Crime in brief: Kellerman delivers the goods

Bones by Jonathan Kellerman (Headline £12.99)

Women's dead bodies are turning up all over LA, and Jonathan Kellerman's serial hero, the psychologist Alex Delaware, is once again asked for help by his best pal, homicide detective Milo Sturgis. The women are all prostitutes, except for one, who breaks the pattern and leads the pair into a whole different investigation. Kellerman always delivers the goods, and Bones is no exception.

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Quiver by Peter Leonard (Faber £14.99)

Leonard... does the name sound familiar? Can't be. But it is. Elmore's little boy has written a crime novel, and it's marvellous. Really. Peter Leonard has taken a long time to step into his father's footsteps, but it's been well worth the wait. This is a rush of a book, moving at full tilt as a bunch of disparate characters, all armed and very dangerous, take off for the forests of northern Michigan looking for cash, revenge, redemption or all three. Fabulous.

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Switch by Grant McKenzie (Bantam £6.99)

So what would you do to protect your family if they'd been kidnapped by a lunatic? Anything, I hear you say. But what if that anything includes robbery and murder when you're just a normal, law abiding citizen? That's what is asked of two of Portland, Oregon's working men in this first-time novel. It is rather too long and over-plotted but, nevertheless, and as preposterous as it may be, Switch is also a lot of fun.

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The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly (Orion £18.99)

Mickey Haller, "the Lincoln Lawyer" (so called because he conducts his business from the back seat of a Lincoln Town Car to save on office rent) is suddenly presented with a bundle of work, courtesy of a murdered colleague. Michael Connelly's serial cop hero Harry Bosch makes an appearance, but this one is Mickey's book. Connelly has proved himself the king of US police procedurals, and now his legal books are the equal of John Grisham's.

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