The body of a woman is found on Bruno, Chief of Police's patch in St Denis. She was discovered with her neck broken beside the ruined Templar chateau of Commarque in the heart of the Dordogne. An accidental fall, or was she pushed? The 11th century chateau has never been associated with the fabled hidden treasure of the Templars, but a sensational story in the local press about the unknown woman's death throws light on the chateau and the cave beneath it. When a Templar scholar is found brutally tortured and left for dead, Bruno must race to find the perpetrator before they strike again, while the village of St Denis holds its breath, waiting to see if a centuries-old mystery might finally be solved and uncovered when a local journalist publishes the sensational story around the woman's death. The victim carries no identification and her fingerprints are not known to the French police or Interpol. The only clue is that her dentistry looks American, but Bruno's enquiries at local hotels and gites yield no trace of a missing foreign woman. 343pp, paperback.

The gifted Venetian detective returns in his 31st case, this time investigating the Janus-faced nature of yet another Italian institution. What role can or should loyalty play in the life of a police inspector? It's a question Commissario Guido Brunetti must face when he is approached for a favour by Elisabetta Foscarini, a woman he knows only casually. However her mother was good to Brunetti's mother, so he feels obliged to at least look into the matter privately. Foscarini's son-in-law Enrico Fenzo has alarmed his wife by confessing their family might be in danger because of something he's involved with. Since Fenzo is an accountant, Brunetti logically suspects that the cause of danger is related to the finances of a client, yet his clients seem benign - an optician, a restaurateur, a charity established by his father-in-law. However when Foscarini's daughter's place of work is vandalized, Brunetti asks his own favours - that his colleagues assist his private investigation which soon turns official as they uncover the dark nature and the wobbly line between the criminal and non-criminal world. Written in an elegant, witty prose, Donna Leon uses the relatively small canvas of Venice for rips about Italian life, sexual styles and best of all the kind of ingrown business and political corruption that seems to lurk just below the surface. Endpapers have maps, 294pp with fairly large print.

Guido Brunetti is baffled by the apparent murder of a seemingly innocuous immigrant man, until a connection to his own youthful past resolves the story of the man's death, and a decades-old disappearance. On a cold November evening, Brunetti and Paola are up late when a call from his colleague alerts him that a hand has been seen in one of Venice's canals. The body is soon found, and Brunetti is assigned to investigate the murder of an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant. He is forced to use the city's far richer sources of information - gossip and the memories of people who knew the victim to discover that he had been living in a small house on the grounds of a palazzo owned by a university professor. There Brunetti discovers books revealing the victim's interest in Buddhism, the revolutionary Tamil Tigers, and the last crop of Italian political terrorists, active in the 1980s. As the investigation expands, the puzzle uses random information about real estate and land use, books and university friendships and then Brunetti stumbles over something that transports him back to his own student days, causing him to reflect on lost ideals and the errors of youth, on Italian politics and history, and on the accidents that sometimes lead to discovery. A story of justice and vengeance and with charming classical allusions which makes you smile. With maps on endpapers, 262pp fairly large print.

A vivid psychological suspense novel written some 20 years ago between two of the early Vera novels. A diving instructor makes a gruesome discovery in Cranwell Lake. The body of a teenager has been found very close to the surface of a reservoir due to a drought. The police are called to investigate and realise that the body has been anchored in place for a long time. They look at all the missing young males from the time and with dental work and identify the male as Michael Grey. However this is not his real name and the police are still looking for answers when another teenager is found murdered. Detective Peter Porteous deduces that Grey was the enigmatic and secretive man who was reported missing by his foster parents in 1972. On the other side of the country, prison officer Hannah Morton is about to get the shock of her life for Michael was her boyfriend, and she was with him the night he disappeared. The news report that a body has been found brings back dreaded and long buried memories from her past. 395pp in paperback.

From the Dordogne Mysteries series. The body of a French Muslim policeman is discovered in the woods near St Denis. The victim had contacted Bruno, the local town cop for help only hours before, but Bruno's sometime boss the Brigadier doesn't see this investigation as a priority. Meanwhile a Muslim youth named Sami arrives at a French army base in Afghanistan hoping to get home to St Denis. One of Bruno's old army comrades helps to smuggle Sami back to France, but the FBI and a media firestorm aren't far behind. Amidst pressure from his bosses, Bruno must find his own way to protect his town and its people. The setting in the Périgord is so atmospheric you won't want to leave in this novel (previously called 'Children of War'). Walker is brilliant at capturing the murderous charms of rural France in his undeniably delicious series of novels. 358pp, paperback.

Never underestimate Miss Marple. A movie star, a deadly cocktail, a murder. When glamorous Marina Gregg came to live in St Mary Mead, tongues were sure to wag. But with a local gossip's sudden death, has one tongue wagged a bit too much? As the police chase false leads and two more victims meet untimely ends, Miss Marple starts to ask her own questions. What secrets might link a peaceful English village and a star of the silver screen? The pieces finally drop into place with a satisfying click as Christie's ingenious plot and fiendish twists keep us hugely entertained in this cosy mystery. First published in 1962 and therefore with the somewhat now 'dated' vocabulary of the time, it is utterly charming. 280pp in compact glamorous hardback reprint.

It is 1947 and the Westleham Village Show. With the war finally over, everyone is looking forward to a pleasant day, but Martha Miller doesn't share the excitement. Since her husband Stan left for work one day and never returned, she has been treated as somewhat of an outsider and the village gossip is that Martha must be to blame. She hopes she can win her fellow villagers over with her delicious homemade plum gin, but as glasses are quaffed, disaster strikes. Chairwoman of the village show Alice Warren slumps to the ground, poisoned! As the fingers of suspicion again point Martha's way, she's determined to prove her innocence and find the real culprit. She's ably helped by the new vicar Luke Walker. But who would kill Alice and why? And will Luke and Martha discover who is behind the poisoning? An utterly charming 1940s mystery, the first in a new cosy crime series we have selected for our readers. 210pp, paperback.

Books 1 to 5 to collect in the Dordogne Mysteries series. Set comprises Death in the Dordogne, Dark Vineyard, Black Diamond, Crowded Grave and Devil's Cave. Buy all five paperbacks and save even more.

Books 5 to 10 to collect in the Dordogne Mysteries series. Set comprises Resistance Man, Death Undercover, Dying Season, Fatal Pursuit and Templars' Last Secret. Buy all five or ten paperbacks from the First Set and save even more.