The Murders at Fleat House

Lucinda Riley

WHEN the coroner suspects that a notorious sixth form bully has been murdered in his study room at a local fee-paying school, it marks a return to rural Norfolk for high-flying Detective Inspector Jazmine ‘Jazz’ Hunter of the Met Police. But there are dark secrets buried deep inside historic St Stephen’s School and as Jazz digs deeper into both the past and the present, she confronts not just a baffling mystery but the full force of her own demons.

Following last year’s untimely death from cancer of international bestselling author Lucinda Riley (pictured below) – the remarkable writer of the sensational, time-slip Seven Sisters series which is being planned as a seven-season TV series – her family are continuing to fulfil her vast literary legacy.

The eighth, and final, book of the Seven Sisters sequence will be completed by Riley’s eldest son, Harry Whittaker, and published in spring next year, but first there is the excitement of a new and previously unpublished novel… the author’s only crime mystery. Written back in 2006, The Murders at Fleat House is a twisting, turning, suspense-packed story which displays in fine form Riley’s expert grasp of both plot and characterisation, and has been published with only the bare minimum of final edits and rewrites to allow her voice to speak loudly and authentically from the text.

The sudden death of sixth former, Charlie Cavendish, in Fleat House at St Stephen’s – a small, 150-year-old private boarding school in deepest Norfolk – is the ultimate nightmare event that the headmaster, Robert Jones, is very keen to call a tragic accident.

But the local police cannot rule out foul play… epileptic Charlie’s two evening tablets had been deliberately substituted with two aspirin, a drug to which the 18-year-old had a severe allergy and which caused his sudden death when he was alone in his study room. An investigation is ordered and the case prompts the return of 34-year-old DI Jazz Hunter to the force. Jazz has her own personal reasons – not least her divorce after her ambitious policeman husband’s adultery – for stepping away from her police career in London but reluctantly agrees to front the investigation as a favour to her old boss.

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Reunited with her loyal sergeant DS Alistair Miles, she enters the closed world of the school, and as Jazz begins to probe the circumstances surrounding Charlie’s death, events are soon to take another troubling turn. Charlie is exposed as an arrogant bully and wheeler-dealer who had been trouble from the moment he entered the school and threatened with expulsion. And Jazz soon discovers that he had many enemies close around him, people who had both motive and opportunity to switch the drugs that he had to take every day.

As staff at the school close ranks, the disappearance of young pupil Rory Millar and the death of elderly classics master Hugh Daneman provide Jazz with important leads, but are destined to

Airside

James Swallow

IT'S been a bad day for Kevin Tyler… everything that could go wrong has gone wrong, and it has proved both catastrophic and ruinous for the London businessman.

Stranded at a remote airport in Germany after missing his flight during a storm, he’s at rock bottom until he discovers a hidden bag with two million euros in cash inside it. Does he hand it over to the authorities… or has he stumbled on the answer to all his problems?

Fresh from his smart, classy, high-octane Marc Dane series – must-reading for discerning espionage and action fans – BAFTA-nominated scriptwriter and bestselling author, James Swallow (pictured below), returns with a heart-pounding, standalone thriller featuring a desperate man with a difficult choice. 

Fascinating, addictive and with a ‘be careful what you wish for’ motif, Swallow’s story threads back to when he was working on a project that involved extensive air travel and the germ of an idea took root during the long hours spent in airports and on airliners. Harnessing that insular, no-man’s-land quality of airport departure lounges – the ‘anticipation, anxiety and boredom’ of being captured ‘in a big glass box’ – Swallow’s imagination takes flight on a thrill trip that will leave readers gasping for air.

Engineer and businessman Kevin Tyler’s life is imploding. He has spent the last six months travelling backwards and forwards to set up a deal to open an office in northern Germany, risking everything he owns to push the project through.

But on his current visit, and at the last possible moment, his partners reneged on the agreement when another organisation swept in with a better offer. Left high and dry, consumed by guilt, and with a ‘giddy trickle of pain building between his eyes,’ Kevin feels that everything has gone wrong with his life.

His marriage to Sadie is over, his beloved daughter Maddie is far away, studying in New York, and he knows he is going home to bankruptcy and an uncertain future. And to add insult to injury, an overbooked flight at Barsbeker airport sees him bumped off the last plane home and left behind to wait out a storm until the next departure the following morning.

Sitting in the airside zone of the backwater airport, Kevin’s luck seems to have run out until he visits the toilets and finds a bag containing two million euros in used notes. Should he hand in the cash… or does he stuff as many wads of notes into his pockets as he can and return home with enough money to change his life forever?

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What he doesn’t yet know is that the stash of euros is part of a conspiracy of blackmail and murder involving corrupt politician Lars Von Kassel and a ruthless Serbian wheeler-dealer, Oleg

Dear Little Corpses

Nicola Upson

WHEN a five-year-old girl vanishes without trace in the picturesque Suffolk village of Polstead, crime writer Josephine Tey is drawn into the ripples of a haunting mystery that will unleash dark and sinister secrets. Dear Little Corpses is the tenth book in Nicola Upson’s outstandingly intelligent and atmospheric Josephine Tey Mystery series, set in England in the 1930s and 1940s, and inspired by the Golden Age of crime writing.

For those new to a name which shone brightly in this period, Josephine Tey was a pseudonym used by the enigmatic Elizabeth Mackintosh, a Scottish writer best known for her mystery novels of the 1940s and 50s. Virtually unknown today, Tey has been given a new lease of life as the lead character in Cambridge graduate Upson’s (pictured below) cleverly plotted novels which see the best-selling crime author and playwright turn detective to solve cerebral mysteries and give a voice to the downtrodden silenced by both society and history. Elegant, sophisticated and beautifully written, these stories blend fact and fiction, contrasting the stark realities of everyday life with the glamorous world of theatre and film during these middle century decades, and exploring hard-hitting issues that are as relevant today as they were eight or nine decades ago.

