Tana French: Books of the Year

Rachel Joyce's Perfect (Black Swan) tells the story of two young boys and one family whose lives are slowly transformed by what seems at first like a minor accident. Joyce is expert at gradually building tiny, delicate pieces into a towering sense of menace, and at finding both deep poignancy and deep beauty in the midst of ordinary life.

Sophie Hannah's The Monogram Murders (Harper Collins), the first Hercule Poirot novel to be written since Agatha Christie's death, is a hugely satisfying blend of Hannah's trademark convoluted psychological motives and Christie-esque plot twists, all topped off with perfect Poirot flourishes.

Elizabeth Little's Dear Daughter (Harvill Secker) is the story of a Hollywood It girl – Janie Jenkins, razor-sharp, amoral, damaged and blackly funny – who's released from prison for her mother's murder and goes on a hunt, pursued by the media, to find out whether she actually killed her.

The Secret Place, by Tana French, is published by Hachette Books Ireland