BookTalk
Book Talk with Smiffs book & card store , Nerja
Troubled Blood ( l ) by Robert Galbraith , aka JK Rowling , is number five in the Cormoran Strike series which like me you may well be addicted to , especially with the fantastic way they have also been turned into a gripping TV series . Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother , Margot Bamborough - who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974 . Strike has never tackled a cold case before , let alone one forty years old . But despite the slim chance of success , he is intrigued and takes it on ; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency , Robin Ellacott , are currently working on .
Troubled Blood leads off this month ’ s Soltalk Hotlist of titles , some entirely new , others moving into small paperback format for the first time or being reissued , sometimes after years out of print . All are due for publication on dates in October , with availability in print this month or in early November . The Hotlist helps readers to budget for and plan book ordering .
Darkest Evening ( l ) by Ann Cleeves is the latest in the Vera Stanhope series . Driving home during a swirling blizzard , Vera Stanhope ’ s only thought is to get there quickly . But the snow is so heavy , she becomes disoriented and loses her way . Ploughing on , she sees a car slewed off the road ahead of her . With the driver ’ s door open , Vera assumes the driver has sought shelter but when she inspects the car she is shocked to find a young toddler strapped in the back seat . Afraid they will freeze , Vera takes the child and drives on , arriving at Brockburn , a run-down stately home she immediately recognizes as the house her father Hector grew up in .
Thursday Murder Club ( l ) by Richard Osman is set in a peaceful retirement village .
Four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders . But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep , the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case . Elizabeth , Joyce , Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves . Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it ’ s too late ? I am already eagerly awaiting book two in this series and we hear that Steven Spielberg ’ s production company Amblin have bought the worldwide film rights .
The Kingdom ( l ) is the latest book by Jo Nesbo . When Roy and Carl ’ s parents die suddenly , 16-year-old Roy is left as protector to his impulsive younger brother . But when Carl decides to travel the world in search of his fortune , Roy stays behind in their sleepy village , satisfied with his peaceful life as a mechanic . Some years later , Carl returns with his charismatic new wife , Shannon - an architect . They are full of exciting plans to build a spa hotel on their family land . Carl wants to make the brothers and the rest of the village rich ... It ’ s only a matter of time before a series of events that threatens to derail everything Roy holds dear , as long-buried family secrets begin to rise to the surface .
They say fact is always stranger than fiction , now from James Patterson is Murder Thy Neighbour ( p ) - two true-crime thrillers follow a neighbours ’ quarrel that explodes in a double murder . In ‘ Murder Thy Neighbour ’, Ann Hoover is a nice woman . When Roy Kirk moved in next door with plans to renovate , his DIY construction turns to shambles ... When Ann takes him to court , Roy ’ s retaliation will be shockingly gruesome . In ‘ Murder IRL ’, Jenelle Potter ’ s always been better at connecting through social media than in person . With overprotective parents , she hasn ’ t had many options to meet people until she links up with Billy . But her feelings for Billy are unreciprocated , causing Jenelle to start a virtual war – a war that enters the real world .
In Mum & Dad ( p ) by Joanna Trollope It ’ s been twenty-five years since Gus and Monica left England to start a new life in Spain , building a vineyard and wine business from the ground
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