Here, we find Josephine at the dawn of the Second World War in early September of 1939. She is visiting the Suffolk cottage she inherited from her grandmother, and enjoying a brief holiday with her actress friend and lover, Marta, who will shortly be leaving for America to work on a new Hitchcock film.

Across the country, the mass evacuation of children from the big cities has started and Polstead residents are preparing to find homes for some of the children who are currently leaving behind their parents in London to stay in the countryside and escape the German bombs.

Josephine, who lives mainly in Scotland, is finding that the security she normally treasures at her Suffolk cottage is being overshadowed by the upcoming separation from Marta and the onset of war, and she has a deep sense of ‘slipping into an abyss.’

But when five-year-old local girl, Annie Ridley, goes missing only hours before the annual show, a cloud of suspicion falls across Polstead, the small village which Josephine has come to love over the years. Meanwhile in London, Josephine’s good friend, DCI Archie Penrose of Scotland Yard, is investigating the murder of rent collector, Frederick Clifford, who was stabbed to death with a pair of tailor’s scissors in a block of workers’ flats. It’s a death that has links to Polstead and when Archie arrives on the day of the show, he finds himself drawn into the disappearance of little Annie and a case that creates conflict amongst the residents as events turn more threatening than he and Josephine could ever have imagined.

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Upson’s dark and compelling mystery explores the often hidden heartbreak and anguish of families and their children who were torn apart during the wartime mass evacuation programme. ‘How do you think these children feel, wrenched from everything they love through no fault of their own, from everything that makes them feel safe?’ asks the vicar’s wife in an impassioned

Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose

Alison Weir 

AS the first born child of Plantagenet King Edward IV and his beautiful queen consort Elizabeth Wydeville – one of England’s most charismatic royal couples – young Princess Elizabeth of York seems destined for a prestigious marriage and a golden future. But with her powerful father prematurely dead, her heir and ‘spare’ princely brothers believed murdered in the Tower, and her usurper uncle King Richard III on the throne, the teenager’s dreams of one day becoming an influential queen rapidly turn to dust.

Following hot on the heels of her outstandingly successful and groundbreaking Six Tudor Queens sequence of novels, author and historian Alison Weir (pictured below) returns with the tumultuous story of Elizabeth York, the first Tudor queen and first leading lady of a thrilling new Tudor Rose trilogy.

Using her vast historical knowledge, in-depth research, a tantalising slice of artistic licence, and her spellbinding storytelling talents, Weir brings us an enthralling account of the beautiful and cultivated Elizabeth whose marriage to founder of the Tudor dynasty, Henry VII, ended the bitter Wars of the Roses. Elizabeth’s bloodline lives on in every English monarch since 1509, every Scottish monarch since 1513 and every British monarch since 1603, including the current Queen, but her life was notoriously tragic and turbulent.

Born in 1466, she was raised as a loved and pampered princess but, relegated to an illegitimate fugitive by the future Richard III after her father’s death, Elizabeth’s life was changed forever by the murder of her two brothers, an act which should have left her as the rightful Queen of England.

So who was this legendary and much-loved princess of York who became mother of the larger-than-life King Henry VIII, and how did she manage to manoeuvre so successfully and so gracefully in the brutal and perilous male politics of 15^th century England?

Filling in the ‘tantalising gaps in her story’ and fulfilling a long-held wish to write a novel about Elizabeth, Weir paints a convincing and enlightening portrait of not just her life and times but the passionate and proactive woman behind the myth, the queen respected by her husband, adored by her son, and revered by the nation. ‘It is against Nature for a woman to rule, so you cannot succeed your father as queen,’ a four-year-old Elizabeth is informed by her mother in 1470 and even at that tender age, she feels cheated. After all, she is the eldest child of the handsome and powerful Yorkist King Edward IV.

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Flame-haired, beautiful, and sweet-natured, the precocious Elizabeth feels safe and secure in her family but her happy childhood is punctured by a frightening episode when the warring Lancastrians try to restore the deposed Henry VI to the throne, and she, her mother and her siblings are forced to flee to sanctuary in Westminster Abbey.

Growing up with the dream of forging a prestigious marriage and having a crown to call her own, Elizabeth’s life is suddenly disrupted once again and her destiny rewritten when her beloved father dies in the prime of life and her family’s enemies close in.

Once again, Elizabeth and her royal siblings are forced into sanctuary at the Abbey while her uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who hates her mother’s power-grabbing Wydeville family,

CHILDREN'S BOOKS: A thrilling fantasy, time-travel laughs and new baby blues

Step into a fabulous fairy tale fantasy created by award-winning Coghearts author Peter Bunzl, travel back to Ancient Egypt for cheeky grins and gargantuan giggles, meet a pair of twins learning to love their baby brother and enjoy walking in the great outdoors with a super selection of books

Age 9 plus
Magicborn
Peter Bunzl and Maxine Lee-Mackie

MYSTERY, history, fantasy and the wildest, most thrilling and chilling adventures… Lyrical and visionary writer Peter Bunzl, whose award-winning Victorian steampunk series, Cogheart, won him high critical acclaim and an army of young fans, makes a whirlwind return with an epic new dual world series featuring his very special brand of dark and delicious magic. With his seductive, hallmark mix of pulsating action, gripping mystery, heart-stopping danger and mesmerising fantasy, BAFTA award-winning animator Bunzl unleashes a sumptuous story featuring a fairy curse, a wild boy, scheming royals and a time-travelling plot with an exciting hint of Shakespeare about it.

