Get into the good books

Books editor Nina Pottell shares top novels to keep you enthralled over the coming bank holiday weekends

Nina Pottell picks her favourite page-turners

TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE by Olivia Kiernan (riverrun, £12.99) Meet the brilliant Detective Frankie Sheehan. Following an attack on her, she’s back at work investigating the apparent suicide of Eleanor Costello. But is there more to the case than there originally appears? A fine police procedural thriller. Out 5 April

DEAR MRS BIRD by AJ Pearce (Picador, £12.99) London, 1941. Emmeline Lake has high hopes when she applies for a journalism job, thinking she’ll be writing cuttingedge articles about the war. Instead, she finds herself typing up the letters for the agony aunt column. A sweet and charming read. Out 5 April

THE CRAFTSMAN by Sharon Bolton (Trapeze, £12.99) Florence Lovelady attends the funeral of murderer Larry Glassbrook, the man she convicted of burying children alive 30 years previously. So why are there doubts arising in her mind now? Florence is a brilliant character; this will have you gripped. Out 3 May

THE LIDO by Libby Page (Orion, £12.99)

Brixton residents Rosemary, 86, and Kate, 26, meet when developers threaten to close the local Brockwell Lido. Will their campaigning save this slice of community? This is a wonderful story of friendship and believing in yourself. Out 19 April

OUR HOUSE by Louise Candlish

(Simon & Schuster, £12.99) Think you know your spouse? Think again! On returning from a weekend away, Fi discovers people moving in to her house – except she didn’t sell it, and her husband Bram is nowhere to be found. You’ll read this aghast! Out 5 April

THE CURIOUS HEART

OF AILSA RAE by Stephanie Butland (Zaffre, £7.99) Ailsa Rae has a new heart following a transplant. Now everything is different. Her relationship with her mother is strained, and her best friend has died. She tries to find a way to live her life again in this touching story. Out 19 April