Popular Fiction

Craig Brown says ditch the murder mysteries for a dark classic. For Rachel Johnson it’s chiller thrillers all the way. Whatever YOUR taste, More’s critics (and a few celebrity friends) have a book to make the holidays go swimmingly

INDIAN STUNNER ‘The Windfall’ by Diksha Basu IF YOU (Bloomsbury, ONLY €18.45) PACK ONE When middle-aged Anil Jha sells his website for an eyepopping sum, he moves his reluctant family to one of Delhi’s ritziest neighbourhoods and throws himself into the high life. But how will he ever keep up with his new neighbours? Uproarious, beady-eyed social comedy with a big heart. SECRET LIFE OF MUM ‘Mr Make Believe’ by Beezy Marsh (Ipso Books, €9.08) Blogger Marnie Martin is out to reveal the secret fantasies of imperfect mums. But what will happen when her own wild imaginings, involving Hollywood hottie Maddox Wolfe, have a shot at becoming reality? A grown-up romcom that starts where most end, with marriage and motherhood. HIDDEN HORRORS ‘The Hiding Places’ by Katherine Webb (Orion, €16.99) The discovery of a macabre doll stuffed in a chimney triggers a series of events that will shake a sleepy community not yet over WWI. Plucky heroines and tangled secrets kept hidden for generations make for an involving tale of passion and deceit. PRAGUE INTRIGUE ‘Prague Nights’ by Benjamin Black ( Penguin, €16.99) Another stylish historical fantasy from John Banville’s crime writing alter ego. Set in Prague, 1599, when Christian Stern, a young doctor, has just arrived in the city. On his first evening, he finds a woman’s body half-buried in the snow. The dead woman is none other than the emperor’s mistress and there’s no shortage of suspects. In the search to find the culprit, Stern finds himself drawn into the shadowy world of the emperor’s court, unspoken affairs, letters written in code and bitter rivalries. HEROINE CHIC ‘The Last Secret Of The Deverills’ by Santa Montefiore (Simon & Schuster, €23.48) The closing instalment of this lushly romantic saga opens in Dublin in 1939, with its heroines poised for more upheaval: one has lost her heart, another may yet lose her castle home and a third is about to find the life she’s settled for interrupted by a former lover. LONDON CALLING ‘Nine Love Letters’ by Gerald Jacobs (Quartet Books, €28) Post-WWII London is where the Weisz family from Budapest, and the Harouns from Baghdad, end up as Jewish refugees. It’s also where their lives become entwined by an unlikely twist of fate. This sweeping, poignant epic is a paean to the power of memory – and love. CAKE EXPECTATIONS ‘All That She Can See’ by Carrie Hope Fletcher (Sphere, €16.99) Cherry can see things others can’t. She secretly puts her witchy talents to use in her bakery, making her cake-loving customers feel instantly better about themselves. But then along comes Chase, equally gifted and out to undo all Cherry’s work. Think Chocolat with a heaped tablespoon of Bake Off. SOUND OF SUMMER ‘Greatest Hits’ by Laura Barnett (W&N, €15.99) Singer-songwriter Cass Wheeler has been in hiding from public life – and music – for a decade. Choosing the tracks for a greatest hits album brings back past heartbreak and tragedy – can it also help her rediscover happiness? Prepare to be humming along to a bittersweet melody. GARDAÍ MISBEHAVING ‘The Trespasser’ by Tana French (Hachette Books €8.24 ) A page-turning murder mystery, laced with intelligent observations about what it means to be a murder detective in Dublin today. Young Dubliner Aislinn Murray is murdered and when the finger of blame points to the Garda Síochana, detective Antoinette Conway a mixed race, working-class woman is ready to believe the worst. HOLD THE PRESS! ‘Splash!’ by Stephen Glover (Constable, €21.23) Plot twists aplenty propel this veteran insider’s sharp, timely satire on the newspaper business. In a corrupt, cynical London swilling with oligarchs, a drunk hack and his guileless intern are about to stumble upon the story of the century. But will they ever manage to publish it? WHERE THERE’S A WILL... ‘Rich People Problems’ by Kevin Kwan (Doubleday, €18.19) The first novel in this trilogy about an uber-wealthy Singaporean clan is being made into a film starring Michelle Yeoh but there’s plenty in its closing volume to woo series newcomers. A flashy, trashy, irresistible swirl of farce and melodrama, it centres on an ailing matriarch and her mysterious will. TERRIBLE TWINS ‘Mad’ by Chloé Esposito (Michael Joseph, €16.99) Allergic to chick lit? Meet Alvie Knightly. A kebab-scoffing skank, she’s out to settle old scores and will stop at nothing in her quest to steal her identical twin’s perfect life, complete with Sicilian villa, gorgeous hubby and beloved infant son. Insane as its title promises.