‘The Curse is changed. You'll never know. The truth is lost. The lie will grow.’ The year is 1726 and the Royal Sorcerer of England is on the hunt for those who are magicborn. When Storm Girl Tempest is captured after accidentally unleashing a power she didn’t know she had, she is taken to Kensington Palace alongside Thomas, the ‘Wild Boy’ who turns out to be her twin. Trapped, Tempest and Thomas find their magic flickering to life and with it, long-buried memories. For they are the lost prince and princess of Fairyland, bound by a deadly curse... and now the fairies are coming to get them. A battle is building, one only they can end… but who will survive?

‘Magicborn was created somewhere between history, myth, and fairy tales,’ says Bunzl and reveals this fabulous new series – which transports readers to a magical land of wolves, devious royals and deadly curses – was inspired by a 1726 mural from the court of King George I in Kensington Palace featuring a ‘wild boy’ who lived there. And this is certainly a wild and wonderful story, brimming with Bunzl’s descriptive elegance, all the exhilarating atmospherics of a menacing fairy tale and peopled by a superbly drawn cast of characters that promise to make this new series another modern classic. Add on the dark and atmospheric illustrations of Maxine Lee-Mackie and you have soaraway historical fantasy at its very best!
(Usborne, paperback, £7.99)

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Age 8 plus
How to Survive Time Travel
Larry Hayes and Katie Abey

SOME children’s books really do hit that elusive funny spot… and this brilliantly bonkers sci-fi adventure series from the talented Larry Hayes is hilariously, cleverly and perfectly on target! So buckle up for cheeky grins and gargantuan giggles, then climb aboard Hayes’ second out-of-this-world novel and enjoy a time-travelling, home-alone story with a difference. Fresh from saving their parents from the jaws of frenzied billionaire Mr Noah in How to Survive Without Grown-Ups, ten-year-old Eliza and her genius little brother, Johnnie, are called upon once again to save their parents. Mum and dad have disappeared into thin air and it’s up to the kids to save the day, travelling back in time to Egypt in the year 5000 BC. Can they overcome friendly locals, a mysterious boy-god, snakes, a rainbow-coloured Sphinx and another plot to end the world? And – most importantly of all – will they survive their time-travelling mission? Hayes certainly knows how a child’s mind ticks and with Katie Abey’s zany black and white illustrations throughout, this super-charged, action-packed mission impossible is guaranteed to keep youngsters glued to the page… and laughing all the way to Ancient Egypt and back!
(Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, paperback, £7.99)

Age 8 plus
Rumaysa: Ever After
Radiya Hafiza and Rhaida El Touny

BE dazzled, enchanted, entertained and empowered by Radiya Hafiza’s beautiful and exciting sequel to her fantastic debut Rumaysa: A Fairytale. This super new adventure spins the classic fairy tale to show that anyone can be a hero, and invites youngsters to return to Once Upon a Time where anything is possible… Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fiercest one of all? Ever since she escaped her tower, Rumaysa has been searching the land, far and wide, determined to find her long-lost parents. But after she receives a mysterious invitation from Saira White, Queen of Bishnara, she is soon pulled into a dark, magical adventure that threatens her own happily ever after. Threaded through with magic and humour, this eagerly anticipated sequel is a winner, intertwining traditional stories of Princesses, Princes, Witches and Beasts with a fresh, inspirational and culturally diverse perspective. Gorgeously illustrated by Rhaida El Touny, and brimming with action, heart, thrills, spills and chills, this is a terrific tale for readers young and old.
(Macmillan Children’s Books, paperback, £7.99)

Age 3 plus
New Baby
Isabel Otter and Lucy Farfort

HAVING a new baby brother or sister in the family can be a difficult concept for jealous toddlers so here’s the perfect picture book to help them understand the changes ahead. New Baby is part of Little Tiger’s beautifully created first experiences series which also includes Our Town: Afraid of the Dark. Sofia and Bilal are twins, and they love making mischief together! When their family of four becomes five, the twins realise that sharing with new baby Farhan is harder than they had ever imagined. But with gentle reminders about accepting situations we can’t control and working together as a team, the twins soon learn to accept their baby brother. Author Isabel Otter uses her simple but emotionally powerful story to teach little ones about the importance of family and the patience and love needed to become a big brother or sister, while Lucy Farfort’s beautiful and breathtaking watercolour artwork captures all the excitement of welcoming a new addition to the family. The perfect gift book for parents and carers.
(Little Tiger Press, hardback, £11.99)

Age 3 plus
Daddy Do My Hair: Beth’s Twists
Tolá Okogwu and Chanté Timothy

AS Father’s Day fast approaches, share in the joy of a wonderful, heartwarming story which celebrates Afro hair, and the unique and special relationship between a father and daughter. Written in rhyming verse by hair care educator and author Tọlá Okogwu, and with bold and colourful artwork by rising star illustrator, Chanté Timothy, this is a picture book for all the family to treasure. It’s Sunday evening and dinner is over. Beth is excited and heads to the sofa. Daddy is there with a smile and a chair. ‘Daddy,’ she asks, ‘will you please do my hair?’ It’s the night before School Picture Day and Beth would like a brand new hairdo so Daddy gets to work with water, oils and magical twists of his wrists. Youngsters will love joining Daddy and Beth on a wonderful hair adventure which highlights the quality time spent between parent and child and includes Afro hair care tips from Nigerian-born Okogwu.
(Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, paperback, £6.99)

