Richard Osman returns in our best Contemporary novels of the month: Taipei Story by
Taipei Story by Rebecca F. Kuang (The Borough Press £22, 320pp)
I loved Yellowface, the author’s hugely popular 2023 novel about racial diversity.
Here, protagonist Lily Chen is a Chinese- American student from Yale who is spending a summer in Taipei, Taiwan. Lily regards spending ten weeks in a country she has never visited, immersed in her mother tongue on an intensive language course, as a coming-of-age journey.
What Lily does not anticipate is how much the other students will annoy her, how lonely she will feel or how difficult she will find the classes. After an ill-advised romantic escapade, Lily also finds herself gossiped about. She consoles herself with the idea that she will soon be able to speak to her grandparents in their own language. When Lily’s grandfather dies, however, she spirals. I rooted for Lily from start to end.
The Comeback by Mel Giedroyc (Headline Review £20, 416pp)
The Comeback is available now
Gill Piper’s mother died on the same day she was born, leaving Gill to grow up in Leatherhead with just her grieving, non-communicative father at home.
The highlight of Gill’s childhood was being part of the local theatre’s youth group. The star of the theatre was Carla Keswick who broke both her ankles when she slipped on the puddle of drink Gill accidentally spilt on stage.
That trauma took place in 1985 and Carla hasn’t been able to perform since – nor has she let go of the grudge. In 2022 Gill is 48 with no husband, children or home when she moves back to Leatherhead and is set on returning to the theatre for its 100th anniversary. Gill has no idea Carla is still artistic director but it doesn’t take her long to find out. Funny and heartwarming.
We Chase Shadows by Richard Osman (Viking £25, 432pp)
This is the second in Osman’s successful We Solve Murders series and is just as pleasingly readable as the first.
Here, the detective trio made up of retired policeman Steve, his daughter-in-law Amy and crime novelist Rosie are bored with finding lost dogs and desperately seeking a murder to solve.
They are delighted when Vern, a rich criminal living in Italy, hires them to find out who left the corpse of one of his bodyguards on his doorstep, along with a note warning Vern that he will be next.
Our detectives go from their quiet office in the New Forest to Tuscany to meet Vern, and from there to Palm Springs, Sweden and Barcelona, hot on the trail of whoever might be threatening Vern. The trio’s emotional struggles are brilliantly juxtaposed against the murder, mayhem and globetrotting. I loved it.