘Unique, bold and unsettling’ Aiwanose Odafen
–––
My name is Ikemefuna Nwosu, and I am your wife.
One day in Lagos, young dancer Ikemefuna is put on a plane to Houston to meet her new husband, Nna. Promises are made to her – about her education, about the man she will marry, about her freedom.
None of them are kept.
A few months later, self-professed feminist Nna finds a beautiful woman cooking in his parents’ kitchen. They tell him Ikemefuna is his wife, there to give them the grandson they’ve been waiting for. She appears obedient, malleable.
But she is no ordinary wife.
In the Texas heat, patience runs on short supply and the atmosphere in the house becomes increasingly strained, increasingly violent. Desperation makes people do strange things…
Unpredictable and unsettling, HOUSE WOMAN is a delicious thriller you will never be able to forget.
‘Haunting . . . a neo-gothic thriller, complete with a magnificently horrifying villain’ Daily Mail
Published January 4th by Hodder & Stoughton Historical Fiction, War Story
SYNOPSIS: Her decision changed history. Now her family must survive it.
British Malaya, 1930s Discontented housewife Cecily is seduced by Japanese general Fujiwara and the glorious future he is promising for ‘independent’ Malaya, free from British colonialism. As she becomes further embedded as his own personal spy, she unwittingly alters the fate of her country by welcoming in a punishing form of dictatorship under the Japanese in WWII.
Japanese-occupied Malaya, 1945 Cecily and her family are barely surviving. Her children, Jujube, Abel and Jasmin, are surrounded by threat, and look to their mother to keep them safe. But she can’t tell them about the part she played in the war – and she doesn’t know how to protect them. Can Cecily face up to her past to save her children? Or is it already too late… ?
The Atlas Complex(Atlas Six Trilogy,Book 3) by Olivie Blake
Published January 9th by Tor Fantasy Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Adventure Fiction
SYNOPSIS: The Atlas Complex marks the much-anticipated, heart-shattering conclusion in Olivie Blake’s trilogy that began with the internationally bestselling dark academic phenomenon, The Atlas Six.
Only the extraordinary are chosen. Only the cunning survive.
An explosive return to the library leaves the six Alexandrians vulnerable to the lethal terms of their recruitment.
Old alliances quickly fracture as the initiates take opposing strategies as to how to deal with the deadly bargain they have so far failed to uphold. Those who remain with the archives wrestle with the ethics of their astronomical abilities; elsewhere, an unlikely pair partner to influence politics on a global stage.
And still the outside world mobilizes to destroy them ― while the Caretaker himself, Atlas Blakely, may yet succeed with a plan foreseen to have world-ending stakes. It’s a race to survive as the six Society recruits are faced with the question of what they’re willing to betray for limitless power ― and who will be destroyed along the way.
Discover the stunning finale to The Atlas Six trilogy that fans are dying to read
Published January 18th by Bantam Press Thriller, Suspense, Mystery, Spy Fiction, Crime Series
SYNOPSIS: Maggie Bird is many things. A chicken farmer. A good neighbour. A seemingly average retiree living in the seaside town of Purity. She’s also a darned good rifle shot. And she never talks about her past.
But when an unidentified body is left on Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a calling card from old times. It’s been fifteen years since the failed mission that ended her career as a spy, and cost her far more than her job.
Step forward the ‘Martini Club’ – Maggie’s silver-haired book group (to anyone who asks), and a cohort of former spies behind closed doors. With the help of her old friends – and always one step ahead of the persistent local cop – Maggie might still be able to save the life she’s built.
The Spy Coast is the first novel in the Martini Club series.
The Mystery Guest (Molly the Maid Book 2)by Nita Prose
Published January 18th by Harper Collins UK Mystery, Thriller, Literary Fiction, Book Series, Humorous Fiction
SYNOPSIS: *The sparkling new novel from the award-winning, million-copy bestselling author of The Maid*
‘Witty, joyful and utterly unique’ A J FINN ‘Captivates from page one’ JANICE HALLETT ‘A flawless and brilliant read’ LIZ NUGENT _________________________________________________________________
A new mess. A new mystery. Molly the maid returns . . .
Molly Gray wears her Head Maid badge proudly for every shift at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows, sweeping up the guests’ secrets, silently restoring rooms to a state of perfection.
But when a renowned guest – a famous mystery writer – drops very dead in the grand tea room, Molly has an unusual clean-up on her hands.
As rumours and suspicion swirl in the hotel corridors, it’s clear there’s grime lurking beneath the gilt. And Molly knows that she alone holds the key to the mystery. But unlocking it means thinking about the past, about Gran, and everything else she’s kept tidied away in her memory for so long.
Because Molly knew the dead guest once upon a time – and he knew her . . .
Published January 18th by Headline Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Romance Fiction, Humorous Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Two men. Twenty years of friendship. One love.
‘Matt’s books just keep getting better and better and One Love is rich, funny, poignant and unflinchingly honest portrayal of friendship, love and everything in between’ Ruth Hogan
2002
Danny arrives at Manchester University determined not to hide from the world any longer. This is the year his life will begin.
He locks eyes with a handsome stranger across the hall at the Freshers’ Fair. It starts with a wink and soon Danny and Guy are best friends.
2022
Now, both single for the first time in years, Danny and Guy return to the confetti-covered streets of the Gay Village for Manchester Pride.
After years of shared adventures and lost dreams, Danny finally plans to share the secret he has been keeping for two decades. He has always been in love with Guy.
Could this weekend be the end of a twenty-year friendship . . . or the start of something new and even more beautiful?
Published January 18th by Orenda Books Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Historical Fiction, Humorous Fiction, Political Fiction, War Story
SYNOPSIS: On her first shift at an Edinburgh halfway house for violent offenders, a young woman is taken hostage … and that’s just the beginning… The twisty, shocking, darkly funny thriller by award-winning author Helen FitzGerald. _______
They’re the housemates from Hell…
When her disastrous Australian love affair ends, Lou O’Dowd heads to Edinburgh for a fresh start, moving in with her cousin, and preparing for the only job she can find … working at a halfway house for very high-risk offenders.
Two killers, a celebrity paedophile and a paranoid coke dealer – all out on parole and all sharing their outwardly elegant Edinburgh townhouse with rookie night-worker Lou…
And instead of finding some meaning and purpose to her life, she finds herself trapped in a terrifying game of cat and mouse where she stands to lose everything – including her life.
Slick, darkly funny and nerve-janglingly tense, Halfway House is both a breathtaking thriller and an unapologetic reminder never to corner a desperate woman…
Published January 18th by Bedford Squard Publishers Historical Fiction, Gothic Fiction, Alternative History, LGBTQ Romance
SYNOPSIS: In the slums of 19th-century New York.
A tattooed mystic fights for her life.
Her survival hangs on the turn of a tarot card.
Powerful, intoxicating and full of suspense. The Knowing is a darkly spellbinding novel about a girl fighting for her survival in the decaying criminal underworlds. It is a hard-hitting story of love, obsession and betrayal.
Whilst working as a living canvas for an abusive tattoo artist in the slums of 19th-century New York, Flora meets Minnie, an enigmatic circus performer who offers her love and refuge in an opulent townhouse that is home to the menacing and predatory Mr Chester Merton. Flora earns her keep reading tarot cards for his guests whilst struggling to harness her gift, the Knowing – an ability to summon the dead. Caught in a dark love triangle between Minnie and Chester, Flora begins to unravel the secrets inside their house. Then at her first public séance in the infamous cathouse Hotel du Woods, Flora hears the spirit of a murdered boy prostitute and exposes his killer, setting off a train of events that leaves her fighting for her life.
The Knowing is a stunning debut inspired by real historical characters including Maud Wagner, one of the first known female tattoo artists, New York gang the Dead Rabbits, and characters from PT Barnum’s circus in the 1800s.
Published January 18th, 2024 by Fourth Estate Historical Fiction, Gothic Ficiton, Thriller, Mystery, Suspsense, Crime Fiction, Adventure Fiction
SYNOPSIS: SOME HOUSES ARE HAUNTED BY THE LIVING
June, 1878. The body of a boy is pulled from the depths of the River Thames, suspected to be the beloved missing child of the widely admired Liberal MP Ralph Gethin.
Four months earlier. Harriet is a young maid newly employed at Finton Hall. Fleeing the drudgery of an unwanted engagement in the small village where she grew up, Harriet is entranced by the grand country hall; she is entranced too by her glamorous mistress Clara Gethin, whose unearthly singing voice floats through the house. But Clara, though captivating, is erratic. The master of the house is a much-lauded politician, but he is strangely absent. And some of their beautiful belongings seem to tell terrible stories.
Unable to ignore her growing unease, Harriet sets out to discover their secrets. When she uncovers a shocking truth, a chain of events is set in motion that could cost Harriet everything, even her freedom…
Published January 18th by Michael Joseph Suspense, Thriller, Mysteyr, Psychological Thriller, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: TO ACHIEVE GREATNESS, HE MUST SACRIFICE EVERYTHING . . .
Discover 2024’s most original new thriller, a story of glamour, secrets and obsession…
‘GRABS YOU FROM THE OPENING LINE AND WON’T LET YOU GO’ ALEX MICHAELIDES, AUTHOR OF THE SILENT PATIENT
‘MASTERFULLY PLOTTED’ ERIN KELLY ‘WOW, JUST WOW’ BIBLIOTREASURES
‘A BARNSTORMING PERFORMANCE’ THE TIMES
*****
At long last, Adam Sealey has an Oscar within reach. Working with his controversial former mentor, Jonathan, he’s given the performance of a lifetime, and he almost believes it might be worth the cost.
Because Adam subscribes to “the method”. It’s the secret that the world’s greatest actors swear by – digging into their darkest, most personal traumas to bring a role to life.
And Adam’s greatest trauma is worse than most. Losing his mother when he was just a boy. A forced choice between the success he craved and the girl he loved. And that night back in drama school, the night of Adam’s darkest secret, when everyone knows about the dead body, but nobody suspects the truth.
And then he gets a message: someone knows. And if they tell, everything Adam’s worked for will come crashing down.
Published January 18th by Viper Books Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Cozy Mystery
SYNOPSIS: ‘A solid gold revival of the golden age whodunnit, with a delicious Danish twist’ JANICE HALLETT ______________
A snowstorm. A country house. Old friends reunited. It’s going to be murder…
Torben Helle – art historian, Danish expat and owner of several excellent Scandinavian jumpers – has been dragged to a remote snowbound Northumbrian mansion for a ten-year reunion with old university friends. Things start to go sideways when their host, a reclusive and irritating tech entrepreneur, makes some shocking revelations at the dinner table. And when these are followed by an apparent suicide, the group faces a test of their wits… and their trust.
Snowed in and cut off, surrounded by enigmatic housekeepers and off-duty police inspectors, not to mention a peculiar last will and testament, suspicion and sarcasm quickly turn to panic. As the temperature drops and the tension mounts, Torben decides to draw upon all the tricks of Golden Age detectives past in order to solve the mystery: how much money would it take to turn one of his old friends into a murderer? But he’d better be quick, or someone else might end up dead…
This witty murder mystery puts a modern spin on the classic country house whodunnit. A must-read for fans of Agatha Christie, Richard Osman and Janice Hallett.
Published January 18th by Century Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Crime Fiction
SYNOPSIS: One happy couple. Two divided families. A wedding party to die for.
On the private island of Castello Fiore – surrounded by the glittering waters of Lake Garda – the illustrious Heywood family gathers for their son Laurence’s wedding to Italian influencer Eva Bianchi.
But as the ceremony begins, a blood-curdling scream brings the proceedings to a devastating halt.
With the wedding guests trapped as they await the police, old secrets come to light and family rivalries threaten to bubble over.
Published January 18th by Harper Voyager Fantasy Fiction, Romantic Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, High Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Adventure Fiction, Contemporary Literature, Supernatural Fiction
SYNOPSIS: From the Sunday Times bestselling author of THE FINAL STRIFE, comes an enchanting new trilogy.
DIVIDED BY BLOOD. IMPRISONED BY FATE. BOUND BY DESIRE.
WELCOME TO THE INTOXICATING WORLD OF THE FAE.
‘A stunning new spin on fae that will leave you gasping . . . an epic romance that’s brimming with heart’ KATE DYLAN, bestselling author of Mindwalker
‘The most imaginative take on a steamy faerie court I’ve read in forever, with a cascade of epic twists’ LAURA STEVEN, award-winning author of The Society for Soulless Girls
Yeeran is a warrior in the elven army and has known nothing but violence her whole life. Her sister, Lettle, is trying to make a living as a diviner, seeking prophecies of a better future.
When a fatal mistake leads to Yeeran’s exile from the Elven lands, they are both forced into the terrifying wilderness beyond their borders. There they encounter the impossible: the fae court.
The fae haven’t been seen for a millennium. But now Yeeran and Lettle are thrust into their seductive world – torn between their loyalty to each other, their elven homeland, and their hearts. . .
Published January 18th by Fig Tree Historical Fiction, Fairy Tale, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: An exhilarating, fiercely original story of brotherhood, war and art, and of daring to dream of something bigger than ourselves.
‘Bold and totally unexpected, I loved this book’ Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain
‘A very special, very clever, very entertaining novel’ Roddy Doyle, author of Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha
***
It’s 412 BC, and Athens’ invasion of Sicily has failed catastrophically. Thousands of Athenian soldiers are held captive in the quarries of Syracuse, starving, dejected, and hanging on by the slimmest of threads.
Lampo and Gelon are local potters, young men with no work and barely two obols to rub together. When they take to visiting the nearby quarry, they discover prisoners who will, in desperation, recite lines from the plays of Euripides for scraps of bread and a scattering of olives.
And so an idea is born: the men will put on Medea in the quarry. A proper performance to be sung of down the ages. Because after all, you can hate the Athenians for invading your territory, but still love their poetry.
But as the audacity of their enterprise dawns on them, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between enemies and friends. As the performance draws near, the men will find their courage tested in ways they could never have imagined …
Published January 18th by Michael Joseph Mystery, Thriller, Fantasy Fiction, Historical Fantasy, LGBTQ Literature
SYNOPSIS: An exhilarating, fiercely original story of brotherhood, war and art, and of daring to dream of something bigger than ourselves.
‘Bold and totally unexpected, I loved this book’ Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain
‘A very special, very clever, very entertaining novel’ Roddy Doyle, author of Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha
***
It’s 412 BC, and Athens’ invasion of Sicily has failed catastrophically. Thousands of Athenian soldiers are held captive in the quarries of Syracuse, starving, dejected, and hanging on by the slimmest of threads.
