In with the new! Publishing can be slow to wake from its Twixtmas carb-loading. But the early months of 2025 boast a few fresh takes to offer on familiar storytelling tropes, and a handful of first-time authors inaugurating brand new series.
Cosy crime has a well-thumbed playbook, but returnee author Niyla Farook ensures that her Murder for Two (Bonnier) is full of twists, turns and non-parochial perspectives as Ani and Riri probe the death of a beloved local cafe owner. The estranged siblings alternate perspectives: neurodiverse Ari is into sleuthing and lives in Yorkshire with her dad; visiting Riri was raised in California by her mum, wears a hijab and wants to be president. Was it the disgruntled chef? The shady YouTuber? When the twins’ dad is framed for murder, the stakes only get higher in this whodunnit full of matter-of-fact diversity, Greek food and surprisingly laissez-faire local police.
From murder to junior horror-lite and The Zombie Project by Alice Nuttall (Chicken House), another skilful remix of known elements. Humanity has wiped out pollinators; death-flies now fill their niche. But they need zombies as hosts, and so humanity must live uneasily alongside the undead.
Eight-year-old Merian’s mum is a scientist determined to save the zombies; she is ranged against an all-powerful corporation, Unilateralis, and pseudoscience-spouting media personalities. When the two sides square off at a conference, zombies get loose and Merian and her new ally, Caspar, make a series of pivotal discoveries. This pacey action thriller has a little gore in it, but won’t be too scary for older children.
Also retaining a strong streak of originality are two new series set in magical worlds. Inkbound: Meticulous Jones and the Skull Tattoo by debut author Philippa Leathley (HarperCollins) stars the sheltered but indomitable Metty Jones who, on her 10th birthday, receives her coming-of-age tattoo from a seer: a skull, which requires her to be a murderer. Soon, though, her beloved father goes missing and Metty must follow his trail to the enchanted city of New London, where she finds a dangerous conspiracy – and the truth about her tattoo. Discussions of fate and free will pepper this atmospheric adventure with palpable debts to Philip Pullman.
A scramble for the rights to fellow debutant Jacob North’s chilly trilogy played out in 2023. Ice Apprentices (Simon & Schuster) introduces the plucky foundling Oswin, who is stunned to find himself called to the Corridor – a school for magical defenders of Tundra, a settlement of humans in a hostile, frigid hinterland.
The victim of Tundran prejudice against outsiders, Oswin must prove his worth. But when monsters start breaching the school’s defences, he and the entitled Ennastasia Barkmoth must first put themselves in harm’s way to investigate. The school-for-magic setting requires some heavy lifting to outrun the shadow of Hogwarts; North’s witty writing has enough verve to pull it off.
The real world is no safe space either. I’m wary of diaries written with the caps-lock on, but the prolific Karen McCombie’s latest, World of Wanda (UCLan), combines excitability – and a few plot-catalyst fires – with an emotionally literate account of how complicated families can work out. Home-schooled Wanda lives in France with her free-spirited mum; she yearns for a father she’s never known. ADHD makes her impulsive – and resourceful – so Wanda sets out to find her dad, thrusting herself into another family who never knew of her existence. Told in two voices – the other is Wanda’s sort-of sibling, Margot – this tale details the subtleties of ADHD – hyperactive v inattentive – but never loses sight of its three-dimensional protagonist.
The prize-winning Patrice Lawrence’s latest book packs in so much, a lesser author would struggle to manage it all. Secrets and lies power People Like Stars (Scholastic), a three-voice story. Over-protected Ayrton, who was almost abducted as a baby, makes friends with Stanley, whose estranged grandmother may have been responsible. Senna and her mum, meanwhile, are precariously housed, currently lodging with a mysterious Bansky-like artist called Vixen. It all climaxes in a dramatic unmasking that is far more than any of the three sympathetically drawn tweens bargains for, with Lawrence’s plot twists fuelled by compassion.
