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Honey by Imani Thompson (Borough, £16.99)
Thompson starts off smartly and deeply about Yrsa, a young black woman studying for a PhD in sociology and teaching graduate work at Cambridge. Annoyed by her over-enthusiastic, privileged and busy students, she is tired of life, especially men. His first kill – of a superintendent who reneges on his promise to leave his wife to a friend, stealing his research in the process – is an accident, but Yrsa, who has a problem with self-control, enjoys his passion and, most importantly, leaves. “His theory works”: as the victims pile up, his academic research provides false justifications for justified anger, as was the case with Hugh, who used him to brag (“The magic of black girls, point 20”). But someone has him, and things start to go wrong… The best school book, sarcastic and sharp, with a crime story: Thompson is an exciting new voice.
Very Bad Some Evenings by Chris Brookmyre (Abacus, £22)
Thirty years on from Brookmyre’s debut, his latest novel by journalist Jack Parlabane returns to his old, irreverent style. Now 60 years old, Jack feels like a “Boomer Ambassador” to his younger friends who are at his heels. With his job on the line, he agrees to investigate a cold case: the death, 40 years earlier, of MI5. It is thought to be connected to the Maskyn family, creators of the much-loved but now controversial Thunderbirds The Imaginators, and Parlabane is found on a cruise across the ocean hosting a 60-year reunion as “several hundred disaffected people join together with a humble and overconfident family” from The Imaginators legacy. Well-crafted and well-crafted, this is an excellent read that uses a Golden Age setting to complement traditional battles, while also providing a satisfying mystery.
The Last Chapter by CB Everett (Simon & Schuster, £18.99)
The second book of the crime writer Martyn Waites as CB Everett is an imaginary journey: the story of the historian Jon Durward, who achieved great fame, commercial success, good film adaptations and the Booker prize before his mysterious disappearance in 2009. The best-selling author CB Everett, agrees to edit and explain it to be published. This is what has been reported here, and it is clear from the publisher that the project did not go as planned. Durward’s book The Russian Doll is very entertaining, but full of humor and insight into what happened to him, and, as the story of the two men’s painful friendship unfolds in the text, Everett’s sinister, sinister tone becomes unmistakable. Embrace the dramatic mystery of friendship, rivalry, ambition and – wannabe novelists look away now – the devastating effects of a writer’s life.
The Hollow Boys by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper, £18.99)
Set in Appalachia, Scottish author Ashkanani’s latest novel is a small-town thriller, even if its origins are not supernatural. With poverty, drug abuse, diseased crops, a mysterious monster that kills dogs and an underground coal fire looming ever closer, the town of Aurora seems doomed – and as if that wasn’t enough, nine-year-old friends Danny and Will drowned in a boating accident 10 months earlier, their bodies never recovered. When Danny reappears, the excitement quickly turns to worry as he insists that he is Will. Not only do they seem unable to tell what happened, they have pre-existing injuries that “sink in” and point to a history of abuse. The Hollow Boys has a well-developed, compelling plot and a wonderful atmosphere, but it is the complex, well-drawn characters, led by police chief John Deacon, who is faithful to the scene despite his problems, that give the story real depth.
Shrink Stops Killing by Philippa Perry (Hutchinson Heinemann, £18.99)
The first book from psychotherapist and counterfeiter Perry has all the hallmarks of Richard Osman’s style: a small group with a beautiful setting; prickly-but-lovable middle-class people who turn to crime-solving in the afterlife. Here, the solver is non-surfing medical technician Patricia Phillips, who lives in East Sussex’s South Downs with Dave the cat, and swims in the sea every morning. When the body of his client Henry Clayton is found under the rocks near the famous Beachy Head suicide site, the police assume he committed suicide. Pat, however, resists, and, with the help of his retired neighbor Pritchard, begins to investigate. Suspects include an unscrupulous developer who wants to destroy the beach and golf course, two swimmers and Henry’s controlling girlfriend, in a mixture of mystery and kindness.