Lampo and Gelon are local potters, young men with no work and barely two obols to rub together. When they take to visiting the nearby quarry, they discover prisoners who will, in desperation, recite lines from the plays of Euripides for scraps of bread and a scattering of olives.
And so an idea is born: the men will put on Medea in the quarry. A proper performance to be sung of down the ages. Because after all, you can hate the Athenians for invading your territory, but still love their poetry.
But as the audacity of their enterprise dawns on them, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between enemies and friends. As the performance draws near, the men will find their courage tested in ways they could never have imagined …
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
Published January 18th by Orbit Fantasy Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Romantic Fantasy, Fairy Tale. Viking & Norse Mythology
SYNOPSIS: ‘Forget dark academia: give me instead this kind of winter-sunshined, sharp-tongued and footnoted academia, full of field trips and grumpy romance’ Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light
An intrepid professor must uncover faerie secrets in the delightful and heart-warming second instalment of the Sunday Times bestselling Emily Wilde series.
Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore, and has catalogued many secrets of the Hidden Folk in her encyclopaedia with her infuriatingly charming fellow scholar, Wendell Bambleby, by her side.
But Bambleby is more than just a brilliant and unbearably handsome scholar. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, in search of a door back to his realm.
By lucky happenstance, Emily’s new project, a map of the realms of faerie, will take them on an adventure to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.
But with new friendships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.
Published January 18th by Orenda Books Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Dark Comedy, Translated Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A young couple are entangled in a nightmare spiral of lies when they pretend to be someone else …Exquisitely dark psychological suspense by the international bestselling author of The Bird Tribunal
‘A delightfully insightful and wicked little read … Like the cabin, it’s so minimalist and stark and at the same time so compelling’ Elizabeth Haynes
________
It started with a lie…
Married couple Karin and Kai are looking for a pleasant escape from their busy lives, and reluctantly accept an offer to stay in a luxurious holiday home in the Norwegian fjords.
Instead of finding a relaxing retreat, however, their trip becomes a reminder of everything lacking in their own lives, and in a less-than-friendly meeting with their new neighbours, Karin tells a little white lie…
Against the backdrop of the glistening water and within the claustrophobic walls of the ultra-modern house, Karin’s insecurities blossom, and her lie grows ever bigger, entangling her and her husband in a nightmare spiral of deceits with absolutely no means of escape…
Simmering with suspense and dark humour, The Guests is a gripping psychological drama about envy and aspiration … and something more menacing, hiding just below that glittering surface…
Published January 18th by Raven Books Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller
SYNOPSIS: By night, Vivian Parry performs the role of Manhattan’s sharpest theatre critic, immersing herself fully in every show she sees. By day, she uses work, sex, and psychotropic drugs to keep her comfortably numb.
Desperate for a promotion and at the urging of her editor, she agrees to an interview with David Adler, an enigmatic graduate student. When he later disappears, Vivian soon learns from his devastated fiancée that she was the last person to have seen him alive. The police refuse to investigate his disappearance and Vivian finds herself obsessed with what happened, assuming the role of amateur investigator.
But as she gets closer to the truth about David Adler, she finds that the boundaries between theatre and reality are more tenuous than even she could have believed.
Published January 18th by The Borough Press Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Historical Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Adventure Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘Sublime, elegant and exciting. The House on Rye Lane is beautifully written and entirely gripping. I’m a big fan of Susan Allott’ CHRIS WHITAKER
‘The lovechild of Sarah Waters’ The Paying Guests and Lisa Jewell’s The Family Upstairs… confirms Susan Allott as a huge talent’ ERIN KELLY
They thought they’d found their dream home. They were wrong.
2008. The house Maxine and Seb have just bought was a bargain – a huge Georgian townhouse on the edge of Peckham Rye, it needs a lot of work but Max couldn’t resist it. Now they are in, though, nothing seems to be going right – and as the problems mount up, Max starts to doubt her relationship as well as her decision. Is Seb all he seems to be? And why are the neighbours so evasive about the house’s previous owner?
1994. Cookie and his parents have been forced by his dad’s gambling debts to move into the attic room of a big old house, as lodgers. Tensions run high between them and their elderly landlady, and there’s something odd about the place that Cookie can’t quite put his finger on…
1843. Horatio built this house for his beloved wife, who then died in mysterious circumstances. After a second death on the premises, both his servants and the locals are starting to talk. Horatio’s grief is tinged with shame and guilt. What is he hiding? And will the house ever be free of his legacy?
THE HOUSE ON RYE LANE is a tense, taut, beautifully crafted novel about the treachery of secrets and the many ways the past can echo into the present, from the acclaimed author of THE SILENCE.
Published January 18th by HQ Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Domestic Fiction
SYNOPSIS: From the author of Little White Lies ’Masterful, clever, surprising at ever turn; a proper page-turner and a one-sitting read. I couldn’t stop turning the pages. Sublime’ Andrea Mara
‘I was gripped by the simmering tension and the layers of secrets’ Louise Jensen
‘A truly gripping thriller filled with teenage nostalgia and vividly rendered toxic friendships. It had me turning pages late into the night’ Heather Darwent
2003: Carrie and her friends spend their days studying at boarding school, and their nights sneaking out to the woods. It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.
2019: When Finn receives a shocking call from his estranged wife, Mhairi, informing him of their friend Kate’s death, neither is prepared for the secrets they will uncover. The trail leads them to the events at a boarding school many years before.
They are on the verge of unearthing the whole story – but someone will do anything to keep it buried.
‘A skilful, layered and ultimately emotional read. East is at the top of her game!’ Louise Swanson
Published January 18th by Orion Mystery, Suspense, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘WOW! If this isn’t a book to brag about I don’t know what is… I started The Favourite late last night. Never did I anticipate I would be closing the book at 3am left in complete shock… This book was insane! It was twisted, it was heart-breaking but it was so darn good! A must-read… I strongly encourage you to pre-order this book!‘ NetGalley Reviewer, 5 STARS
Her teacher’s pet, or his worst nightmare?
Jessica Mooney seems like any other student at her university. She’s talented, driven, and looks set to be this year’s ‘favourite’ in charismatic Professor Crane’s Law and Literature class. But unlike the other students competing for his good opinion, Jessica isn’t what she seems. She’s carrying a dark secret.
Her sister is dead. Crane’s to blame. And she’s the only one who can bring him to justice.
Will Jessica be able to get the answers and justice she seeks, or will her search for revenge destroy her first?
Read what everyone is saying about The Favourite:
“‘Juicy and dark… a standout dark academia thriller, with shades of Donna Tartt’s modern classic The Secret History and Emerald Fennell’s revenge fantasy film Promising Young Woman… Jessica is a firecracker of a protagonist… Thanks to Hennigan’s strong voice and full embrace of the bumpy, twisty nature of retribution and revenge, The Favourite positively sings.” BookPage
“It had such an evocative academic atmosphere… felt very original… Beautifully done… brilliant foreshadowing… A truly propulsive read that I ended up gobbling up in one sitting” Heather Darwent, author of instant Sunday Times bestseller, The Things We Do to our Friends
Published January 18th by Simon & Schuster UK Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Literary Fiction, Romantic Comedy
SYNOPSIS: ‘Hannah Richell’s The Search Party is a compelling thriller told with real emotional insight and depth. An absolute page-turner!’ Lucy Clarke
Five old friends. One glamping weekend. A storm that will change everything.
Max and Annie Kingsley have left the London rat race to set up a glamping site in the wilds of Cornwall. They invite old university friends – TV star Dominic, doctor and new mum Kira, and free-spirited Jim and Suze – and their children for a trial weekend but the reunion quickly veers off-course. First, there’s The Incident around the campfire on the first night. The following afternoon, a storm quickly develops off the rugged North Coast. When one of their group goes missing, all hell breaks loose. And as the winds batter the bell-tents, emotions run high and tension mounts for all the characters. Who is lying in hospital, who has gone missing and who is the body on the beach below the cliffs . . .?
Gripping, cleverly structured and brimming with secrets and lies, this is a masterclass in narrative tension and a chilling exploration of the ways in which aspiration and anxiety collide. It will keep you guessing until the last page.
Published January 18th by Orion Thriller, Historical Fiction, Humorous Ficiton
SYNOPSIS: Revenge is a dish best served old… ‘Not all heroes wear capes, some wear M&S cardigans! A triumph!’ MIKE GAYLE ‘A sublime mix of comedy, drama and adventure’ JILL MANSELL ‘Just pure joy from start to finish.’ ALEXANDRA POTTER
Meet the Williamson sisters, Britain’s most treasured World War II veterans. Now in their nineties, Josephine and Penny are in demand, popping up at commemorative events all over the country. Despite their age, they’re in great form-sprightly and sparky, and always in search of their next “excitement.” This time it’s a trip to Paris to receive the Légion d’honneur, accompanied by their devoted great-nephew, Archie.
Keen historian Archie believes his great aunts had minor roles in the Women’s Royal Navy and the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, but that’s only half the story. There’s a reason sweet Auntie Penny can dispatch a would-be mugger with a brolly.
This trip to Paris is not what it seems either. Scandal and crime have quietly trailed the sisters since the war. Now armed with new information about an old adversary, these much decorated (but admittedly ancient) veterans intend to settle scores, avenge lost friends, and pull off one last heist before the curtain comes down on their illustrious careers. Acharming, uplifting and cosy mystery about two national treasures hiding official secrets and double lives – perfect for fans of THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB.
Published January 18th by Penguin UK Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Historical Mystery, YA Fiction
SYNOPSIS: And Then There Were None meets The Inheritance Games, with a heavy dash of The Woman in Black, in this gloriously gothic YA mystery-thriller.
When eighteen-year-old Helena is sent to be a governess at Archfall Manor – a beautiful but crumbling manor house, perched at the edge of a causeway in the North Sea – she feels confident she will know how to deal with the esteemed but eccentric Cauldwell family who own it. But it quickly becomes clear that the Cauldwells are hiding more than Helena could ever have dreamed of.
A series of sinister events come to a head with a gruesome death – swiftly followed by another. Worse still, with the path back to the mainland cut off by a terrible storm, and no way to get help, suspicions and paranoia quickly run rampant.
But the Cauldwells aren’t the only ones keeping secrets. Helena has some very important ones of her own – and soon she begins to wonder whether dark powers beyond her control might be forcing her to twist the fate of the family – and her own destiny – forever.
Praise for A Dark Inheritance: “A powerful, heart-racing story of family, fate, and writing your own destiny. Intricately plotted and luminously written – I loved it”Laura Steven, author of The Society for Soulless Girls
Published January 25th by Michael Joseph Historical Fiction, Mystery, Crime Fiction, Historical Mystery, Regency Romance
SYNOPSIS: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that every good mystery is in need of a brilliant sleuth . . .
Welcome to Hampshire, 1795, where a young Jane Austen has her sights set on securing a marriage proposal from the dashing Tom Lefroy at a local ball.
But when a shocking discovery is made – a milliner’s lifeless body tucked away in a linen closet – Jane finds herself embroiled in an unexpected murder mystery.
As she races against the clock to clear her beloved brother Georgy’s name, Jane uses her sharp wits to navigate the treacherous waters of society, unmasking secrets and unearthing hidden motives along the way. With every twist and turn, Jane’s determination to solve the case deepens. And if she fails, her brother will face the ultimate punishment – the hangman’s noose . . .
Join Jane on her quest for justice as she faces down danger, deceit, and scandal amidst her own friends and neighbours. Will she uncover the truth in time, or will the real killer go free? One thing’s for certain – in Hampshire, nothing is as it seems . . .
*** BETWEEN THE MATCH-MAKING AND MATRIMONY LIES MURDER . . . . ***
Published January 25th by Harvill Secker Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, US Historical Fiction
SYNOPSIS: An epic tale of plundered treasure, savage empire, lasting love and a young man’s dream to make his mark on the world.
Meet Abbas. Woodcarver, toy maker, dreamer. Abbas is seventeen when he is whisked away to Tipu Sultan’s glorious palace in Mysore. Apprenticed to the clockmaker Monsieur Du Leze, he is ordered to create an ingenious musical tiger to delight Tipu’s sons.
In the eccentric Du Leze, Abbas finds an unexpected friend who encourages his skill and hunger for learning, and through whom he also meets the unforgettable Jehanne, who has questions and ambitions of her own.
But when British soldiers attack and loot Mysore, Abbas’s world is turned upside down and his prized tiger is shipped off to a country estate in England. In order to carve out his place in the world, he must follow.
A hero’s quest, a love story, an exuberant heist novel that traces the bloody legacy of colonialism across the world, Loot is a dazzling, wildly inventive and irresistible feat of storytelling from a writer at the height of her powers.
Published January 25th by Doubleday Literary Fiction, Contemporary Ficiton, Psychological Fiction, Absurdist Fiction,
SYNOPSIS: Her life is so full, so why is she hungry?
‘A high-wire exploration of control, pleasure and desire’ Chloë Ashby ‘A book that tears at the surface of things to reveal the vast, messy truth of a body with a beating heart’ Catherine Newman
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For Piglet – an unshakable childhood nickname – getting married is her opportunity to reinvent. Together, Kit and Piglet are the picture of domestic bliss – effortless hosts, planning a covetable wedding … But if a life looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Thirteen days before they are due to be married, Kit reveals an awful truth, cracking the façade Piglet has created. It has the power to strip her of the life she has so carefully built, so smugly shared. To do something about it would be to self-destruct. But what will it cost her to do nothing?
As the hours count down to their wedding, Piglet is torn between a growing appetite and the desire to follow the recipe, follow the rules. Surely, with her husband, she could be herself again. Wouldn’t it be a waste for everything to curdle now?
Piglet is the searing, unforgettable and original debut which is set to take readers by storm in 2024.
Published January 25th by Hodderscape Fantasy Fiction, Contemporary Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, High Fantasy, Urban Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Curses are made to be broken.
‘A DARK DREAM . . . WELCOME TO THE CITY OF STARDUST. ENJOY – AND ALSO BEWARE. THIS FAIRY TALE IS DEADLY’LAINI TAYLOR
Filled with magic, stardust, and a shockingly dark heart, this is a stunning standalone fantasy perfect for fans of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Starless Sea and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
For centuries, Everlys have seen their brightest and best disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor is a woman named Penelope, who never ages, never grows sick – and never forgives a debt.
Ten years ago, Violet Everly’s mother left to break the curse, and never returned. Now Violet must find her mother, or she will be taken in her place.
