New fiction books for April
by Brandon King
Looking for a new book to read? Take a look at our latest fiction titles for April 2024.
We publish new recommendations every month. Browse our featured titles.
You Are Here, by David Nicholls
Marnie is stuck. Stuck working alone in her London flat, stuck battling the long afternoons and a life that increasingly feels like it's passing her by. Michael is coming undone. Reeling from his wife's departure, increasingly reclusive, taking himself on long, solitary walks across the moors and fells. When a persistent mutual friend and some very English weather conspire to bring them together, Marnie and Michael suddenly find themselves alone on the most epic of walks and on the precipice of a new friendship. But can it survive the journey?
Close to Death, by Anthony Horowitz
Richmond Upon Thames is one of the most desirable areas to live in London. And Riverview Close - a quiet, gated community - seems to offer its inhabitants the perfect life. At least it does until Giles Kenworthy moves in with his wife and noisy children, his four gas-guzzling cars, his loud parties and his plans for a new swimming pool in his garden. His neighbours all have a reason to hate him and are soon up in arms.
When Kenworthy is shot dead with a crossbow bolt through his neck, all of them come under suspicion and his murder opens the door to lies, deception and further death. The police are baffled. Reluctantly, they call in former Detective Daniel Hawthorne. But even he is faced with a seemingly impossible puzzle. How do you solve a murder when everyone has the same motive?
The Other Tenant, by Lesley Kara
Marlow has always lived in unusual places. But when she accepts a position as a live-in property guardian, she finds herself moving somewhere she swore she'd never return to. Right from the start, she knows it's a terrible mistake. The elegant Victorian school is due to be turned into luxury apartments, but its eerie, empty corridors are full of Marlow's worst memories. And now something sinister is happening on the site.
One of the other tenants has disappeared without warning, and Marlow suspects that the nine other guardians know far more than they're letting on. She's determined to find out what happened to the missing woman - but which of these strangers can she trust? And can she uncover the truth before her own past catches up with her?
My Favourite Mistake, by Marian Keyes
Anna has just lost her taste for the Big Apple. Anna has a life to envy. An apartment in New York. A well-meaning (too well-meaning?) partner. And a high-flying job in beauty PR. Who wouldn't want all that? Anna - it turns out. Turning a minor mid-life crisis into a major life event she bins the lot, heads back to Ireland, and gets a PR job for a super-high-end coastal retreat. Tougher than it sounds. Newsflash: the locals hate it. So much so, there have been threats - and violence.
Anna, however, worked in the beauty industry. There's no ugliness she hasn't seen. No wrinkle she can't smooth over. Anna's got this. Until she discovers that leaving New York doesn't mean escaping her mistakes. Once upon a time she'd had a best friend. Once upon a time she'd loved a man. Now she has neither. And now she has to face them. We all make mistakes. But when do we stop making the same one over and over again?
The Lifeline, by Libby Page
For Kate, having a newborn baby means she is almost never alone. But that doesn't mean she isn't lonely. The move from London to Somerset with her husband Jay was supposed be the start of an exciting new chapter. But sometimes she can't help but wonder if she turned the pages too soon. Phoebe Harrison needs a break. As a mental health nurse serving her community, the wellbeing of her patients has always come before her own. But there's only so long she can pour from an empty cup. Looking for a lifeline, Kate and Phoebe find one in their local river swimming group. But what they didn't expect was the buoying friendship they would find in each other.
Funny Story, by Emily Henry
Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it - right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra. Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children's librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra's ex, Miles Nowak. Scruffy and chaotic, Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she's either FBI or in witness protection.
Inside Threat, by Matthew Quirk
With the President at risk from a threat closer than anyone could have imagined, only one operative can save him. Assume the worst. Code Black. The White House has been breached. President Kline has left for a secret bunker with only his most trusted agents and officials: those dedicated to keeping the US government intact at all costs. Erik Hill has given his life to the Secret Service, but years of dealing with Washington sleaze has replaced his enthusiasm with disillusionment.
With the US government under attack, though, and no one better equipped to face down the threat, Erik can't ignore his calling. But he has never dealt with a threat like this. The president may have headed to safety - but what if the danger was there with him all along? With killers ready to strike inside the bunker, it will take everything Erik has to save his leader, his country - and himself.
The Household, by Stacey Halls
London, 1847. In a quiet house in the countryside outside London, the finishing touches are being made to welcome a group of young women. The house and its location are top secret, its residents unknown to one another, but the girls have one thing in common: they are fallen. Offering refuge for prostitutes, petty thieves and the destitute, Urania Cottage is a second chance at life - but how badly do they want it?
