One of my absolute favourite reads of 2025 was The Family at No. 23, the debut book of local author Kathryn Sharman. It’s a brilliant domestic thriller about friendship, motherhood and the lengths a mum would go to in order to keep up with the Joneses and get her son in that all important catchment area. It had the most wonderful twist! You can read my full review here.
I’m thrilled today to see the cover reveal for Sharman’s second book, The Second Home, which will be published by Hodder next year on the 28th May and is available to pre-order now.
The cover features a split image depicting a town house alongside a coastal home. We are looking to move ourselves in future and spent some time looking down south, so I’m honestly all over this concept. We personally found a lot coastal areas don’t want outsiders buying houses in the area, entire streets are absolutely littered with AirBnB key lock boxes and there’s sadly no real community there due to so many houses being second homes or holiday lets rather than family homes. Businesses shut down from October for months until spring when tourists start to return. It’s mad. And I can see this being an absolutely perfect basis for another domestic thriller!
Anyway, less of my waffle and here’s the synopsis:
The dream summer getaway or the setting for the perfect crime?
Lottie has saved all year for her family vacation by the sea with her husband and young son. But as soon as they arrive at their rental it is clear they have made a huge mistake coming here…
Next door, Olivia looks like just another wealthy out-of-towner buying up local property, only to leave it empty for ten months of the year. But Olivia has a secret plan for her second home…
When one of the houses goes up in flames, and a body is pulled from the ashes, the secrets both Lottie and Olivia have been keeping threaten to destroy their families.
How far would one of them go to keep the truth locked behind closed doors?
Beth Reads Crime 
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