Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike’s office to ask for his help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed, there is something sincere about his story. But before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from his office in a panic. Trying to get to the bottom of Billy’s story, Strike and Robin Ellacott – once his assistant, now a partner in the agency – set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London.

J.K. Rowling returns as Robert Galbraith for the fourth outing of crime-fighting duo Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott. I’ve loved each of these books so far, their twisting mysteries and larger-than-life characters, and I can’t wait to read this latest one.

Release date: 18th September

A Gathering of Ghosts by Karen Maitland

1316. On the wilds of Dartmoor stands the isolated Priory of St Mary, home to the Sisters of the Knights of St John. People journey from afar in search of healing at the holy well that lies beneath its chapel. But the locals believe Dartmoor was theirs long before Christianity came to the land. And not all who visit seek miracles. When three strangers reach the moor, fear begins to stir as the well’s waters run with blood. What witchcraft have the young woman, the Knight of St John and the blind child brought with them?

Karen Maitland has got to be one of my favourite authors. She transports the reader back in time to the medieval era with evocative descriptions and vivid characters, lacing her impeccable historical research with whispers of the supernatural.

Release date: 6th September

The Corset by Laura Purcell

Dorothea Truelove is young, wealthy and beautiful. Ruth Butterham is young, poor and awaiting trial for murder. When Dorothea’s charitable work leads her to Oakgate Prison, she is delighted with the chance to explore her fascination with phrenology and test her hypothesis that the shape of a person’s skull can cast a light on their darkest crimes. But when she meets teenage seamstress Ruth, she is faced with another theory: that it is possible to kill with a needle and thread. For Ruth attributes her crimes to a supernatural power inherent in her stiches.

The author of the fantastic gothic ghost story The Silent Companions returns with her second novel, a spooky Victorian chiller perfect for this time of year when the nights start drawing in.

Release date: 20th September

Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

Marcella Riggins needs no one. Flush from her brush with death, she’s finally gained the control she’s always sought – and will use her new-found power to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She’ll do whatever it takes, collecting her own sidekicks, and leveraging the two most famous EOs, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, against each other once more.

This is the sequel to Schwab’s 2014 novel Vicious, in which Victor and Eli discover that near-death experiences can imbue people with supernatural powers. Originally thought to be a standalone novel, Vengeful marks a return to characters I was loathe to say goodbye to, so I can’t wait to continue their journeys.

Release date: 25th September

Transcription by Kate Atkinson

In 1940, 18-year-old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 tasked with monitoring British Fascist sympathisers, she discovers the work to be by turns both tedious and terrifying. Ten years later, now a producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different background, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat.

Award-winning author Kate Atkinson returns with her eleventh book which writer Matt Haig has called ‘a spy novel that dismantles the whole genre’.

Release date: 6th September

Paris Echo by Sebastian Faulks

American postdoctoral researcher Hannah and runaway Moroccan teenager Tariq have little in common, yet both are susceptible to the daylight ghosts of Paris. Hannah listens to the extraordinary witness of women who were present under the German Occupation; in her desire to understand their lives, she finds a city bursting with clues and connections. Out in the migrant suburbs, Tariq is searching for a mother he barely knew. Each boulevard, train station and street corner is a source of surprise.

The author of Birdsong returns with a novel that examines questions of empire, grievance and identity with originality and dark humour.

Release date: 6th September

The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton

In the summer of 1862, a group of young artists led by the passionate and talented Edward Radcliffe descends upon Birchwood Manor. Their plan: to spend a secluded summer month in a haze of inspiration and creativity. But by the time their stay is over, one woman has been shot dead while another has disappeared; a priceless heirloom is missing, and Edward Radcliffe’s life is in ruins.

Told by multiple voices across time, Kate Morton’s sixth novel promising to be a page-turning read of murder and mystery, love and loss.

Release date: 20th September

Dark Water by Elizabeth Lowry

Boston, 1833. Aboard the USS Orbis, Hiram Carver takes up his first position as ship’s doctor. Anxious among the seasoned sailors, he struggles in this brutal floating world until he meets William Borden. What happens on the Orbis binds Carver and Borden together forever. When Carver recovers, and takes up a role at Boston’s Asylum for the Insane, he will meet Borden again – broken, starving and overwhelmed by madness. Carver devotes himself to Borden’s cure. But though he raises up monsters, they will not rest. So Carver must return once more to the edge of the sea and confront the myths that lie in the dark water.

Elizabeth Lowry’s new novel has been called a gothic masterpiece and has been compared to The Essex Serpent, while Hilary Mantel has said ‘while her touch is witty, her themes are sinister beyond belief’.

Release date: 6th September

The Locksmith’s Daughter by Karen Brooks

1580. Mallory Bright is the only daughter of London’s most ingenious locksmith. She has apprenticed with her father since childhood, and there is no lock too elaborate for her to crack. After scandal destroys her reputation, Mallory has returned to her father’s home and lives almost as a recluse. But Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster and a frequent client of Mallory’s father, draws her into a world of danger and deception. For the locksmith’s daughter is not only good at cracking locks, she also has a talent for codes, spycraft and intrigue.

While I increasingly have a problem with books with a title that refer to the protagonist as someone’s daughter or wife (why could this book not have been called The Locksmith?), I love historical fiction and this tale of intrigue and mystery in Elizabethan England has definitely caught my attention.

Release date: 6th September

The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner

In a remote village surrounded by forests on the border of Moldova and Ukraine, sisters Liba and Laya have been raised on the honeyed scent of their Mami’s babka and the low rumble of their Tati’s prayers. But when a troupe of mysterious men arrives, Laya falls under their spell. As dark forces close in on their small village, Liba and Laya discover a family secret passed down through generations. Faced with a magical heritage they never knew existed, the sisters realise the old fairy tales are true.

This book has been billed for fans of The Bear and the Nightingale, Uprooted and The Night Circus – all books I loved – and Robert Dinsdale has called it ‘the kind of book that Neil Gaiman and Naomi Novik might have cooked up together’. What else do you need to know?

Release date: 27th September