Read these thrillers under a shady tree

From baobab myths and legends to lethal war tactics, World War II veteran secret agents and a new one from Nordic noir master Jo Nesbo, this week’s haul promises major relaxation and entertainment.

The African Baobab by Rupert Watson (Struik Nature, R300)

Watson’s beautiful tribute to the baobab was first published in 2007 and this new edition is revised and expanded. As a lawyer in real life, his title is perhaps judicious because he certainly doesn’t limit himself to African baobabs but includes Madagascan ones. He looks at the tree’s life cycle, its uses, including medicinal, as well as beliefs surrounding it. He demonstrates the baobab’s extraordinary stamina in resisting, for example, debarking but threats to it loom large – from increasingly dry conditions through climate change to felling, whether to build a home or, in one case, a baobab more than 1 000 years old felled during the building of the Kariba Dam. An engaging read, although enthusiasm occasionally gets the better of him – for instance, asserting, “No two baobab silhouettes are remotely similar” contradicts the experience of all of us who easily recognise the jizz of a baobab, and even seems to contradict his cover image. It would have been worth including an index.

How to Fight a War by Mike Martin (Delta, R285)

Despite a rather overcast cover, this is an interesting book for the curious, the armchair strategist and perhaps those wishing to start a war. The blurbs and quoted reviews push it as a book for statesmen, diplomats and generals.

The book’s greatest asset is its clarity. One section tackles strategy, logistics, intelligence, morale and training. A second looks at ‘tangible capabilities’ – where and how one fights one’s war: land, sea, air, space, cyber along with the new warfare nasties, nuclear, chemical and biological. And, finally, the art of using lethal violence. Sadly, despite gunnery and armament advances, boots on the ground are still essential. There are three pages on the future of warfare and two pages on the rather key issue of how to end a war. And there are 16 pages of sketches and diagrams that will fascinate any 15-year-old reader. Lots of good stuff for the backpack of the private looking forward to a marshal’s baton.

The Excitements by CJ Wray (Orion, R415)

Josephine and Penny Williamson, daughters of the British gentry, volunteered for service in World War II and can still communicate in Morse code. Josephine was a Wren but her work in the operations room was top secret. Penny was enrolled in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry but fought with the French Resistance and developed a useful range of hand-to-hand combat skills.

Both are marked by their past in different ways and their ways of coping differ too. While Josephine tries to come to term with loss, Penny seeks that old fizz of excitement and becomes a skilled jewel thief who uses the proceeds for charitable works. None of this is revealed to their nephew, Archie, who’s brimming with pride at taking his aunts, now in their 90s, to Paris to receive the French Legion of Honour – or at least not until the three of them are the only ones who can thwart a terrorist attack. A funny, cosy read shot through with home truths.

Killing Moon by Jo Nesbo (Harvill Secker, R365)

Nesbo’s series character, Harry Hole, is kicking his heels in Los Angeles after an ignominious exit from the Oslo police.

Next thing he knows, he’s trying to negotiate a ransom for his LA drinking buddy with Mexican gangsters using money he doesn’t have and being called in on a name-your-price contract by an Oslo billionaire who thinks he’s being framed by a serial killer. It would be in bad taste to say that it’s a no-brainer to turn down the offer – but I’ve said it anyway.

You need to be prepared for the macabre, spine-chilling, stomach-churning detail with which Nesbo seasons his plot. This isn’t full-on horror so the main plot is the very twisty whodunnit one leading up to the denouement under a blood moon when Harry faces his nemesis.

Written with panache, insight and understanding of human behaviour, this is as close as I’ve come to biting my nails in a long while.