Published by Sphere Publication date – 2 July 2026 Source – review copy It’s Detective Miller’s deadliest dance… The Shadow Step: One taken simultaneously by a pair of dancers facing the same direction, one of them behind and slightly shifted leftwards (‘in the shadow’) Typically, such a step perfectly demonstrates synchronized elegance. It showcases a…
A Novel Murder by E C Nevin – review
Published by Zaffre Publication date – 9 April 2026 Source – review copy Welcome to the Killer Lines Crime Festival! In the quaint English town of Hoslewit, the biggest names in crime writing have gathered to celebrate all things bookish and murderous at the Killer Lines Crime Festival. Author Jane Hepburn is determined this is…
Days at the Torunka Cafe by Sato Yagisawa – review
Published by Manilla Press Publication date – 25 September 2025 Source – review copy Tucked away on a narrow side street in Tokyo is the Torunka Café, a neighbourhood nook where the passersby are as likely to be local cats as tourists. Its regulars include Chinatsu Yukimura, a mysterious young woman who always leaves behind…
Poems for Fifty Years by Graham Swift – review
Published by Scribner Publication date – 30 July 2026 Source – review copy One of the subjects of the poems is undoubtedly time, and time is, undoubtedly, one of the subjects of my fiction. Fifty years is quite a serious chunk of time, and I hope this book of poems will stand the test of…
Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer – review
Published by Sceptre Publication date – 9 June 2026 Source – review copy Broke and directionless, our young protagonist takes a job in the Italian countryside as the assistant to Lisabetta – better known to her friends as Coco – a strong-willed, wealthy aristocrat of great local renown. Trained as an archivist, he thinks he’s…
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst – review
Published by Tor Publication date – 5 June 2025 Source – own copy Every home needs a little magic . . . Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. But, as librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she hasn’t had to. She and her assistant Caz, a sentient spider plant, have spent most…
Death on a Lively Sea by Katy Watson – review
Published by Constable Publication date – 16th July 2026 Source – review copy A YACHT FULL OF SUSPECTS, ON A SEA OF RED HERRINGS . . . Rosalind King, Caro Hooper and Posy Starling may be famous for each playing fictional detective Dahlia Lively on screen, but their growing reputation for solving real murder cases has prompted…
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans – review
Published by Michael Joseph Publication date – 29 April 2025 Source – library copy Every morning, Sybil Van Antwerp sits down to write letters – to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to attend a class she desperately wants to take, to her favourite authors…
Murder at the Spirit Lounge by Jess Kidd – review
Published by Faber Publication date – 21 May 2026 Source – review copy Sharp-eyed former nun Nora Breen is back, as the latest attraction in Gore-on-Sea turns deadly . . . On a brilliant December morning, Nora finds her customary seaside walk rudely interrupted: she’s been summoned, with Detective Inspector Rideout, to the home of…
Murder Like Clockwork by Nicola Whyte – review
Published by Bloomsbury Publication date – 12 March 2026 Source – review copy An empty house that isn’t empty. A victim who vanishes. An impossible crime? Every Thursday at midday Audrey Brooks cleans the Petrov house. Mr Petrov is never home – in fact he seems to use the house purely as storage for his…
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