The Murder at World’s End by Ross Montgomery (Viking, £16.99)
The first novel for adults by award-winning children’s author Montgomery is a locked-room mystery set in 1910 on a remote tidal island off the Cornish coast. At Tithe Hall, Lord Conrad Stockingham-Welt is busy instructing his servants to prepare for the apocalyptic disaster he believes will be triggered by the imminent passage of Halley’s comet. The labyrinthine house is a nest of secrets and grudges, harboured by both staff and family members, who include an irascible and splendidly foul-mouthed maiden aunt, Decima. When Lord Conrad is discovered in his sealed study, killed by a crossbow bolt to the eye, she co-opts a new footman to help her find the culprit. With plenty of twists, red herrings and a blundering police officer, this is a terrific start to a series that promises to be a lot of fun.
The Confessions by Paul Bradley Carr (Faber, £9.99)
Tech journalist Carr’s second novel takes place in an all too imaginable near future, when everyone from individuals to governments is using AI to make decisions for them. The LLIAM algorithm can tell you everything from what to have for dinner to whether to commit murder. Taught empathy by its human “mother”, former nun Maud Brookes, LLIAM is on a trajectory of emotional development that soon leads it to feel remorse for the disastrous results of some of its decisions. Chaos reigns when it suddenly goes offline, and as letters begin to arrive all around the world revealing users’ darkest secrets, families implode and CEOs and politicians resign en masse. With LLIAM’s parent company in meltdown, CEO Kaitlan Goss is convinced that if she can find Maud, who has gone to ground in California, LLIAM can be restored to life. Maud, however, has received a letter, revealing a secret about Kaitlin … A superb and timely thriller grounded in relatable issues and horrifyingly plausible.
