Stranger House -- Reginald Hill

Dalziel and Pascoe are absent but fans of Hill's cop duo will find much to like in his slightly-supernatural tale.

Other people should also find it enjoyable thanks to the intriguing plot, memorably original characters and moody Lake District setting.

A young Australian girl arrives in a remote village searching for the truth about her orphaned grandmother's past.

A young former priest, wracked by doubt and haunted by ghosts, is researching the 16th century trials of his own ancestor. The pair forge an uneasy alliance as they discover disturbing secrets about the village and their families.

David Knights

The Final Detail -- Harlan Cohen

Myron Bolitar is an agent for sporting personalities, while away in the Caribbean one of them has been murdered.

Not only that but his partner and closest friend, Esperanza, has been jailed in connection with the murder in this paperback. Neither Esperanza nor his lawyer, high-flying Hester Crimsten, will speak to him or fill him in with any details. Nevertheless, convinced of Esperanza's innocence he begins to uncovers a complicated trail which constantly leads back to himself. Nothing is as it seems, like the Take a Guess Club, where men are women and women are men.

Beryl Simister

Rage -- Jonathan Kellerman

Two young boys kill a toddler after snatching her from a shopping mall. Then both are murdered.

Psychologist Alex Delaware wonders if the girl's father is a gun-loving psychopath responsible for their deaths. But his investigations uncover disturbing secrets about everyone involved.

Kellerman's latest Delaware hardback reads similarly to some of his others but is still credible.

David Knights

Lady, Lady I Did It -- Ed Bain

Another 87th precinct paperback from Ed McBain. He seems to knock them out at the rate of one a week.

It's not about the crime or the chase, it's about the human heart and the way it operates. In this book, the fiance of a detective is one of four people shot in a bookstore by a masked gunman but who was the real victim and who will tell? You are pulled into the efforts of the precinct to find justice for one of their own.

Antony Silson