The retreat at health-and-wellness resort Tranquillum House promises total transformation.
Nine stressed city dwellers are keen to drop their literal and mental baggage, and absorb the meditative ambience while enjoying their hot stone massages.
Watching over them is the resort director, a woman on a mission to reinvigorate their tired bodies and minds.
These nine perfect strangers have no idea what is about to hit them....
It's Sunday morning on a long weekend in the quirky little town of Cowaramup and Cally Minter and her best friend Sienna are about to host a new murder mystery game. Who Killed the Movie Star?
But before an arrow can be shot from its bow, the girls are in a pickle. The Sheriff of Nottingham has gone rogue; they've lost a Maid Marian, and someone keeps reporting them to the local police for shooting their guests.
In all the confusion, lovely First Class Senior Constable Daniel Reardon becomes a regular visitor to Butterfly House, and if Cally plays her cards right..... whoever murdered the movie star might not be the only one in handcuffs by sunset.
You can read my review of Who Killed the Movie Star here
On her remote North Queensland cattle station, Ivy Dunmore is facing the end of her days. Increasingly frail, all she holds dear is threatened not just by crippling drought, but also by jealousy and greed - and that's from within her own family.
Can Felicity, who's battling her own crisis as her fiftieth birthday approaches, protect her mother and reunite her family under the homestead's faded iron roof? Or will sibling rivalries erupt and long-held secrets from the past break a family in crisis?
You can read my review of Return to Roseglen here
Shetland. Welcoming. Wild. Remote.
Drawn in by the reputation of the islands, an English family move to the area, eager to give their autistic son a better life.
But when a young nanny's body is found hanging in the barn of their home, rumours of her affair with the husband begin to spread like wild fire.
With suspicion raining down on the family, DI Jimmy Perez is called in to investigate, knowing that it will mean the return to the islands of his on-off lover and boss Willow Reeves, who will run the case.
Perez is facing the most disturbing investigation of his career. Is he ready for what is to come?
'ACHILLES? BECAUSE.....?'
'OBSESSION OF MINE. HALF MAN, HALF GOD -
AND HIS OWN WORST ENEMY.
MY KIND OF MAN.' HE LAUGHED.
Istanbul, Turkey 1955
Benedict Hitchens, once a world-renowned archaeologist, is now a discredited - but still rather charming - shell of his former self.
Once full of optimism and adventure, his determination to prove that Achilles was a real historical figure led him to his greatest love, Karina, on the island of Crete and to his greatest downfall, following the disappearance of an enigmatic stranger, Eris.
He has one last chance to restore his reputation, solve the mystery of Eris and prove his Achilles theory. But it is full of risk, and possibly fatal consequences...
This unique animals book will delight children
with textured pages, rhymes to read and wonderful
fingerprint sea creatures.
The fate of three strangers collide in a deadly game of cat and mouse
Journalist Jonno Bligh is flying high with a bestselling book and an Oscar for Best Screenplay. But along with the accolades he picks up a cocaine habit and a case of writers’ block.
Under pressure to deliver his next blockbuster, Jonno sails to the Indian Ocean in his beloved yacht The Scoop Jon B. When a violent storm cripples the boat he takes refuge on a beautiful remote island, where he vows to get clean. Little does he know that the murderous gangster BangBang Budiman uses the island to hide the spoils of his heists in the notorious Malaccan Strait.
Jonno watches in horror as BangBang and his crewmen brutalise two women on the beach before leaving them to die. He manages to rescue one, Annie Greenwood, whose husband has already been murdered. Together they flee the island with the stolen loot, relentlessly pursued by the vengeful BangBang.
As the killer hunts them down in the treacherous waters of South East Asia, Jonno and Annie are forced to come to terms with their own destructive demons – and a discovery that will change their lives forever.
The devil waits for you … even in paradise
She’ll do whatever it takes to track this killer ...
Harmony Talbot’s world is destroyed when she arrives home and discovers her cousin’s dead body, left with a single white rose as the killer’s calling card. Lightning shouldn’t strike twice, but this is the second unsolved murder in Harmony’s family. Harmony is determined that this time there will be justice, even if she has to track down the culprit herself.
Homicide detective Bern Knight is good at catching criminals. Though meaningful, his work leaves little time for relationships, and the last thing he needs is a beautiful, bumbling amateur sleuth getting herself into trouble. Whoever committed this crime is no ordinary murderer; he's a ghost, leaving behind no evidence until more bodies with the same sadistic markers start turning up.
As a digital forensic investigator, Harmony has a special set of skills that she’s fully prepared to use, no matter how much the stern detective is against her interference. Tracking the killer is no easy feat, but Harmony lures him out of hiding. Except now she’s the one in the killer’s crosshairs…
A fugitive in the present. A runaway in the past.
Eliza Carmody returns home to the country to work on the biggest law case of her career. The only problem is this time she’s on the ‘wrong side’ – defending a large corporation against a bushfire class action by her hometown of Kinsale.
On her first day back Eliza witnesses an old friend, Luke Tyrell, commit an act of lethal violence. As the police investigate that crime and hunt for Luke they uncover bones at The Castle, a historic homestead in the district. Eliza is convinced that they belong to someone from her past.
As Eliza becomes more and more entangled in the investigation, she is pulled back into her memories of youthful friendships and begins to question everyone she knows … and everything she once thought was true.
Well that's the lot for July.
What am I really looking forward to reading?
Anyone who has read Big Little Lies and is a fan of Liane Moriarty will be hanging out for her next novel Nine Perfect Strangers released on 18th September and I must say I'm more than eager to get into this arc (advanced reader copy)
The Honourable Thief is another on my radar. Meaghan is an Australian author I haven't come across before. She studied archaeology and worked in the Mediterranean and Middle East so I'm interested to see where she goes with this book mixing archaeology with myth and legend.
I read Aoife Clifford's debut 'All These Perfect Strangers' and quite enjoyed it although it needed some work on the pacing. I'm looking forward to reading her next novel 'Second Sight' which has had praise from both Jane Harper and Garry Disher.
Anything on my list that takes your fancy? What are you looking forward to reading in August?