Her hunt leads her into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods, and monsters bent on revenge. And into the path of Penelope’s quiet assistant, Aleksander, who she knows cannot be trusted – and yet to whom she finds herself undeniably drawn.
Tied to a very literal deadline, Violet will travel to the edges of the world to find her mother and the key to the city of stardust, where the Everly story began . . .
A Soul For A Soul (Detective Kate Young 5) by Carol Wyer
Published January 30th by Thomas & Mercer Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Crime Fiction, Police Procedural, Crime Series
SYNOPSIS: The syndicate have taken everything from her. It’s time to take them down―or die trying.
DCI Kate Young never meant to shoot Superintendent John Dickson at the reservoir that night―even if, as a scheming corrupt cop and head of the shady syndicate, he probably had it coming. But now Kate has photographic evidence that someone else knows her terrible secret…
Tormented by guilt and the voices of the dead, Kate is desperate to unmask the rest of the corrupt officers before her own sins catch up with her. When DI Harriet Khatri, awaiting trial for the murder of Kate’s mentor, claims she was framed by Dickson’s syndicate, Kate reluctantly agrees to help in the hope of finding answers.
Meanwhile, DI Emma Donaldson finds herself on the hunt for a double murderer―a man who incapacitates his victims with a powerful narcotic called Devil’s Breath. Desperate to measure up to her role-model boss, Emma finds herself hurled into the deep end in more ways than one…
While Kate’s grip on reality wavers and the syndicate closes in, and with the mystery killer taking a special interest in Emma, could this be the case that defeats both detectives?
Published January 30th by Bloomsbury Publishing Literary Fiction, LGBTQ Literature, Coming-of-Age Story
SYNOPSIS: ‘I couldn’t put it down, and I didn’t want to either’ EMILY HENRY ‘A page-turning pleasure – stylish, sharp and breathtakingly smart’ DAISY BUCHANAN
Everything comes at a price. But not everything can be paid for.
Millie wants to graduate, get a job and buy a house. She’s slowly saving up from her job on campus, but when a visiting professor offers her an unusual opportunity to make some extra money, she jumps at the chance.
Agatha is a writer, recovering from a break-up while researching attitudes towards weddings and money for her new book. She strikes gold when interviewing the girls in Millie’s dorm, but her plans take a turn when she realises that the best material is unfolding behind closed doors.
As the two women form an unlikely relationship, they soon become embroiled in a world of roommate theatrics, vengeful pranks and illicit intrigue – and are forced to question just how much of themselves they are willing to trade to get what they want.
Sharp, intimate and provocative, Come and Get It takes a lens to our money-obsessed society in a tension-filled story about desire, consumption and bad behaviour.
Published January 30th by Hot Key Books Fantasy Fiction, Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Supernatural Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
SYNOPSIS: “A gorgeously twisted modern fairy tale that shimmers with magic and mystery” – Karen McManus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying.
FIVE WOMEN ARE DEAD. The killer leaves no fingerprints, no DNA. Police are utterly stumped. In a world where only women can use magic and the men who know about it seek to eradicate them, three damaged young women – one cursed, one hunted, one out for revenge – will team up to track down and take out a brutal supernatural killer.
Jude Wolf is rich as sin and handsome as the devil. But she’s also cursed. Her immortal soul is tethered to a rather hateful demon – and she wants the hell out of the deal. What Jude needs is a cursewriter – and she thinks the string of dead women, all of whom she suspects are messing with the occult, might just be able to lead her to one.
Zara Jones has also been tracking the murders since they began. Her older sister was the killer’s first victim. Zara doesn’t just want revenge, she wants to find a way to bring her sister back. What Zara needs is a witch, a sorcerer, a necromancer – in fact, what Zara needs is a cursewriter. At the apartment of the fifth victim, Jude and Zara meet by chance, and there they find a clue that brings their paths crashing together: a strange business card bearing three words. Emer Byrne. Cursewriter.
Published August 31st, 2023 by Simon & Schuster UK Romantic Comedy, Literary Fiction
Today I’m finally sharing my review for this heartwarming and beautiful story. Thank you to Simon and Schuster UK for offering the Squadpod the chance to read the book and sending me a copy of the book.
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SYNOPSIS:
The brilliant and incisive new novel from the author of Lives Like Mine…
A deeply affecting novel, In Bloom tells of strength, survival, forgiveness, resilience and determination, and the fierce love and unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters.
Delph has kept herself small and quiet as a form of self-protection, ever since the love of her life Sol’s untimely death left her pregnant and alone at the age of twenty-four. Theirs was such a once-in-a-lifetime love, that the loss of her soulmate broke her heart ‒ and almost broke her, too.
Years on, Delph’s protective bubble bursts when her daughter Roche moves out of the flat Delph shares with her partner Itsy and in with her estranged nan, Moon. Now that it’s just the two of them, the cracks in Delph and Itsy’s relationship begin to grow. Feeling on the outside of the bond between her fierce-yet-flaky tarot-reading mother and volatile martial-arts-champion daughter, Delph begins questioning her own freedom.
Is her life with Itsy all it seems? And has keeping small and safe truly been her choice all these years…?
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MY REVIEW:
In Bloom is a beautiful and affecting story about mothers and daughters that follows three generations of women from one family on a journey of self-discovery, forgiveness and freedom. Filled with courage, resilience, strength and hope, it is a multilayered story about ordinary women trying to navigate their dysfunctional relationships and survive the cards that life has dealt them.
This is a slow-burn novel that took me a bit of time to get into. But I found that once I did I was hooked and didn’t want to put the book down. Eva Verde is an extraordinary writer and her prose is poetic, insightful, raw and emotive, tugging at your heartstrings one moment and then making you laugh out loud the next. Difficult topics such as toxic relationships, grief and generational trauma are explored with sensitivity while also being written in an honest, authentic and relatable way. And that ending! I was not prepared for how beautiful and heartrending that would be.
Roche, Delph and Moon each narrate this multiple timeline novel, slowly taking us through their past and present to slowly reveal the secrets they are hiding even from themselves. While they are very different people they also have many similarities and each woman is fierce, strong, determined, flawed and scathing, with Roche being particularly fiery. And while I liked them all, it was Delph I found myself connecting with most of all because we had many similar struggles.
Heartwarming, insightful, funny, bittersweet and raw, In Bloom is a remarkable and deeply human story that I highly recommend.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰
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MEET THE AUTHOR:
Eva Verde is a writer from East London. Identity, class and female rage are recurring themes throughout her work and her debut novel Lives Like Mine, is published by Simon and Schuster.
Eva’s love song to libraries, I Am Not Your Tituba forms part of Kit De Waal’s Common People: An Anthology of Working-Class Writers. Her words have featured in Marie Claire, Grazia, Elle and The Big Issue, also penning the new foreword for the international bestselling author Jackie Collins Goddess of Vengeance.
Eva lives in Essex with her husband, children and dog.
Published July 21st, 2022 by Simon & Schuster UK Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Adventure Fiction
Thank you to Simon & Schuster UK for the proof copy of this outstanding historical fiction novel.
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SYNOPSIS:
‘What a heroine Endurance Proudfoot is! I loved her from the start. An unconventional woman who takes us on a fascinating – if bumpy – ride through a man’s world. I laughed, cried and most of all cheered! Can’t stop thinking about it… an absolute cruncher of a tale’ Janice Hallett, author of The Appeal
‘A complete joy of a novel that, like it’s wonderful protagonist’s namesake, is a story of endurance against all odds. Full of heart and so eloquently written, THAT BONESETTER WOMAN had me cheering Durie on from start to finish – I absolutely loved it’ Susan Stokes-Chapman, author of Pandora
It’s usual, they say, for a young person coming to London for the first time to arrive with a head full of dreams. Well, Endurance Proudfoot did not. When she stepped off the coach from Sussex, on a warm and sticky afternoon in the summer of 1757, it never occurred to her that the city would be the place where she’d make her fortune; she was just very annoyed to be arriving there at all.
Meet Endurance Proudfoot: clumsy as a carthorse, strong as an ox, with a tactless tongue and a face she’s sure only a mother could love. Durie wants one thing in life: to become a bonesetter like her father. It’s physically demanding work, requiring nerves of steel, and he’s adamant it’s not a job for a woman.
Strong-willed and stubborn, Durie’s certain that in bonesetting, her big, usually clumsy hands have found their natural calling. So when she’s bundled off to London with her beautiful sister, she won’t let it stop her realising her dream. As her sister finds fame on the stage, Durie becomes England’s most celebrated bonesetter – but what goes up must come down, and her success may become her undoing.
Inspired by the true stories of two of Georgian England’s most famous celebrities, That Bonesetter Woman is an uplifting tale about finding the courage to go your own way, when everyone says you can’t – and about realising that what makes you different can also make you strong.
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MY REVIEW:
“She was going to be a bonesetter. She was going to fix people.”
I was delighted when That Bonesetter Woman was chosen as the September book by the Historical Fiction Book Club as it has been on my TBR since receiving a proof last year (yes, this review is very late). It was also one of the 12 backlist books I added to my ‘12 in 2023’ list back in January and I haven’t been good at getting to those so I was pleased to tick another off that list.
Endurance (Durie) Proudfoot has never fit in. Instead of being beautiful, graceful, and tactful like other girls, she’s clumsy, unusually strong, tactless, and has a face only a mother could love. She also has an unusual dream: to be a bonesetter like her father. But bonesetting is seen as a job for boys, so a frustrated Durie is carted off to London with her younger sister, Lucinda. But she’s determined that this isn’t the end of her bonesetting dreams and carves out a path to accomplish becoming England’s most celebrated bonsetter. But traditionalists don’t like that a woman is taking up space in a man’s world and set out to put her back in her place.
Mesmerising, immersive, and absorbing, That Bonesetter Woman is another outstanding novel from the pen of masterful storyteller Frances Quinn. Her magnificent debut, The Smallest Man, was one of my favourite books of 2020, so I had high expectations for this book. And she surpassed them all. As she did in her debut, Quinn has created fictional characters inspired by real historical people and then merged fact with fiction to craft an unforgettable story about those who are different. Meticulously researched and rich in fascinating historical details that I loved—did you know you used to get free zoo entry to the London Zoo with a dead cat?—it feels so real that I had to keep reminding myself this wasn’t biographical fiction and Durie is a fictional character. Exquisitely written and perfectly paced, Quinn puts our emotions through the wringer with some heartwarming, heartbreaking and wonderful subplots that are woven into Durie’s story. She brings history to life, wrenching you out of your own reality and into the one she’s created.
“Each time seemed like a reminder that she just didn’t fit in the world like other people did. Except when she was doing the one thing age wasn’t clumsy and cack-handed at, and what was she going to do if she wasn’t allowed to do that?”
Durie Proudfoot is a truly original heroine. I can promise you will have never read anyone quite like her. She’s headstrong, stubborn, determined, plain-speaking, and honest. Someone with heart and morality who has no time for flattery, lies, or greed. And though Durie lives a life that is extraordinary and memorable, it is also a life marred by anguish and misfortune. Quinn creates a strong connection between the reader and protagonist, making us feel deeply the pain that inhabits her as she struggles with being different, trying to understand the behaviours of others, and other challenging events in her life. Also palpable is her frustration at being caged by the expectations of society as they attempt to put her in a box she has never and will never fit in. I loved how she fought for what she wanted and knew was right for her from a young age, even when facing what seemed like increasingly insurmountable odds as she got older. She was a truly remarkable and fascinating woman and I loved watching her metamorphosis from clumsy outcast to celebrated bonesetter.
Though no other character shone as brightly as Durie, the book has a cast of richly drawn background characters that I enjoyed. George stands out as one I particularly liked, probably because of his kind, thoughtful character and the sweet relationship he shared with Durie. Like her, he is straightforward and is one of the few people she really connects with. He’s the kind of love-interest we dream of: someone who really gets you and accepts you for who you are. Their scenes together were some of my favourite in the book and I was rooting for them every step of the way.
Atmospheric, evocative, ambitious and compelling, That Bonesetter Woman is an epic masterpiece of historical fiction that I highly recommend.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5
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MEET THE AUTHOR:
Frances Quinn grew up in London and read English at King’s College, Cambridge, realising too late that the course would require more than lying around reading novels for three years. After snatching a degree from the jaws of laziness, she became a journalist, writing for magazines including Prima, Good Housekeeping, She, Woman’s Weekly and Ideal Home, and later branched out into copywriting, producing words for everything from Waitrose pizza packaging to the EasyJet in-flight brochure.
In 2013, she won a place on the Curtis Brown Creative novel writing course, and started work on her first novel. The Smallest Man was published in 2021 by Simon & Schuster with her follow up, That Bonesetter Woman, published in 2022.
She lives in Brighton, with her husband and two Tonkinese cats.
Welcome to another month of my most anticipated releases. I can’t quite believe we’re almost at the end of this year, and even though November and December generally have less releases, there’s still a lot of exciting books in this list.
Here’s the books out in November I’m most anticipating:
The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok
Published November 2nd by Viper Books Mystery, Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Domestic Fiction
SYNOPSIS: * FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GIRL IN TRANSLATION *
‘Kwok is an impressive talent’ – KARIN SLAUGHTER ‘A beautiful, propulsive story’ – LAURA DAVE ‘A hugely atmospheric and suspenseful mystery’ – LUCY FOLEY
‘I will find my daughter. No matter the cost…’
Jasmine Yang thought her daughter was dead at birth. But five years after she was taken from her arms, she learns that her controlling husband sent the baby to America to be adopted, a casualty of China’s one-child-policy. Fleeing her rural Chinese village, Jasmine arrives in New York City with nothing except a desperate need to find her daughter. But with her husband on her trail, the clock is ticking, and she’s forced to make increasingly risky decisions if she ever hopes to be reunited with her child.
Meanwhile, Rebecca Whitney seems to have it all: a high-powered career, a beautiful home, a handsome husband and an adopted Chinese daughter she adores. But when an industry scandal threatens to jeopardise not only Rebecca’s job but her marriage, this perfect world begins to crumble.
Two women in a divided city, separated by wealth and culture, yet bound together by their love for the same child. And when they finally meet, their lives will never be the same again…
Published November 2nd by Canongate Books Historical Ficiton, Biographical Fiction, Domestic Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Dolly Maunder is born at the end of the nineteenth century, when society’s long-locked doors are just starting to creak ajar for determined women. Growing up in a poor farming family in rural New South Wales, Dolly spends her life doggedly pushing at those doors. A husband and two children do not deter her from searching for love and independence.
