By Julie kish
Here One Moment
A Novel by Liane Moriarty
Crown, September 2024
Best-selling Australian novelist Liane Moriarty has taken a genuinely mind-bending premise and turned it into a novel you’ll think about long after you’ve finished reading. Here One Moment is Indigo’s choice for the best book of 2024, a well-deserved honour.
Moriarty has crafted a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at the age-old question, What would you do with your life if you only had a short time to live? It can be compared to Nikki Erlick’s novel, The Measure, which takes place in a fictional world where everyone knows when they are going to die.
On a short domestic flight from Hobart to Sydney, a mysterious woman walks the aisle of the plane in a trance-like state and proceeds to predict the dying age and cause of death for each passenger. The psychic woman, Cherry, the daughter of a famous clairvoyant, unnerves some passengers and simply amuses others. The plane lands safely, but everyone on board will be forever changed, particularly the six passengers whose predicted deaths loom in the very near future. A few months later, when two of the passengers die precisely as predicted, the others begin to take the predictions seriously and debate whether or not they can fight their pre-determined fates.
The story uses alternating points of view to delve into the life of the mysterious psychic and five of the deeply affected passengers. The story is thought-provoking and witty, but the cast of eccentric characters makes this novel a winner.
The Mystery Guest
A Novel by Nita Prose
Ballantine Books, 2023
The Mystery Guest is the second installment in the novel series featuring Molly the maid, a quirky and utterly adorable character created by Canadian author, Nita Prose. Molly’s pure, unadulterated innocence and unintentional humour make this novel a delightful and easy read.
The Mystery Guest begins a few years after the previous book, The Maid. Molly is now Head Maid at the five-star Regency Grand Hotel and is living with her boyfriend, Juan Manuel, the sweet kitchen worker from the first novel. Everyone at the hotel is excited for the special event featuring a reclusive and world-famous mystery writer, J.D. Grimthorpe. However, moments before his appearance, he drops dead from poisoning, and Molly and her maids are all suspects. The police officer assigned to the case is Detective Stark, the same detective who tried to put Molly behind bars in the first novel. Fortunately, Molly’s sleuthing skills shine through as she shows off her ability to notice details that are invisible to others.
This cozy mystery would make a wonderful gift for the readers on your shopping list. To fully appreciate each character’s background, it’s best to read The Maid before you read The Mystery Guest, so consider making the gift extra special by bundling the two books together.