From Robert Galbraith’s new Strike episode to Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan, a trio of short stories by Curtis Sittenfeld and Rose Tremain’s latest, this week’s best new fiction
Troubled Blood
Robert Galbraith Sphere £20
This new episode in the Cormoran Strike series sees the one-legged detective tackling his first cold case. London doctor Margot Bamborough vanished 40 years ago.
A notorious serial killer was presumed to be her murderer, but could there have been another killer? Twists and turns keep coming and, over such a long book, get a little tiring.
As ever, the real charm lies in the star-crossed relationship between Strike and his assistant Robin.
John Williams
Help Yourself
Curtis Sittenfeld Doubleday £8.99
From a woman who falls out with her best friend after getting caught being racist, to a snobby yet unfulfilled film-maker, to a student who takes out her break-up on her neighbour, Sittenfeld’s talent for creating characters that elicit an uneasy mix of scorn and sympathy is on full display in this trio of short stories.
This is the author at her best.
Gwendolyn Smith
Mayflies
Andrew O’Hagan Faber £14.99
For two Glaswegian lads in 1986, hard times can’t dampen youthful optimism and a wild weekend at a festival inflames their sense of freedom. But fast-forward 30 years and, in the shadow of cancer, the mood darkens.
In its raw ingredients, the story could hardly be simpler, but few novelists could have mined such riches from a study of male friendship. O’Hagan has produced a plangent masterpiece.
Max Davidson
Islands Of Mercy
Rose Tremain Chatto & Windus £18.99
Bath and Borneo are the two settings for Tremain’s Victorian exploration of desire and self-determination. The novel’s most interesting strand features Jane Adeane, a woman with superlative nursing skills, who is torn between an affair with a female lover and a destructive relationship with her father’s medical partner.
Meanwhile, in the tropical wilds, Sir Ralph Savage is attempting to keep his younger, power-hungry lover, Leon, happy. Subtle, illuminating and captivating.
Eithne Farry