The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer (Bantam, £16.99)
A time-slip mystery set in the compulsive, and nowadays illegal, world of bird egg collectors, Bauer’s latest novel sees the return of Patrick Fort, the young protagonist of her 2013 novel Rubbernecker. Patrick, who has Asperger’s syndrome, is now 23, living with his mum in the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons). When a burglary at the house of his next-door neighbour results in the theft of only one item – a red egg in an ornamental box – Patrick, who is highly observant and a whiz at logic, is on the case. A second narrative strand tells the story of Celie Sheppard who, in 1926, saves her family’s fortunes when she risks her life to take a rare red guillemot’s egg from the steep cliff at the edge of their Yorkshire farm. Fans of Bauer know to expect something original from this most ingenious of crime writers, and newcomers will be delighted by a funny, moving and beautifully written tale of misfits and oological obsession.
The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths (Quercus, £22)
The first in a new series from the bestselling author is a police procedural with a difference. A top-secret department has been set up to look into cases so cold that they can only be solved by time travel. So far, the farthest Ali Dawson has gone is 1976; now, secretary of state for justice Isaac Templeton has asked her to travel to 1850 and investigate whether his philanthropist ancestor was guilty, as suspected, of murdering women. Kitted out in petticoats, Ali steps through the portal – only to find, when the appointed time comes, that she is unable to return to the present day. Meanwhile, her son Finn, who works for Templeton, is in serious trouble … While this might be a stretch for those who aren’t keen on genre mashups, the historical sections are well researched, and Griffiths not only succeeds in making the implausible plausible, but leaves enough narrative breadcrumbs to make us long for more.
Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito (4th Estate, £12.99)
The short and brutal prologue to Feito’s second novel, following her 2021 gothic thriller Mrs March, paints a picture of a world in which death is everywhere. We’re in a manor house in the English village of Grim Wolds, in an unspecified year in the 1800s and, even before the Pounds family’s new governess, Winifred Notty, has celebrated her arrival by biting a chunk out of a decapitated calf’s head, we can be sure that any ensuing demises will be neither natural nor tasteful. Winifred has been subject to violent visions and impulses since childhood, despite her clergyman stepfather’s repeated attempts at exorcism. Reality at Ensor House is already fairly strange, with Mrs Pounds forcing Winifred to sleep in the dog kennel and Mr Pounds sharing his porn collection, but the governess takes its disintegration in her stride, as the story develops into full-on Grand Guignol. Crammed with gothic tropes and bizarre Victorian obsessions, Victorian Psycho may not be more than the sum of its parts, but it’s a lot of clever, gross-out fun.
The Inheritance by Trisha Sakhlecha (Century, £16.99)
There are shades of Succession in the story of the stupendously rich Agarwal family, who congregate on an isolated Scottish island to celebrate the parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. Aseem, the only son, has been organising the sale of the company founded by his ailing father, and he and his two sisters are expecting a big payout. Myra, who with her now-estranged husband bought the island in the teeth of local opposition, is facing bankruptcy; Aseem’s wife, Zoe, is desperate for the financial independence she believes will free her husband from his grasping mother; and Aisha, the pampered baby of the family, has arrived with a new fiance who is probably after her money. Sakhlecha’s third novel is a heady broth of secrets and lies; she expertly rachets up the tension as anger and resentment simmering below the polite surface gradually come to a head and result in murder.
The Weekenders by David F Ross (Orenda, £9.99)
Raskine House, a grand mansion high up on a Scottish moor, has a 300-year history of bad luck, trouble, myths and rumours. In 1966, rookie journalist Stevie Malloy starts investigating the killing of a young woman from a Glasgow mission, but soon realises that the official inquiry is a cover-up. Stevie’s boss, well versed in realpolitik, urges him to leave well alone. However, when his mentor bequeaths him papers that suggest the death may be connected to debauched weekend parties at Raskine House, he chooses to ignore the advice. The action then shifts to Italy, 1943: in the midst of war, two men who are destined to become big wheels in the Glasgow establishment form a friendship. We leap forward to 1969, when a courtroom artist gets involved with a case that bears remarkable similarities to what happened three years earlier … A thoroughly researched and well imagined historical mystery with echoes of David Peace.
