Murder, wealth and weirdness...

THE CLOISTERS by Katy Hays

(Bantam £14.99, 320pp)

IT’S a dream come true when poor but ambitious Ann lands a job as a research assistant at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Her co-workers at The Cloisters, the Met’s medieval arm, are suave Patrick and beautiful Rachel. They are both brilliant, posh, rich and, it turns out, obsessed with Renaissance dark arts such as astrology and tarot.

Once Ann enters their world of wealth and weirdness, there’s no way back. As the deaths mount up, she must decide just how far she will go to realise her dreams.

This sharp, twisty piece of ‘dark academia’ is like a museum-set All About Eve. I loved the inside track on the high life but sometimes struggled to believe in the characters.

WE ALL WANT IMPOSSIBLE THINGS by Catherine Newman

(Doubleday £14.99, 224pp) THE impossible thing Ash wants is for her best pal not to be dying of cancer. But the once-dazzling Edi is facing her last few weeks in a hospice. Ash must, therefore, balance her comically disorganised domestic and love lives with the heartbreaking duty of visiting and cheering her lifelong friend.

Helping Ash along are her memories of growing up with Edi, plus great characters including her not- soestranged husband, sharpwitted daughter and a colourful cast of hospice workers and patients.

This powerful and life-affirming novel is also wry and dry about East Coast manners and mores. The result slips from wretched to wisecracking, often in the same paragraph.

BECOMING TED by Matt Cain (Headline Review £16.99, 464pp)

I ADORED this book, it’s so uplifting, original and funny. I rooted for Ted as I rarely do and when it seemed he might get back with his toxic ex, I was gripping the pages and mouthing: ‘Nooo!’

Ted is gay and lives on the Lancashire coast, where he works (reluctantly) for the family ice-cream firm. When he is dumped by dishy but shallow husband Giles, he’s devastated.

Then he realises it’s his opportunity to fulfil a lifelong ambition. Ted has been fascinated by drag queens from childhood and now’s his chance to put that wig on!

Supported by his new love, an old friend and a rich array of queens old and young, Ted battles self-doubt, guilt and family to become the redoubtable Gail Force.