Funny, furious and foul-mouthed just as you'd expect, this Sunday Times bestselling autobiography is Billy Connolly's raucous run through his life. After 50 years of belly laughs, energy and outrage, and somewhat baggy pants and very long hair, Billy Connolly announced his retirement from live stand up comedy in December 2018. When he first started out in the late 60s he played banjo in the folk clubs of Scotland and between songs would improvise a bit, telling anecdotes from the Clyde shipyard where he had worked. He learned what audiences found funny from his own brilliant mimes to the power of speaking irreverently about politics or explicitly about sex, and soon the monologues got longer and the songs shorter. He never wrote scripts and created comedy freshly on stage in the presence of a live audience. Always with a beautiful sense of the absurd he riffed on his family, hecklers, swimming in the North Sea or naked bungee jumping, and he got away with it, his comedy spanning generations and different social tribes. 330pp.

The death of a 90 year old woman with a heart condition should not be suspicious. DS Harbinder Kaur certainly sees nothing to concern her in carer Natalka's account of Peggy Smith's death, but then Natalka reveals that Peggy lied about her heart condition and that she was sure someone had been following her, and that Peggy Smith had been a 'murder consultant' who plotted deaths for authors and knew more about murder than anyone has any right to. And when clearing out Peggy's flat ends in Natalka being held at gunpoint by a masked figure, well then DS Harbinder Kaur thinks that maybe there is no such thing as an unsuspicious death after all. Told with Elly Griffiths' characteristic charm, urbane and witty and hugely popular. 344pp, paperback.

Never underestimate Miss Marple. A movie star, a deadly cocktail, a murder. When glamorous Marina Gregg came to live in St Mary Mead, tongues were sure to wag. But with a local gossip's sudden death, has one tongue wagged a bit too much? As the police chase false leads and two more victims meet untimely ends, Miss Marple starts to ask her own questions. What secrets might link a peaceful English village and a star of the silver screen? The pieces finally drop into place with a satisfying click as Christie's ingenious plot and fiendish twists keep us hugely entertained in this cosy mystery. First published in 1962 and therefore with the somewhat now 'dated' vocabulary of the time, it is utterly charming. 280pp in compact glamorous hardback reprint.

A phenomenal bestseller from Britain's favourite cook in 1985, at last in paperback facsimile reprint but beware the glue on the jacket has gone brittle, but thankfully the pages are all intact. They are very heavy glossy pages with colour plates of such delicious recipes as Provençale Crusted Cod and Mozzarella in Carrozza, Braised Steak Au Poivre and Pork Chop with Apples and Cider, Chinese Stir Fry Chicken with Broccoli and Mushrooms and Chicken Tikka Kebab, Marinated Kipper and Potato Salad, Basque Eggs, Singapore Noodles and Michael's Mango Fool and Rhubarb and Orange Shortcake Crumble. Designed for healthy eating, here are solo soups, simply eggs, fun fish, one man's meat, prime pasta and rice, the lone vegetarian, singular salads and sauces, vegetable variations, and super snacks plus delicious desserts like Jamaican or Butterscotch Bananas, Muesli Biscuits or an individual Bread-and-Butter Pudding or Crème Caramel. Super simple, one to three recipes per page and easy for beginners like Leek Fritters or Mushrooms in Garlic Butter. 224pp, softback, colour photos.

A lone gunman takes the women and doctors at a controversial abortion clinic hostage. Nobody has ended up there by choice. As the tense negotiation for their release unfolds, hour by crucial hour, back in time through the day that brought the hostages and their captor to this moment, every certainty is questioned, every judgement thrown into sharp relief because matters of life and death look very different when you, or the ones you love, are staring down the barrel of a gun. The novel propels the reader through intertwining characters and uncovers motives in this unflinching exploration of what makes a life. Picoult's technicolour prose is full of nuggets like: 'Coal, with time and heat and pressure, will always become a diamond. But if you are freezing to death, which would you consider the gem?' 355pp, paperback.

Hull 1852. Matty has had to care for her three younger sisters ever since their mother's death 10 years earlier. She and their beloved father have worked hard to keep the family together, and now it's time to celebrate Matty as she turns 18. But their joy is short-lived when tragedy suddenly strikes, and their father disappears on his way to London. The sisters have no way of knowing what has happened to him, only that he hasn't returned home. With little money left they are now forced to battle life's misfortunes alone. The wonderful story starts in Beverley and carries on to beautiful Italy and back again and each character is beautifully drawn and completely memorable. 340pp, Penguin paperback.

Set in Hull in 1874. Clara has always wondered about the beautiful, mysterious Jewel Newmarch, who was adopted as a baby and now turns heads wherever she goes. Her exotic looks point to her origins far away from the streets of Hull. Even at her twin sister Elizabeth's wedding, Clara knows that Jewel is the belle of the ball. And as Jewel looks on at the happy, newly-married couple, she feels a restlessness and intense longing to know her own roots. And so the two girls decide to return to Jewel's birthplace in America. In discovering the mysteries of Jewel's past, they realise that this is a life-changing voyage of discovery for both of them as they learn important lessons about family, friendship, love and home. But most importantly, love. 412pp, paperback.

Jenna Metcalf was with her mother the night she disappeared in tragic and mysterious circumstances, but she remembers nothing. Over 10 years have passed and still Jenna reads and rereads her mother's journals, hoping to find some clue hidden there in the meticulous recording of her scientific research with elephants. Desperate for answers, Jenna uses all her savings to recruit the aid of a private detective, and a psychic. Jenna knows her mother loved her and knows she would not leave her, and she will not rest until she finds out what happened that night to Alice after the car accident, as she retraces the events of that fateful night, but nothing can prepare her for the answers that await. An addictive novel full of twists and turns. If this author has passed you by until now, try her out. 480pp, paperback.

Set amongst the snow-covered mountains of the Austrian Alps, the novel is the story of a forbidden attraction that will reveal long-buried secrets. Award-winning director Clover Phillips is riding high when she encounters Kit Foley, a surfer and snowboarder well-known for controversy. Involved in an accident that had devastating consequences for a bitter rival, Kit has never spoken about what really happened that day. Determined to find out the truth, Clover heads to the snowy wilderness of the mountains, sharing a romantic winter wonderland with a man who can't stand her. But as she delves deeper, Clover finds herself drawn both to Kit and even more convinced he is hiding something. Is he really as cold as he seems? Glamorous and irresistibly romantic, this is a well crafted tale of love, loss and reinvention from the Sunday Times bestselling author. 457pp, paperback with fairly large print.

The first in the Smythe-Smith quartet, a witty series by the author of the beloved Bridgerton novels. Honoria Smythe-Smith, the youngest daughter of the eldest son of the Earl of Winstead, plays the violin in the annual musicale performed by the Smythe-Smith Quartet. She's well aware that they are dreadful and in fact, she freely admits to her cousins that she is probably the worst of the bunch, but she's the sort who figures that nothing good will come of being mortified, so she puts on a good show and laughs about it. Marcus Holroyd is the best friend of her brother Daniel, who lives in exile. He has promised to watch out for Honoria and takes his responsibility very seriously, but he has his work cut out for him when Honoria sets off for Cambridge determined to marry by the end of the season. She has her eye on the only unmarried Bridgerton who's a bit wet behind the ears. When her advances are spurned, can Marcus swoop in and steal her heart in time for the musicale? A light fun read, and a great first book in the series which also includes characters from Bridgerton. 374pp, paperback with fairly large print and line art.