Norman’s Conquest, Only One Survives, I Will Ruin You, and What Have You Done? among page-turners for July
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Whodunits are ideal summer reading material. Whether you’re heading for the beach or the backyard hammock, pack a little mystery in your book bag:
Norman’s Conquest
Don Butler
(Ottawa Press and Publishing)
Following a near-fatal heart attack, old-school journalist Norman Pugsley takes an early retirement. But just when he thinks he’s out of the newspaper biz, wouldn’t you know it? He’s pulled back in to collaborate with a young reporter who’s investigating the unsolved murder that derailed Pugsley’s career decades earlier.
What Have You Done?
Shari Lapena
(Doubleday Canada)
Shari Lapena is a one-woman crime wave, with past titles including An Unwanted Guest, The Couple Next Door and Not a Happy Family. In her latest murder mystery, which landed in bookstores July 30, the residents of a small town in Vermont are shaken when the body of a teenage girl turns up in a farmer’s field.
In a place where nobody locked their doors until now, it isn’t long before friends and neighbours are seeing one another as potential suspects.
I Will Ruin You
Linwood Barclay
(William Morrow)
A fresh entry from man of mystery Linwood Barclay (Find You First, Elevator Pitch, A Noise Downstairs).
When English teacher Richard Boyle spots a man in the school parking lot wearing military garb and a suicide vest, he acts on instinct, issuing instructions to students, raising the alarm and heading off the intruder at an unlocked entrance. But while he convinces the would-be bomber to stand down, Boyle’s nightmare is only beginning.
Why was a former student trying to blow up the school? And why is a blackmailer suddenly intent on blowing up Boyle’s life? We need to know. That’s why they call it a page-turner.
Only One Survives
Hannah Mary McKinnon
(MIRA)
Best friends since high school, drummer Vienna Miller and singer-guitarist Madison Pierce are rocking the music world with their all-female quintet Bittersweet. That is, until a series of gruesome events takes out their bandmates, along with a documentary research assistant who was shadowing them.
The first fatality occurs when the band’s SUV swerves off a mountainside during a blizzard. Madison vanishes, while the others hole up at a handy cabin, where they’re picked off one by one. By morning, Vienna is the only survivor, a fact that also makes her the prime suspect.
Known to the Victim
K.L. Armstrong
(Doubleday Canada)
Bestselling fantasy writer Kelley Armstrong is killing it on the mystery scene under the pseudonym K.L. Armstrong. The author of thrillers Every Step She Takes, Wherever She Goes and The Life She Had takes another stab at it with this suspenseful outing.
Heroine Amy Gibson’s half-brother Oliver came to the rescue when Amy’s boyfriend murdered her mother eight years ago. With his support, she launched a true-crime podcast that deals with similar cases. So when Oliver is accused of a crime, Amy is determined to prove he’s innocent. Sure, they were estranged before her mother died, but he’s family, right? Although, she begins to wonder … how well does she really know him?