Age 2 plus
Maya’s Walk
Moira Butterfield and Kim Geyer

PULL on your walking boots and head for the great outdoors! Every walk is a brand new adventure in an inspirational picture book from author Moira Butterfield and illustrator Kim Geyer. Ideal to encourage your youngsters to enjoy the wonders of the great outdoors, this beautifully written and stunningly illustrated story is full of ideas to help children discover how much fun a walk can be. Maya and her dad love walking… whether it's a walk through woods full of wildlife, listening out for noises in the bustling streets, or savouring the perfume of flowers at the local park, there is always lots to see, hear, touch, and smell. Little ones will love joining Maya as she discovers hidden treasures, hops and jumps along the path, and enjoys all the magic of nature. At a time when the benefits to mental wellbeing of time spent outdoors are more keenly felt than ever, Butterfield’s story shows just some of the pleasures to be found in a walk, no matter how familiar the setting.
(Oxford University Press, paperback, £6.99)

Summer at the French Café

Sue Moorcroft

ESCAPE to la belle France and bask in the warmth and sunshine of a super summer sparkler from Sue Moorcroft, one of the favourite queens of feel-good fiction. Simply picture a sun-baked tourist park in the picturesque Alsace region, a cosy book café full of delicious food and literary delights, a sky ‘like white stuffing bursting from a huge blue mattress,’ and the scene is set for a French-flavoured tale of mystery and romance that will lift your spirits and bring summer vibes straight to your armchair.

A bestselling author and a past vice-chair of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Moorcroft (pictured below) packs everything you could possible want from an escapist read into this emotionally-charged, bright and beautiful story.

Stealing our hearts and bringing us a season of love, anguish and tough decisions is the delectable Kat Jenson who set foot in the idyllic French village of Kirchhoffen eight years ago and knew she had found her home. After a childhood scarred by her parents’ divorce and yearning for a chance to escape to new beginnings, Kat now has dreamy boyfriend, Jakey, a professional karter, an adorable dog called Angelique, and the perfect job managing bustling book café, Livres et Café, in the vibrant Parc Lemmel with its rides, lakes, formal gardens and vast green areas to enjoy.

But when she learns Jakey isn’t all he seems, it’s the start of a difficult summer for Kat, despite this being her favourite time of year. Vindictive troublemakers, work problems and family heartache quickly follow, and the clear blue sky and the strolls in the gorgeous French countryside that were her life suddenly appear full of clouds.

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Then she gets to know the mysterious, tall and handsome Noah Toleman, and her sun begins to shine brighter than ever. But Noah has problems of his own, not least with his sensitive eight-year-old daughter Clé. Will these challenges scupper the couple’s new-found happiness, or can they overcome the many obstacles and both find love again?

What an enchanting trip to Alsace Moorcroft gifts us as we are swept into the sizzling French sunshine with the hardworking, fiercely independent and likeable Kat as she negotiates a chequered path through a summer of love, hope and disappointments. Painful secrets, family relationships, work dramas, unexpected romance and comforting friendships are tucked away in almost every corner of this fabulous French odyssey as the often faltering love between Kat and the gentle Noah starts to blossom amidst the colourful buildings and riverside walks of Alsace.

With emotions rising as high as the summertime temperatures and lots of magic moments to enjoy, not least with Kat’s delectable doggie Angelique, Summer at the French Café is the perfect book to slip into your suitcase this holiday season!
(Avon, paperback, £7.99)

The Little Library on Cherry Lane

Katie Ginger

BOOKS, books, books! Feel-good author Katie Ginger (pictured below) – author of gorgeous romances like The Secrets of Meadow Farmhouse and Summer Strawberries at Swallowtail Bay – is back to seduce us with this warm and cosy story set around a community library in a picturesque English village, and starring a young librarian who has made books her armour against the world.

Filled with a cast of adorable characters, a big helping of inspirational and joyful community spirit, and a simmering romance that has more ups and downs than a seaside rollercoaster, The Little Library on Cherry Lane will take root in everyone’s heart.

Insomniac Elsie Martin may lead a quiet life, but working in her beloved local library in the pretty village of Meadowbank is more than enough to make her happy. After all, books are her whole life. ‘They take you places you might never get the chance to see. They take you away from your troubles… they help you believe things can be different.’

So when the library is threatened with closure to make way for a new housing development, Elsie knows it has to be saved… and she also knows that despite being painfully shy, she needs to be the one to lead the campaign to save it.

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Meanwhile, Jacob Yardley thinks he’s doing the right thing by building a new affordable housing development. Why shouldn’t local people be able to buy a house in the place they grew up? Having to leave his own small home town broke his heart. Plus, people don’t really use libraries any more… do they?

As Elsie and Jacob clash over the future of the library, sparks begin to fly. Jacob is falling back in love with books and libraries… could he possibly be falling for Elsie, too? And will Elsie be able to save the library that means so much to her? As the pages turn on a drama featuring high emotions, battles, books and kindness, Elsie and Jacob’s slow-burning love becomes the fire that sets the story alight. The strength of a united community, the importance of libraries and the power of books to inspire also play important roles in making The Little Library on Cherry Lane the ideal reading escape.
(HQ, paperback, £8.99)

The Orphanage Girls

Mary Wood

AN orphan girl’s desperate battle to escape the cruel confines of notorious London orphanage takes centre stage in the first book of a new emotion-packed trilogy from favourite saga writer Mary Wood.

Inspired by her own early years living in the East End of London, Wood  (pictured below) sweeps us back to 1910 and the harrowing trials and tribulations of youngsters incarcerated at a Bethnal Green orphanage in a tale full of the grit and hardship that have become hallmarks of a storyteller who writes straight from the heart.

