JAMES by Percival Everett

JAMES Percival Everett Mantle (panmacmillan.com) £20.00 Buy a copy from your favourite independent bookshop In mid-19th century Missouri, Jim is a slave owned by Miss Watson, a man who often finds himself the butt of the jokes of local boys Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. When Jim hears a rumour that he is to be […]

THE UNSPEAKABLE ACTS OF ZINA PAVLOU by Eleni Kyriacou

THE UNSPEAKABLE ACTS OF ZINA PAVLOU Eleni Kyriacou (elenikwriter.com) Head of Zeus (headofzeus.com) £14.99 Buy a copy from your favourite independent bookshop Eva Georgiou is a Greek immigrant living in London with her husband. At night she works the coat check in the Café de Paris, and her name is on the Metropolitan Police’s list […]

RIVER GOD by Wilbur Smith

RIVER GOD Wilbur Smith (wilbursmithbooks.com) Zaffre (bonnierbooks.co.uk) £10.99 Buy a copy from your favourite independent bookshop Taita is a slave to the pharaoh’s grand vizier, Lord Intef, a man whom he fears greatly, and who is responsible for his castration. When Intef manages to manouvre his daughter, Lostris, into the king’s sphere of awareness, and […]

CHASING THE DRAGON by Mark Wightman

CHASING THE DRAGON Mark Wightman (markwightmanauthor.com) Hobeck Books (hobeck.net) £9.99 Buy a copy from your favourite independent bookshop Singapore, 1940. The body of an American archaeologist gets caught in a fishing platform off the island’s southern shore. He has been wrapped in a fishing net and has been force-fed two balls of rough opium. Inspector […]

RELENTLESS MELT by Jeremy P. Bushnell

RELENTLESS MELT Jeremy P. Bushnell (jeremypbushnell.com) Melville House Books (mhpbooks.com) £16.99 Buy a copy from your favourite independent bookshop Artie Quick is a 17-year-old Bostonian who wants to know everything there is to know about crime. By day, Artie is a shopgirl in Filene’s department store; by night, she dresses in men’s clothes so she […]

THE CURATOR by Owen King

THE CURATOR Owen King (owen-king.com) Hodder & Stoughton (hodder.co.uk) £20.00 Buy a copy from your favourite independent bookshop In an unnamed city in a world not unlike our own, revolution has ousted the people who have been in charge for generations. Dora, a young maid at the university, walks out of her job with one […]

THE WOLF MILE by C. F. Barrington

THE WOLF MILE Book One of The Pantheon C. F. Barrington (cfbarrington.com) Ad Astra / Head of Zeus (headofzeus.com) £8.99 Buy a copy from your favourite bookshop. Tyler Maitland has been searching for his sister, Morgan, since she disappeared – seemingly into thin air – a year earlier. Lana Cameron has been searching for meaning […]

THE HUNGER by Alma Katsu

THE HUNGER Alma Katsu (www.almakatsubooks.com) Bantam Press (www.penguinrandomhouse.co.uk) £12.99 In Spring 1846, George Donner packs up his family and his belongings, points his wagons westward, and heads for a new life in California. After joining up with another party, Donner makes a decision that not everyone will live to regret. As tensions build amongst the […]

THE HOUSE ON HALF MOON STREET by Alex Reeve

THE HOUSE ON HALF MOON STREET Alex Reeve Raven Books (www.bloomsbury.com) £12.99 Leo Stanhope works as a coroner’s assistant, spending his days writing reports and sewing up the autopsied bodies of the dead. Madly in love with Maria, he longs for the day when they can be together, for the day when she can leave […]

THE SEVEN DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE by Stuart Turton

THE SEVEN DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE Stuart Turton Raven Books (www.bloomsbury.com) £12.99 A man wakes in the middle of the woods and can remember nothing except the name “Anna”. Hearing noise nearby, he believes that Anna is being murdered, but has no idea why he believes this to be the case, or why she might […]