Looking for something new to read? Browse our fiction picks for August! Includes titles by Susie Dent, Robert Harris, Kate Ellis and many more.
Want more suggested books? Take a look at our recommendations.
Death Writ Large
Susie Dent
When mysterious symbols appear as graffiti around Oxford, lexicographer Martha Thornhill recognises them from a runic alphabet created by a deceased fantasy writer whose papers she once worked on.
But this is no publicity stunt, and tensions intensify when further graffiti is found near the body of a university lecturer.
Martha is not the only one to have doubts when the suspicious death is assumed by police to be a suicide. Called upon to lend their linguistic expertise to the case, Martha and her colleagues begin to unearth a tragedy that extends beyond the ancient walls of the university.
As new messages portend more death, it’s clear that a spirit of vengeance is stalking the city’s streets, and may be reaching out towards them too.
You’ll Be Sorry
Lisa Gardner
The Dixon family house was once a crown jewel of the White Mountains. Perched on a cliff with breath-taking views, it promised summer adventures, winter skiing, and family gatherings around a roaring log fire.
Until late one August night, when both parents and their four children vanished, leaving behind a trail of bloody footprints, and a mystery that has endured for generations.
Thirty years later, the grand mansion is stirring back to life. For Raquel and Theo Collins, restoring their new home represents a fresh start after a terrible tragedy.For Amanda Grady, the recently appointed police chief of Shereford, it’s good to see a fresh start for the derelict house.
But a new family in the old home can only mean one thing: the past has returned with a vengeance. When a stray dog arrives and discovers a skeleton on the property, Raquel and Theo face a daunting choice of what to believe, who to trust, and how to survive.
Tuesdays Are for Oversharing
Bella Osborne
After her brother’s sudden death, Louisa inherits his house in the picture-perfect village of Arden on the Green. Her plan? Lie low. Keep her feelings firmly under lock and key. Avoid neighbours. And absolutely don’t crash into an annoyingly handsome nurse. Or ducks. (Long story.)
Then her retired nosey neighbour drags her to the Cosy Café’s Tuesday club – a place for tea, biscuits and conversations about things most of us avoid. Louisa would rather hide than share her secrets, yet she finds herself drawn to these odd strangers.
But when the struggling café faces closure and long-buried truths about her brother begin to surface, Louisa must decide how long she can continue to stay on the sidelines. Because sometimes healing starts with oversharing.
The One Who Walked Away
Karen Rose
Bounty hunter Elle Randolph is on the hunt for a fugitive in the wilderness of Mendocino County. She’s also on the run from her past, and the accident she walked away from – but that killed her abusive husband.
When the manager of the inn Elle is staying in is murdered, she and her boss Sara become people of interest to local detective Ronan Clarke. He needs to know exactly what placed these strangers at the scene of the crime. As Ronan questions Elle and Sara, he realises the fugitive they are tracking could be a suspect for the local murder.
But to share information there needs to be trust. And, right now, is Ronan in a position to drop the bounty hunters from his enquiries? When another person turns up dead, Ronan sees there could be more to this investigation than he could have imagined. And that Elle Randolph isn’t telling him everything.
Claws Out!
Bella Mackie
You know Diana Leyland – she climbed the ladder by marrying a man on each rung! I think she gets rid of them when she’s got what she needs. I wonder who’s next.
Diana’s on the hunt and has the perfect new target. Finally, the type of wealth she’s always dreamed of. A five-storey house in Hampstead, social status, free reign over an eye-watering bank balance. If she can ensnare David Farrand, then she really will have clawed her way into the elite level of life. And Diana’s got form, with three husbands under her belt. Such a shame the silly old fools all died so quickly, but surely fourth time’s the charm.
The only snag? David’s daughter, Cat. Entitled, suspicious and used to getting her own way, Cat’s got her claws into Diana and will stop at nothing to reveal the truth about her murky past.
Agrippa
Robert Harris
Julius Caesar is dead, and the lives of two teenaged boys are about to be changed forever. One is Caesar’s 17-year-old nephew, Octavius, whom he has made his heir. The other is Octavius’s closest friend, Agrippa.
To claim Octavius’s inheritance, they must fight the giant figures of the Roman Empire – and, against all odds, they win. Octavius becomes the Emperor Augustus. For twenty years, they rule the world together.
Now Agrippa is fifty. Ailing and alone, betrayed by his wife’s infidelity, he takes refuge in his house on the Bay of Naples and begins to write his memoirs. Yet to stir up the past can be dangerous. From his earliest meetings with Julius Cleopatra, the great naval battle of Actium and the endless wars to expand the empire, he describes how one man has dominated his life: the cunning, ruthless, unknowable Octavius.
When it comes to power, does friendship exist at all?
The Chapel of Bones
Kate Ellis
South Devon is returning to its usual calm after the summer tourist season when DI Wesley Peterson and his team receive a disturbing call. A mummified body has been discovered, hidden behind a wall, during the renovation of nearby Sycamore House.
The body is that of Dr Aleric Donnal, an academic with a special interest in Devon’s medieval history. Donnal was last seen over a decade ago, around the time that Sycamore House belonged to a new age commune who believed that the house occupied an ancient sacred site.
While Wesley is seeking potential suspects for Donnal’s murder, his friend Dr Neil Watson is investigating the ruins of an ancient chapel nearby; a building once decorated with grotesque carvings of mythical creatures.
As Wesley’s team work on one of their most baffling cases yet, a new murder occurs in a nearby village. Could the two crimes be linked? Wesley needs to separate truth from myth in order to solve this mystery.
Fabulous Bodies
Chuck Tingle
Fashion influencer by day and grave robber by night, Poppy Stringer is on call when Eddie Michaels – a flamboyant, piano-slamming rockstar and queer icon – unexpectedly dies.
All Poppy has to do is retrieve Eddie’s body from the medical examiner’s office, but what starts as a routine delivery quickly goes off course when Eddie wakes up.
Now, Poppy must fight for her life in a blood-soaked night of carnage and fabulous entertainment all across Palm Springs.
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