Restless Dolly Maunder is a subversive, triumphant tale of a pioneering woman working her way through a world of limits and obstacles, who is able – despite the cost – to make a life she could call her own.
Mary; or, The Birth of Franenstein by Anne Eekhout
Published November 2nd by Pushkin Press Gothic Fiction, Historical Ficiton, Biographical Fiction, LGBT Literature
SYNOPSIS: Gothic, fantasy-tinged historical fiction, delving back into the teenage years of Mary Shelley to find the inspiration for Frankenstein Scotland, 1812. When Mary is sent to the countryside for her health, she soon forms a brooding, amorous friendship with Isabella, the grief-stricken eldest daughter of the Baxter family. While the girls explore the local countryside and revel in its stories of witches, ghosts and monsters, the mysterious David Booth develops a sinister interest in Mary and Isabella… Geneva, 1816. In the famous year without a summer, Mary is caught between her husband’s ideals of free love, her stepsister’s narcissism and the immense anguish she feels for her recently lost child. While her days are filled with strife, the long evenings are spent drinking laudanum-laced wine and sharing ghost stories. As Mary grapples with the inspiration for her famous novel, she is plagued by troubling memories… Provocative, sensual and dark, Mary; or the Birth of Frankenstein is a hypnotic ode to the power of the imagination.
Published November 2nd by Hodder & Stoughton Romance Novel, Humorous Fiction, Medical Fiction, Romantic Comedy
SYNOPSIS: It’s never too late for the adventure of a lifetime . . . Heather Winterbottom has worked side by side with her husband as GPs in their idyllic rural practice for over forty years. But as the time comes to hang up their stethoscopes, the Winterbottoms discover that they have rather different visions of retirement . . .
Heather dreams of exploring the Greek Islands, of escaping the shackles of her routine life and embracing an exciting new adventure. Alan dreams of growing his own vegetables.
When things come to a head at a family lunch, Heather announces that she has decided to take a year off. From her old life, from her marriage – from Alan. Alone in beautiful Greece, Heather embarks on her very own odyssey – complete with peak experiences, pitfalls and temptations. But what if coming home is the biggest adventure yet?
Published November 2nd by Hodder Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Ten influencers. Ten secrets. One dead body. A pacy, page-turning thriller perfect for fans of We Were Liars, The Inheritance Games and One Of Us Is Lying.
‘Agatha Christie meets TikTok . . . a wicked, juicy page-turner’ – Alexa Donne, author of Brightly Burning
They’re used to being followed. But not like this . . .
Ten social media stars think they’re about to join the cast of a hot new reality show.
But the production crew never shows up, and the influencers find themselves stranded on a deserted Caribbean island with no contact with the outside world – except for messages from the mysterious ‘Sponsor’, who is threatening to expose their darkest secrets.
When one of them winds up dead, things start to get more real than they bargained for . . .
With the body count rising, the influencers must figure out who is trying to get them cancelled – like, literally – before their number one follower strikes again.
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros (The Empyrean Book 2)
Published November 7th by Piatkus Romantic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Fantasy Series
SYNOPSIS: THE THRILLING SEQUEL TO THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND NUMBER ONE GLOBAL PHENOMENON, FOURTH WING!
The deadly second year at Basgiath awaits. Don’t miss out on the series that the world can’t stop talking about:
‘This book contains an addictive, drug like essence that will make you relinquish all responsibility until the very last word. Do not say I didn’t warn you’ – Glamour
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She survived her first year at Basgiath War College . . . but the danger is only beginning.
Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College, Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.
Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders’ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is – unless she betrays the man she loves.
Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits, and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.
But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year.
Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College – and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.
Published November 7th by Sphere Contemporary Romance, Science Fiction Romance, Young Adult Fiction
SYNOPSIS: In this clever and swoonworthy new novel from the New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, life’s moving pieces bring rival chess players together in a match for the heart.
Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory’s focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious ‘Kingkiller’ Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess.
Nolan’s loss to an unknown rookie shocks everyone. What’s even more confusing? His desire to cross pawns again. What kind of gambit is Nolan playing? The smart move would be to walk away. Resign. Game over. But Mallory’s victory opens the door to sorely needed cash-prizes and despite everything, she can’t help feeling drawn to the enigmatic strategist…
As she rockets up the ranks, Mallory struggles to keep her family safely separated from the game that wrecked it in the first place. And as her love for the sport she so desperately wanted to hate begins to rekindle, Mallory quickly realizes that the games aren’t only on the board, the spotlight is brighter than she imagined, and the competition can be fierce (-ly attractive. And intelligent… and infuriating…)
This novel is suitable for both young adult and adult audiences.
The Temple of Fortuna by Elodie Harper (Wolf Den Trilogy Book 3)
Published November 9th by Head of Zeus Historical Fiction, Romance Novel, Book Series, Historical Romance
SYNOPSIS: The final instalment in Elodie Harper’s Sunday Times bestselling Wolf Den Trilogy
A courtesan in Rome. Playing for power. Haunted by her past. Her name is Amara. How will her fortunes fall?
Amara’s journey has taken her far, from a lowly slave in Pompeii’s brothel to a high-powered courtesan in Rome. She is now a freedwoman with wealth and influence, yet she is still drawn back to her past.
For while Amara is caught up in the political scheming of the Imperial palace, her daughter remains in Pompeii, raised by the only man she ever truly loved. Although she longs for her family, Amara knows they are safest while she is far away. Perhaps, with enough cunning and courage, she will manage to turn Fortuna’s wheel in their favour.
But the year is ad 79, and Mount Vesuvius is preparing to make itself known…
The Temple of Fortuna is the dramatic final instalment in Elodie Harper’s Sunday Times-bestselling Wolf Den trilogy, which reimagines the lives of women who have long been overlooked.
Published November 9th by Orenda Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, PsychologivlcaThriller, Horror Satire
SYNOPSIS: Hotel Beresford: a grand old building, just outside the city, where any soul is welcome, and strange goings-on mask explosive, deadly secrets. A chilling, darkly funny sequel to Will Carver’s bestselling The Beresford…
There are worse places than hell…
Hotel Beresford is a grand, old building, just outside the city. And any soul is welcome.
Danielle Ortega works nights, singing at whatever dive bar will offer her a gig. She gets by, keeping to herself. Sam Walker gambles and drinks, and can’t keep his hands to himself. Now he’s tied up in a shoe closet with a dent in his head that matches Danielle’s broken ashtray.
The man in 731 has been dead for two days and his dog has not stopped barking. Two doors down, the couple who always smokes on the window ledge will mysteriously fall.
Upstairs, in the penthouse, Mr Balliol sees it all. He can peer into every crevice of every floor of the hotel from his screen-filled suite. He witnesses humanity and inhumanity in all its forms: loneliness, passion and desperation in equal measure. All the ingredients he needs to make a deal.
When Danielle returns home one night to find Sam gone, a series of sinister events begins to unfold. But strange things often occur at Hotel Beresford, and many are only a distraction to hide something much, much darker…
Published November 9th by Orenda Thriller, Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Police Procedural, Hardboiled, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Desperate for reward money – and to rescue his marriage – an embattled sheriff takes incalculable risks to find a missing boy. An edge-of-your-seat, twisted and twisty thriller from New Zealand’s King of Crime.
To catch a killer… Maybe you’ve got to be one…
Acacia Pines, USA. Sheriff Cohen’s life is falling apart – his father accidentally burned down the retirement home, his wife has moved out, and his son is bullying other kids at school.
When high-school student, Lucas Connor, is abducted, Cohen sees a chance to get his life back on track – to win back his wife and scoop the reward money offered for Lucas’s safe return.
But as the body count rises, it becomes clear that Cohen’s going to have to make the kind of decision from which there’s no coming back … a decision with deadly consequences…
A furiously paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller exposing the dark underbelly of small-town life, His Favourite Graves is also a twisted and twisty story of father-and-son relationships, and the one last gamble of a desperate man to save everything…
Published November 9th by Orion Mystery, Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Erotic Thriller
SYNOPSIS: Sharon Bolton has written another cracker! The twists! The tension! The characters!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘You’ll never guess where this book is going’ SAMANTHA DOWNING ‘Totally gripping, with characters who draw you in’ JP DELANEY ‘A thriller that had me desperate for answers. I loved it!’ HARRIET TYCE
Olive Anderson is dining alone at a hotel when a glamourous stranger joins her table, pretending to be her wife. What starts as a thrilling game quickly turns into something dangerous. But as much as the fake wife has her secrets, Olive just might have more . . .
The Fake Wife is an unputdownable thriller that will shock and surprise you like the best television boxsets. If you enjoyed Netflix shows like Behind Her Eyes, The Stranger and Obsession you will love The Fake Wife.
The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict
Published November 9th by Simon & Schuster UK Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Crime Fiction, Adventure Fiction, LGBT Literature, Domestic Fiction, Holiday Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ***GIVE THE GIFT OF CHRISTMAS EARLY. PRE-ORDER THIS DELICIOUSLY DARK CHRISTMAS MYSTERY FOR FANS OF CLEVER, PUZZLING CRIME. THE PERFECT STOCKING FILLER***
THIS CHRISTMAS, A KILLER TAKES FAMILY GAMES TO A MURDEROUS NEW LEVEL.
On 19th of December, renowned puzzle setter, loner and Christmas sceptic Edie O’Sullivan finds a hand-delivered present on her doorstep. Unwrapping it, she finds a jigsaw box and, inside, six jigsaw pieces. When fitted together, the pieces show part of a crime scene – blood-spattered black and white tiles and part of an outlined body. Included in the parcel is a message: ‘Four, maybe more, people will be dead by midnight on Christmas Eve, unless you can put all the pieces together and stop me.’ It’s signed, Rest In Pieces.
Edie contacts her nephew, DI Sean Brand-O’Sullivan, and together they work to solve the clues. But when a man is found near death with a jigsaw piece in his hand, Sean fears that Edie might be in danger and shuts her out of the investigation. As the body count rises, however, Edie knows that only she has the knowledge to put together the killer’s murderous puzzle.
Only by fitting all the pieces together will Edie be able to stop a killer – and finally lay her past to rest.
Published November 9th by Hodder & Stoughton Romance Novel, Contemporary Romance, Humorous Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘Romantic, funny, sweet and sexy’ MARIAN KEYES
‘The funny, clever, deeply romantic, sinfully sexy, devastatingly heartbreaking, perfectly uplifting book of your dreams’ CRESSIDA MCLAUGHLIN
Is he too good to be true?
Meet Theo. Handsome, sexy, funny. kind. And he can cook.
He’s literally the man of Esme’s dreams. But Esme’s sensible enough to know that you can’t just manifest your perfect boyfriend then have him turn up on your doorstep.
Published November 9th by Black & White Publishing Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Regency Romance, Coming-of-Age Story, New Adult Fiction, Transgender Fiction, LGBT Literature, Gay Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘Fun, fresh and clever . . . a huge treat for all fans of Jane Eyre.’ KATIE LUMSDEN, author of The Secrets of Hartwood Hall
‘A sublime and tenderly written novel.’ BEA FITZGERALD, author of Girl, Goddess, Queen
All Brontë Ellis has ever known is life at St. Mary’s all-boys boarding school, where he lingered first as a student and then as a teaching assistant. So when a chance to forge a new life in Cambridge presents itself, he seizes it with both hands.
Arriving at Greenwood Manor as the new live-in tutor, Bron finds himself welcomed by all – the gregarious Mr Edwards, his precocious pupil Ada . . . except for Darcy, the elusive and tempestuous eldest son. Despite the rumours about him, Bron cannot help feeling drawn to the one person who seems determined to avoid him.
When tragedy strikes the house, Bron begins to sense dark secrets smouldering beneath Greenwood Manor’s surface. Soon he’s not sure what to believe, or whether he even has a future at Greenwood. Only Darcy holds the key, if he can be persuaded to reveal his heart to Bron . . .
Published November 9th by Scribe UK Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: From the author of The Picture Bride, two women’s lives and identities are intertwined ― through World War II and the Korean War ― revealing the harsh realities of class division in the early part of the 20th century.
Can’t I Go Instead follows the lives of the daughter of a Korean nobleman and her maidservant in the early 20th century. When the daughter’s suitor is arrested as a Korean Independence activist, and she is implicated during the investigation, she is quickly forced into marriage to one of her father’s Japanese employees and shipped off to the United States. At the same time, her maidservant is sent in her mistress’s place to be a comfort woman to the Japanese Imperial army.
Years of hardship, survival, and even happiness follow. In the aftermath of WWII, the women make their way home, where they must reckon with the tangled lives they’ve led, in an attempt to reclaim their identities, and find their places in an independent Korea.
Published November 9th by Fig Tree Contemporary Romance, Literary Fiction, Psychological Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘Leaves you heartsore but happier. Irresistible’ RICHARD E. GRANT
‘Wise and relatable and pee-your-pants funny… Dolly Alderton is, quite simply, the bard of modern day love’ LENA DUNHAM
—
Every relationship has one beginning. This one has two endings.
Andy loves Jen. Jen loved Andy. And he can’t work out why she stopped.
Now he is. . . 1. Without a home 2. Waiting for his stand-up career to take off 3. Wondering why everyone else around him seems to have grown up while he wasn’t looking
Set adrift on the sea of heartbreak at a time when everything he thought he knew about women, and flat-sharing, and his friendships has transformed beyond recognition, Andy clings to the idea of solving the puzzle of their broken relationship. Because if he can find the answer to that, then maybe Jen can find her way back to him.
Andy still has a lot to learn, not least his ex-girlfriend’s side of the story.
From the bestselling author of Ghosts and Everything I Know About Love: a sharply funny, beautifully observed and exquisitely relatable story of heartbreak and friendship, and how to survive both.
The Unspeakable Acts of Zina Pavlou by Eleni Kyriacou
Published November 9th by Head of Zeus Suspesne, Thriller, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery
SYNOPSIS: **Selected for BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club 2023**
‘Tense. Moving. Morally complex. Zina Pavlou is wholly unforgettable.’ Rachel Rhys ‘Hugely powerful… Easily one of the best books you’ll read this year.’ Emma Christie THEY HAVE TOLD SO MANY LIES ABOUT ME.
London, 1954. Zina Pavlou, a Cypriot grandmother, waits quietly in the custody of the Metropolitan police. She can’t speak their language, but she understands what their wary looks mean: she has been accused of the brutal murder of her daughter-in-law.
Eva Georgiou, Greek interpreter for the Met, knows how it feels to be voiceless as an immigrant woman. While she works as Zina’s translator, her obsession with the case deepens, and so too does her bond with the accused murderer.
