Pageturners

Apples Never Fall Liane Moriarty, by Pan Macmillan

Aussie fiction sensation Liane Moriarty returns to familiar territory with this domestic mystery founded with the disappearance of grandmother Joy Delaney. Joy and husband Stan met as champion tennis players and went on to create their own tennis academy. When Joy goes missing, Stan and their four children aren’t nearly concerned enough. What’s afoot? The plot jumps around between the present and months earlier to fill in the path to where we are now as Moriarty’s creepy, noirish, sex-charged and ultimately gripping tale unfolds.

The Russian Wife by Barry Maitland, Allen & Unwin

A flamboyant murder mystery set in the multi-million art forgery world. Veteran London Met homicide cop and art aficionado Brock has been allowed back to the force in his old rank, but in the fraud department, not homicide. His old team miss their dogged DCI and when glamorous Russian Nadya Babington, wife of lawyer Julian – owner of one of the UK’s most important private art collections – is found drowned in a lake, Brock is back working on a homicide. From boozy art auctions on board cruise ships to fake Picassos by Chinese art students in Shanghai, this is one colourful roller-coaster.

Echoes of War by Tania Blanchard, Simon & Schuster

Based on paternal family stories, this is Blanchard at her breathtaking best. It’s 1936 and schools drum Mussolini’s fascism as civil unrest heads south. Our family of strong Calabrese women are smartly maintaining independence, in spite of the man of the house deciding who daughters marry. Giulia, 16, inherited her nonna’s passion for healing. She’s stubborn, disobeying her father, who believes it’s witchcraft. Mamma sends Guilia to a monastery, seemingly for obedience, but she trains under its famed herbalist. Rich in every sight, taste and smell.

The Wattle Island Book Club Sandie by Docker, Michael Joseph

Librarian Grace, 28, is knocking off her latest bucket list. She’s been writing them since she was seven, but following a cancer diagnosis, “eating cupcakes for breakfast” has been swapped for bungee jumping. On Wattle Island, senior Anne, who has had a stroke, wants to relaunch the book club. It broke up following a tragedy – the secrets and scars of which have never been confronted. When she contacts Grace for help with books, new hope and friendship could heal a community.