This week, Jeff Popple recommends three enjoyable books for the holiday period. More of Jeff’s reviews can be found on his blog: murdermayhemandlongdogs.com

Kennedy 35 by Charles Cumming

Harper Collins, $32.99

Those after a good spy thriller for the beach or the pool this summer, will enjoy Charles Cumming’s atmospheric Kennedy 35. In 1995, 24-year-old spy Lachlan Kite is sent to Senegal on the trail of a war criminal responsible for hundreds of deaths during the Rwandan genocide. However, what should have been a reasonably routine snatch and grab job, goes terribly wrong. In 2023, an old friend of Kite’s contacts him with explosive information about what happened all those years ago in West Africa. When tragedy strikes, Kite finds himself once facing the consequences of that mission. A gripping read!

Mrs Winterbottom Takes a Gap Year by Joanna Nell

Hachette, $32.99

Over the course of her first four books, Joanna Nell demonstrated a flair for long titled novels with sympathetic senior characters.  It is a pattern that she continues with Mrs Winterbottom Takes a Gap Year. Doctors Alan and Heather Winterbottom have worked side by side in their rural practice for over 40 years, but in retirement they have different goals. Unwilling to be shackled to Alan’s vegetable patch, Heather decides to take a gap year from her old life and heads to Greece on an adventure. Brightly written with smart snappy dialogue and some nice servings of humour, this is a pleasant ‘feel good’ read. 

A Woman I Know by Mary Haverstick

Scribe, $36.99

Readers who are after something a little different will appreciate Mary Haverstick’s absorbing exploration of female spies and double identities in the early 1960s. Haverstick, an independent filmmaker, set out to do biopic of a little known female pilot, Jerrie Cobb, whose story seemed to embody the hopeful spirit of the dawn of the space age. A mysterious warning from a government agent, however, set her on a different course and she began to investigate what Jerrie Cobb was really up to. A journey which takes her from Cuba to Dallas on the day that President Kennedy was assassinated. Absolutely fascinating.