Wood, who lives between Blackpool and Spain, worked in the probation service in both Lancaster and Blackpool, and her hard-hitting and moving historical sagas reflect her own experiences with people from all walks of life, helping her to bring a rich authenticity to her writing. 

Here we meet Ruth who dares to dream of another life, far away from the horrors within the walls of Bethnal Green’s infamous orphanage. Luckily she has the comfort of her friends, Amy and Ellen… but she can’t keep them safe, and the suffering is only getting worse. Surely there must be a way out?

But when Ruth breaks free from the shackles of confinement and sets out into East London, hoping to make a new life for herself, she finds that, for a girl with nowhere to turn, life can be just as tough on the outside.

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Bett, who keeps order in this unruly part of the East End, takes Ruth under her wing alongside orphanage escapee Robbie. But it is Rebekah, a kindly woman, who offers Ruth and Robbie a home… something neither has ever known. Yet even these two stalwart women cannot protect them when the police learn of an orphan on the run. It is then that Ruth must do everything in her power to hide because her life – and the lives of the friends she left behind at the orphanage – depend on it.

Wood ratchets up the emotional temperature in this gripping tale which comes packed with heartbreak, drama, rich period detail, and the harsh realities of life in the early 20^th century as Ruth and her friends battle to survive amidst the privations of poverty and hardship. Written with insight, warmth and the empathy gained from the author’s years working with a cross-section of society, this new visit to the East End is a moving and enthralling rollercoaster from first page to last, and will leave readers longing for the next chapter of the girls’ turbulent lives.
(Pan, paperback, £7.99)

The Archers: Home Fires at Ambridge

Catherine Miller 

JUST over seventy years ago, the BBC broadcast a radio drama which was billed as ‘an everyday story of country folk.’

Little did they know that The Archers was destined to become the world’s longest-running drama, an icon of British popular culture with millions of listeners tuning in to every episode, and listed by a panel of broadcasting industry experts in 2019 as the second-greatest radio programme of all time.

Partly established with the aim of educating farmers following the Second World War, The Archers quickly captured the hearts and minds of the population at large with its warm and cosy stories about the lives of families in the fictional rural village of Ambridge. And now to mark the programme’s recent landmark anniversary, novelist Catherine Miller (pictured below) is bringing us an enthralling and revealing series following the lives, loves and dramas of the families of Ambridge starting in 1940… eleven years before it all began.

In the second book of the series, it’s 1941 and the war rumbles on. Nowhere is immune to the effects of war, not even Ambridge. But in England’s favourite village, something else is occupying the residents.

When a prominent villager dies, the main beneficiary’s name is a mystery, and no one knows who is set to inherit the estate, cottage and all. The name is hidden within a locked box and the villagers much uncover the password to find out the name of the beneficiary.

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So when five people are each sent a packet of seeds, the mystery deepens… could the seeds be part of a clue? And can they all work together to unlock the mystery and to discover who is set to inherit?

Archers fans will adore meeting some of the programme’s most familiar and best-loved characters in the years before they became household names. From Walter Gabriel and Jack Archer to the Pargetters, this is a fascinating portrait of Ambridge at war. With a mystery at its heart, intriguing back stories for some of the star players, and lots of rich period detail to bring to life the challenges facing the villagers during the dangers and privations of the war years, Miller remains faithful to the spirit and eternal charm of Ambridge.

Well plotted, sympathetically written, and with plenty of humour and heated drama to keep the home fires burning, this is ideal for both Archers aficionados and lovers of wartime sagas.
(Simon & Schuster, paperback, £8.99)

CHILDREN'S BOOKS: Talking animals, explosive changes and a body-swap dog

Enjoy swashbuckling fun and danger on an animal island, prepare to be blown away by the unexpected ‘ripples’ from a royal event, meet a boy and a dog on a magical body-swap adventure, and celebrate the super-style of a hairdresser bear with an entertaining new collection of children’s books

Age 7 plus
The Animal Lighthouse
Anthony Burt and Ciara Flood

DO you like magic, fantasy and talking animals? If you do, you’re going to LOVE this super, swashbuckling pirate adventure from seasoned scriptwriter and exciting debut middle grade author Anthony Burt.

Inspired by his childhood near the Portland Bill lighthouse in Dorset, and hours of fun playing in the sea, Burt was determined to write an epic pirate story with a lighthouse as his guiding light. The result is this thrilling cross between Jungle Book and Treasure Island… a rip-roaring, fun-filled tale with a dynamic cast of humans (some good and some bad!) and enchanting animals.

Brought up by a wonderful group of animals on a hidden island somewhere deep in the Caribbean, 12-year-old Jim knows no other life or who his real parents are. He washed up on the island as a baby in a barrel of rum and treasure, and has been helping run its special lighthouse at Black Eel Rock with the animals ever since. But now, trouble is brewing... someone, or something, has stolen the lighthouse bulb filaments.

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If Jim, Oskar the orangutan and the rest of the animals can’t get the lighthouse beams working again, the hidden island will no longer be a secret. And with a pirate ship on the horizon, bringing unwanted and dangerous answers to Jim’s past, they must do everything they can to stop the pirates smashing apart their tranquil island.