Zina can’t speak for herself. She can’t clear her own name. All she can do is wait for the world to decide…
IS SHE A VICTIM? OR IS SHE A KILLER?
A compelling historical crime novel set in the Greek diaspora of 1950s London – that’s inspired by a true story – The Unspeakable Acts of Zina Pavlou is perfect for fans of Erin Kelly, Sara Collins, and Jessie Burton.
Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree (Legends & Lattes Book 2)
Published November 9th by Tor Fantasty Fiction, Romance Novel, Romantic Fantasy, Gaslamp Fantasy, Cosy Fantasy, Lesbian Literature, Book Series
SYNOPSIS: A standalone cosy fantasy about the power of good bookshops, great friends and the unexpected choices along the way from the bestselling author of BookTok sensation Legends & Lattes.
First loves. Second-hand books. Epic adventures.
Viv’s career with the renowned mercenary company Rackam’s Ravens isn’t going as planned. Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she’s packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk – so far from the action that she worries she’ll never be able to return to it. What’s a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?
Spending her hours at a struggling bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted. Even though it may be exactly what she needs. Still, adventure isn’t far away. A suspicious traveller in grey, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.
Sometimes, right things happen at the wrong time. Sometimes, what we need isn’t what we seek. And sometimes, we find ourselves in the stories we experience together . . .
Published November 9th by Simon & Schuster UK Humorous Fiction, Disability Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Joe loves predictability. But his life is about to become a surprising adventure.
Joe-Nathan likes the two parts of his name separate, just like his dinner and dessert. Mean Charlie at work sometimes calls him Joe-Nuthin. But Joe is far from nothing. Joe is a good friend, he’s good at his job, good at making things and good at following the rules, and he’s learning how to do lots of things by himself.
Joe’s mother knows there are a million things in life he isn’t prepared for. While she helps guide him every day, she’s also writing notebooks full of advice about the things she hasn’t told Joe yet, things he might forget and answers to questions he hasn’t yet asked.
Following her wisdom – applying it in his own unique way – this next part of Joe’s life is more of a surprise than he expects. Because he’s about to learn that remarkable things can happen when you leave your comfort zone, and that you can do even the hardest things with a little help from your friends.
Irresistable: How Cuteness Wired our Brains and Conquered the World by Joshua Paul Dale
Published November 9th by Profile Books Evolutionary Psychology, History of Japan
SYNOPSIS: Why are some things cute, and others not? What happens to our brains when we see something cute? And how did cuteness go global, from Hello Kitty to Disney characters?
Cuteness is an area where culture and biology get tangled up. Seeing a cute animal triggers some of the most powerful psychological instincts we have – the ones that elicit our care and protection – but there is a deeper story behind the broad appeal of Japanese cats and saccharine greetings cards.
Joshua Paul Dale, a pioneer in the burgeoning field of cuteness studies, explains how the cute aesthetic spread around the globe, from pop brands to Lolita fashion, kids’ cartoons and the unstoppable rise of Hello Kitty. Irresistible delves into the surprisingly ancient origins of Japan’s kawaii culture, and uncovers the cross-cultural pollination of the globalised world. If adorable things really do rewire our brains, it can help answer some of the biggest questions we have about our evolutionary history and the mysterious origins of animal domestication.
This is the fascinating cultural history of cuteness, and a revealing look at how our most powerful psychological impulses have remade global style and culture.
What The River Knows by Isabel Ibanez (Secrets of the Nile Duology)
Published November 14th by Hodderscape Historical Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction, Romantic Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
SYNOPSIS: A divine exploration. A deadly secret. A desire she can’t escape.
‘Expertly plotted, explosively adventurous, and burning with romance’ STEPHANIE GARBER
The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in this lush, immersive historical fantasy set in 19th century Egypt, filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race.
Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that’s been largely left behind or forgotten. Inez has everything a girl might want, except for the one thing she yearns for the most: her globetrotting parents – who frequently leave her behind when they venture off on their exploring adventures.
When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archaeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and an ancient golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there’s more to her parent’s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe.
With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent’s disappearance-or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.
Published November 14th by Sphere Historical Fiction, Religious Fiction, Jewish Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A moving new novel from the beloved author of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven
When the Nazis invade Salonika, Greece, eleven-year-old Nico Crispi is offered a chance to save his family. He is instructed to convince his fellow Jewish residents to board trains heading towards the east, where they are promised jobs and safety. He dutifully goes to the station platform every day and reassures the passengers that the journey is safe. Only after it is too late does Nico discover that the people he loved would never return.
In The Little Liar, Nico’s story is interweaved with other individuals impacted by the occupation: his brother Sebastian, their schoolmate Fanni and the Nazi officer who radically changed their lives. As the decades pass, the consequences of what they endured come to light.
Exploring honesty, survival, revenge and devotion, The Little Liar is a timeless story about the harm we inflict with our deceits, and the power of love to redeem us.
Published November 23rd by Orenda Thriller, Suspense, Historical Mystery, Noir Fiction, Hardboiled, Horror Fiction
SYNOPSIS: An art expert joins a detective to investigate a horrific murder on a Swedish island, leading them to a mystery rooted in Viking rites and Scandinavia’s deepest, darkest winter. The Queen of French Noir returns with a chilling, utterly captivating historical thriller, based on a true story.
Art expert Emma Lindahl is anxious when she’s asked to appraise the antiques and artefacts in the infamous manor house of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families, on the island of Storholmen, where a young woman was murdered nine years earlier, her killer never found.
Emma must work alone, and with the Gussman family apparently avoiding her, she sees virtually no one in the house. Do they have something to hide?
As she goes about her painstaking work and one shocking discovery yields clues that lead to another, Emma becomes determined to uncover the secrets of the house and its occupants.
When the lifeless body of another young woman is found in the icy waters surrounding the island, Detective Karl Rosén arrives to investigate, and memories of his failure to solve the first case come rushing back. Could this young woman’s tragic death somehow hold the key to the first?
Battling her own demons, Emma joins forces with Karl to embark upon a chilling investigation, plunging them into horrifying secrets from the past – Viking rites and tainted love – and Scandinavia’s deepest, darkest winter…
Published November 23rd by Hodder & Stoughton Psychological Thriller
SYNOPSIS: YOU WANT TO BE JUST LIKE HER. BUT DO YOU REALLY KNOW HER?
Rani has always felt like an outsider. First growing up among her white, wealthy peers. And now next to her successful, child-free friends. From the tiny rented flat she lives in with her family, she imagines being the kind of woman who owns the beautiful house across the street.
Then Natalie moves in. With her expensive clothes, adoring husband and high-powered job, she has everything Rani wants, and Rani can’t help but be drawn to her new neighbour.
But as the two women strike up a friendship and begin open up, Rani wonders – is Natalie’s perfect-seeming life too good to be true?
Published November 23rd by Raven Books Dark Comedy, Satire, Thriller, Mystery
SYNOPSIS: ‘It’s a clever book … [Im Seong-sun] offers readers his razor-sharp observations on consumerism, capitalism and what it means to feel anonymous’ M.W. Craven _______________ Sometimes work can be murder…
The Consultant is very good at his job. He creates simple, elegant, effective solutions for. restructuring. Nothing obvious or messy. Certainly nothing anyone would ever suspect as murder.
The ‘natural deaths’ he plans have always gone well: a medicine replaced here, a mechanism jammed there. His performance reviews are excellent. And it’s not as though he knows these people.
Until his next ‘customer’ turns out to be someone he not only knows but cares about, and for the first time, he begins to question the role he plays in the vast, anonymous Company. And as he slowly begins to understand the real scope of their work, he realises just how easy it would be for the Company to arrange one more perfect murder…
But how far will he go to escape The Company? And how far will they go to stop him?
The electrifying first novel from award-winning Korean thriller-writer Im Seong-Sun – now in English for the first time – combines the tension of the best crime fiction with searing social criticism to present a searing take-down of global corporate life.
Published November 23rd by One More Chapter Mystery, Suspense, Psychlogical Thriller, Crime Fiction, Coming-of-Age Story
SYNOPSIS: ‘The Talented Mr Ripley meets The White Lotus. Unpredictable, whip smart, utterly absorbing. I ADORED that ending!’ John Marrs ‘One of the most unsettling novels of recent years. It’s also one of the most compelling’ John Boyne
***
Everyone is capable of murder. Are you?
It started with an invitation to dinner. An evening of good food and good company at a luxury villa. But as the night progresses, the party takes a dark turn.
The host makes you an offer, a party favour he calls it: another guest has committed a heinous crime, you can end their life, stop their terror. He tells you there will be no consequences; do you believe him?
Your decision will change your life. Choose carefully.
***
You’ve read The Talented Mr Ripley, you’ve devoured American Psycho, get ready for your next dark obsession! The unrelenting new thriller from Sunday Times bestseller B P Walter is back and available to pre-order now!
Unnatural Death by Patricia Cornwell (A Kay Scarpetta Novel)
Published November 23rd by Sphere Mystery, Thriller, Pscyhological Thriller, Crime Fiction, Medical Thriller, Crime Series
SYNOPSIS: THE BREATHTAKING NEW KAY SCARPETTA THRILLER FROM THE 120-MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER
Two mauled bodies in the woods. Two top secret autopsies. The most chilling case of Scarpetta’s career . . .
In this thrilling new instalment of the #1 bestselling series, chief medical examiner Dr Kay Scarpetta finds herself in a Northern Virginia wilderness examining the remains of two campers wanted by federal law enforcement.
The victims have been savaged beyond recognition, and other evidence is terrifying and baffling, including a larger-than-life footprint.
After one of the most frightening body retrievals of her career, Scarpetta must discover who would commit murders this brutal, and why.
‘A chilling, thrilling, macabre masterpiece. Unnatural Death is Patricia Cornwell at her mesmerising finest. The best just got better’ CHRIS WHITAKER, author of WE BEGIN AT THE END
Published November 23rd by Harper Via Contemporary Fiction, Domestic Fiction
SYNOPSIS: From one of Australia’s most celebrated authors comes a powerful mother-daughter drama that explores the fault lines between love and control, pairing the claustrophobic intensity of Room and My Year of Rest and Relaxation with the youthful angst of Freshwater.
Sixteen and pregnant, Karuna finds herself trapped in her mother’s Melbourne public housing apartment for one hundred days awaiting the birth of her child—and her mother’s next move in a shocking power struggle over who will raise the baby. To fill the seemingly endless hours of her imprisonment, she writes to her unborn child, determined that her baby will know the truth, no matter what happens.
Karuna’s pregnancy is the result of a heady act of independence, lust, and defiance that happened in a moment of freedom from her overprotective mother. In reaction to her daughter’s recklessness, Karuna’s mother locks her inside their apartment to her to make sure she can’t get into any more trouble. While postpartum confinement is a tradition in many cultures, is Karuna’s an act of love—or emotional abuse? As the birth approaches, Karuna and her mother repeatedly trip the fault lines between love and control. And somehow, despite their battles, Karuna recognizes her mother’s love in even the strangest of behaviors.
At times tense and unnerving, One Hundred Days illuminates the pain, confusion, and thrill of growing up and the overwhelming desire of adults to protect the children they
Published November 28th by Verve Books Historical Mystery, Medical Thriller, Mystery, Historical Thriller
SYNOPSIS: A disquieting contemporary mystery with a historical twist and fast-paced plot, from the author of the Jen Shaw series.
Six decades. Seven people. One unspeakable secret.
1957. A catastrophe occurs at the pharmaceutical lab in Coventry where sixteen-year-old Wilf is working for the summer. A catastrophe that needs to be covered up at all costs.2017. Phiney is shocked by the death of her grandfather, Wilf, who has jumped from a railway bridge at a Coventry station. Journalist Mat Torrington is the only witness.
Left in utter disbelief, with a swarm of unanswered questions, Phiney, Mat and Wilf’s wife, Dora, begin their own enquiries into Wilf’s death. It is soon clear that these two events, sixty years apart, are connected – and that Wilf is not the only casualty.
But what is the link? And can they find out before any more lives are lost?
Published November 30th by Bantam Press Fantasy Fiction, Fairy Tale
SYNOPSIS: Light and dark – this is the destiny placed upon Natasha and Clara, the birthright bestowed on them by their godfather, the mysterious sorcerer Drosselmeyer. Clara, the favourite, grows into beauty and ease, while Natasha is cursed to live in her sister’s shadow. But one fateful Christmas Eve, Natasha gets her chance at revenge. For Drosselmeyer has returned and brought with him the Nutcracker, an enchanted present which offers entry to a deceptively beautiful world: the Kingdom of Sweets.
In this land of snow and sugar, Natasha is presented with a power far greater than Drosselmeyer: the Sugar Plum Fairy, who is also a giver of gifts . . . and a maker of dread-filled bargains. As Natasha uncovers the dark destiny laid before her birth, she must reckon with powers both earthly and magical . . . and decide to which world she truly belongs.
Published November 30th by Gollancz Romantic Fantasy, Contemporary Romance, Paranormal Fiction, Romance Novel
SYNOPSIS: Welcome back to Glimmer Falls!
Calladia Cunnington knows she’s rough around the edges and her hot temper can get the best of her. So when she stops a demon attack one night, she’s horrified to realize the man she saved is none other than the cold-hearted Astaroth.
Astaroth is a legendary member of the demon high council – or at least he was. Suffering from amnesia after being stripped of his immortality and banished to the mortal plane, Astaroth doesn’t know why a demon named Moloch is after him, nor why the angry, hot-in-a-terrifying-way witch hates him so much.
Calladia grudgingly agrees to help Astaroth find the witch who might be able to restore his memory, vowing that once Astaroth is cured, she’ll kick his ass. But the more time she spends with the snarky yet utterly charming demon, the more she realizes she likes this new, improved Astaroth… and maybe she doesn’t want him to recover his memories after all.
Published November 30th by Simon & Schuster UK Literary Fiction, Lesbian Literature
SYNOPSIS: A hypnotic, sexy, and incisive debut adult novel following one woman’s affair with her daughter’s best friend that tests the limits of love and ambition from #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Riding Hood.
It’s opening night, but Alice’s performance in the local Bay Area production of The Winter’s Tale is far from glamorous. She doesn’t have dreams of stardom, but the basement theater in a wildfire-choked town isn’t exactly what she envisioned for her career back home in Los Angeles. To make matters worse, her best friend Sadie is not even coming.
