May has arrived, and brought a host of sunshine (and a healthy dose of burnt grass in the gardens!)

Halcyon summer days call for summer reads, and Dymphna has got you covered thanks to the lovely people at The Book Centre, Waterford.

The Mystery of the Locked Rooms by Lindsay Curie

Twelve-year-old Sarah Greene wants nothing more from her seventh-grade year than to beat the hardest escape room left in her town with her best friends, West, and Hannah. But when a foreclosure notice shows up on Sarah’s front door, everything changes. Since her father became ill two years ago, things have been bad, but not lose your house bad…until now.

Sarah feels helpless until the day Hannah mentions a treasure rumoured to be hidden in the walls of an abandoned funhouse. According to legend, Hans, Stefan, and Karl Stein were orphaned at eight years old and lived with different families until they were able to reunite as adults. Their dream was to build the most epic funhouse in existence. They wanted their experience to be more than mirror mazes and optical illusions, so they not only created elaborate riddles and secret passages, but they also claimed to have hidden a treasure inside the funhouse.

Once in, Sarah, West, and Hannah realize the house is unlike any escape room they’ve attempted. There are challenges, yes, but they feel personal. Like the triplets knew who would get in. It seems impossible, but so does everything about the house. As soon as they’re in she immediately worries that attempting the funhouse is a bad idea but Sarah has no choice but to continue, since her future is at stake.

Bringing all the nostalgia of a summer adventure in childhood, this is a cracking book aimed at the 9-12 year old readers but genuinely suitably for most ages over this, given the widely appealing plot. Extra big thumbs up for this 1950s funhouse-style mystery.

The Secret Life of Leinster House by Gavin Reilly

It’s not a spoiler to tell you that journalist Gavin Reilly’s book does not offer any nostalgic summer vibes.

BUT it does offer a fascinating insight into the workings of Leinster House from the very top level down.

What is it like to run for election? How do public representatives deal with the cut-throat competition from their rivals – and their own running mates? How intense is the work? What’s the Dáil bar really like? Why are parliamentary party meetings so leaky? What goes on behind closed doors at Cabinet meetings? What do special advisers actually do?

And why, given the almost constant abuse that now comes with the job, would anyone want to do it?

Gavan Reilly takes us inside Dáil Éireann to discover what it takes to survive in Ireland’s political cauldron. With unprecedented access to political insiders, The Secret Life of Leinster House lifts the lid on the corridors of power as never before – revealing how Irish politics really works, and the demands it places on those who make it their lives.

The ideal book to give to the person in your life who loves a well-researched page-turner, informative, educational and destined to inspire or deter people from a life in politics!

Our Song by Anna Carey

I don’t usually offer a second option in the Young Reader/Young Adult category but this new one by Anna Carey is a cracker.

Laura used to have big dreams, but she gave them up – because that’s what grown-ups do. Trying to turn her love of music into a career would have been absolutely ridiculous.

But when she hears one of Tadhg’s songs on the radio, she isn’t so sure.

Tadhg and Laura used to be in a band together. They used to be a lot of things. Now he’s a superstar, touring the world with his songs, making Laura feel like a failure and reminding her of what might have been.

Then she gets an email that could change everything: Tadhg wants to finish a song they started writing together nearly twenty years ago. Making music again would literally be a dream come true, even if it’s with a person she swore she’d never speak to again. And they can keep things professional, right?

As Tadhg and Laura start working together though, sparks begin to fly. Maybe music isn’t the only thing that deserves a second chance?

Anna has a huge catalogue of previous titles, including The Boldness of Betty, but this one here might just be my very favourite so far.

What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena

How all good plots begin…Nothing ever happens in sleepy little Fairhill. (You can see where this is going)

The teenagers get their kicks telling ghost stories in the old graveyard. The parents trust their kids will arrive home safe from school. Everyone knows everyone. Curtains rarely twitch. Front doors are left unlocked.

But this morning all of that will change. Because Diana Brewer isn’t lying safely in her bed where she belongs. Instead she lies in a hayfield, circled by vultures, discovered by a local farmer. How quickly a girl becomes a ghost. How quickly a town of friendly, familiar faces becomes a town of suspects, a place of fear and paranoia. Someone in Fairhill did this. Everyone wants answers.

And one innocent question could be deadly.

Shari Lapena is a fantastic author- clever plots, deeply unlikeable characters, and a commitment to telling the unsettling all combine to create a proper summer beach read.

You can listen back to interviews in full on The Big Breakfast Blaa