It’s the sixties. Skirts are short. Shirts are cheesecloth. And the Beatles rule. But in a small town in the suburbs there’s a sense of restraint. Pastel-painted houses, everyone knows their neighbours, and even if a body of a girl who disappeared years ago is discovered, all will be fine as long as the front garden is tidy! A Curtain Twithcher’s Book of Murder by Gay Marris is the wonderfully dark and witty story. Bedford Square
A legendary country pop star with a good-girl image. A long-missing best friend. A body. And secrets that have stayed hidden for decases. Emily Layden’s Once More From The Top is a terrific mystery read.
1979. London. And two Irish outsiders seeking refuge find one another. Over the decades, their lives follow different paths, interweaving from time to time. Spanning 40 years, Christine Dwyer Hickey’s Our London Lives is an epic novel and love story … rich, moving, filled with dark and light. Atlantic Books
Paula Hawkins – of Girl on the Train – has done her fabulous thing again with The Blue Hour. An island with only one house, cut off from the Scottish mainland for twelve hours each day. A famous (and infamous) artist. An unfaithful husband who disappeared. A shocking discovery. Everything you’d expect from Paula Hawkins – and then some! Penguin
A deliciously funny read … Bella Mackie’s What A Way To Go opens with a glam OTT party – a 60th birthday celebration for an obscenely wealthy man .. one with a gorgeous wife, a gaggle of photogenic children, French chateau and Cotswold manor, a plethora of mistresses and a penchant for cutting corners. Unfortunately, he’s also dead! And there are many who could well be the prime suspect! The story’s told from each family member, an amateur sleuth, and the dead man himself, who’s in a ‘processing centre’ … a holding area between life and the afterlife. So there’s murder. And mystery. And some laugh-out-loud moments, too. Great fun. The Borough Press
