There’s a strange dichotomy about lazing on a sun lounger during an idyllic summer holiday while immersing yourself in a tense thriller about murder – but that’s exactly what 2022’s summer reads are serving up, with a cluster of new releases honing in on the classic whodunnit theme, all by female authors. Ilaria Bernadini’s The Girls Are Good (£14.99, HarperCollins) – already being adapted for a six-part TV series by the producers of Fleabag – centres on the world of elite gymnastics. After a week-long international competition where the pressure is high, one teenager ends up dead – but how far would her fellow gymnasts go to win? Taking us back to university, The It Girl by Ruth Ware (£14.99, Simon & Schuster) follows student Hannah, who is trying to pinpoint who her best friend’s killer is – she’s certain she knows, until she starts to doubt her close friends.

Out next week, Stay Awake by Megan Goldin (£8.99, Canelo) transports us to New York, where Liv wakes up with no memory of where she is or how she got there – and especially not of the murder she has supposedly committed, which is plastered all over the news. But did she actually do it? Making things a family affair, bestselling author Lisa Jewell’s The Family Remains (£16.98, Penguin) points to a Chicago-based brother and sister as suspects for a London murder, but when more human bones are discovered, there’s three more deaths to account for. Who’s really to blame? Finally, for never-ending suspense, Alice Feeney’s Daisy Darker (£14.99, Pan Macmillan) details a long-awaited family reunion in Cornwall which, after hours without connection to the outside world, reveals an unknown killer amongst the group. Memorable reads for a memorable holiday? We won’t say no…