Fat Ollie's Book is the latest book in Edward McBain's long-running 87th Precinct series set on the mean streets of an American city.

McBain practically invented the police procedural novel and has published dozens of books about Det Steve Carella and his team.

This latest paperback sees the mayoral candidate gunned down and Fat Ollie facing the task of finding the killer.

He has a more pressing problem -- the manuscript of his novel has been stolen by a man who believes it holds clues to the location of hidden diamonds.

Three of McBain's 87th Precinct books from the 1960s have been republished: King's Ransom, The Con Man and 'Til Death.

'Til Death has Steve racing against time to find a murderer whose next victim could be his sister's prospective husband.

King's Ransom sees a tycoon deciding whether to pay the kidnappers of his chauffeur's child, in the process ruining a massive business deal.

The Con Man takes trickery to a new level as the latest scam merchant leaves a trail of bodies in his wake.

n Stephen Coonts has over the past decade built a strong following for his up-to-the-minute military thrillers.

His latest paperback Liberty follows US agent Jay Grafton as he tries to foil a plot following the attack on the World Trade Centre.

A Russian general has sold four nuclear weapons to terrorists who planned to destroy the US as a world power.

Liberty is published alongside Final Flight, Grafton's earlier mission undercover on a US aircraft carrier, fighting to stop another terrorist plot.

The Intruders sees Grafton -- fresh from the Vietnam War -- feuding with Marines during eight months aboard another carrier.

The Red Horseman has Grafton in Moscow trying to stop a US-led conspiracy while trying to destroy rogue nuclear weapons in Russia.

n Pope John XIII is said to be a "rich and impassioned" biography of the man who brought the Catholic church into the modern world.

Thomas Cahill has been praised for using imagination, scholarship and interpretive insight to capture the Pope's intuition, spontaneity and vision.

n Right Hand, Left Hand won Chris McManus an award for his "excellent mix of hard science and engaging games".

He links the deepest laws of physics with the reasons why people use one hand or another.

n The First Civilisations examines 2,500 years of human history from barbarism to the Egyptians, Sumerians, Chinese and ancient Americans.

Dr Glyn Daniel explores whether civilisations all arose from one place or occurred independently.

n Prehistoric life is the subject of two new paperbacks from children's publisher Scholastic.

Discovering Dinosaurs is the true story of two men who were deadly rivals in the race to identify giant bones under English quarries.

Diplodocus The Dinosaur with the Long Neck, which is filled with drawings of the giant creature, is for younger readers.

Votes for Women, also from Scholastic, is the true story of how Edwardian women fought to vote. It contrasts the struggles of suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst with Prime Minister Henry Asquith's efforts to stop her.