Kassabova, Kapka (2026) Borrowed Land: A Highland Story. Jonathan Cape.
Following her Balkans quartet Kassabova has turned her attention to her home in the Scottish glen of Strathglass. This is a memoir of a glen – a story of its rivers, history, ecology, folklore, inhabitants and its slow destruction. It is an account of the impact of net zero on the Scottish Highlands. The sparsely populated Highlands is being transformed by the demands of UK’s energy infrastructure. This book is an epic lament to the survival of a community and the disconnect between protecting an ancient identity and biodiversity against the forces of state goals, green energy and aggressive commercial development. An empathetic and lyrical ode to place, nature and a displaced people. Haunting.
Rating: 5/5
Kilmore, Karina (2026) Against Their Will. Black Stone.
While Danny, an investigator for a covert news organisation, is working on exposing Kronos, a brutal global child trafficking ring, her cover is blown. She flees and takes up a private investigator job for a wealthy Ohio family to unravel the trauma behind the murder, and subsequent bequests, of their controlling patriarch. Her research exposes deadly secrets and betrayals, family violence, financial sculduggery, a secret heir and a revenge plot. But someone is watching her. Is it Kronos? As ruthless forces close in she must complete her PI assignment. What happens next? We are left hanging. Most likely there will be a sequel soon. A slick and gripping tale with an intelligent new heroine.
Rating: 4/5
Walker, Martin (2026) A Murder in Springtime. Quercus.
When Bruno, Dordogne’s Chief of Police, has to recuse himself from investigating the murder of his friend Pamela’s lodger he throws himself into saving his beloved St Denis market from failure. But his frustration at being excluded from the investigation soon sees him helping out the young officer brought in to lead the case. The kindly victim was not all she seemed. At the heart of the story is a gourmet Easter feast. Food and murder’s idyllic annual outing. Bruno’s nineteenth mystery. Cosy crime.
Rating: 3/5
Sauers, Joan (2026) Murder at Thornwood Park. Allen & Unwin.
Historian Rose McHugh is solving another Southern Highlands mystery. A legacy from the reclusive Thornwood Park heiress sends Rose into a spin. As she catalogues and archives artefacts from Thornwood Park she uncovers evidence that Women’s Auxillary Australian Force trainees, domiciled at Thornwood during WWII, had gone missing. Her research is about expose a serial killer, inadvertently putting her own life in danger. Another cosy crime mystery.
Rating: 3/5
Enright, Anne (2025) Attention: Writing on Life, Art and the World. Cape.
Anne Enright’s collection of essays blends her personal gaze, with literary voices and cultural and political reflection and criticism. She’s been paying attention. These essays, collated over twenty years, take us from Ireland to Canada to Honduras, delving into her family stories, exploring the deafness to female voices and bodies, critiquing literary giants, and upholding the power of human decency against thoughtlessness and complacency, from #MeToo to religiosity. The essays are divided into three sections: Voices, Bodies and Time. A remarkable eye. Rich, engaging and confrontational.
Rating: 5/5
Hilary, Sarah (2026) The Drowning Place. Harvill.
Seventeen years ago Edenscar, a town on the edge of a dark wood in the Peak District, lost a generation of children when a school bus crashed with subsequent drownings. The one survivor Joe Ashe, now DS Ashe, has been haunted by the event ever since. He carries the tragedy with him and the town has not forgiven nor forgotten. When a local family is brutally murdered Joe and his new boss, DI Laurie Bower, investigate and uncover the secrets of Edenscar. A welcome fresh whodunit and police procedural. Character-driven, atmospheric and compelling in its originality.
Rating: 4/5
Finlay, Alex (2026) The Anniversary. St Martins Press.
May Day was a time of terror for the women in small Mid-western towns. Jules Delaney survives an attack from the May Day killer, while her classmate Quinn Riley is arrested for nearly killing someone and sent to juvenile detention. In parallel stories we follow the pair through trauma and heartbreak for a decade, revisiting them on 1st May each year, as they seek to unravel the converging murder mysteries and find a serial killer. Suspenseful and high-energy.
Rating: 4/5
7:30 Bookclub 