As the editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, Isabel Dalhousie does not allow herself to have enemies, until the arrival of two squabbling academics forces her to question her stance. Elsewhere in Edinburgh a little boy believes he had a previous life. Called upon to help, Isabel finds herself challenging her own views on reincarnation, the nature of grief, and crucially the positioning of lighthouses. The only thing she doesn't question is her personal life. Blissfully content with her young son and husband, Isabel embarks upon the next issue of her magazine - the Happiness issue - and discovers that happiness for most is not always what it seems. 247pp, paperback.

The apparent suicide of his policeman brother sets Denver crime reporter Jack McEvoy on edge. Surprise at the circumstances of his brother's death prompts him to look into a whole series of police suicides and puts him on the trail of a cop killer whose victims are selected all too carefully. Not only that, but they all leave suicide notes drawn from the poems of writer Edgar Allan Poe in their wake. More frightening still, the killer appears to know that Jack is getting nearer and nearer. An investigation that looks like the story of a lifetime might also be Jack's ticket to a lonely end. Jack follows his leads all the way to the inner circle of a federal investigation, and in doing so makes himself the most visible target for a murderer who has eluded the greatest investigators alive. An ingenious and irresistible thriller from the master of the genre. 481pp, paperback.

The confession of Laurence Jago, clerk, gentleman, reluctant spy. July 1794 and the streets of London are filled with rumours of revolution. Political radical Thomas Hardy is to go on trial for treason, the war against the French is not going in Britain's favour, and negotiations with the independent American colonies are on a knife edge. Laurence Jago, clerk to the Foreign Office, is ever more reliant on the Black Drop to ease his nightmares. A highly sensitive letter has been leaked to the press which may lead to the destruction of the British Army, and Laurence is a suspect. Then he discovers the body of a fellow clerk, supposedly suicide. Blame for the leak is shifted to the dead man, but even as the body is taken to the anatomists, Laurence is certain both of his friend's innocence and that he was murdered. But after years of hiding his own secrets from his powerful employers, and at a time when even the slightest hint of treason can lead to the gallows, how can Laurence find the true culprit without incriminating himself? With historical note on the year when war against Revolutionary France was one year old. 340pp and cast of characters in Downing Street, the Americans, the lawyers, the accused, the French and the writers like Thomas Paine, author of The Rights of Man.

Fabian Hightower has been killed in a car crash. At least that is what a policeman is asking Alex, his mother, to believe, but Alex knows she saw him that morning, at a time when he must have been dead. When the funeral is over, Alex tries hard to forget her bizarre experience, but her mind seems to be playing strange tricks on her, turning her grief into horror. When she turns to a medium, her worst fears are realised. Fabian has unfinished business and is determined to come back. But why? Whatever the answer, something terrifies the medium so much she refuses to return. Alex longs to turn to others for support, but there is a secret about Fabian that only she knows and a secret she must never share. A gripping novel of the paranormal which some have described as having a disappointing ending, first published in 1988. 290pp, paperback facsimile reprint.

From Scandinavia's most celebrated female crime writer, this is the 10th book in this bestselling international series of over 24 years, and features the terrific investigator Henrik Holme and his flawed yet perfect partner Hanne Wilhelmsen. In 2001, three year old Dina is killed in a tragic car accident, and not long after, her mother dies under mysterious circumstances. Dina's father Jonas is convicted of her murder. In 2016, the cold case ends up on the desk of Detective Henrik Holme who tries to convince his mentor Hanne that the father might have been wrongly convicted. Together they discover that the case could be connected to the suicide of an eccentric blogger as well as the kidnapping of the granddaughter of a EuroJackpot millionaire. It is clear that this author understands people, their weaknesses, strengths and hidden motives, and we must excuse some of the oddities in the translation. 386pp, large paperback.

DS Katie Maguire goes undercover to break a drug ring. The girl who teetered out of the doorway was exactly who they were looking for. Maguire and her team are stretched to the limit. A gang of dognappers are terrorising Cork, and the city's drug trade is at an all-time high. Now they have a missing girl to find too, and all in the glare of the media spotlight. As Katie closes in on the truth, she realises that the three cases might be connected, but with every second she spends investigating, the clock ticks on for the missing girl, trapped in a living death. Skip the very graphic details about dog fighting if you need to and don't complain about the sex in the books of this foremost horror writer, the popular Graham Masterton. 439pp, paperback.

'Frankenstein meets The Shadow of the Wind in a Gothic thriller set in the diabolical city of fin-de-siècle Barcelona.' Daniel Amat has left Spain and all that happened there behind him. Having just achieved a brilliant role in Ancient Languages at Oxford University and an even more advantageous engagement, the arrival of a letter - a demand - stamped Barcelona comes like a cold hand from behind. He arrives back in that old, labyrinthine and near-mythic city a few days before the great 1888 World Fair, amid dread whispers of murder - the injuries reminiscent of an ancient curse, and bearing the signs of the genius 16th century anatomist Vesalius. Daniel is soon pulled into the depths of the crime and eventually into the tunnels below Barcelona where his own dark past and the future of science are joined in a terrible venture, to bring the secret of Vesalius to life. A gripping historical thriller which makes of Barcelona a diabolical character, emerging out of the dark into a new electrical age, aflame with spirit, superstition and science. A bestselling novel published in 18 countries which mixes a passionate setting and cryptic mystery. 582pp, paperback.

Set comprises Seeker, The Black Friar and The Bear Pit. Buy all three paperbacks and save even more.

A reporter with no fear. Jaded Edinburgh journalist Neil Bannerman arrives in Brussels intent on digging up dirt, yet it is danger he discovers when two British men are found murdered. One victim is a journalist, the other a Cabinet Minister, the double-assassination witnessed by the former's autistic daughter. The child recalls every detail about her father's killer, except for one. The man with no face. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Bannerman is compelled to follow his instincts. He is now fighting to expose a murderous conspiracy, protect a helpless child, and unmask a remorseless killer. 406pp, paperback.

Hostile takeovers, government-sanctioned killing, extortion and the seedier side of publishing, this is a novel with an ingenious twist and turn. Sir Robert Skinner's stock is rising. After retiring from the police service he's been promoted to head an international media organisation, yet a series of unexplained deaths on his home turf in Scotland threaten to bring him crashing back down to earth. As Skinner helps the elderly in his local community, several residents seem to die of unnatural causes, but when a gruesome discovery is made in a Glasgow flat and one of Skinner's long-time friends, an aspiring politician, emerges as the prime suspect, things become very murky indeed. After unpicking clues that go nowhere, Skinner and his team are left grappling the most baffling conundrum they have ever encountered - is there a mystery at all? Scottish crime writing at its finest with bodies aplenty. 354pp in fairly large print, paperback.