Paperbacks: Something Borrowed, by Paul Magrs

In this sequel to his Gothic hit Never the Bride, Magrs continues to out-spook Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley with his over-sized heroine Brenda, the erstwhile bride of Frankenstein.

Now reinvented as the landlady of a Whitby B&B, Brenda and best friend, Effie – a geriatric antiques dealer – continue to protect the seaside town from the forces of evil, this time round doing battle with Goomba, a primeval god who has assumed the corporeal form of a wickerwork chair. As ever, Magrs's work mixes the surreal and the mundane with surprisingly tender results.