STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old
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Crime fiction
Reviews of The Perfect Guests by Emma Rousa, Confess to Me by Sharon Doering, Leave the Lights On by Egan Hughes and Highland Fling by Sara Sheridan
TOM STONE urges you to catch the last dates of a New York singer/songwriter, never afraid to challenge her audiences musically or politically
JAN WOOLF examines work that aims to give viewers a material experience of the environments in the polar north and Britain equally affected by the climate crisis
The bard recalls advice received 50 years ago from his TRB muse, and sorts out appropriate legislation for football club ownership
MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE review Facing War, Kontinental ’25, Bugonia, and Relay
MAYER WAKEFIELD is frustrated by a production of Ibsen’s classic study of an anti-heroine that fails to elucidate her motivations
PETER MASON tunes his ear into the domestic affairs of a Carribbean couple with a troublesome son
THE PERFECT GUESTS by Emma Rous (Piatkus, £7.99) is a house-party mystery with gothic elements in which a group of guests are invited to a Fenland mansion, deserted for years, to take part in a test event for a murder-mystery weekend.
Some of them are actors, supposedly in on the whodunnit. But the dangers turn out to be more real than anyone could have imagined, as the reader learns the recent history of Raven Hall, which has witnessed more than its share of tragedies, secret jealousies and obsessions.
Lots of spine-chilling fun, this novel would be the perfect distraction for the evening of a difficult day.
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