Time to start that holiday checklist. Whether you are planning to bask on a poolside sun lounger, soak up the views from a rooftop terrace or enjoy the warm glow of a campfire in the great outdoors, no relaxing getaway is complete without a decent book to escape into. Here, we round up some of the most gripping summer reads for 2024, from twisty thrillers and cosy crime to locked-room murder mysteries and suspense-packed tales.
Chris Brookmyre (Image: free) The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre (Abacus, £22, out July 18) There is already a lot of buzz building about this upcoming offering from Chris Brookmyre, variously billed as a “cross-genre hybrid of Agatha Christie and Michael Connelly” and a “genre-splicing rollercoaster”. The Cracked Mirror does exactly that, seeing two worlds collide as it brings together an unlikely sleuthing duo who find themselves at the heart of a compelling whodunnit involving a dead writer and mysterious wedding invitation. Penny Coyne is the quintessential “little old lady” in a twinset and tweed, an octogenarian with a razor-sharp mind she puts to good use solving murders in her well-to-do Perthshire village.
Johnny Hawke is a tough and cynical LAPD homicide detective. You are going to fall in love with them. And this book.
Stuart MacBride (Image: free) In A Place Of Darkness by Stuart MacBride (Bantam, £20, out June 20) Stuart MacBride has become synonymous with superb storytelling, fearless imagination and dry wit in his gallop.
