Soltalk December 2018 | Page 54

Book Talk with Smiffs book & card store, Nerja The only ‘big beast’ of crime fiction to be found releasing new work this month is the prolific James Patterson, with The First Lady (l). As he steps from his hotel in Georgia with his wife Grace, the USA’s President Tucker is greeted by the media. His love affair has been revealed to the world two weeks before the election for a second term. Mortified, betrayed and deeply hurt, Grace Tucker heads for a haven outside the capital. Agent Sally Grissom of the Secret Service is appointed to lead a covert mission to bring the First Lady back to Washington DC before the media learns of the disappearance. As the trail runs cold though, Grissom cannot help feeling that she is being watched. Someone else is searching for Grace, and if Grissom does not find her first, the First Lady might not be alive when she does. rumours can wreck lives. A casual comment – ‘There’s a killer among us. She stabbed little Robbie Harris.” – is all it takes to change a life. “She is living under a new name. She is reformed. So they say.” Joanna is going to regret the day she ever said a word. This chilling tale of paranoia, suspicion and accusation keeps readers guessing until the final page. Also worth a look are: The Whisperer (p), by Karin Fossum; The Queen Of Bloody Everything (p), by Joanna Nadin; and, Happiness For Humans (p), by PZ Reizin. If a large serving of sheer romance floats your boat, then try the Spain-located If We’re Not Married By Thirty (p), by Anna Bell. When Lydia breaks up with her long-term boyfriend, she flees to a villa in Spain, where she is surprised to bump into old childhood friend Dan. Years before, they pledged that if they were still single when they turned 30, they would get married. With their friendship rekindled, they fall into a holiday romance. Deeply in love, they realise there is nothing stopping them from fulfilling their romantic pact. But how much do they really know about each other? Could Lydia’s back-up man ever really be her happy-ever-after one? A funny, romantic and bubbly read. The First Lady 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 December, with availability in print this month or in early January. The Hotlist helps readers to plan and budget for book ordering; and do not forget that delivery times can be more erratic in the festive period. Planning a holiday in Spain next year? Well, the latest Lonely Planet Pocket Guides (p) are published this month, including those for Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao & San Sebastian, and Ibiza. They typically include colour pull-out city maps, and details of the best walking tours. Also worth considering are: Lucifer Falls (l), by Colin Falconer; The House Of Silk (p), a Sherlock Holmes mystery from Anthony Horowitz; Dead Man’s Gift & Other Stories (p), by Simon Kernick; Bloodline (p), a Spain-based thriller by Nigel McRery; and, The Au Pair (p), by Emma Rous. The Pocket Rough Guide to the volcanic Canary Islands of Tenerife and La Gomera (p) is also a handy, pocket- sized book. Whether you plan to explore the Turning to general fiction, The Rumour (l), by Lesley Kara, is an exciting, twisting debut exploring with terrifying credibility how 52