Abir Mukherjee: The Burning Grounds, Harvill Secker, hardbsck, pub date: Nov 2025

I happily devoured the proof of Abir Mukherjee's upcoming "The Burning Grounds" featuring Sam Wyndham, detective of the English Imperial Police in Calcutta in the 1920ties and his friend and former colleage Suren Banerjee, one of my favorite historical detective series.

When Sam is called to the burning grounds to find a wealthy patron of the arts with his throat slit,  just about to be cremated, the investigation leads him surprisingly to the world of the movies and a rising film star while Suren is called in by his family to search for his missing cousin, a female photographer. 

 The writing takes you into an India still ruled by the British but with increasing  resistance by the Indian people. Sam, with his distaste for his fellow countrymen still has his own demons to squash, substituting whiskey for opium. The plot is airtight as usual although I kind of guessed correctly towards the end....  I absolutely adore this atmospheric series with its personable detective duo and its many colorful, questionable  characters.

 Shari Lapena: She did not see it coming, Transworld, 9780857506207, c format, July publishing

Lapena writes solid bestseller crime novels and her upcoming "She did not see it coming" did not disappoint, i read a netgalley proof. 

When reliable Brydon Frost does not pick up her daughter from daycare or return home later, her husband Sam knows something is very wrong. She has seemingly vanished as all her possessions are at home, her car in the garage.  As the police become involved the apparently perfect family and closest friends are all under scrutiny. 

A pacy psychological thriller  with a tight plot,  really enjoyed it. Great beach read. 

 Kathy Wang: The Satisfation Cafe, Abacus/Little Brown, 9781668068922, pub date July 2025

Kathy Wang's " The Satisfaction Cafe" came to me via a netgalley proof, thanks Little Brown and immediately drew me in with every page. 

Wang's writing and the composition of the  novel reminded me a lot of Ann Pratchett's  or Anne Tyler's work as Wang portraits the seemingly unexcited life of Joan Liang's:  from being the unimportant,  yet intelĺigent Taiwanese daughter who got lucky to become a Stanford student, to marrying husband no 1 who we know on page 2 will not survive that marriage.  Marriage no 2 to wealthy, older Bill is the true turnaround in Joan's life with many unexpected developments. I really became very fond of Joan as a character, her resilience through all the curveballs life throws at her, her love for Bill and motherhood until finally realizing her dream at a late stage in her life. Really loved Kathy Wang's excellent writing and this moving story.

 Hayley Scrivenor: Dirt Town, Pan Macmillan, paperback,

"Dirt Town" was the  CWA New Blood Dagger Award 2023 winner and totally deserves the prize. This stunning debut held me in its grip from start to finish,  painting an unsettling portrait of a small town in Australia and a handfull of people, all connected one way or another to the disappearance of a girl. 

When 12 year old Esther Bianchi disappears, detective Sarah Michaels and a colleague are assigned to the case, interviewing those closest to her:

There is her friend Lewis who claims to have seen her with a strange man, a  boy whose own life is overshadowed by a disturbing family life and a bully of a father.

Her best girlfriend Ronnie is determined to find her friend, no matter what.

Esther's distraught mother Constanze, comforted by her best friend Shel, is stunned when her husband is arrested in connection with their daughters disappearance. 

It's one of my favorite crime novels  this year,  with well plotted characters,  completely unexpected developments painting a disturbing  story of seemingly ordinary people told from Sarah's, Ronnie's, Lewis' and Constanze's view. I will definitely keep this author and her skilled writing on my radar! If you like Jane Harper and Gary Disher this is for you.

 Tahir Shah: The caliphs house. A year in Casablanca. Paperback,  Bantam 

I guess what attracted me to this book was the craziness of someone who bought a ruin of a house in Casablanca and moved his entire family from London to Morocco. 

This is exactly what writer Tahir Shah did,  trying to bring a former palace back to its former splendour while living in a single room with 2 adults and 2 children on site, with undergoing renovations.

The full blast of a very different mentality and way of doing things  in Morroco  tests the family constantly, particularly the three guardians that came with the house and the "jinns" who took up residence in the empty house. Jjinns are mischievous, evil spirits by the way who rule the house. I wanted to tear my hair out several times and  felt like shaking the author telling him to get out of there. Still, the book absolutely fascinated me, as did the perseverance by Tahir or his amazing family history that connects him to Morroco. It felt great to get to the last pages seeing his dream come true and was happy I went along on the ride as a reader. 

 Holly Jackson: Not quite dead yet, Michael Joseph, July 2025, c format paperback, 9780241753699, I read a proof, thank you Michael Joseph

"Not quite dead yet" is a very pacy, unusual thriller. We know from the start there will be no happy end as Jet Mason will be dead within a week. Someone tried to kill her but left her with an inoperable head injury that will kill her within 7 days. Jet is determined to find out who wants her dead and receives help from her best friend from childhood, Billy,  whose father is part of the investigative policeforce dealing with the crime.  

I know this book will find many happy readers, Holly Jackson is a very successful YA author with a BBC and Netflix series and a huge flollowing. 

And this is exactly my problem with the book, the protagonist Jet does not strike me as a grown 27 year old woman but comes across  very YA-ish setting the tone of the thriller. Perhaps this is what the author intended but it did not appeal to me.  The crime plot is sound and unusual, however 75 % in I kind of knew who the villain was as the options very limited. 

 Vanessa Lillie: Blood Sisters, Penguin Random House US/ Berkeley,  hardback 

 A Cherokee lesbian archelogist who works for the bureau of Indian affairs is the protagonist in " Blood sisters" setting the tone for this unusual mystery. Syd Walker is called back home to her Oklahoma reservation to assist in solving a mysterious find of a human skull and the disappearance of two women. Old nightmares about the disapperance of her sister Emma and a brutal attack followed by unresolved family issues resurface when she returns.  

The novel addresses the rising number of violence against native American women,  the disappearance of many and the lack of investigagion by the police but the  constant anger flares of Syd were a little over the top undermining the seriousness of the issues in my view.  An unusual mystery for sure with many twist and turns.