Pragmatic, serious Sadie and flighty, creative Alice have been best friends since high school–really one another’s only friends–but now that they are through with college (which they attended together) and living on opposite ends of California, Alice would at least expect her friend’s support. Sadie, determined not to cancel her plans with her boyfriend, ends up enlisting the help of her mother, Celine.
A professor of women’s and gender studies at UC Berkeley, Celine’s landmark treatise on sex and identity made her notorious, but she’s struggling to write her new book in a post-second-wave feminist world. So, when Sadie begs her to attend Alice’s play, she relents, if only to escape writer’s block. But in a turn of perplexing events, Celine becomes entranced by Alice’s performance and realizes that her daughter’s once lanky, slightly annoying best friend is now an irresistible young woman.
Set over the course of decades–from Alice and Sadie’s early friendship days and Celine’s decision to leave her husband to the radical movements of 1990s Berkeley and navigating contemporary Hollywood–Alice and Celine’s affair will test the limits of their love for Sadie and their own beliefs of power, agency, and feminism. Witty and relatable, sexy and surprising, Sarah Blakley-Cartwright’s debut adult novel is a mesmerizing portrait of the inner lives of three very different women.
September is almost upn us and its time to look at what books are coming our way. It’s another great month with some of my most anticipated books of the year such as The Wake-Up Call, Divine Might, Once A Monster, Upon A Frosted Star, and The Stargazers.
Here are the books out next month that I’m most looking forward to:
Holly by Stephen King
Published September 5th by Hodder & Stoughton Horror Fiction, Suspense, Mystery, Psychological Thriller
SYNOPSIS: Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a Midwestern town.
Stephen King’s HOLLY marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly’s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr Mercedes to Bill Hodges’s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King’s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.
When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.
Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harbouring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.
Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmanoeuvre the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.
‘I could never let Holly Gibney go. She was supposed to be a walk-on character in Mr Mercedes and she just kind of stole the book and stole my heart. Holly is all her.’ STEPHEN KING
Published September 5th by Headline Suspense, Mystery, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A remote winery. A missing friend. And a bunch of sour grapes.
An ambitious screenwriter tries to solve her friend’s disappearance by recreating their fateful final girls’ trip in this riveting locked-room mystery from the author of The Murder Weekend. Perfect for fans of Lucy Foley. ………………………………
It should have been the perfect spring break. Five girlfriends. A remote winery on the Oregon coast. An infinite supply of delicious wine at their manicured fingertips. But then their centre-beautiful, magnetic Vanessa Morales-vanished without a trace.
Emily Fischer was perhaps the last person to see her alive. But now, years later, Emily spots Vanessa’s doppelganger at a local café. At the end of her rope working a lucrative yet mind-numbing gig on a network sitcom, Emily is inspired to finally tell the story that’s been percolating inside her for so long: Vanessa’s story. But first, she needs to know what really happened on that fateful night. So she puts a brilliant scheme into motion.
She gets the girls together for a reunion weekend at the scene of the crime under the guise of reconnecting. There’s Brittany, Vanessa’s cousin and the inheritor of the winery; Paige, a former athlete, bullish yet easily manipulated; and Lydia, the wallflower of the group.
One of them knows the truth. But what have they each been hiding? And how much can Emily trust anything she learns from them… or even her own memories of Vanessa’s last days?
Published September 5th by Hot Key Books Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Everyone has a secret. Everyone has a motive. But only one of them brought a knife to the party . . .
To celebrate the end of high school, Izzy Morales joins her best friend Kassidy and five friends on a luxury 1920s-themed getaway at the glamorous Ashwood Manor. There, Izzy and her friends party in vintage dresses and expensive diamonds – until Kassidy’s boyfriend turns up dead.
And when a raging storm traps them on the island with two detectives, the sparkling young socialites become the prime suspects in his murder. There’s the girlfriend, and the other girl. The old friend, and the new friend. The brooding enigma. And then, there’s Izzy – the girl who brought the knife . . .
A glamorous and scandalous modern murder mystery that’ll have you reading through the night to find out whodunnit! Perfect for fans of ONE OF US IS LYING, THE INHERITANCE GAMES and KNIVES OUT.
Published September 7th by Hamish Hamilton Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction,Saga, Biographical Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Truth and fiction. Jamaica and Britain. Who gets to tell their story? Zadie Smith returns with her first historical novel.
Kilburn, 1873. The ‘Tichborne Trial’ has captivated the widowed Scottish housekeeper Mrs Eliza Touchet and all of England. Readers are at odds over whether the defendant is who he claims to be – or an imposter.
Mrs Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her novelist cousin and his wives, this life and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects England of being a land of façades, in which nothing is quite what it seems.
Andrew Bogle meanwhile finds himself the star witness, his future depending on telling the right story. Growing up enslaved on the Hope Plantation, Jamaica, he knows every lump of sugar comes at a human cost. That the rich deceive the poor. And that people are more easily manipulated than they realise.
Based on real historical events, The Fraud is a dazzling novel about how in a world of hypocrisy and self-deception, deciding what’s true can prove a complicated task.
Published September 7th by Pan Macmillan Horror Fiction, Young Adult Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A teenage girl is pulled into investigating the truth behind her new boarding school’s decades-old legend, in this debut speculative mystery by Tomi Oyemakinde.
Just because they let you in . . . it doesn’t mean they’ll let you out.
When Ife joins Nithercott School through its prestigious Urban Achievers Program, she knows immediately that she doesn’t fit. Wandering its echoing halls, she must fend off cruel taunts from the students and condescending attitudes from the teachers. When she finds herself thrown into detention for the foreseeable future, she strikes up an unlikely alliance with Ben, a troublemaker with an annoyingly cute smile. They’ve both got reasons to want to get out of Nithercott – Ben’s brother is missing, and no one seems to be bothering to find him.
For Ife, it’s just another strange element of this school that doesn’t care about its students. But as more and more people start going missing, including one of Ife’s only friends, she starts to feel haunted.
Who is the figure she’s started seeing in the shadowy halls, who looks mysteriously like herself? And is there any truth in to the strange urban legend that travels the school like mist . . . the legend of the Changing Man?
The View From Down Here : Life as a Young Disabled Woman by Lucy Webster
Published September 7th by DK Biography, Autobiography
SYNOPSIS: Women’s lives are shaped by sexism and expectations. Disabled people’s lives are shaped by ableism and a complete lack of expectations. But what happens when you’re subjected to both sets of rules?
This powerful, honest, hilarious and furious memoir from journalist and advocate Lucy Webster looks at life at the intersection; the struggles, the joys and the unseen realities of being a disabled woman. From navigating the worlds of education and work, dating and friendship; to managing care; contemplating motherhood; and learning to accept your body against a pervasive narrative that it is somehow broken and in need of fixing, The View From Down Here shines a light on what it really means to move through the world as a disabled woman.
Published September 12th by Titan Books Historical Fantasy, Fairy Tale
SYNOPSIS: A vividly stunning reimagining of the myth of Medusa and the sisters who loved her, in this captivating, moving debut novel, perfect for fans of Stone Blind and Ariadne.
Even before they were transformed into Gorgons, Medusa and her sisters Stheno and Euryale were unique among immortals. Curious about mortals and their lives, Medusa and her sisters entered the human world in search of a place to belong, yet quickly found themselves at the perilous center of a dangerous Olympian rivalry and learned – too late – that a god’s love is a violent one.
Forgotten by history and diminished by poets, the other two Gorgons have never been more than horrifying hags, damned and doomed. But they were sisters first, and their journey from seaborne origins to the outskirts of the Pantheon is a journey that rests, hidden, underneath their scales.
Monsters, but not monstrous, Stheno and Euryale will step into the light for the first time to tell the story of how all three sisters lived and were changed by each other, as they struggle against the inherent conflict between sisterhood and individuality, myth and truth, vengeance and peace.
Published September 12th by Titan Books Horror Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Dystopian Fantasy, Myths & Legends
SYNOPSIS: A frightening dystopian horror novel where grief is forbidden and purged from the mind – a nightmarish mix of 1984 and Never Let Me Go.
Sorrow is inefficient. It’s also inescapable.
Lieutenant Dev Singh dutifully spends his days recording the memories of people who, struck with incurable depression, will soon have their minds erased in order to be more productive members of society.
At night though, hidden in the dark, Dev remembers and writes in his secret journal the special moments shared with him–the small laugh of a toddler, the stillness of a late afternoon. The first flutter of love. But when the Bureau finds out he’s been recounting the memories–and that the depression is in him, too– he’s sent to a sanitarium to heal.
After all, the Bureau knows what’s best for you. A nightmarish descent from sadness to madness, THE COLLECTOR is a dystopian horror novel where grief is forbidden and purged from the mind.
Published September 14th by Headline Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Domestic Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Sunday Times Top 5 bestselling author Harriet Evans returns with an unputdownable tale of the infinite possibilities of familes – how they can anchor you or unseat you – and why unconditional love holds the key to true freedom.
‘Immersive, engrossing and ultimately beautiful’ Marian Keyes
‘No one except Harriet Evans writes books like this anymore; The Stargazers is a work of genius and a future classic’ Jane Casey
‘Don’t you think there should be a name for people like us?’ he said. ‘Who look up and who dream of more, who dream of escaping? Who never lose faith, no matter how hard it becomes?’
‘Stargazers,’ I said. ‘That’s what we are’
It’s the 1970s, and Sarah has spent a lifetime trying to bury memories of her childhood: the constant fear, the horror of her school days, and Fane, the vast, crumbling house that was the sole obsession of her mother, Iris, a woman as beautiful as she was cruel. Sarah’s solace has been her cello and the music that allowed her to dream, transporting her from the bleakness of those early years to her new life with her husband Daniel in their safe, if slightly chaotic, Hampstead home and with a concert career that has brought her fame and restored a sense of self.
The past, though, has a habit of creeping into the present, and as long as Sarah tries to escape, it seems the pull of her mother, Fane Hall and the secrets hidden there cannot be suppressed, threatening to unravel the fragile happiness she enjoys now. Sarah will need to travel back to Fane to confront her childhood, and search for the true meaning of home.
Deliciously absorbing and rich with character and atmosphere, The Stargazers is the story of a house, a family, and finding the strength inside yourself to carry on.
Published September 14th by Orenda Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Gothic Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Horror Fiction, Religious Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A young woman starts experiencing terrifying premonitions of people dying, as it becomes clear that a family curse known only as The Murmurs has begun, and a long-forgotten crime is about to be unearthed…
On the first morning of her new job at Heartfield House, a care home for the elderly, Annie Jackson wakens from a terrifying dream. And when she arrives at the home, she knows that the first old man she meets is going to die.
How she knows this is a terrifying mystery, but it is the start of horrifying premonitions … a rekindling of the curse that has trickled through generations of women in her family – a wicked gift known only as ‘the murmurs’…
With its reappearance comes an old, forgotten fear that is about to grip Annie Jackson.
And this time, it will never let go…
A compulsive gothic thriller and a spellbinding supernatural mystery about secrets and small communities, about faith, courage and self-preservation, The Murmurs is a startling and compulsive read from one of Scotland’s finest authors.
Published September 14th by Transworld Romantic Comedy, Humorous Fiction, Adventure Fiction, Holiday Fiction
SYNOPSIS: From the bestselling author of Richard & Judy’s pick Away with the Penguins comes this ‘otterly’ delightful, heart-warming and feel-good story about the healing power of nature.
‘A lovely holiday read . . . Packed full of humanity and otters!’ Sally Page
‘This book was just amazing. It made me laugh and cry!’ ***** ‘There is so much to love and treasure in this story’ ***** ‘This book was a delight from start to finish!’ ***** ‘Glorious dose of otter cuteness’ ***** You loved Veronica McCreedy. Now meet Phoebe Featherstone . . ._____
Down by the river, Phoebe Featherstone is about to make a life-changing discovery . . .
Clever, nosy Phoebe is unable to get out much, but she has a talent for uncovering her neighbours’ secrets by examining the parcels delivered by her courier father, Al.
When they discover an abandoned baby otter on the riverbank, Phoebe must step out of her comfort zone – and she experiences an unexpected sense of happiness that she has not felt in a very long time. But now, further secrets are coming to light.
Phoebe soon realizes that something is amiss at the local otter sanctuary. She will need to overcome her own closely guarded issues and put all her sleuthing skills to good use if she wants to save the otters . . . and in the process, change her life for ever.
The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club Book 4) by Richard Osman
Published September 14th by Viking Mystery, Thriller, Cozy Mystery, Humorous Fiction,Crime Fiction, Domestic Fiction
SYNOPSIS: THE FOURTH NOVEL IN THE RECORD-BREAKING, MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING THURSDAY MURDER CLUB SERIES BY RICHARD OSMAN
———-
Shocking news reaches the Thursday Murder Club.
An old friend in the antiques business has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.
As the gang springs into action they encounter art forgers, online fraudsters and drug dealers, as well as heartache close to home.
With the body count rising, the package still missing and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out? And who will be the last devil to die?
Published September 14th by Orion Mystery, Suspense, Pscyhological Thriller, Crime Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Leaving isn’t safe… But staying would be deadly.
‘An addictive read. . . Patricia Highsmith meets Shirley Jackson’ – GILLIAN MCALLISTER ‘The Short Straw practically pulses with foreboding and menace. Get ready to stay up all night! Fans of Shirley Jackson and Ruth Ware will love this. No one writes of family dynamics quite like Holly Seddon.’ – JACK JORDAN
Three sisters find themselves lost in a storm at night, and seek safety at Moirthwaite Manor, where their mother once worked. They are shocked to find the isolated mansion that loomed so large through their troubled childhoods has long been abandoned. Drawing straws to decide who should get help, one sister heads back into the darkness. With the siblings separated, the deadly secrets hidden in the house finally make themselves known and we learn the unspeakable secret that binds the family together.
Published September 14th by Michael Joseph Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Cozy Mystery
SYNOPSIS: Six contestants. The nation’s favourite baking show. And a prize worth killing for…
‘I loved it. The Great British Bake Off meets And Then There Were None’J.M. HALL, author of A Spoonful of Murder ‘A delectably fun mystery’ The Washington Post __________
For six amateur bakers, competing in Bake Week is a dream come true.
But for the show’s famous host, Betsy Martin, it’s more than a competition. It’s her legacy. As she welcomes contestants to her ancestral home, Grafton Manor, she’s excited to discover who will have what it takes win the ultimate prize: The Golden Spoon. Quickly, though, things start to go wrong. The contestants are jittery – they’ve heard strange noises in the manor at night. Betsy is irate – a new co-host has arrived, and he’s out for her spotlight. Then, the sabotage begins. At first, it’s small. Sugar switched for salt. A hob turned too high. But when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect. Because someone at Bake Week wants to settle old scores…
Before We Say Goodbye (Beofre the Coffee Gets Cold 4) by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Published September 14th by Picador Contemporary Fantasy, Lierary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s poignant Before We Say Goodbye, translated from Japanese, explores the age-old question: what would you do if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?
