Storytime

SHELL by Kristina Olsson, Simon & Schuster

This poignant novel is a shimmering love letter to Sydney, with the husk of the emerging Opera House its beating heart and the Vietnam War forming dark clouds over the city’s consciousness. It’s 1965 and ambitious news journalist Pearl Keogh, desperate to find her missing younger brothers before they are conscripted, is shunted off to the women’s pages after the news chief discovers she attended an anti-war rally. Running concurrent to Pearl’s story is that of Axel Lindquist, a Swedish glassmaker hired to model an artwork for the Opera House foyer, who is keen to start life afresh in this new land. Motherless Pearl and fatherless Axel inevitably meet – and the grief they’re both holding close pours out as their lives collide.

IN A HOUSE OF LIES by Ian Rankin, Hachette

When the body of a private investigator turns up a decade after he went missing, it raises questions about the integrity of the original police investigation. Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke is a leading member of the new inquiry team and discovers there is more at stake than finding the killer. Corruption, lies and powerful allegiances all threaten to derail the search for the truth. Adding to the confusion is retired detective John Rebus, hero of the author’s earlier books and friend and mentor of DI Clarke, who wheedles his way into the investigation but may also be implicated. A tangled case, but the truth will out.

THE MYSTERY OF THREE QUARTERS by Sophie Hannah, HarperCollins

Famed detective Hercule Poirot is back again with a new mystery to solve – and this one will require all his “little grey cells”. Poirot returns to his London home after lunch only to have a very angry woman demand to know why the detective has sent her a letter accusing her of the murder of Barnabas Pandy. Inside, another visitor has also received the letter. Poirot must discover how many letters have been sent and why. And just who is Barnabas Pandy? A lovely – and thrilling – summer read that keeps Agatha Christie’s beloved character alive for today’s readers.