‘A dark, crazed reversal of Notting Hill and the ending is far from romantic’: The best
I MAKE MY OWN FUN by Hannah Beer (Atlantic £17.99, 288 pp)
To her bazillions of fans, film star Marina is rich, beautiful and envied. What they don’t know is that she’s spoilt, cruel and only pretending to be straight. When she meets pink-haired Anna in a London bar she’s bowled over.
But Anna is cool and elusive so Marina, who always gets what she wants, decamps from LA, buys a house in Hampstead and starts to stalk her ruthlessly.
It’s like a dark, crazed reversal of Notting Hill and the ending is far from romantic. But the London atmosphere is lovely and arch-b**** Marina has some wonderful lines.
THE IMPERSONATORS by Angela Chadwick (Renegade £22, 368 pp)
The Impersonators is out now
ACTRESS Lucy has had to accept that The Call is not going to come. But perhaps there’s another way to make a living from acting. Together with Jack, her best friend from drama school, she launches a service offering convincing plus-ones for all occasions.
Acting as someone’s ‘girlfriend’ at a wedding is easy money at first. Then Jack is hired to be a rich banker’s ‘son’, and things get complicated. But with a family dependent on her, how can Lucy give it up?
Fame, friendship and betrayal are the themes of this warm, sharp, original novel.
EVERYONE IN THE GROUP CHAT DIES By L. M. Chilton (Head of Zeus £9.99, 368 pp)
Everyone in the Group Chat Dies is available from the Mail Bookshop
One of my favourite-ever films is Hot Fuzz, and we’re in the same wryly humorous rural dystopia here. Cue terrible pubs, slobby residents, incompetent policemen and murders at the village fayre.
Sleepy Crowhurst is famous for serial
killings in the 1990s, but was the local misfit (supposedly dead) really responsible? When glamorous influencer Esme moves in to a flatshare with journalist Kirby, the reinvestigation begins. But then Kirby’s flatmates are picked off one by one and Esme disappears. Is the killer still at large? An enjoyable contemporary comedy crime caper.