Book Club – Four Gripping Reads

What if your mother had been writing to a serial killer? A convicted murderer with a story to tell. Serial killer Michael Reave – known as The Red Wolf – has been locked in Belmarsh Prison for over 20 years for the brutal and ritualistic murders of countless women.

When ex-journalist Heather Evans returns to her childhood home after her mother’s inexplicable suicide, she discovers something chilling … hundreds of letters between her mother and Reave, dating back decades. When the body of a woman is found decorated with flowers, just like Michee’s victims, Reave is the only person alive who could help.

After years of silence, he will speak to Heather, and only Heather. If she wants to unearth the truth and stop further bloodshed, she’ll have to confront a monster. Dog Rose Dirt by Jen Williams is a chilling read … could well be book of the month! HarperCollins, available at exclusivebooks.co.za

Deborah Moggach’s The Black Dress is a brilliant book club read. Pru’s husband’s walked out on her … and left her with no-one to laugh with, to picnic on the beach with, to talk to. In a daze, she goes to a friend’s funeral.

A lovely eulogy … but it doesn’t sound like the friend Pru knew. No wonder … she’s at the wrong service. But everyone was very welcoming, and she had fun.

So she buys  little black dress and heads off to other funerals. Who knows … she may find herself a lonely widower. Such fun. Tinder Press, available at exclusivebooks.co.za

There isn’t a book by Nora Roberts that we haven’t loved – be it those under her own name or when she’s writing at JD Robb. Forgotten In Death, the latest in the Eve Dallas (sexy, tough homicide cop) series,  kicks off with Eve called to a murder before she’s even got to work.

A side-walk sleeper has been found stuffed in a construction site dumpster. Within hours, a two more victims are found close by, a young mother and her baby. These bodies, however, have been buried for more than 40 years. Two crimes. Same location. Coincidence?

As regular fans know, Eve doesn’t believe in coincidences. Soon she, sidekick Peabody, and gorg husband and richest man in the universe Roarke, are knee deep in shady dealings and Russian mobsters.

This is the 54th (good grief) in the In Death series … and they’ve all hit the best selling charts lists worldwide. They read as stand-alones, so you haven’t yet read one, now’s a great time to start. Piatkus , available at exclusivebooks.co.za

Since it’s told really early on in The Paper Palace, it’s not giving anything away to say that Elle Bishop acts on her lifelong attraction to her childhood crush Jonas, one night when she’s at her family’s gently decaying summer camp in Cape Cod, along with her husband and children.

Miranda Cowley Heller’s beautifully written book takes place over 24 hours, and across 50 years. It’s a longstanding love story … with choices only revealed at the very end of the book. Penguin, both of these available at exclusivebooks.co.za