Kristen Lepionka, The Last Place You Look – the best thriller I’ve read this year. The central character is ace: he’s a private eye, approached by the sister of a man on death row, convinced that her brother is innocent… but is he? Confidently and authoritatively written, it’s hard to believe this is a debut novel. It’s truly gripping and so authentic it could easily be a true crime story. I can’t wait for Lepionka’s next book.

Sarah Knight, You Do You – Knight’s latest self-help book is empowering and entertaining. That said, I still love the first in the series the best.The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k introduced the two-step ‘Not Sorry’ programme, encouraging us to get rid of unnecessary guilt and to free up our time to focus on the important stuff.

Agatha Christie, The Hollow – a classic Hercule Poirot mystery. Earlier this year, I went to Dubai and reread this novel by a lovely hotel pool. As I read about a body being discovered by a swimming pool, in a fabulously surreal scene, I knew that this was my favourite Agatha Christie. It’s a country house mystery in which an attractive and very controlling doctor is murdered, apparently by his mistress. I think the characters in the book are better-drawn than in any other Agatha Christie novel. It’s both a superb mystery and a wonderful novel about people. True, Poirot doesn’t behave in quite his usual way in The Hollow, but as far as I’m concerned he’s still a welcome presence. In addition, the killer is a great character, and there are two minor character who are absolutely brilliant even though we only meet them a couple of times. The Hollow is a work of genius.

Wendy Cope, Christmas Poems – this satisfying little collection was published last month and is beautiful.
Cope is my favourite living poet – every line she writes is witty and moving and can’t be bettered. Christmas Poems would be a perfect stocking filler for just about anyone.

Allison Pearson, How Hard Can It Be? – Pearson’s new book is both hilarious and heart-breaking. It centres on a woman in the sandwich generation – stuck between difficult ageing parents and annoying teenage children, all the time facing the fact that she’s going to turn fifty. I couldn’t stop laughing, and did a fair bit of crying too!

Tania Sanchez and Luca Turin, Perfumes: The A to Z Guide – this book reviews all the main perfumes on the market. For perfume-lovers, it’s absolutely riveting – essential reading. Sanchez and Turin demonstrate their expertise on every page (and not only by agreeing with me about a lot, though that helps!)

John Connolly, He – a brilliant novel about Stan Laurel and his relationship with Oliver Hardy, his career and the women in his life. Beautifully written, the novel is as tensely thought-provoking as its subject.

Stella Duffy, Money in the Morgue – published 8 March 2018. This is Stella Duffy’s continuation novel featuring Ngaio Marsh’s Roderick Alleyn. It’s a different kind of book to the continuation novels I write, because it’s based on Marsh’s own unfinished manuscript, set in a military hospital in New Zealand during the Second World War. I can’t wait to see how Stella has completed the story!

Stephen Sondheim, Look, I Made a Hat – this book includes Sondheim’s lyrics and notes, and covers the years 1981 to 2011. Having written a musical (did I mention that?!), I am keen to learn from a master of the genre. Few could deny that Sondheim is one of the great geniuses of Musical Theatre.

Allen Cohen and Steven L. Rosenhaus, Writing Musical Theatre – the clue to this book is in the title. When I asked for this, the person I asked said, ‘Are you going to be writing more musicals, then?’, as if this might be an odd life-choice. But an addiction’s an addiction, and musical theatre is healthier than heroin, right?

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Andrew Lloyd Webber, Unmasked: A Memoir – published 8 March 2018. I can’t wait to read this. Like Sondheim, Lloyd Webber is a master of musical theatre and I can’t wait to find out more about his life and his amazing career.

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Steve Cavanagh, Thirteen – published 25 January 2018. This is a thriller with an immensely compelling hook: at a serial killer’s trial, the villain isn’t in the dock – he’s on the jury. This is another one I can’t wait to read.

Stuart Turton, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – published 8 February 2018. Agatha Christie meets Groundhog Day in this genre-bending, mind-warping triumph. Evelyn Hardcastle dies not just once but seven times, and she will keep getting murdered until the killer is caught.

Sharon Bolton, The Craftsman – published 5 April 2018. Sharon Bolton is one of my favourite writers, and her new thriller revolves around a thirty-year-old case that might not be as closed as it seems. The Craftsman is Bolton’s first book to be published with her new publisher, Trapeze.

Stella Duffy, Money in the Morgue – published 8 March 2018. This is Stella Duffy’s continuation novel featuring Ngaio Marsh’s Roderick Alleyn. It’s a different kind of book to the continuation novels I write, because it’s based on Marsh’s own unfinished manuscript, set in a military hospital in New Zealand during the Second World War. I can’t wait to see how Stella has completed the story!