The regulars at the magical Cafe Funiculi Funicula are well acquainted with its famous legend and extraordinary, secret menu time travel offering. Many patrons have reunited with old flames, made amends with estranged family, and visited loved ones. But the journey is not without risks and there are rules to follow. Travellers must have visited the cafe previously and most importantly, must return to the present in the time it takes for their coffee to go cold.
In the tradition of Kawaguchi’s sensational ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ series, readers are be introduced to a new set of visitors:
– The husband with something important left to say – The woman who couldn’t bid her dog farewell – The woman who couldn’t answer a proposal – The daughter who drove her father away . . .
In the hauntingly beautiful Before We Say Goodbye, Kawaguchi invites us to join his characters as they embark on a journey to revisit one crucial moment in time.
Catch up on the rest of the series with Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Tales from the Cafe and Before Your Memory Fades.
The Opposite of Lonely (Skelfs Volume 5) by Doug Johnstone
Published September 14th by Orenda Thriller, Suspense, Crime Ficiton, Mystery, Urban Fiction, Crime Series, Lesbian Literature, LGBT Literature, Religious Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A body lost at sea, arson, murder, astronauts, wind phones, communal funerals and existential angst … This can ONLY mean one thing! The Skelfs are back, and things are as tense, unnerving and warmly funny as ever!
The Skelf women are recovering from the cataclysmic events that nearly claimed their lives. Their funeral-director and private-investigation businesses are back on track, and their cases are as perplexing as ever.
Matriarch Dorothy looks into a suspicious fire at an illegal campsite and takes a grieving, homeless man under her wing. Daughter Jenny is searching for her missing sister-in-law, who disappeared in tragic circumstances, while grand-daughter Hannah is asked to investigate increasingly dangerous conspiracy theorists, who are targeting a retired female astronaut … putting her own life at risk.
With a body lost at sea, funerals for those with no one to mourn them, reports of strange happenings in outer space, a funeral crasher with a painful secret, and a violent attack on one of the family, The Skelfs face their most personal – and perilous – cases yet. Doing things their way may cost them everything…
Tense, unnerving and warmly funny, The Opposite of Lonely is the hugely anticipated fifth instalment in the unforgettable Skelfs series, and this time, danger comes from everywhere…
Published September 14th by Harper Collins Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Domestic Fiction, Humorous Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Nothing brings a family together like a murder next door.
A lighthearted whodunnit about a grandmother-mother-daughter trio of amateur sleuths. Think: Gilmore Girls, but with murder.
“Mother-Daughter Murder Night is the perfect mix of family drama and murder mystery.” — Kellye Garrett, award-winning author of Like a Sister
High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud of:her keen intelligence, impeccable taste, and the L.A. real estate empire she’s built. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepycoastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana is stuck counting otters instead of square footage—and hoping that boredom won’t kill her before the cancer does.
Then Jack—tiny in stature but fiercely independent—happens upon a dead body while kayaking. She quickly becomes a suspect in the homicide investigation, and the Rubicon women are thrown into chaos. Beth thinks Lana should focus on recovery, but Lana has a better idea. She’ll pull on her wig, find the true murderer, protect her family, and prove she still has power.
With Jack and Beth’s help, Lana uncovers a web of lies, family vendettas, and land disputes lurking beneath the surface of a community populated by folksy conservationists and wealthy ranchers. But as their amateur snooping advances into ever-more dangerous territory, the headstrong Rubicon women must learn to do the one thing they’ve always resisted: depend on each other.
Published September 14th by Bedford Square Publishers Contemporary Fiction, Humorous Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘Eleanor Oliphant meets About a Boy’ – Gillian Harvey
‘A beautiful read full of heart and depth’ – Nina Pottell, Prima Magazine
Funny, heartbreaking and life-affirming, Swimming for Beginners will show you how a child can open your heart even if you aren’t a mother.
Loretta has life under control.
She’s good at avoiding things that make her uncomfortable, she’s chasing a big promotion at work, and she’s marrying a man whose five-year plan aligns perfectly with her own.
Children do not come into the mix.
This all changes, however, when a stranger in an airport asks Loretta to keep an eye on her sleeping six-year-old, Phoebe. The stranger never comes back.
Loretta knows that Phoebe’s life will change forever from that moment. But so will hers.
This strange little person in fairy wings will turn Loretta’s world upside down and cause her to question everything she knows about herself.
Dive into Nicola Gill’s heart-warming and relatable journey into the power of a child’s love and its ability to transcend motherhood.
Published September 14th by Faber & Faber Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Biographical Fiction
SYNOPSIS: THE DEBUT NOVEL FROM THE BESTSELLING AND AWARD-WINNING COMEDIAN, WRITER AND ACTOR SARA PASCOE
‘Quietly profound and laughing-in-public funny’ CAITLIN MORAN ‘Funny. . . the humour is always anchored in spot-on observation’ ELIZABETH DAY ‘An incredible read’ AISLING BEA ‘I loved every page’ NATHAN FILER ‘A tragicomic masterpiece’ DAISY BUCHANAN ‘A tremendously exciting voice.’ The Times
“I USED TO THINK MY MUM COULD SEE ME THROUGH THE CAT”
Deep in Essex and her own thoughts, Sophie had a feeling something was going to happen and then it did. Chris has entered the pub and re-entered her life after Sophie had finally stopped thinking about him and regretting what she’d done.
Sophie has a chance at creating a new ending and paying off her emotional debts (if not her financial ones). All she has to do is act exactly like a normal, well-adjusted person and not say any of her inner monologue out loud. If she can suppress her light paranoia, pornographic visualisations and pathological lying maybe she’ll even end up getting the guy she wants? Then she could dump her boyfriend Ian and try to enjoy Christmas.
Published September 14th by Simon & Schuster UK Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Sunday Times bestseller Rachel Hore’s captivating new novel of secrets, loss and betrayal – set on the beautiful Cornish coast during World War Two and the heady days of the 1960s.
When talented musician Gray Robinson persuades Belle to abandon her university studies and follow him to Silverwood, home to an artistic community on the Cornish coast, Belle happily agrees even though they’ve only just met. She knows she is falling in love, and the thought of spending a carefree summer with Gray is all she can think about.
But being with Gray isn’t the only reason Belle agrees to accompany him to Silverwood.
Why does the name Silverwood sound so familiar? What is its connection to a photo of her as a baby, taken on a nearby beach? And who is Imogen Lockhart, a wartime nurse who lived at Silverwood many years ago?
As the summer months unfold, Belle begins to learn the truth – about secrets from the past that have been kept hidden, but also about the person she wants to be.
Published September 14th by HQ Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Urban Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘A sultry, immersive exploration of 30s New York with a taut plot and a vivid soundtrack. The perfect escape – evocative, smooth prose’ Harriet Tyce, Sunday Times bestselling author
* * *
1936, September 17th, 1am…
In the middle of Harlem, in the dead of night, a woman falls from a second storey window. In her hand, she holds a passport and the name written on it is Lena Aldridge…
Nine days earlier…
Lena arrived in Harlem less than two weeks ago, full of hope for her burgeoning romance with Will Goodman, the handsome musician she met on board the Queen Mary. Will has arranged for Lena to stay with friends of his, and this will give her the chance to find out if their relationship is going anywhere. But there is another reason she’s in Harlem – to find out what happened in 1908 to make her father flee to London.
As Lena’s investigations progress, not only does she realise her father lied to her, but the man she’s falling too fast and too hard for has secrets of his own. And those secrets have put Lena in terrible danger…
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. Circe is a strange child – not powerful and terrible, like her father, nor gorgeous and mercenary like her mother. Scorned and rejected, Circe grows up in the shadows, at home in neither the world of gods or mortals. But Circe has a dark power of her own: witchcraft. When her gift threatens the gods, she is banished to the island of Aiaia where she hones her occult craft, casting spells, gathering strange herbs and taming wild beasts. Yet a woman who stands alone will never be left in peace for long – and among her island’s guests is an unexpected visitor: the mortal Odysseus, for whom Circe will risk everything.
So Circe sets forth her tale, a vivid, mesmerizing epic of family rivalry, love and loss – the defiant, inextinguishable song of woman burning hot and bright through the darkness of a man’s world.
Companion to the bestselling special hardback edition of The Song of Achilles
Published September 14th by Gallery Books Memoir, Autobiography
SYNOPSIS: For the first time, discover the unedited truth about the Duggars, the traditional Christian family that captivated the nation on TLC’s hit show 19 Kids and Counting. Jill Duggar and her husband Derick are finally ready to share their story, revealing the secrets, manipulation, and intimidation behind the show that remained hidden from their fans.
Jill and Derick knew a normal life wasn’t possible for them. As a star on the popular TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting, Jill grew up in front of viewers who were fascinated by her family’s way of life. She was the responsible, second daughter of Jim Bob and Michelle’s nineteen kids; always with a baby on her hip and happy to wear the modest ankle-length dresses with throat-high necklines. She didn’t protest the strict model of patriarchy that her family followed, which declares that men are superior, that women are expected to be wives and mothers and are discouraged from attaining a higher education, and that parental authority over their children continues well into adulthood, even once they are married.
But as Jill got older, married Derick, and they embarked on their own lives, the red flags became too obvious to ignore.
For as long as they could, Jill and Derick tried to be obedient family members—they weren’t willing to rock the boat. But now they’re raising a family of their own, and they’re done with the secrets. Thanks to time, tears, therapy, and blessings from God, they have the strength to share their journey. Theirs is a remarkable story of the power of the truth and is a moving example of how to find healing through honesty.
Published September 19th by John Murray Press Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘A monumental achievement . . . I loved it’ Maggie O’Farrell
FOUR CENTURIES. A SINGLE HOUSE DEEP IN THE WOODS OF NEW ENGLAND.
A young Puritan couple on the run. An English soldier with a fantastic vision. Inseparable twin sisters. A lovelorn painter and a lusty beetle. A desperate mother and her haunted son. A ruthless con man and a stalking panther. Buried secrets. Madness, dreams and hope.
All are connected. The dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive.
Exhilarating, daring and playful, NORTH WOODS will change the way you see the world.
‘Ambitious, alive, and lush with generosity . . . an immersive sprint through time’ Tess Gunty
Published September 19th by Del Rey Historical Fantasy, Contemporary Fantasy, Historical Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘A love letter to stories – and to everyone silenced or forgotten in their retelling.’ Allison Saft, author of A Far Wilder Magic.
Effy has always believed in fairy tales. She’s had no choice. Since childhood, she’s been haunted by visions of the Fairy King. She’s found solace only in the pages of Angharad – a beloved epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, and then destroys him.
Effy’s tattered copy is all that’s keeping her afloat through her stifling first term at her prestigious architecture college. So when the late author’s family announces a contest to design his house, Effy feels certain this is her destiny.
But Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task: a musty, decrepit estate on the brink of crumbling into a hungry sea. And when Effy arrives, she finds she isn’t the only one who’s made a temporary home there. Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar, is studying Myrddin’s papers and is determined to prove her favourite author is a fraud.
As the two rival students investigate the reclusive author’s legacy, piecing together clues through his letters, books, and diaries, they discover that the house’s foundation isn’t the only thing that can’t be trusted. There are dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspiring against them – and the truth may bring them both to ruin.
Published September 21st by Pan Macmillan Historical Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Mythology
SYNOPSIS: ‘A labyrinthine delight of a novel . . . Dickensian darkness is infused with ancient myth. Historical writing at its finest . . . .’ Essie Fox, bestselling author of The Somnambulist and The Fascination
London, 1861: Ten-year-old Nell belongs to a crew of mudlarks who work a stretch of the Thames along the Ratcliffe Highway. An orphan since her mother died four years past, leaving Nell with only broken dreams and a pair of satin slippers in her possession, she spends her days dredging up coals, copper and pieces of iron spilled by the river barges – searching for treasure in the mud in order to appease her master, Benjamin Murdstone.
But one day, Nell discovers a body on the shore. It’s not the first corpse she’s encountered, but by far the strangest. Nearly seven feet tall, the creature has matted hair covering his legs, and on his head are the suggestion of horns. Nell’s fellow mudlarks urge her to steal his boots and rifle his pockets, but as she ventures closer the figure draws breath and Nell is forced to make a decision which will change her life forever . . .
From the critically acclaimed author of The Toymakers comes an imaginative retelling of the legend of the Minotaur, full of myth and magic and steeped in the grime of Victorian London; perfect for lovers of historical fiction with a mythical twist.
Published September 21st by HQ Fairy Tale, Fantasy Fiction, Romance Novel, Magical Realism, Historical Fantasy, Romantic Fantasy
SYNOPSIS: When the snow falls, she will be free…
The invitations always arrive the same way – without warning, appearing around the city on the first snowfall of the year, simply inscribed with ‘Tonight.’
When struggling artist, Forster, finds an invitation, he’s bewitched by the magic of the evening, swept up in the glamour of this notorious annual party and intrigued as to who is behind them.
Determined to find out more about the mysterious host, Forster discovers an abandoned manor house silent with secrets and a cursed woman who is desparate to be free…
From the bestselling author of Midnight in Everwood, comes another spellbinding literary fairy tale that’s The Great Gatsby meets Swan Lake.
Published September 21st by Viper Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Dark Comedy, Ghost Story
SYNOPSIS: ‘Refreshingly original and laugh-out-loud funny’ – CLARE MACKINTOSH ‘Delightfully shocking and irreverently funny’ – JANICE HALLETT
I have a gift. I see people as ghosts before they die. Of course, it helps that I’m the one killing them.
The night after her father’s funeral, Claire meets Lucas in a bar. Lucas doesn’t know it, but it’s not a chance meeting. One thoughtless mistyped email has put him in the crosshairs of an extremely put-out serial killer. But even before they make eye contact, before Claire lets him buy her a drink, before she takes him home and carves him up into little pieces, something about that night is very wrong. Because someone is watching Claire. Someone who is about to discover her murderous little hobby.