With the fabulously piratical and action-packed illustrations of Ciara Flood adding life and soul to the party of island pals and the band of cut-throat intruders, Burt’s sparkling seafaring saga comes packed with humour, suspense, adventure, and poignant themes of family, friendship and belonging. Fun and accessible for new and emerging readers, and imbued throughout with the author’s love of animals, lighthouses, the sea and pirates, this is the perfect book for little landlubbers with their eyes fixed firmly on the far horizon!
(Guppy Books, paperback, £6.99)

Age 8 plus
The Fart that Changed the World
Stephen Mangan and Anita Mangan

HOLD your breath and step into the second fun-filled adventure from the sensational sibling team of much-loved actor Stephen Mangan and his talented artist sister Anita Mangan. After the runaway success of last year’s joint debut novel, Escape the Rooms – a cracking adventure starring two unlikely friends trapped in mysterious rooms – the dynamic duo return with a high-energy, brilliantly imaginative and laugh-out-loud tale that is guaranteed to blow away young readers. It’s the most important day of the year for King Fabian as he is hosting all the neighbouring rulers. Everything simply must go perfectly. King Fabian wakes up, stretches, and farts and his wife’s fury is so huge that he panics and blames the butler, who is carted off to the dungeons. 

But it leaves behind a big problem… Fabian isn’t really the brains behind the crown. It’s actually the butler. So how will dithery King Fabian manage to pull off this high-pressure event alone? His small and smelly fart looks like it will kick off a crisis... Enter Frank, a kitchen boy with a big imagination, who is drafted in as an emergency butler. As the banquet descends into a food fight and processions catapult out of control, Frank finds himself in an all-out farty farce. Can he save the day?

Anita Mangan’s quirky and characterful illustrations are the perfect pairing for her brother’s wild, witty and wonderful story which reminds youngsters in the most delightful way that the unexpected ‘ripples’ from a small event can bring explosive changes! Add on a celebration of youthful ingenuity and heroics, and a brand of humour that will have mischief-makers giggling all the way to the last page, and The Fart that Changed the World is set to be another ‘resounding’ success.
(Scholastic, paperback, £7.99)

Age 9 plus
The Poisoned Pie Mystery
Nicki Thornton

YOUNG readers who couldn’t get enough of Nicki Thornton’s fantastic Last Chance Hotel books have been enjoying more thrilling mysteries and magical moments with this talented author’s sparkling spin-off series. These new, spine-tingling adventures feature Nightshade, everyone’s favourite talking cat, and after a cracking opener with The Howling Hag Mystery, Thornton is back to thrill and chill with another fantastic page-turner. Is Oakmoss Hornbeam the unluckiest boy in the world, or has someone cursed him? Oakmoss has been told that he’s an accident waiting to happen and when a black cat crosses his path, mysteriously blown in by a storm, Oakmoss believes it’s his worst omen yet. But Nightshade, a cat of considerable investigative talents when it comes to magical crime, knows when it’s game on or game over. With the help of newshound Veena Vale, and magical crime investigator Dexter Stormforce, she sets out to become a lucky charm for one very unlucky boy. Thornton excels at building a rich and exciting world full of bizarre and extraordinary characters, but with the authentic atmosphere of a classic timeless tale, and a trail of intriguing clues that will keep young readers guessing right through to the last pages. Cosy and threaded through with humour but still alluringly edgy, this fabulous blend of mayhem, magic and mystery is a winner all the way!
(Chicken House, paperback, £6.99)

Age 7 plus
How I Became a Dog Called Midnight
Ben Miller and Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini

A BOY, a dog, a magical body-swap and two truly villainous villains! You’d have to be barking mad not to adore this classic doggy adventure from actor, comedian and bestselling author Ben Miller. How I Became a Dog Called Midnight is packed full of fun, friendship and canine capers as Miller uses his trademark wit and creative storytelling to deliver a story that will tug at the heartstrings of both children and adults. George has always wondered what it’s like to be a dog. One night, a magical mix-up with an enchanted fountain means he swaps places with Midnight, a huge and lovable hound. Becoming a dog is an amazing adventure, until George uncovers a plan that could threaten Midnight’s home. Can the two friends save the day before the clock strikes twelve and leaves them stuck in each other’s bodies forever? Miller lets loose his prodigious imagination on this magical race-against-time escapade for action boy George and his four-legged best friend Midnight. Also featuring the beautiful, atmospheric black and white illustrations of Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini, this terrific adventure is set to become a favourite with dog lovers of every age!
(Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, paperback, £7.99)

Age 5 plus
The Bear Stylist
Steven Butler and Jacob Souva

WHEN picture books are too babyish and middle grade books too hard, just what can a young in-betweenie read? The answer is a highly illustrated, full-colour fiction range from the creative book boffins at Little Tiger Press. With their enchanting stories and highly illustrated, glossy pages, these chapter books are ideal for newly independent young readers. In The Bear Stylist, we meet Ludo who comes from a long line of famous bear stylists. He loves giving his customers sensible haircuts, whether it’s a tidy trim or a perfect perm… until Leonardo arrives in town. Soon Ludo’s clients are having their feathers flapped and their curls combed by him instead. But only one bear can be named Bear Stylist Supreme! Sainsbury's Children’s Book Award-winning author of The Nothing To See Here Hotel, Steven Butler delivers a delightfully quirky and humorous celebration of ingenuity and teamwork, all brought to vivid life by Jacob Souva’s gallery of vibrant, colourful and action-packed illustrations. A fun-filled book to read alone or share with the family.
(Little Tiger Press, paperback, £5.99)

Age 3 plus
Agent Llama
Angela Woolfe and Duncan Beedie

MEET Palmer, Charlie Palmer… awesome spy and fluffy llama! Her top-secret mission is to save the world and rescue a pair of… underpants! Get ready for a super stylish sleuthing adventure, billed as James Bond for little ones and guaranteed to get your little ones giggling and guffawing all the way to the final, explosive showdown. Move over, Bond, there's a new hero in town… Charlie Palmer. Charlie is a hotshot secret agent. Saving the world, fighting goons and looking cool while she does it is no big deal for her. Right now, she’s on a top-secret mission to rescue a pair of the prime minister’s banana-printed underpants. The gadgets are ready, her sunglasses are on. Watch out, baddies, no villain is a match for this legendary llama! Woolfe’s streetwise, savvy llama spy proves to be the perfect sleuthing hero as she fights crime and villainous crooks with laugh-out-loud antics, super-suave swish and some ingenious gadgetry. Beedie’s dynamic, cinematic illustrations bring the laughs, action and rhymes to life, ensuring their mission to entertain is accomplished with style.
(Little Tiger Press, paperback, £6.99)