Meanwhile, a few miles away in a Piccadilly mansion, millionairess Angela Burdett-Coutts, one of the benefactors of Urania Cottage, makes a discovery that leaves her cold. Her stalker of ten years has been released from prison, and she knows it's only a matter of time before their nightmarish game resumes once more. As the women's worlds collide in ways they could never have expected, they will discover that freedom always comes at a price.
James, by Percival Everett
The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson's Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father who recently returned to town. Thus begins a dangerous and transcendent journey by raft along the Mississippi River, toward the elusive promise of free states and beyond.
As James and Huck begin to navigate the treacherous waters, each bend in the river holds the promise of both salvation and demise. With rumours of a brewing war, James must face the burden he carries: the family he is desperate to protect and the constant lie he must live. And together, the unlikely pair must face the most dangerous odyssey of them all.
A Calamity of Souls, by David Baldacci
Jack Lee is a white lawyer from Freeman County, Virginia, who has never done anything to push back against racism, until he decides to represent Jerome Washington, a Black man charged with brutally killing an elderly and wealthy white couple. Doubting his decision, Lee fears that his legal skills may not be enough to prevail in a case where the odds are already stacked against both him and his client. And he quickly finds himself out of his depth when he realises that what is at stake is far greater than the outcome of a murder trial.
The Potting Shed Murder, by Paula Sutton
Daphne Brewster has left London behind and is settling into her family's new life in rural Norfolk, planting broad beans in raised beds and vintage hunting for their farmhouse. But when the local headmaster is found dead amongst his allotment cabbages, the village is ablaze: Who would kill beloved Mr Papplewick, pillar of the community? Daphne soon comes to realise perhaps the countryside isn't so idyllic after all.
When the headmaster's widow points her finger at Minnerva, Daphne's new friend, Daphne vows to clear her name. Sneaking into the crime scene and chasing down rumours gets her into hot water with the local inspector - until she comes across a faded photograph that unearths a secret buried for forty years. They say nothing bad ever happens in close-knit Pudding Corner, but Daphne is close to the truth - dangerously close.
Borrow The Potting Shed Murder →
A Lesson in Cruelty, by Harriet Tyce
Anna wants a fresh start. She doesn't believe she deserves it, but after three years behind bars she has finally paid her dues. Most of them, anyway. Lucy craves the attention of the only man she can't have, her alluring Oxford professor. He's married - not for the first time. Maybe she should be next in line? Marie the recluse has been locked up for too long. She's not ready to be free, but some rules are meant to be broken. Everyone wants a perfect life. But not everyone is prepared to take it. Unless someone decides to teach them a lesson.
The House of Mirrors, by Erin Kelly
In the sweltering summer of 1997, straight-laced, straight-A student Karen met Biba - a bohemian and impossibly glamorous aspiring actress. A few months later, two people were dead and another had been sent to prison. Having stood by Rex as he served his sentence, Karen is now married to him with a daughter, Alice, who runs a vintage clothing company in London. They're a normal family, as long as they don't talk about the past, never mention the name Biba, and ignore Alice's flashes of dark, dangerous fury.
Karen has kept what really happened that summer of '97 hidden deep inside her. Alice is keeping secrets of her own. But when anonymous notes begin to arrive at Alice's shop, it seems the past is about to catch up with them all.
Erin Kelly will be visiting Bury St Edmunds Library on 24 April for a special author talk alongside Jane Casey to talk about their latest thrillers. You can book your tickets online.
The Night in Question, by Susan Fletcher
Florence Butterfield has lived an extraordinary life full of travel, passion and adventure. But, at eighty-seven, she suspects there are no more surprises to come her way. Then, one midsummer's night, something terrible happens - so strange and unexpected that Florrie is suspicious. Was this really an accident, or is she living alongside a would-be murderer? The only clue is a magenta envelope, discarded earlier that day. And Florrie - cheerfully independent but often overlooked - is the only person determined to uncover the truth. As she does, Florrie finds herself looking back on her own life - and a long-buried secret, traced in faded scars across her knuckles, becomes ever harder to ignore.
Borrow The Night in Question →
Profile K, by Helen Fields
Midnight Jones is an analyst trained to understand the human mind. But everything changes when, in the course of her work, she discovers Profile K's file - because K stands for killer, and she knows that someone more dangerous than she could have ever imagined walks among them. Midnight knows what Profile K is capable of before he even commits his first crime.
But as the news rolls with the brutal murder of a local woman, no one believes what she tells them: that he's capable of so much more. Profile K will kill again - and slowly, terrifyingly, Midnight realises that the moment she found his file was the moment she became his next target. Because Profile K is coming for Midnight - and the only way to escape with her life is to find him before he finds her.