12 books our editor recommends this August - from cosy crime to poolside romance

DS Declan Miller is confronted with a strange case in Blackpool: a man confessing to a murder that never happened. The investigation soon spirals into a chaotic cast of criminals, misfits and unlikely allies. It's dark at its core but consistently, sharply funny: no prior books in the series required.

When outsider Caroline Lash joins a New England writing mentorship, she's pulled into a tight-knit group of friends bound by beaches, boats and old history. A romance with local Van Whittaker draws her further in, even as the group's marriages and friendships begin to crack. It's a sun-soaked story about whether you can ever really belong somewhere you weren't born into.

In 1989, three teenage friends witness a murder and, under pressure, help send the wrong man to prison. Almost two decades later the case reopens, forcing them to face what they buried. Switching between past and present, it's a tense study of how one lie can grow into something unstoppable.

Before leaving her home in Hilo, Hawaiʻi for good, Jane falls into an unexpected first love with Kenji during her final summer there. A tsunami devastates their community while the two are away together, splitting their paths for years afterward. When they reunite, they must reckon with everything the years and the disaster took from them.

Irène, a Frenchwoman working in Germany for the International Tracing Service, is tasked with returning belongings salvaged from concentration camps to survivors' families. Her work uncovers painful, hidden histories spanning generations. It's a devastating and deeply human portrait of the Holocaust's long aftermath.

In a near-future society where fertility is state-controlled and abortion outlawed, teenager Charlotte discovers she has a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy. With no legal options, she flees with her mother and aunt in a desperate bid to survive. It's a tense, dystopian thriller grounded in urgent, real-world stakes.

In 1897, a personal disaster forces Adela to abandon the narrow life expected of her and start again. She finds an unlikely sense of freedom and community through women's football, though her past threatens to catch up with her. It's another richly drawn historical novel centred on women pushing against the limits of their time.

From the acclaimed author of The Dutch House comes a tender novel about family, memory and connection. It explores how one meaningful relationship, however brief, can leave a lasting mark on a life. Patchett brings her signature warmth and insight to this luminous story.

When her grandmother dies, Jade inherits more than the family guesthouse she runs in Lake Como, she also discovers two half-sisters, Erin and Rosalie, who share the inheritance and arrive in Italy as total strangers. As the three navigate grief and an unfamiliar sibling bond, Jade also has to contend with the return of Leo, her first love, whose presence in the city stirs up memories she's tried hard to move past.

Read by actor Katherine Parkinson, this audiobook follows one frantic day in which a mother tries to pull off a perfect outing before returning to work. It's a funny, sharply observed take on the chaos and quiet wonder of parenting. A relatable listen for anyone juggling too much at once.

Three friends set off on a hike made tense by a true-crime podcast about a serial killer on the same trail. When one of them is injured, a remote cabin offers uncertain refuge. Paranoia and suspicion build as the line between real danger and imagined threat blurs.

Narrated by the Game of Thrones actor herself, this memoir traces a spiritual journey that unexpectedly turns into a psychotic break. It's a raw, first-person account of losing and rebuilding one's grip on reality. Read by Murray, the audiobook adds an especially personal weight to the story.