Age 3 plus
The Music in Me
Sophy Henn

FEEL the rhythm in me! Award-winning author and illustrator Sophy Henn makes beautiful music in this clever and highly original picture book which puts emotions in the spotlight. Filled with fun, playfulness and the complex rhythms of a young child’s changing moods, The Music in Me is the perfect book to introduce little ones to a rainbow of emotions. Hey, have you ever stopped to think about all the different kinds of music that make you, you? There are happy tunes and slow beats, a marching stomp and a sleepy swoon. Maybe, some days, you can’t find your rhythm and you feel all out of sorts, and then on other days your music will come together and you’ll march to the beat of your own drum. With its reassuring messages about the natural swing of human emotions, Henn’s rousing, rhyming, foot-stamping, zigzag-zigging text, and an illustrative explosion of colour and the contrasting highs and low of youthful energy across every page, this extravaganza of words, colours and ideas is the perfect way to educate and entertain your pre-schoolers
(Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, paperback, £7.99)

Age 3 plus
I Love Me!
Marvyn Harrison and Diane Ewen

‘It’s easier to raise healthy children than it is to fix unhealthy adults.’
THAT'S the message that speaks loudly, clearly and with a skip in its step, in a beautiful and resonant picture book from Marvyn Harrison, founder of online male parenting community Dope Black Dads, and award-winning illustrator Diane Ewen. Billed as a first book to build confidence and self-esteem, I Love Me! is a verbal and visual delight as two young children are gently and joyously taught to celebrate the very best in all of us. Every morning, the two youngsters look into the mirror with Daddy and together they say words to help them feel proud and brave, powerful and strong, happy and loving. Brimming with positive affirmations and uplifting statements for each day of the week, and with the added bonus of an enjoyable routine to help prepare young children for the wider world of nursery and school, tips for parents and carers, a bright, fold-out ending, and Ewen’s bold and colourful gallery of illustrations, I Love Me! is perfect for inspiring and empowering even the youngest and shyest of children.
(Macmillan Children's Books, paperback, £7.99)

Age 2 plus
Monkey Bedtime
Alex English and Pauline Gregory

GETTING up to monkey business takes on a whole new meaning in this adorable picture book just made for bedtime reading. Author Alex English and illustrator Pauline Gregory have fun monkeying around with this funny and frantic rhyming tale of a little boy who gets more than he bargained for when he opens his bedroom window to a very small marmoset! ‘Suddenly I heard an EEK, a TAP TAP on the pane. A tiny little monkey face was peering through the rain. I’m sure my mom won’t mind, I thought. He’s really very small. One tiny pygmy marmoset could do no harm at all…’ What the boy doesn’t expect is the marmoset to bring in all its friends and when he is followed by six red-handed howlers, six macaques, ten capuchins and two great big baboons, there’s going to be trouble! Surely mum will notice the banana skins, the toothpaste, the handprints on the walls? Will he ever get to bed with all this monkeying around?  English’s fun-filled rhyme – loaded with madcap mischief and mayhem as the monkeys run amok through the house – springs to glorious life with Gregory’s perfectly matched, anarchic and colourful illustrations.
(Faber & Faber, paperback, £6.99)

Age 2 plus
Otters vs Badgers
Anya Glazer

AUTHOR and illustrator Anya Glazer offers little ones a truly dainty dish in a perfectly baked picture book about the fine art of resolving conflicts. Funny, heartfelt, and packed with comical characters and richly detailed artwork, this gentle and entertaining lesson in tolerance, compromise and finding common ground will have youngsters licking their lips with delight. The otters and the badgers live on either side of the river, but they have never seen eye to eye. Neither group can cross to the opposite river bank. But one day shy otter-baker Francie accidentally ventures into the badger lands in search of a new ingredient. As the two sides begin arguing again, she has unwittingly set off a new chapter in their ongoing feud. But maybe Francie’s stunning new cookies – otter-baked but with badger-territory ingredients – may finally help them learn to get along. Glazer’s fabulous artwork help to win the day (along with peacemaker Francie) in a wonderful cautionary tale that manages to pack in pathos, humour, common sense, and a delicious recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Read, share and bon appetit! 
(Oxford University Press, paperback, £6.99)

One Moonlit Night

Rachel Hore

LESS than a year after her husband was reported missing when British forces were overwhelmed at Dunkirk, Maddie Anderson’s London home is destroyed by a German bomb. With two young daughters to care for, Maddie seeks refuge at Knyghton, her husband Philip’s family home in Norfolk, a beautiful country manor where he spent his childhood summer holidays, but a place he had kept secret from his wife.

Refusing to give up hope that Philip is still alive, Maddie becomes determined to dig out the truth about Knyghton and his shadowy past… but will her discoveries lead to yet more heartache?

Rachel Hore, who worked in London publishing for many years and taught creative writing at the University of East Anglia before becoming a full-time writer, has become a master of enthralling and perceptive multi-layered novels and here she brings us the poignant tale of a young mother’s desperate battle to unlock the past. With her signature empathy and human insight, Hore (pictured below) gets to the heart of a fiercely independent woman juggling hope and despair, and struggling to hold together a wartime marriage that has been fractured by uncertainty, distance and disturbing secrets.

