The Guardian Weekly

BOOKS OF THE MONTH

The best recent crime stories and thrillers

By Laura Wilson LAURA WILSON IS AN ENGLISH CRIME WRITER

Wahala by Nikki May

“Wahala” means, loosely, trouble, and there’s plenty of it in this entertaining debut. Friends since university, where they bonded over their mixed Nigerian and British heritage, Ronke, Boo and Simi live in London, where they pivot between cultures. Glamorous Isabel, an old schoolfriend of Simi’s, arrives to drive a wedge between them, homing in mercilessly on each woman’s weak point. Mystery takes second place to character study, but Wahala is a fascinating, funny and nuanced look at identity and female friendship.

The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett

Hallett’s bestselling debut The Appeal, an intelligent mystery set within the deceptively genteel confines of a local am-dram group, was a modern epistolary novel, told in emails. Her second is even better, and presented as audio files, complete with intriguing mistakes made by the transcription software.

Recorded on an iPhone by ex-con Steven Smith for his probation officer, they are records of his attempts to find his old English teacher, who disappeared on a school trip to Bournemouth, erstwhile home of Blytonesque children’s writer Edith Twyford. Twyford’s books are catnip to conspiracy theorists; they’re thought to contain a code that may have something to do with their author’s activities during the second world war. Steven, with help from his former classmates and a librarian, sets out to crack it – and, in the process, solve the puzzle of his own life. This fiendishly clever book manages to be both tricksy and surprisingly moving.

The Second Cut by Louise Welsh

Twenty years after Welsh’s award-winning debut The Cutting Room comes the return of gay auctioneer Rilke, now middle aged but still tiptoeing around the edges of Glasgow’s criminal underworld. When old friend Jojo is found dead after giving Rilke a tipoff about a lucrative house clearance in Galloway, the police are inclined to write it off as the result of a decadent lifestyle – Jojo had a fondness for Grindr hook-ups and chemsex parties – but Rilke decides to investigate. The house clearance isn’t quite what it seems, either. There’s the abandoned car in which two people died, the terrified Asian man who may be on the run from people traffickers, the terrier found locked in a chest – and what’s happened to the elderly lady who owned the place? Complex and very atmospheric, with plenty of sardonic humour and sharp observations about injustice, like its predecessor this is a hardboiled gem.

The Maid by Nita Prose

If you have already trashed your new year resolutions, console yourself with this delightful cosy mystery. The narrator, neurodivergent Molly Gray, works at the Regency Grand Hotel, in an unspecified North American city. Although some colleagues are supportive, others abuse her trust and, when she discovers the body of tycoon Charles Black in the penthouse suite, she soon finds herself in the frame for his murder. The plot is undemanding, and readers will find themselves several steps ahead of Molly at any given time because of her difficulty in decoding situations and reading social cues, but her bravery, kindness and lack of artifice are engaging enough to have you rooting for her all the way.

Culture

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2022-01-21T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-21T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://theguardianweekly.pressreader.com/article/282578791412256

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