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Jane Jakeman

Dogstar Rising, By Parker Bilal

The second outing for Parker Bilal's Sudanese detective Makana, a refugee scraping along on a dilapidated houseboat in Cairo, has all the satisfying complexities of his first, The Golden Scales. Bilal is actually the well-known writer Jamal Mahjoub, who h

Review: The Ides of April, By Lindsey Davis. Hodder & Stoughton,

In Nemesis we left Falco, Lindsey Davis's Roman sleuth, on a sombre note, suffering the loss of a father and a child. Perhaps life had become too dark for him to take centre-stage in another novel.

The Ides of April, By Lindsey Davis. Hodder & Stoughton,

In Nemesis we left Falco, Lindsey Davis's Roman sleuth, on a sombre note, suffering the loss of a father and a child. Perhaps life had become too dark for him to take centre-stage in another novel. We don't lose sight of Falco now - he has cheered up enou

Dead Water, By Ann Cleeves. Macmillan, £16.99

Crime fiction has a demanding convention. If the serial killer arrived recently on our gory shelves, the serial detective has been around for so long that readers expect it, and look forward to the regular appearance of their favourite sleuth. This lands