In March of 1941, children’s books illustrator Maddie Anderson’s London house is reduced to ‘a cloud of dust and a heap of rubble’ during a night raid. Nothing is left of the home she shares with her two young daughters, Sarah, aged five, and Grace, three, and it’s another devastating blow after her husband Philip went missing at Dunkirk the previous year. Maddie has been told to accept that Philip most likely died in action but she cannot believe it’s true and when she is handed a small package found in the wreckage of her house, with the single word ‘Knyghton’ on it, she discovers a photo album and a tiny silver key that lead her to his family’s grand home in rural Norfolk, a place she hopes will help to bring her closer to the man she loves. Philip’s ageing aunt, Gussie, still lives at Knyghton, along with his cousin Lyle, a man she never knew existed and who turns out to be a less gentle and more purposeful version of her husband, a man she also finds ‘dangerously attractive.’

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Maddie refuses to give up hope that she and Philip will some day be reunited but she soon realises that there’s a reason Philip has never spoken to her about his past. Something happened

The Summer Fair

Heidi Swain

DIG out the sun lounger, pour a glass of your favourite tipple and escape into the warmth and wonder of summer loving with the queen of feelgood Heidi Swain. Anyone who has had their spirits lifted by Swain’s gorgeous novels, Sunshine and Sweet Peas in Nightingale Square, Poppy’s Recipe for Life and The Winter Garden, will already know the small community living in a cosy corner of the bustling city of Norwich.

Swain (pictured below), who lives with her family in picturesque south Norfolk, won thousands of hearts with her enchanting stories set in Wynbridge, the fictional Fenland town where love blossoms whatever the season. 

And now she has found an idyllic city hideaway for heartwarming and entertaining stories which showcase her talent for blending escapist romance, domestic drama and a perfectly imagined cast of characters with real-life challenges in the modern world. So if you yearn to catch up with some familiar names – and a delightful bunch of new ones – then meet the adorable Beth, a caring young woman with a twice broken heart who is struggling to come to terms with the premature death of her mother… and who might just find the new beginnings she yearns for in warm and welcoming Nightingale Square.

Beth was brought up in a house full of melody and has inherited her mother’s sweet singing voice but the music died for Beth two years ago when her mum died, leaving her bereft and adamant that she herself would never again listen to or sing another note.

And after a romantic relationship also broke her heart, Beth’s first love now is her job working in the Edith Cavell Care Home in Norwich, looking after its mischievous, and mostly merry, elderly residents. But she doesn’t love the cramped and dirty house she shares with three others who treat her as their skivvy.

So, when a resident of the care home introduces her to some of the inhabitants of cosy Nightingale Square, Beth jumps at the chance to move there and share a home with the lovely Eli who works at a local coffee house. Meanwhile, her neighbours at Nightingale Square – ‘kind people are our kind of people,’ Beth is told – welcome the newcomer with open arms, and when she needs help to organise a fundraiser for the care home, they rally round. But then Beth discovers that The Arches, a local creative arts centre which holds many memories for her, has closed and the venture to replace it needs their help too. 

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As old wounds are opened and past secrets unearthed, Beth must finally face the music that she thought she had shut out of her life. Can her friends at the care home and the people of Nightingale Square help her find a way to learn to love it again?

If you’re in need of a book hug to escape the worries of the world, look no further than this this magical tale of love, caring and kindness. Kindness and understanding are written across every

The Last to Disappear

Jo Spain 

TO the outside world, the Lapland luxury tourist village of Koppe is a winter wonderland of glittering snow, bright sunshine and roaming reindeer. But beneath the jaunty sleds, speedy snowmobiles and spectacular Northern Lights lies a dangerous place where tragedy is always only a heartbeat away… and death awaits beneath the frozen ice.

Dublin author Jo Spain (pictured below), a full-time screenwriter and author of the bestselling Tom Reynolds detective series, chills and thrills readers with a spine-tingling murder mystery set in the stunning landscape of Lapland with its endless, snow-laden trees and a bitter cold that can kill the unsuspecting in the blink of an eye.

At the heart of this atmospheric story is a fascinating police chief, Agatha Koskinen, a single mother of three children who is haunted by events in her past, and now tasked with solving the murder of Vicky Evans, a young Englishwoman who was working as a tour guide in Koppe and whose body was found in a frozen lake. It’s a fraught investigation which leads to the discovery of more possible murder victims and an unlikely alliance with Vicky’s brother Alex, a London professional whose guilt and anger threatens to spill over into the detectives’ hunt for a killer.

Wealthy London lobbyist Alex Evans has always loved his vivacious, adrenalin junkie younger sister Vicky who, at the age of twenty-six is still their parent’s ‘shining light’ even though she spends her life travelling the world and ‘bouncing’ from one tourist resort to the next.

In December of 2019, after months of not contacting each other after a phone row, Alex learns from his distraught father in Yorkshire that Vicky’s body has been pulled from Lake Inari in northern Lapland and he immediately assumes his irresponsible, fun-loving sister has accidentally drowned. Alex travels to the wealthy winter resort of Koppe where Vicky worked as a tour guide and is met at the airport by Agatha Koskinen, the detective in charge of the case. Agatha tells him there is more to Vicky’s death than meets the eye and it looks like she was hit over the head before falling through the ice and into the lake.

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Koppe, she tells Alex, can be a death trap… the weather, the landscape and the wildlife are not always hospitable, and sometimes visitors fall victim to what the locals call ‘Lapland madness.’ As the two join forces in the investigation, Alex, who is consumed by guilt over his sister’s death,