Best new books in November

Leah and McKenna have never met, though they have parallel lives. Leah understands that what goes on inside a home can often be hidden from others. A husband can look ‘perfect’ to other people and their lives idyllic with all the trappings of success, wealth and happiness.

Whilst at medical school, McKenna had learned about all forms of domestic abuse – how to spot the signs, how to screen patients for issues and refer them to the appropriate services. She could never understand why a woman in a controlling relationship couldn’t just leave. It had never made sense until it happened to her. Her husband had started to discourage relationships with friends and family, encouraged her to give up her job and soon took control of all the finances. Coercive control. He had started to isolate her. 

Driving past McKenna’s house one night, Leah witnesses that McKenna has the same sort of marriage that she does and decides to keep an eye out for her. Until one night, she intervenes. 

Such a great book! I devoured it in one day.

Would you want to kiss someone and see how they were going to die? 

From the outside, Lorelai is an ordinary young woman with a normal life. She loves reading, works at the local cinema and adores living with her best friend. But she hasn’t kissed anyone since she was 16 because whenever she kissed someone on the lips, she saw how they were going to die. 

Then she meets sweet, clever and funny Grayson. And for the first time in years she yearns for a man’s kiss. But she can’t… or can she? And if she does, should she try to intervene and change what she sees?

I know that there will be plenty of people who will enjoy this book but I didn’t really connect with the characters or the storyline. I also felt that the sections on inclusivity and gender identities were written in just because the author thought it was important, not because they were really needed for the plot.

DI Anjelica Henley and her partner Ramouter are busy with a new serial killer case. A well-known pastor has been found murdered in his church and a second victim is found tortured and tied to a bed in an adjoining, hidden room. He is still alive, but barely. It isn’t long before other tortured and mutilated bodies start piling up. Are these ritualistic cases connected to the church?

Drawing on her experiences as a criminal attorney, Nadine Matheson explores issues of race, class and justice through a well-written and action-packed story that will hold you captive until the very end.

The crimes in this book are graphic but if you look past that, you’ll love this page-turning thriller.

Margot Davies grew up in Wakarusa, Indiana and was six years old when her friend and next door neighbour, January, was found dead in a ditch. 

Margot, now a big-city journalist, returns to Wakarusa to look after her uncle who has early stage dementia but, twenty years after the first unsolved murder, another girl disappears and Margot is convinced this is connected to January’s murder and begins investigating.

But the more Margot digs the more resistance she encounters. Everyone seems to be hiding something. 

Ashley Flowers, the author, is the host of the #1 podcast, Crime Junkie and this book is her debut novel so there are good twists and turns. There are similarities to the child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsay case but there are several surprises and enough suspense to keep the story moving along at a steady pace. 

The unexpected ending forces readers to come to their own conclusion which I wasn’t entirely satisfied with. 

Fleat House is one of eight boarding houses at St Stephen’s School. Old, eerie, and foreboding, its cellar is rumoured to be haunted by the ghost of a student who died there tragically in 1979. But it’s a recent death at the school that brings DI Jazmine ‘Jazz’ Hunter back into the force, to investigate. 

Reunited with her loyal sergeant Alastair Miles, Jazz begins investigating the circumstances around senior student, Charlie Cavendish’s tragic death. 

All those around Charlie – the unlikeable spoiled bully – had both motive and opportunity to swap the epileptic drugs that killed him. With the disappearance of a young pupil and the death of a Classics Master, DI Hunter has her work cut out. 

This is a great weekend read. I’m only sorry that there won’t be additional books by this author as she, unfortunately, passed away in 2021 following a four year long battle with cancer. This book, her only foray into crime, was posthumously published by her son.