The thing is, it’s not sensible to tangle with a part-time serial killer, even one who is distracted by attending a weekly bereavement support group and trying to get her art career off the ground. Claire will do anything to keep her secret hidden – not to mention the bodies buried in her garden. Let the games begin…
Dexter meets Killing Eve in this superb thriller, perfect for fans of How To Kill Your Family and My Sister, the Serial Killer. ‘I doubt I’ll read a more original thriller this year’ – JACK JORDAN ‘If Bret Easton Ellis ever went to grief counselling, this would be just the kind of brilliant book he’d write’ – PHILIPPA EAST
Published September 21st by Corvus Historcial Thriller
SYNOPSIS: A sweeping, evocative, and compelling historical thriller that paints a vibrant portrait of a California buffeted by the turbulent crosswinds of a world at war and a society about to undergo massive change.
Berkeley, California 1944: A former presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms at the opulent Claremont Hotel. A rich industrialist, Walter Wilkinson could have been targeted by any number of adversaries. But Detective Al Sullivan’s investigation brings up the spectre of another tragedy at the Claremont ten years earlier: the death of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a member of the wealthy and influential Bainbridge family. Some say she haunts the Claremont still.
The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the three remaining Bainbridge heiresses, now adults: Iris’s sister, Isabella, and her cousins Cassie and Nicole. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth – not the powerful influence of Bainbridges’ grandmother, or the political aspirations of Berkeley’s district attorney, or the interest of Chinese first lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek – Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion.
Chua’s page-turning debut brings to life a historical era rife with turbulent social forces and ground-breaking forensic advances, when access to power, and therefore justice, hinged on gender, race and class.
Published September 21st by Hutchinson Heinmann Historical Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Adventure Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A profound and explosive novel about a spirited girl alone in the wilderness, trying to survive
A servant girl escapes from a settlement. She carries nothing with her but her wits, a few possessions, and the spark of god that burns hot within her. What she finds is beyond the limits of her imagination and will bend her belief of everything that her own civilization has taught her.
The Vaster Wilds is a work of raw and prophetic power that tells the story of America in miniature, through one girl at a hinge point in history, to ask how -and if – we can adapt quickly enough to save ourselves.
Published September 21st by Allison & Busby Mystery, Dark comedy, Cozy Mystery, Thriller
SYNOPSIS: One murder to solve and another to cover up. It’ll be tricky, but the OAP residents of Sunset Hall are going to give it their best shot.
Sunset Hall is a house share for the old and unruly, led by Agnes Sharp. It’s an eventful day when this group of idiosyncratic seniors gets a visit from the police to inform them of some shocking news. A body has been discovered next door. Everyone puts on a long face, but they are secretly relieved the body in question is not the one they’re currently hiding in the shed (sorry, Lillith). It seems the answer to their little problem with Lillith may have fallen right into their lap. All they have to do is find out who murdered their neighbour, so they can pin Lillith’s death on them, thus killing two old birds with one stone. To investigate, the group (not forgetting Hettie the tortoise) will venture into the not-so-idyllic village of Duck End and tangle with sinister bakers, broken stair lifts, inept criminals and their own dark secrets. ———
‘A mystery like a gingerbread house, rich and warm and sweet and dark. Fans of Richard Osman’s superannuated detectives, welcome to your new club.’ – A. J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window
‘The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp is utterly superb. It is as rich and enticing as a perfect cup of cocoa – sweet at first taste, but with something delightfully, deeply, deliciously dark within. A beguiling and unforgettable read.’ – Deanna Raybourn, author of Killers of a Certain Age
Published September 26th by Quercus Contemporary Roomance, Romance Novel, Holiday Fiction, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘Beth O’Leary is that rare, one-in-a-million talent who can make you laugh, swoon, cry and ache all in the same book’ Emily Henry
Two sworn enemies. One failing hotel. Love is the last thing they need . . .
It’s the busiest time of the year, and Forest Manor Hotel is quite literally falling apart. So when sworn enemies Izzy and Lucas are given the same shift on the hotel’s front desk, they have no choice but to put their differences aside.
The hotel won’t stay afloat without some sort of miracle. But when Izzy returns a guest’s lost wedding ring, the reward convinces management this might fix everything. With four rings still sitting in lost property, the race is on for Izzy and Lucas to save their beloved hotel – and their jobs.
As their bitter rivalry turns into something much more complicated, Izzy and Lucas begin to wonder if there’s more at stake here than the hotel’s future. Can the two of them make it through the season with their hearts intact?
Published September 26th by Hodder & Stoughton Historical Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Noir Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A lover in peril. A nation under threat. The clock is ticking . . .
‘AMAZING, SHOW-STOPPING, SPECTACULAR’ XIRAN JAY ZHAO The captivating sequel to Foul Lady Fortune, by the New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights. Winter is drawing thick in 1932 Shanghai, as is the threat of a Japanese invasion.
Rosalind Lang’s identity as a national spy has been exposed. With the media camped outside her apartment, she’s barely left her bedroom in weeks, plotting her next course of action after Orion was taken and his memories wiped. Their marriage might have been a sham, but his absence hurts more than any physical wound. She won’t rest until she gets him back.
But with her identity in the open, the task is near impossible. The only way to rescue Orion is under the guise of a national tour. It’s easy to convince her superiors that the countryside needs unity more than ever, and who better than an immortal girl to stir pride and strength?
When the tour goes wrong, everything Rosalind once knew is thrown up in the air. Taking refuge outside Shanghai, old ghosts return and adversaries turn to allies. To save Orion, they must find a cure to his mother’s invention and steal this dangerous weapon away from foreign invasion -but the clock is ticking, and if Rosalind fails, it’s not only Orion she loses, but her nation itself . . .
Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth by Natalie Haynes
Published September 28th by Picador Greek Mythology, History
SYNOPSIS: In Divine Might Natalie Haynes, author of the bestselling Pandora’s Jar, returns to the world of Greek myth and this time she examines the role of the goddesses.
We meet Athene, who sprang fully formed from her father’s head: goddess of war and wisdom, guardian of Athens. We run with Artemis, goddess of hunting and protector of young girls (apart from those she decides she wants as a sacrifice). Here is Aphrodite, goddess of sex and desire – there is no deity more determined and able to make you miserable if you annoy her. And then there’s the queen of all the Olympian gods: Hera, Zeus’s long-suffering wife, whose jealousy of his dalliances with mortals, nymphs and goddesses lead her to wreak elaborate, vicious revenge on those who have wronged her.
We also meet Demeter, goddess of agriculture and mother of the kidnapped Persephone, we sing the immortal song of the Muses and we warm ourselves with Hestia, goddess of the hearth and sacrificial fire. The Furies carry flames of another kind – black fires of vengeance for those who incur their wrath.
These goddesses are as mighty, revered and destructive as their male counterparts. Isn’t it time we looked beyond the columns of a ruined temple to the awesome power within?
Published September 28th by Headline Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: In her irresistible new novel, Sunday Times No 1 bestselling author Victoria Hislop shines a light on the questionable acquisition of cultural treasures and the price people – and countries – will pay to cling on to them.
Of all the ancient art that captures the imagination, none is more appealing than the Cycladic figurine. An air of mystery swirls around these statuettes from the Bronze Age and they are highly sought after by collectors – and looters – alike.
When Helena inherits her grandparents’ apartment in Athens, she is overwhelmed with memories of the summers she spent there as a child, when Greece was under a brutal military dictatorship. Her remote, cruel grandfather was one of the regime’s generals and as she sifts through the dusty rooms, Helena discovers an array of valuable objects and antiquities. How did her grandfather amass such a trove? What human price was paid for them?
Helena’s desire to find answers about her heritage dovetails with a growing curiosity for archaeology, ignited by a summer spent with volunteers on a dig on an Aegean island. Their finds fuel her determination to protect the precious fragments recovered from the baked earth – and to understand the origins of her grandfather’s collection.
Helena’s attempt to make amends for some of her grandfather’s actions sees her wrestle with the meaning of ‘home’, both in relation to looted objects of antiquity … and herself.
Published September 28th by Harper Collins UK Romance Novel, Humourous Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Saga
SYNOPSIS: From the author of the phenomenal bestseller The Keeper of Stories, comes an utterly beautiful and charming novel full of mystery and secrets waiting to be uncovered…
Her new chapter starts now…
Jo Sorsby is hiding from her past when she agrees to run her uncle’s beloved stationery shop. Glimpsing the lives of her customers between the warm wooden shelves, as they scribble little notes and browse colourful notebooks, distracts her from her bruised heart.
When she meets Ruth, a vicar running from a secret, and Malcolm, a septuagenarian still finding himself, she suddenly realizes she isn’t alone.
They each have a story that can transform Jo’s life… if only she can let them in.
The perfect gift for book lovers, The Keeper of Stories meets The Lost Bookshop in this gorgeous novel about secrets, second chances and finding friendship in the most unlikely places.
Published September 28th by Pan Macmillan Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘A compelling, almost hypnotic read’ – LIsa Jewell, bestselling author of None of This is True
‘Bright Young Women is Jessica Knoll at her best: an unflinching and evocative novel’ – Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me
January 1978. Tallahassee. When sorority president Pamela Schumacher is startled awake at 3 a.m. by a strange sound, she’s shocked to encounter a scene of implausible violence – two of her friends dead and two others, maimed. Thrust into a terrifying mystery, Pamela becomes entangled in a crime that captivates public interest for more than four decades . . .
On the other side of the country, Tina Cannon has found peace in Seattle after years of hardship. When Ruth, her best friend, goes missing from Lake Sammamish State Park in broad daylight, surrounded by thousands of beachgoers on a beautiful summer day, Tina devotes herself to finding out what happened to her.
When Tina hears about the tragedy in Tallahassee, she suspects the same man the papers refer to is responsible. Determined to make him answer for what he did to Ruth, she travels to Florida on a collision course with Pamela – and one last impending tragedy.
From the author of the New York Times bestseller and #1 Netflix movie Luckiest Girl Alive comes Jessica Knoll’s extraordinary novel inspired by the real-life sorority targeted by America’s first celebrity serial killer in his final murderous spree.
‘Haunting and surreal, And Then She Fell had me questioning reality alongside Alice as she grappled with motherhood, being a writer, a wife, and feeling like an outsider in her own life. With its sharp wit and beautiful writing, this book had me flying through the pages.’ Ana Reyes, New York Times bestselling author of The House in the Pines
‘A towering achievement, stunningly good storytelling.’ Melissa Lucashenko, Miles Franklin Award winning author of Too Much Lip
On the surface, Alice is exactly where she should be in life: she’s just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Dawn; her ever-charming husband Steve-a white academic whose area of study is conveniently her own Mohawk culture-is nothing but supportive; and they’ve moved into a new home in a wealthy neighbourhood in Toronto, a generous gift from her in-laws.
But Alice could not feel more like an imposter. She isn’t bonding with Dawn, a struggle made more difficult by the recent loss of her own mother. Every waking moment is spent hiding her despair from Steve and their picture-perfect neighbours, amongst whom she’s the sole Indigenous resident.
Her perpetual self-doubt hinders the one vestige of her old life she has left: writing a modern retelling of the Haudenosaunee creation story.
And then strange things start happening.
Alice finds herself hearing voices she can’t explain and speaking with things that should not be talking back to her, all while her neighbours’ passive aggression begins to morph into something far more threatening. Though Steve urges her this is all in her head, Alice suspects something is very, very wrong, and that her creation story holds the key to her, and Dawn’s, survival… She just has to finish it before it’s too late…
Published September 28th by Zaffre Books Historical Fiction, War Story, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: The phenomenal new novel, based on a true story, from the international bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz
1942. Singapore is falling to the Japanese Army. English musician Norah Chambers places her eight-year-old daughter Sally on a ship leaving Singapore, desperate to keep her safe. As the island burns, Australian nurse Nesta James joins the terrified cargo of people, including the heartbroken Norah, crammed aboard the HMS Vyner Brooke. After only two days at sea, the ship is bombarded and sunk.
Nesta and Norah reach the beaches of Indonesia only to be captured and held in one of the notorious Japanese POW camps, places of starvation and brutality. But even here joy can be found, in music, where Norah’s ‘voice orchestra’ transports the internees from squalor into light. The friendships they build with the dozens of other women in the camps will give them the hope, strength and camaraderie they need in order to stay alive.
Sisters under the Rising Sun?tells the story of women in war: a novel of sisterhood, bravery and resilience in the darkest of circumstances, from the multimillion-copy bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilka’s Journey and Three Sisters.
Published September 28th by Hachette Books True Crime, Biography
SYNOPSIS: Former CNN/HLN anchor and veteran broadcast journalist Susan Hendricks takes an investigative deep-dive into the still-unsolved double homicide of two teens in Delphi, Indiana-and its lasting impact on the community
On February 13, 2017, two teenage girls-13-year-old Abby Williams and 14-year-old Libby German-decided to enjoy a day off from school by exploring the popular hiking trails near the Monon High Bridge just a few minutes’ drive from Libby’s home in Delphi, Indiana. Libby’s sister, Kelsi, dropped the two girls off at the head of the trail and waved to them as they walked down the path, which was the last time they’d ever be seen alive. Less than 24 hours later, their bodies were found on the north bank of Deer Creek, about a mile from where they were last seen. There were few clues and little to go on in terms of physical evidence, except for the visual and audio remnants of a strange encounter the girls had with a stranger just hours before their disappearance, an encounter unsettling enough that Libby had thought to record it on her cellphone as it unfolded. In the years since the murders were first made public, Libby’s audio and video recordings have been released and two very different composite sketches of the suspect have been shown, but local law enforcement remained vague about developments for years-until finally, in October 2022, the long-awaited suspect was arrested and a trial date was set.
Longtime anchor and journalist Susan Hendricks was one of the first reporters to cover the case. A broadcast veteran with decades’ worth of experience under her belt, she was no stranger when it came to sharing the tragedies of the day with viewers. But there was something about this case that rattled her to her core. A year after the murders, Susan went to Delphi to interview the victims’ families for an in-depth special report where Kelsi drove Susan down the same path that she drove her sister down on the last day of her life. Over the years, Susan has built close relationships with family members, and law enforcement officials and armchair detectives alike who are determined to get justice for Abby and Libby.
In Down the Hill, Hendricks digs deeper in into the mystery that has captivated our nation for years, exploring the family’s enduring resilience and advocacy, as well as the rippling impact the case has had on not just Delphi, but the very heart of the American heartland. As a result, this book is more than just a book about a double homicide; it’s about a small town in middle America that’s been haunted by an unfathomable act of violence; it’s about the ways families and communities cope with grief and move forward after tragedy; it’s about the limitations of local law enforcement and the rise of technology in helping to solve cases in new ways. But it’s also about compassion, connection, empathy, and resilience-on a very real, very human level.
Emma's Biblio Treasures 