This preview highlights titles to be published in May
05
he wants her silenced. BookScan
on the true, unresolved case of the Great Mull Air Mystery. Written in the form of a vinyl album, it is the first in a new series.
vicious murder. BookScan
Patrick Gleeson Hattie Brings the House Down No Exit Press, 9th, £9.99, pbo, 9781835010037 The drama doesn’t just happen on stage in this cosy mystery by a theatre sound designer, which introduces stage manager-turned-sleuth Hattie Cocker.
Emily Jane Hodgkin Life of Zanna Black & White Publish- ing, 23rd, £9.99, pbo, 9781785305450 The ghostwriter behind a lifestyle blog is haunted by the eponymous influencer’s legacy, in this psychological thriller inspired by the Caroline Calloway scandal, from the head of lifestyle for Express US.
Roxie Key
The Deadly Spark HQ, 23rd, £8.99, pbo, 9780008500474
Début This “atmo- spheric” crime
début introduces female detective DC Eve Starling, who must confront her past while investigating fatal arson attacks in Brighton.
Nick Louth The Two Deaths of Ruth Lyle Canelo Crime, 2nd, £9.99, pbo, 9781804367179 The first book in a new series set in Devon sees DI Jan Talantire called to a cottage where the female occupant is found dead, impaled with a crucifix—bizarrely, a girl of the same name was killed identically, in the same house, 50 years earlier. BookScan
Scott Mariani The Golden Library HarperNorth, 9th, £8.99, pbo, 9780008601157 Book 29 in the series featuring maverick ex-SAS hero Ben Hope. BookScan
Liz Mistry The Blood Promise HQ Digital, 23rd, £9.99, pbo, 9780008686451 In the first book in the Detective Jazzy Solanki series, from the author of the DS Nikita Parekh and DI Gus McGuire series, a teenager awakes on her 16th birthday to find her parents dead.
Leah Pitt
The Beach Hut Hodder Paperbacks, 23rd, £8.99, pbo, 9781399726542
Début A woman returns to the Dorset
rocks where her best friend died years earlier and finds evidence that it was no accident, in this thriller for “Broadchurch” fans.
Tania Tay The Other Woman Headline Accent, 9th, £10.99, pbo, 9781035405985 A woman welcomes an old friend into her chaotic family home in this thriller which won Headline’s inaugural Modern Stories open submissions initia- tive, launched in 2022.
Alice Hunter Bad Apple Avon, 9th, £8.99, pbo, 9780008662813 The fourth psychological suspense novel from the author of The Serial Killer’s Wife follows a woman battling to expose her policeman ex-husband’s crimes —but
Historical
Chigozie Obioma The Road to the Country Hutchinson Heinemann, 30th,9781529153460
Colin MacIntyre When the Needle Drops Black & White Publishing, 9th, £8.99, pbo, 9781785305139 Set on the Isle of Mull, this crime novel is based
Phoebe Morgan The Trip HQ, 9th, £9.99, pbo, 9780008406998 The fourth thriller from the Hodder fiction editor and author of The Doll House tells the story of four friends whose dream holiday is shattered by a
Leslie Wolfe The Surgeon Sphere, 23rd, £9.99, pbo, 9781408733509 From the author of the Agent Tess Winnett series, a standalone thriller in which a surgeon recog- nises the man on her oper- ating table and makes a life-changing choice. It’s already a Kindle number one bestseller.
Historical crime & thriller
Rosie Andrews The Puzzle Wood Raven Books, 9th, £16.99, hb, 9781526637376
One to Watch
The twice-Booker-shortlisted author of The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorities moves from Abacus to Penguin Random House with this story of a young man crossing a war zone to reunite with and bring home his
brother during the Biafran War. Intertwining myth and realism, this odyssey of brotherhood, love and the search for redemption is destined to stand alongside Half of a Yellow Sun as the defining novel of one of the most devastating civil wars of the 20th century, says Hutchinson Heinemann.
Literary
Sarah Perry Enlightenment Jonathan Cape, 2nd, £20, hb, 9781787334991
Julia Golding The Persephone Code One More Chapter, 23rd, £9.99, pbo, 9780008636876 "Bridgerton" meets The Da Vinci Code in this Regency-era conspiracy thriller about a secret society for the idle rich— the adult historical début from an award-winning children’s and YA author.
Barbara Havelocke Estella Hera, 9th, £18.99, hb, 9781804367049 A gothic feminist origins story told from the perspective of Miss Havisham’s daughter, Estella, who was raised to hate men. The author also writes psycho- logical thrillers as Barbara Copperthwaite.
Seishi Yokomizo Bryan Karetnyk (trans) The Little Sparrow Murders Pushkin Vertigo, 30th, £9.99, pbo, 9781782278870 The first English
In the second novel from the author of The Leviathan, a woman goes undercover as a govern- ess at a remote abbey in the foothills of the Black Mountains, to investigate the suicide of the last governess—her own sister. A “deeply atmospheric” tale of myths, memory and murder, says Raven. BookScan
translation of this Japanese classic from the author of The Honjin Murders. Set in a remote mountain village, it features detective Kosuke Kindaichi, who starred in 77 books. BookScan
Historical adventure
Adrian Goldsworthy Hill 112 Aries, 23rd, £20, hb, 9781801109017 Three friends take part in Operation Jupiter, a key element of the Second World War Battle of Normandy, in this military adventure based on historical records, publish- ing to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day— 6th June 2024.
Conn Iggulden Nero Michael Joseph, 23rd, £22, hb, 9780241587324 Charting the Machiavellian power struggles of an imperial dynasty in ancient Rome, the first book in a new trilogy follows Empress Agrippina’s battle to secure her son Nero’s succession. MJ is “invest- ing heavily” in Iggulden’s brand with this major launch. BookScan
Ben Kane Stormcrow Orion, 23rd, £18.99, hb, 9781398714601 The “bloodthirsty” first Viking adventure from the author of Napoleon’s Spy features an Irish boy, named Stormcrow, who becomes a raider on a Norse longship sailing the Irish coastline, seeking revenge for
One to Watch
Perry moves from Serpent’s Tail to Cape for her major new work, an expansive, transcendental story of love, faith and science combining a historical mystery with two love stories, set in the small Essex town of Aldleigh, for fans of The Luminaries by
Eleanor Catton and The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell. Lest you’ve somehow forgotten, Perry is the author of Essex Girls, Melmoth, After Me Comes the Flood and The Essex Serpent, winner of the Overall Book of the Year and Fiction Book of the Year at the 2017 Nibbies and Waterstones Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2016.
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