Moraig Kisler 
“Mum, there’s some people here from college, they asked me back to theirs. Just for an hour or so. Is that OK?” At 11pm she sends her mum a text message. At 4.30am Kim awakens to discover that Tallulah has not come home.
Some secrets you try to hide. Others you don’t dare let out …
Ambitious young journalist Marlowe ‘Lo’ Robertson is horrified to discover the mutilated corpse of her best friend with seven strange symbols have been ruthlessly carved into Lily’s back.
The boys from back home stand beside the bed, watching her bleed onto the white sheet. ‘He only said to scare her,’ one of them says. A compelling portrait of mental illness, memory, and the ways that the years when we ‘come of age’ can be twisted into trauma
Before You Knew My Name is a feminist novel filled with moments every women will recognise and at times dread. But is also a novel of optimism and tenderness – exquisitely crafted and my top read of the year. ‘They come for us all over the world. ‘Sometimes, if enough time has passed between one …
The Second Son by Loraine Peck and The Silent Listener by Lyn Yeowart. Two debut crime novels about families (the sort that screw you up) from opposite ends of the genre spectrum. While Loraine Peck gives us a fast-paced gangland thriller set in the western suburbs of Sydney, Lyn Yeowart offers a more reflective excursion …
McDermid delivers yet another book that is both entertaining and worldly wise. Val McDermid has a record of narratives that go to pain and grim conflicts, though she is also strong on brio and humour. In her DCI Karen Pirie series, the newest novel, Still Life, includes Covid as a local reality. Most of the …
Like its predecessors, Pip Drysdale’s third standalone novel is pitched to a youngish female readership. Jaunty self-confidence is the top note of Englishwoman Harper Brown’s narration of The Paris Affair as her adventures across the Channel begin. Late-20s Harper has five dating apps on her phone and a commitment to casual hook-ups only. Her bravado …
Deep Waters is a slow burn. Sarah Epstein takes her time to set scene before getting into the action. One of Epstein’s strengths is her ability to maintain and ratchet up the tension and to keep you reading. As the threads all come together, you will not put down this book until the final answer …
“I’m not Miss Marple, you know,” protests semi-retired book editor Lauren Fraser when a friend presses her to continue investigating a local death. Technically, Lauren’s correct in asserting she’s not a puzzle-solver in a “cosy”. Rising Tide is city-based and issues-based: the city is New Zealand’s capital; the issue is climate change, with the focus …
Author: Nicci French Publisher/Year: Simon and Schuster/2020 Publisher description ‘So,’ said Mora Piozzi, her lawyer, looking down at her laptop. ‘In brief: you are charged with the murder of Stuart Robert Rees, on December 21st, between the hours of ten-forty in the morning and half-past three o’clock in the afternoon.’ Tabitha is accused of murder. …