Laurel and Primrose. The Flower Girls. One convicted of murder. The other given a new identity. Nineteen years later another child has gone missing. The Flower Girls are about to hit the headlines again. A gripping read by Alice Clark-Platts for Valentine month. Bloomsbury, R300
When an SAS trooper is told the former Navy SEAL who saved his life is in trouble, he doesn’t hesitate to fly halfway round the world to help. With bodyguards being killed, ex-SEALs accused of murder, a Russian oligarch with connections to the Kremlin and what appears to be a framed-for-murder mystery, Last Man Standing is Stephen Leather doing what he does best … telling an amazingly gripping tale that’ll keep you on edge until the last page. Hodder & Stoughton, R330
Twelve-year-olds Hannah and Sophie are best friends and inseparable. Then there’s a boy crush, and jealousy, and Sophie goes missing. Nearly two decades later, fashion columnist Hannah decides to leave the lipstick and lashes copy and starts to investigate what happened to Sophie. Find Me Gone by Sarah Meuleman is a thrilling read. HarperCollins, R280
A set of twins whose mother commits suicide on the day they are born. An au pair fleeing the scene. Village whispers about a dark-cloaked figure and a stolen baby. And years later, a photograph surfaces showing a man and women holding not twins, but just one baby. The Au Pair by Emma Rous is nothing if not intriguing. Little Brown, R310
There are book clubs that are more about books and less about wine and gossip. It’s the mums like head of the PTA and footballer’s wife Jools Jackson who rule the former; but bored, lonely Emma Chance, who’s moved to a new town, prefers the latter. She’s not welcome at the exclusive, cool school-mums’ club anyway. So she starts her own … no housekeepers, polite conversation or reading required … this is The Bad Mother’s Book Club (admit it, it’s the one we’d prefer, too). A fabulous enjoyable read by Keris Stainton. Orion, R315
