I’ve been meaning to write this post for nearly a month, on books perfect for that weird zone between Christmas and New Year, when time stretches and hazes and the brain is equally fritzy. For those lucky enough to be on holiday over this period, here are some easy and entertaining reads. You may have noticed something about these Festive Booky Posts: with one exception so far (and there were SA connections in that case), all have featured local books. This is (as I’ve said before) not because South African writing and writers need any special pleading; but our publishers can’t even begin to compete with the marketing departments of big international outfits. Yet we have every kind of reading material to tickle your fancy, including in the commercial genres: so whether it’s historical fiction or romance or thrillers or police procedurals, we’ve got it all. To make this even more fun, while today’s post features beach and/or sofa reads by local authors and set in localities many will recognise, they’re also all by women authors. Then I decided to make a rule that all those featured had to have written two or more books in the chosen genre, because of that feeling of reading the last word of a really entertaining book and looking around hopefully for more of the same. So here you go.

First, 2019 saw the near simultaneous publication, by newly established Karavan Press, of Melissa Volker’s first two novels — Shadow Flicker and A Fractured Land. What a breath of fresh air: billed as eco-romances, they’re also pretty gripping thrillers. Shadow Flicker deals with wind turbines and A Fractured Land with fracking in the Karoo, but neither book is remotely preachy, nor do they bog down in technical details. The green issues are used simply to get the plots rolling downhill, gently at first, then at increasing speed. Brilliant concept, if you think about it: the tension is set up right from the get-go, and is highly relatable. As are the characters — human, wrestling with demons we all recognise (debt, anxiety, family strife) — and a few of them turn out to be psycho murderers, too. Let’s not forget the romance, either: good quotient of hunky (but flawed) heroes and love triangles. I haven’t seen anything like Volker’s novels elsewhere, and highly recommend them: she’s interesting about everything, whether it’s live music or surfing. Never a dull moment. The books also have beautiful covers, designed by Megan Ross.

Then, for Marian Keyes and Jojo Moyes fans, on to Qarnita Loxton’s Being series: Being Kari, Being Lily and the recently released Being Shelley. I’ve only read the first one, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it had what I especially like in this category of fiction: fun, even fluff, but with a good, chewy centre with some crunch to it. Being Kari deals with a Muslim woman who marries “out” and moves to a conventional and mostly white suburb on Cape Town’s coast — and then has to go home again because of a death in the family. The navigating of two worlds, the issues of identity and belonging give this highly readable romance some heft. Kari/Karima is part of a tight group of friends responsible for much of the novel’s fun (all the sex and shopping jokes), and the next two in the series deal with others in this group, so I’m really looking forward to meeting the gang again. Yet they’re all stand-alone novels. Oh, and the covers are gorgeous and suitably festive.

For real, proper grown-up “chick-lit” (what I prefer to call “domestic drama”), that will suck you in like a vacuum-cleaner, read Gail Schimmel’s The Park and The Accident. Be warned; although they’re not thrillers, both books had me reading until 2am. Once again, super-entertaining. Both involve moral and legal dilemmas that will have you wondering “What if that was me?” I also like Schimmel’s dry sense of humour and lean writing — not a word wasted.

Hawa, gorgeous as always. Picture found on the Liberian Observer site, no photographer credited.

Although Liberian H. J. Golakai isn’t strictly speaking a South African writer, she lived here long enough for me to claim her (I hope she doesn’t mind), and her crime novels featuring reporter Vee Johnson, The Lazarus Effect and The Score, are set in Cape Town and Oudtshoorn. An immunologist, she’s a superb writer, with my absolute favourite her non-fiction essay “Fugee”, but for holiday reading, I recommend her novels, recently reissued by Cassava Republic Press. She doesn’t shy away from the tough stuff, but falls firmly into the “let me escape for three hours” category of reads.

So everything I’ve recommended so far has some crunch; the issues are thought-provoking, even if the treatments are effortlessly smooth and highly digestible. But your brain is utterly fried, you never want to see your rellies again, and there will be murder if you have to resurrect that turkey carcass, then you need pure candyfloss. In which case, try Fiona Snyckers’s two e-book series: the H mysteries, featuring PI Eulalie Park, and the Cat’s Paw Cosy Mystery series (I just checked and the first in both is free!)

Snyckers is a local writer, but in this case, the two series are set on imaginary islands; one a semi-tropical one in the Indian Ocean; the other off the coast of Cornwall. The H books have a bit more weight (I loved the kick-ass, slightly fey heroine and her unusual love interest, as well as the location and all the FOOD), but the Cat’s Paw books feature kittens, so I am completely biased in their favour, and probably shouldn’t be trusted. But if, like me, you like a well-oiled plot and go all squiffy-eyed at cats in starring roles, get out your e-readers NOW. Six in each series, so that should get you safely past New Year.

The Cat’s Paw series does exist in print as well, but in this case, e-versions are probably the way to go.

Festive quotient for all of the above: off the charts. Romance, interesting settings, humour, and some interesting ideas on how to bump off one’s relatives. Or understand them better.