Susan Swarbrick

Time to start that holiday checklist. Whether you are planning to bask on a poolside sun lounger, soak up the views from a rooftop terrace or enjoy the warm glow of a campfire in the great outdoors, no relaxing getaway is complete without a decent book to escape into. Here, we round up some of the most gripping summer reads for 2024, from twisty thrillers and cosy crime to locked-room murder mysteries and suspense-packed tales.

The searing pain came out of nowhere. One minute I was determinedly schlepping through the torrential rain and gusting wind, the next each step was agony. It felt like the sole of my right foot was being prodded by a white-hot poker - or repeatedly standing on the same jagged Lego brick.

It feels as though wherever you look there’s some Neolithic structure or place of important folkloric interest. I really immersed myself in all of that - the weirder the better - while writing my new book, The Midnight Feast.

The bay was the backdrop for the gruesome death of a young army officer, Cecil Hambrough, who was shot in the grounds of Ardlamont House in the 19th century. I explored the story of those notorious events in my book, The Men Who Were Sherlock Holmes.

SOMETIMES the toughest journey is even reaching the start. When I signed up to run a half marathon, I visualised seamlessly ticking off boxes as the mileage grew and I built towards race day. Of course, like many things in life, it didn’t quite pan out like that. From illness to injury, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve written, wiped and rewritten “The Comeback” on my training plan whiteboard.

I find the whole thing fascinating. Partly because, as a Gen X-er, I have zero skin in the game. But also, because sock length isn’t something that I have ever given much thought to, particularly within the context of whether it might be perceived as stylish.

I love landmark-spotting and cemetery-strolling with a visit to the Ensign Ewart pub

I only intended to wear it on runs. At some point, though, I clicked that it also tallied my daily step count, whether I was running or not. And down the rabbit hole I tumbled.

There are brilliant tables where you can pitch up with a laptop and write. I could nurse a coffee endlessly and they were always very kind to me. It is a special place to write.

I have found myself oddly captivated by photographs documenting the 2024 Met Gala, the swanky annual charity fundraiser and fashion industry soiree thrown by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour in New York.